RoomRecipes » Kitchen

Goldstein Kitchen

Room Recipes — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:51:05 +0000

This family had just moved from New Orleans after the flood. They lost their home there and were ready to start fresh. I gave this kitchen a modern, sleek look and expanded into a tiny pantry so they could have more counter space and cabinet storage.

As seen on HGTV’s Spice Up My Kitchen. Design by Krista Watterworth.

How do you create this design? Use the following…

SOURCES & ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS:

Alloc flooring
Art.com
George Kovacs Lighting
Daltile Glass Reflections in Olive Oil
Home Decorators Roman Shades
Le Creuset Kiwi Cookware
Kraftmaid Tribeca Kitchen Cabinets

Too Cool for Gruel

Krista Watterworth — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:51:57 +0000

Goldstein Kitchen: Before and After

Click for bigger view

I had an island built out of some larger cabinets and I balanced out the cost saving materials with some high end picks including:

Alloc laminate flooring
Solid surface counter top
A small amount of Daltile glass tile
Home Decorators custom linen roman shades
New stainless appliances
Jazz art from Art.com, and more.

All in all, a modern space that has some rich textures and a deep monochromatic color palette. Plus I love how the green Le Creusetcookware really pops.

Click for bigger view

Courtesy of HGTV and Spice Up My Kitchen

Smack My Room Up: Cheap Cabinet Makeover Tips

Krista Watterworth — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 19:06:25 +0000

Makeovers – God love ‘em. People do some pretty horrific things all in the name of change. Well with the new year now afloat, let’s talk about some good makeover tips. Today, it’s about kitchens. Keep it real! Don’t try to do something that doesn’t feel right to you. Go with your gut. But always refer back to you makeover bible ie. Room Recipes before you make a rash decisions.

When it comes to cabinets, hire the right people. I did three kitchens where we painted the cabinets instead of replacing them. Cost is much lower, minus the gut renovation headache, but be sure you hire a painter that (a) you trust, and (b) has done it many times before.

BEFORE: Tiny NYC Kitchen Rehab on a Budget

AFTER: Tiny NYC Kitchen on the Cheap

If the old cabinets are well made but dated, like this late 80s pickled finish, do your best to salvage them. Offset the low cost of painting the cabinets with a more expensive marble tile back splash. The green on the walls made the cabinets look pink, so we changed the entire palette to loving neutrals.

BEFORE: 80s Pickled Finish

AFTER: Warm and Contemporary

A Tuscan feel you say? Well it doesn’t always mean red, gold and royal blue. I went sunny yellow and grassy green. The cabinets had more of a paint face lift, we also added some bead board and framing to the doors. A low cost MDF product, but again, good carpenter necessary!

BEFORE I worked my magic

AFTER: Sunny and bright

Kitchen Cabinet Facelift

Krista Watterworth — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:03:22 +0000

I’ve been getting some requests on how we refaced the kitchen cabinets on my show in the Tuscan Country Kitchen. So I am posting a Room Recipe with step by step instructions. You may also want to ask Tom Zemon how he did it, since he was the man with the plan who actually put my design on the fast track for this episode. For this job, it’s best to hire a reliable carpenter like Tom. But if you’re a talented DIY-er it’s a great weekend project.

- Remove all doors from upper and lower cabinets and remove all hardware (hinges and pulls)
- Lightly sand with a rough sand paper and thoroughly cleaned to allow adherence of glue
- Cut down stock bead board made of thin composite wood to fit each door (available at Home Depot or Lowes)
- Use Liquid Nails to glue bead board to each cabinet door and secure with nails in each corner (use nail gun)
- Trim out or frame each cabinet door with 2-3″ piece of plywood and affix with nails
- Fill in all nail holes and allow dry time
- While glue dries sand, prime and paint all cabinetry framing and bases (use high pressure paint gun if possible unless you want brush strokes visible)
- Prime and paint cabinet doors (also using high pressure paint gun)

I recommend replacing all hardware and updating drawer/door pulls.

Good luck!

BEFORE

AFTER

Splurge & Save: Tuscan Country Kitchen

Krista Watterworth — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:31:23 +0000

On my show Tuesday I did some major kitchen surgery for a total of $9000. Keep in mind, granite counters alone often cost that. Annilese grew up a city mouse. Surrounded by concrete, she was craving a taste of the country, so she saved up, and bought a home in the suburbs. She loved her house, but not her mismatched contemporary kitchen. She really wanted a Tuscan inspired country kitchen and that’s what I gave her! Check out the transformation:

AFTER TRANSFORMATION

Here’s the breakdown:

SPLURGES:
$5500 on hone black granite countertops
Copper cookware $1000
Art work of hand painted tiles $200

SAVES
Refacing cabinet doors done by Tom for $400
$300 dining set and painted the chairs
I built out a butcher block island top for $75
Inexpensive ceramic subway tile back splash
Paint
Small appliances and accessories

Organize the Kitchen

Krista Watterworth — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 03:17:31 +0000

The nesting mode is taken to new levels when one is preparing for a family addition. For me, the key word for every room is organization. It’s time to strip down to the basics. I’m starting with the kitchen. What does a gal do when she finds ten identical plastic spoons in various different drawers, cabinets, storage boxes, and empty grocery bags? I guess I had deja vu every time I went to the grocery store. The same light bulb was going off a la Groundhog Day.

