10 Questions for . . . Joan DesCombes, Certified Kitchen Designer

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . . , Senior Editor Daniel DiClerico speaks with Joan DesCombes, CKD, principal of Winter Park, Florida–based Architectural Artworks Incorporated. Here, DesCombes, who received the 2008 Pinnacle of Design award from the National Kitchen & Bath Association in April, talks about her winning project, where kitchen design stands today headed, and what her clients want in their new kitchens.

Q. Congratulations on winning the 2008 Pinnacle of Design award. What separates you from other designers?

A. I think I’m a little unique for a kitchen designer in that this isn’t my first career. I was trained as a designer but then I ended up working in the fashion industry for many years. So I approach a kitchen almost like I’m dressing somebody. I start by asking a lot of questions about the homeowners’ lifestyle. The more I know about them, the more I can create a room that suits their personality. Coming from the fashion industry, I strive to design rooms that are functional first but also that people look good in. If you’re a blue-eyed blond I’m going to design that room differently than if you have dark hair and dark eyes.

Q. How is that philosophy reflected in the award-winning kitchen?

A. This kitchen, in Winter Park, Florida (shown), is in keeping with who that homeowner is. He’s a creative person and he wanted a kitchen that’s innovative and uses rare materials. The combination of stainless steel and raw wood on the ceiling gives the space a loftlike feel that’s in keeping with the rest of the house. The stone floor is the same throughout, enhancing the Zen-inspired fluidity of the space. The same stone continues up the side of the island for a dramatic effect. The lighting is also very dramatic, combining cable lights with hanging pendants.

Q. What are your favorite features about the kitchen?

A. When you look at most kitchens, they tend to be traditional in look and layout. This one wasn’t traditional from any standpoint. We reused a lot of existing materials, so while it isn’t green in the conventional sense, it’s largely recycled. The purple-concrete countertop was left over from a project we worked on with designer Fu-Tung Cheng, from Berkeley, California. We also used some leftover cabinetry for the pantries that flank the refrigerator, a Sub-Zero with a paneled front that matches the cabinetry. The fully integrated refrigerator is something we do all the time. It goes along with my kitchen-as-furniture philosophy. Homeowners need to understand that furnishing a kitchen is no different than furnishing a living room. Except that they’re going to spend a lot more time in the kitchen.

Q. In general, how are people today interacting with their kitchens differently?

A. Everybody’s lifestyle is different, and so every kitchen needs to be different too. Take someone who’s big in the organic-food movement. They’re going to need more refrigerator than freezer space, and they’re going to need that refrigeration in several different places throughout the kitchen. For a recent client who’s vegetarian, we added a set of refrigerator drawers to her food prep island. That’s where she keeps the fresh vegetables for the salads she often makes. This split configuration is also popular with parents with small children. It means they can keep the juice and milk next to where the kids eat breakfast in the morning.

What’s new in small appliances: 2008 Housewares Show wrap-up

The 2008 International Home & Housewares Show (IHHS) recently took place in Chicago. Michael DiLauro, a product-information specialist for Consumer Reports, describes some interesting products and trends.

Smaller appliances are taking on multiple personalities, as manufacturers are incorporating multiple functions into their products. Makers are also adding enhanced programmability to their wares, allowing you to fine-tune the process, say setting the brew strength on a coffeemakers. Some of these countertop devices are also getting bigger screens and brighter displays with backlit LCDs.

Technology continues to reign, as appliances add electronic controls that prevent temperature spikes, keeping the heat consistent over the cooking process. (Learn what's behind this technology.)

Manufacturers are also trying to blend some of their smaller appliances seamless into home décor. Consumers don’t want their room air purifiers and cordless handheld vacuums, for example, to stand out when they’re plugged in.

With consumers expected to spend less this year, small-appliance makers were touting the cost-saving aspects of their products. Slow cookers, claimed one company, use about 3 cents per hour compared with 25 cents per hour for a wall oven. Vacuum sealers were also being pitched as way to lower food costs.

Pod-style coffeemakers continue to grow in popularity with Nespresso and Tassimo poised to take the lion’s share of both the coffee-pod and -maker market. Learn more about espresso makers.

Speaking of coffee, I knew the IHHS was trendy when I found myself drinking an espresso alongside celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck at the booth hosted by Illy, known for its espresso machines and coffee. The Italian company’s booth (shown) was actually the coolest part of all, since it’s a fully functional sustainable home built within a shipping container. Called the Push Button House (shown), it takes about 90 seconds to fully open and transform into a home with a kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom, living room, and library.

Induction burners are becoming more common, though you might not need or want to buy a new cooktop just to take advantage of this emerging technology, which has performed highly in our tests, excelling at cooking speed and energy efficiency. The new portable induction cooktop from European appliance maker Fagor might make sense for you as a complement to an existing range or standard gas or electric cooktop. (Note that induction cooktops require cookware made of cast iron or enameled steel. Some stainless-steel cookware will work but aluminum or copper products will not.)

