Archive for the ‘Did You Know’ Category

BLANCO’s new faucet video helped to raise over $1,000 for water conservation efforts through Water for People! According to Emma Pfister, Resource Development for Water for People, “The funds raised from the BLANCO’s YouTube Challenge help our Everyone Forever model which aims at supporting water access to every school, every clinic and every household in the areas where we work. We are so grateful for BLANCO’s support of Water For People and ending water poverty.”

Learn more about all our recent faucet introductions at: http://youtu.be/g0ogoIOCeos

BLANCO also held a Pinterest promotion to raise awareness for Water for People and the communities it serves.

For inspiration, visit the beautiful boards at: http://pinterest.com/search/boards/?q=#blanco-water-for-people

BLANCO recently launched two new how-to videos with valuable information on how to clean and care for a stainless steel sink as well as a new video on how to “green” your kitchen.

The stainless steel cleaning video can be found on blancoamerica.com and offers helpful tips on what cleaners to use and how to clean a sink to maintain its finish long term. Follow the link above or click on the image below to watch. There are two videos on this page – one on how to select a stainless steel sink and one on how to care for it after purchase.

The “How to Green your Kitchen” video can also be found on blancoamerica.com and offers valuable advice on how to select green products for your kitchen. The video can be launched by clicking on the link above or on the image below to be directed to our sustainability statement. We hope you enjoy our latest videos!

We welcome BLANCO Design Council Member and blogger Joseph Freenor, CFT 411 who has penned this week’s guest post on kitchen design trends including the arts and crafts revival and great rooms. Joseph is a professional woodworker whose long established blog provides in depth information and observations on the kitchen design world.

Arts and Crafts Revival

A trend that has been going on for a long time is the Arts and Crafts Revival. There are any number of people working in the field who are doing incredible work. I wrote a blog on Kevin Rodel in 2008. Mr. Rodel is clearly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement, but he is not bound to making only reproduction pieces. What Mr. Rodel most wants to do is to create works that have their roots in that movement, but that have been designed for contemporary purposes. And that is more than simply putting a TV in a reproduction Greene & Greene bookcase. What Mr. Rodel has done is to use those designs as a point of departure, and then taken them somewhere else altogether. The results are stunning—no other word adequately describes it. Here’s a link to the original post: http://cft411.com/2008/11/05/kevin-rodel-arts-crafts-furniture-design/

Great Rooms

The other trend that I find particularly interesting is the turn to what I call Great Rooms. These are large rooms that hold kitchen, living room and dining room. It’s something that is just beginning in this country, although it’s been in vogue for quite some time in Europe, where homes are so much smaller than they are in the USA. With the economy being the way it is, people are beginning to downsize. Some are selling large homes and buying smaller. Others are older empty-nest people who have taken in adult children with children of their own. Some clever remodeling to accommodate so many more has sometimes been the result.

I have not said anything about the empty-nest angle, but I have mentioned Great Rooms in a number of blogs. Electrolux calls it the “Live-In Room,” and I wrote a blog on them some time back which I recycled last year for Blanco’s Earth Day Celebration. Here is a link to that blog: http://cft411.com/2011/03/31/electrolux-4/

What can you accomplish in four hours? In four hours, I’ll have completed my morning workout, driven to the office, attended several meetings, sent many emails, called my Mom, and most likely eaten another breakfast.

Lots of women and girls in the developing world spend four hours a day collecting water. That’s time away from school, family, work and play.

That’s why this year, Water For People has set out to change the way millions of women and girls spend their time.

Please join us by donating to the Time Well Spent $2 Million Challenge.

If you do, you’ll be helping children like Josephine, a 10-year-old girl living in the district of Rulindo, Rwanda. Until recently, she made a two-hour trek down and then up a steep mountainside to fetch water twice a day. When fistfights started breaking out at the heavily trafficked spring, her mother joined her for protection. For Josephine, this is four hours EVERY DAY that she could have been in school, studying, or playing and just being a kid. For Mom, it’s 28 hours a week that she spends away from her family and home.

But there’s a solution: Through the support of Water For People, Josephine and her mother have regained four hours of their days because, as of June 2012, there’s a tap just steps from their home.

Will you join us in supporting Water For People by donating now to make girls like Josephine’s TIME WELL SPENT?

We need your help today. I hope you can join us in the adventure toward Everyone, Forever in the places where we work. It’s ambitious and we can’t do it with you.

Thank you,

Emma Pfister

Water for People

Newly expanded BLANCO Color App helps homeowners virtually see counters and sinks together before they buy

BLANCO expands the BLANCO SILGRANIT II Color App for iPhone and iPad by adding a greater selection of kitchen sinks to assist designers and homeowners in creating the ideal kitchen. The new Color App includes 63 SILGRANIT II color sink choices and nine new BLANCO stainless steel sinks. In addition, the groundbreaking BLANCO CERANA™ Apron Front Fireclay reversible sink will also be available, giving the user the choice of either going for the contemporary or traditional look.