I love my pantry drawers!

I may shop hormonally at times, but I’m obsessed when it comes to organization – especially in the kitchen (and the bathroom for that matter). One of my favorite products for great kitchen design is simple – turning your shelves into drawers – I did it in my pantry and love it. A great company, aptly named ShelvestoDrawers.com, provides a good product. It works for a kitchen redesign as well, and will add value to your home. I’m sure you’ve heard my girl Lisa LaPorta say it a million times on Designed to Sell – kitchens sell homes!

I wrote Eight Easy Tips Family Friendly Tips for Kitchen Organization which is a collection of things I’ve learned from my own kitchen design efforts. I’m embarking on my own kitchen organization over the next few days, and I’ll keep you posted on how many anxiety attacks I’ve averted with Snickers bars.

Lots of drawers are great for organizing!

Eight Easy Family Friendly Tricks for Kitchen Organization

Krista Watterworth — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:57:51 +0000

When I design kitchens and bathrooms I spend most of my time planning out the use of every square inch of the space to keep it efficient and practical. The most important thing to remember when organizing your home is understanding your family’s needs. If you are successful here, then you’ve got an easy road ahead. I GOTTA HAVE the pull out drawers from ShelvesToDrawers.com — they are the perfect solution for cabinet organization.

A minimal style is clean living.

I recently designed a child friendly playroom and I dedicated an 8×10 matted frame to the “Art of the Month Club”. The rest of the collection is kept in a kitchen drawer and on New Year’s Eve there’s an Art Show, then it’s all discarded to make way for the new pieces.

Endless piles makes a haven feel like a padded cell!

In each kitchen I design I leave a gift – a large, flat box labeled Our Year of Memories. I have one in my house and all year long we toss all kinds of things in there – postcards, ticket stubs, artwork, funny photos, cards from friends and family, and cool menus. On New Year’s Eve we sit around drinking champagne as we open the box and share the memories. Then we toss it all and begin again.

Easy Access Food Storage

Put bulk items like rice, cereal and pasta in clear plastic or glass storage boxes. It’s a great way to know what you’re running low on at a glance.

The Junk Mail Drawer

Storing Tiny, Little, Small Items

For a cheap-chic look I cover old shoe boxes and cardboard boxes from delivered goods with fun paper to store tea lights, magazine clippings, trinkets, and recipes. It’s all kept neatly in a kitchen cabinet. When I buy wrapping paper I stick with the color scheme of blues and greens, and I never buy paper that is so specific (ie. Happy Birthday, Congratulations) I can’t use it for other projects.

Family Filing

A vertical file in the kitchen is a great place to store bills, receipts and notes. Keep it tucked away in a kitchen cabinet. My clients’ agree that this is the best spot for these items, not the home office (funny enough).

A Pantry with Punch

Half-eaten snacks clutter everyone’s pantry. So brown bag it! Label a brown bag or glass container for each family member – avoiding the habitual snack hog– portion it out after each grocery trip. Also whatever canned goods won’t get used, donate to your local food bank. Keep a small chalkboard on your pantry door with the date of your last pantry cleansing.

Too Many Storage Containers!

Nothing looks great if it accumulates! Decide on the number of boxes that’s right for your stuff and stick to that. Labels should be dated and a system set in place so that the box contents is regularly purged.

Tradition!! Warm & Classic Styling in a Florida Kitchen

Krista Watterworth — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:20:46 +0000

Today I provide a great Room Recipe for a traditional, warm and sophisticated kitchen space. It has honey stained cabinetry with classic styling, a natural stone tile back splash, mix n’ match dark and light wood tones, and oil rubbed hardware. Who says that every room in a Florida home has to have pink or mint green walls and flamingo accents?!! Come on now! I brought a little Mediterranean flair to a West Palm Beach villa. The Golden Incas granite is deliciously inviting.

Interiors by Krista Watterworth Design

Should I Stay Or Should I Go…Now?

Krista Watterworth — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:01:18 +0000

For New York renters “The Stay-Put Incentive” translates into cold, hard cash, according to ELIZABETH A. HARRIS of The New York Times. Spring and summer are the times of year when people are at their happiest, it would seem, so we become lose with the wallet. It’s when I want to buy the most expensive shoes and most people will pay higher rents and purchase property. Ahhh… the positive effects of sunshine! But with the real estate market crash renters’ incentive is to stay-put, and rental buildings are giving them reason to with discounts and rent rebates.

It got me thinking about the positive effects of sunshine and the color yellow, it’s called the color of joy. If you’re going to stay put in your current apartment, paint a room yellow to bring more happiness to your life!

Check out this kitchen I designed with bright yellow walls. The homeowner wanted a room that would make her happy so she’d cook more, work less and feel inspired to invite guests to build a social life. It makes me smile just looking at it!

What does the color yellow do for you?

Interiors by Krista Watterworth Design