The $200 unit (shown), which measures 12x14 inches and weighs 8 pounds, includes many of the standard features found in a built-in induction cooktop at a fraction of the cost, around $1,700 for a four-burner model.—Michael DiLauro, Product-Information Specialist

Q&A: Which countertop material is toughest?

I’ve seen a lot of limestone and concrete countertops in kitchen magazines, and the counters look great. But can these trendy materials stand up to the beating they’ll take in my kitchen?—Jordan A., via e-mail

These materials will do well in your kitchen, but only if you’re really, really careful. Both of these natural stones scratched, abraded, and dented easily in our barrage of kitchen-abuse tests. Limestone also stained the most among the 10 countertop materials we covered in our August 2007 report. And at roughly $60 to $120 per square foot, installed, these two are among the priciest. (See how we test countertops here.)

A better bet: quartz, which is the fastest-growing countertop surface. Also known as engineered stone, quartz outperformed even granite in our tests, especially in stain resistance. The latest examples also mimic granite, marble, and other natural stone better than before. You’ll even find imitation quartz—essentially an imitation of an imitation. While you’ll pay about the same for quartz as you will for granite (about $45 to $90 per square foot, installed), you’ll never have to reseal this engineered stone like the real stuff.

If you want to spend less, consider ceramic tile or laminate, though you and your family will have to be careful about dropped objects (tile) and scratches and abrasions (laminate). Both cost about $10 to $30 per square foot, installed.

Solid-surface countertops—think Corian and other big brands—offer the variety of quartz, plus you can get small scratches and burns buffed out. But it’s not nearly as tough as quartz or granite and can cost just as much (about $35 to $80 per square foot, installed)—a reason why solid-surface countertops are losing ground in the marketplace.

Some other countertop tips from our experts:
• Create savings. Cut the cost of your countertop by using small, lower-priced remnants instead of a single slab of stone. Also consider using a large, lower-priced run of laminate counters with a small-but-elegant piece of stone on an island or a peninsula.
• Design ahead. Lowe’s and DuPont, for example, offer interactive style guides that let you choose color and material options and place them in different virtual settings.
• Buy at a stone yard. Unlike quartz, laminate, or solid surfacing, stone can vary between slabs and even within the same slab. Instead of basing your decision on store samples, visit the stone yard and pick the piece with the color, graining, and veining you like.—Bob Markovich

Essential information: Before you start work on your kitchen remodel, read our 30-page special kitchen section in the August 2007 issue of Consumer Reports, Great Kitchens for Less. We cover 10 kitchen products that don't match the hype surrounding them, provide expert advice on paying for your project, and tell you where to get the best deals on appliances. And when you need information on appliances, design, materials, project oversight, and other topics related to a kitchen remodel, use our Kitchen-Planning Guide. 

The ever-expanding American home

It’s not only American consumers who are growing in size. The average single-family home has “supersized” 48 percent, going from 1,660 square feet to 2,459 square feet in 2006, according to Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research for the National Association of Home Builders, who gave a presentation on February 8 at the International Builders’ Show. By 2015, says Ahluwalia, the average home will have gone on a bit of diet and will total 2,330 square feet.

As the average home has swelled in size, so too has the number of bedrooms. In 1987, 12 percent of single-family homes had three or more bathrooms. By 2005, that figure had more than doubled, with 26 percent equipped with three or more baths. The number of bedrooms has increased as well, with 39 percent of single-family homes having four or more bedrooms, up from 23 percent in 1987.—Cyndi Schoenbrun, Senior Research Analyst

Spencer’s gift to consumers: the microwave oven

Sometimes there’s nothing like a provocative bit of trivia to get a reporter’s attention at a trade show. Amana, now owned by Whirlpool but once a subsidiary of the Raytheon Company, introduced the first countertop microwave oven, called the Radarange (shown), in 1967. Since then, Americans have benefited from some incredible “nuked” time savings—an estimated 1 trillion minutes, according to Michael Hunter, a brand director with Amana.

The event that would result in the creation of the Radarange occurred in the 1940s, when Raytheon engineer Percy L. Spencer, standing near a magnetron, realized a chocolate bar in his pocket had begun to melt. A biography relates Spencer’s next move: He called for some popcorn kernels to see what would happen. (They popped.) The rest, as they say, is history.—Ed Perratore

The latest housing and design trends

“My theory is that houses are just warehouses for stuff,” says architect Victor Mirontscuk. “As you get older, you want to shed stuff so that you’re free to do more things.” But that doesn’t mean people are skimping on finishes or products, according to Mirontscuk, architect Barry Glanz, and designer Kathy Browning. All three were judges of the Best of American Living Awards, a contest that drew more than 550 homes. At a press conference at the International Builders’ Show, the trio spoke about emerging design and housing trends:
•    “Jewel box,” or smaller, homes with a higher level of finishes.
•    A resurgence of contemporary design indoors and outdoors. Simple, clean lines, lots of glass, and a strong use of color are some of the characteristics of the latest contemporary homes.
•    Increased “vertical” living, as builders construct apartment buildings for the increasing numbers of baby boomers moving to cities nationwide.
•    Outdoor rooms, a trend that started in California and Florida being adopted across the country.—Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman