September 2003  Issue 11

RSI Presents: Real Men of Genius*

Today we salute you, Mr. I Love Any Gadget I Can Get My Hands-on Guy.
Here's to the man who can convince his wife that weekends wouldn't be the same without The Perfect Pancake Maker. Remote controls, garage door openers, DVD players; face it - you like anything you can play with, and we respect that. It's men like you who invented The Clapper and The Flobie. If it slices and dices, you're in. So what do you do on a Saturday afternoon? Mow the lawn? Of course not. You crack open a BudLight, recline in front of your super-sized TV and watch big-time made-for-TV movie star Suzanne Sommers sell with sizzle on Electric Toothpick-picker.

Well, stay tuned oh guru of the gadget, because we too have something to sell you.

• How about your very own wall-hung fully functioning urinal? Yes, that's right boys, Kohler makes eight different varieties in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We've been told that the model that is currently in RSI men's room has a very nice shape and is hung at just the right height! Prices range from about $130 for your standard 1-person unit, up to $1735 for a 72" long trough (insert your own joke here).

• You know when you close the trunk of a Cadillac, how it reaches a certain point and then smoothly closes on its own? You can have the same technology sucking the drawers shut in your kitchen. Ask to see Omega Cabinetry's newest toy next time you visit our showroom.

• Fact: Until just recently, 24" was the widest dishwasher made. Thanks to Decor appliances, we now have the 'monster truck' of all dishwashers - available through and on display at RSI. Because it's a whopping 30" wide, you should be able to cram everything from dinner dishes to post-game snack trays into this mega-unit.

• Your manly life could not possibly be complete without the ever-popular gadget of all gadgets...you very own beer-tapper. This refrigerated unit, designed to hold a keg or pony keg of beer (Budweiser products, of course) has a tapper unit on top and is on wheels. Feel free to roll it around with you wherever you go.

*We humbly bow down to this campaign as we borrow from its brilliance. 

 
Jenny's Ghost [A Scary Rehabber's Tale]

"All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses."
-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As I set out to research this issue's article on style. I came across a past article in Old House Journal. It was written, as it is every year, in response to the overwhelming number of reader letters about their own spirited encounters with things not quite living. So, in the spirit of Halloween, I've decided to forgo style for scary and share my own ghost story.

When I was fresh out of college, my parents bought an investment property in Webster Groves. The age of the home was not quite clear but it had been neglected for years. When my dad and I started rehabbing the house, we found newspapers from 1910 being used as insulation in the kitchen and remodeled around this date. I was living there during the construction and started to notice some peculiar things. For instance, the back door, located in the kitchen, was constantly ajar. At first I chalked it up to me or my roommate's forgetfulness. I began to make a conscious effort to close and lock it when I left only to find it still managed to mysteriously open while I was gone. And other things were happening: the sound of footsteps on the main floor while we were doing laundry in the basement and the feeling of someone watching me while I slept, laying there too afraid to open my eyes. Finally, one night after discussing these strange occurrences, and still skeptical, we went to sleep only to be awakened by a startling knocking on my bedroom door. Neither of us could find the source of the wall shaking noise. It's almost as if 'it' was saying, "oh yeah, you don't believe I'm real--well, watch this!"

Long ghost story short, I now believe in the presence of things 'not of this world' and often find many people have a ghost story of their own to share and many times the stories coincide with the rehabbing process. I guess we shake them up and disrupt their environment. As if rehabbing isn't scary enough!

Creating Comfort

The mechanical design or layout of your kitchen is only one part of the whole. What's sometimes tougher to pinpoint and achieve is its mood. A wise woman once said, "life is in flux, but it's still a jewel." Sometimes it's the last layer in your kitchen that can make this space the jewel of the household.

• Create a "cozy area" by incorporating upholstered furniture and stools.

• Surround yourself with bookshelves filled with your favorite books (not just cookbooks).

• Find an unusual container that may have an interesting story to house your utensils. For instance, the pitcher that sat on your grandmother's table when you were little or a jar brought back from a favorite vacation.

• Use lamps on your countertops to soften the mood.

• Lean a picture against the backsplash with a vase of flowers.

• Make fresh flowers part of your grocery list once a month.

• Designate space to house music and drink; create calm as you sip wine, or have a bourbon and boogie while you cook!

• Minimize (pretty please) the time you spend exploring the wallpaper books designated "kitchen;" the fact that it's the kitchen is obvious, you don't need fruits and forks on your walls to designate it as such.

One last thought. Don't imprison yourself in the idea that things sit in your kitchen, lay on it's floor, or hang on it's walls need to come from the "kitchen department." Move outside your comfort zone, think outside the box, and let your vivacious self-expression shine through to your kitchen!

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Kitchen & Bath Goddesses

We created this column as a venue to answer your kitchen & bath questions (also because we wanted to be goddesses of something). If you have a kitchen or bath remodel question please email it to mbittle@rsikb.com.

Q: I really want to remodel my kitchen but I'm not sure how much it'll cost. How do I come up with a reasonable budget that won't rock my husband's world?
--Debbie in Dogtown

A: A good rule of thumb when calculating how much to spend on a kitchen remodel is to figure 10-20% of the resale value of your home for the total project. This should include materials and installation. For instance, if your home is worth $150,000, you would want to spend somewhere between $15,000-$30,000 remodeling your kitchen. Very roughly, half of this figure will be allocated to product and the other half of this figure will be allocated to installation. The statistic is 5% for the master bath. When working with a designer, come prepared to let them know what your proposed budget is; if you guard that information like Ft. Knox, they won't be able to properly guide you and your choices.

If you're building, you'll have allowances for product. Make sure you talk to your builder/contractor up front to make sure that the budget allowance is realistic for your needs.

FYI, St. Louis is one of the best cities to live in if you plan to remodel your kitchen or bath. You tend to get a higher return on your investment due to the larger number of older neighborhoods.

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Hot Spots

Sept. 13 - October 5th St. Louis Symphony Showhouse & Garden 6105 & 6023 Lindell Blvd. Visit www.symphonyshowhouse.com for more info September 13th St. Louis Cooks & Entertains Downtown Clayton Visit www.saucecafe.com for more info October 18th @ 7:30pm National Kitchen & Bath Assoc. 25th Anniversary Gala Members of Mo/Southern II NKBA Chapter & friends: join us for a night of fun on the Tom Sawyer riverboat Email jhagin@sckb.com for details

 
 Cool Sites

1] www.oldhousejournal.com 
View historic house plans, shop for antiques and find old-house events around the country.

2] www.kitchens.com
Learn everything you need to know about your kitchen remodel project.

3] www.bhg.com/kitchens 
View a kitchen planning guide, learn design basics and create your new kitchen budget.

 

Backwards & Forwards
a publication of rsi kitchen & bath
9700 Manchester
Rock Hill,Missouri 63119
314.961.2000 www.rsikb.com 

chief editors=jenny hagin  jhagin@rsikb.com  & 
megan bittle   mbittle@rsikb.com 
donna minard dminard@rsikb.com 

graphic design = debbie swift/entheos design debbieswift@sbcglobal.net