The user-friendly application makes the experience of creating a personalized kitchen exciting with a selection of 72 stunning BLANCO sinks and 26 popular counterstones including CaesarStone^® and Zodiaq. App users may snap a photo of any countertop and add it to the collections to create their own combinations, or modify the current countertop selections by uploading their own images. The selected sink and counter composites appear together as in a real kitchen installation and can be saved to a Favorites Folder to be shown to a builder, contractor, residential designer or friends. The free BLANCO SILGRANIT II Color App is available for download on iTunes (iPad) and iTunes (iPhone). The basic version of the app is also available on Google Play for Android smartphones.

“The updated BLANCO SILGRANIT II Color App is fun and easy to use with even more sinks and countertops to choose from,” states Tim Maicher, Director of Marketing for BLANCO. “It’s very hard to imagine what your sink and countertops will look like together. The BLANCO SILGRANIT II Color App lets you see and play with different combinations before you make a decision. By adding the additional sinks in stainless steel and especially the new CERANA fireclay, we are giving homeowners, designers and fabricators the flexibility and tools to see how their sink will look when paired with various countertop materials.”

BLANCO SILGRANIT II Color App Details:

• Easy and intuitive iPhone/iPad/Android App lets user mix and match BLANCO sinks with countertops to find the perfect match
• 63 different styles of SILGRANIT II sinks
• NEW: Ten styles of BLANCO’s stainless steel and hand-finished CERANA fireclay sink selections
• 26 colorful countertop choices
• Ability to search by sink or counter to start
• Ability to photograph a counter and add it to the App (for devices with cameras)
• Users can store designs in a Favorites folder to share or save for later
• The Store Locator function allows users to locate where to purchase a BLANCO sink by simply entering their home zip code and connecting with a retail outlet where BLANCO products are available
• Users may also connect with www.blancoamerica.com to learn more about their selected sink options

Available free on iTunes (iPhone), iTunes (iPad) or Google Play for Android smartphones.

Home Talk is the #1 home improvement radio show according to Google with an audience of 3.1 million listeners. The show gives experts on home improvement a chance to educate listeners about technology, repairs, tools and products. http://www.hometalkusa.com/

Christy Emens spoke with the Cajun Contractor, Michael King recently about BLANCO sinks and faucets. Christy described the history of BLANCO, a family owned company with one of the broadest portfolio of quality sinks and faucets. These innovative products don’t just look good but also serve a functional need in the home. Michael King asked about trends and Christy spoke about the sink as part of a living kitchen design. To hear more, click the link to find the archives for February 25^th and then click on hour 1.

New Trends in Kitchen Sink/Faucet Designs:

New sinks, like the BLANCO CRYSTALLINE offer an integrated cutting board that actually hides the sink when not in use. The sink is the heart of the kitchen – one of the hardest working appliances in the home. Sinks today do double duty for prep and cleaning to save space in the kitchen.

Chef-inspired themes are still hot but the designs are becoming sleeker and more sophisticated. The CULINA with its closed coil design prevents entanglement and is easier to clean with a streamlined look.

BLANCO’s SILGRANIT® II sinks made of granite and a patented formula of acrylic resins are indestructible and are one of the hottest growing segments in BLANCO’s product line. Their beautiful colors and durable construction are hitting a hot button with consumers.

Consumers want to feel good and will lean towards green companies like BLANCO. The SOLON Compost Systems lets consumers design green living into their kitchens while saving counter and under counter space.

For more trends, click on the link to hear the entire show.

This week we enjoyed some pretty scary kitchen remodeling stories and tips from designers on how to avoid haunting your home. If you have a remodeling tip, please feel free to comment below. The last scary shot is of a shallow, small and unattractive sink from BLANCO Design Council member Susan Serra, CKD at www.thekitchendesigner.org. Help us Susan. What can we do about this scary sink!

Tip #5: Join beauty and function. Understated design.

According to Susan, “I mean, come on people – nostalgia is great and warm and fuzzy and all but, to a point, no? This lovely vintage sink/strainer ensemble has seen many hard (and depressing) working days at the sink, at least it looks like it! Buh bye – this kitchen is slated to change out to one designed for the 21st century. A modern, understated, sink design and faucet (yes, I do not think we will keep that faucet) is on tap to enable the chief cook and bottle washer to join together beauty AND function.”

According to designer Susan Serra, this scary sinks needs to go buh bye.

A BLANCO SILGRANIT SINK and Quadris Faucet featured in a Susan Serra designed Bornholm Kitchen island.

Scary remodeling story #4! This week is all about avoiding scary remodeling situations with good planning and advice from qualified design professionals. The BLANCO Design Council offers tips to help you sail through remodeling season without a fright.
This tip is from Cheryl Kees Clendenon of In Detail Interiors.

Tip #4: When you use a qualified designer, you can avoid layout nightmares.

According to Cheryl, “Here is a before and after of a kitchen I did for a returning client (was selling this house so he hired me to cute up whole house to try and sell) and the kitchen is horrendous as you can see. Scary: dishwasher a couple miles away from sink so you can drip all over your floor loading dishes….in the way of cook at the range…and the list goes on…..really poor layout. We barely had room but we were able to put it to the left side of sink and this allows a great working space in the corner! And yes, it is a Blanco sink…fancy that! I do not think we have used a non BLANCO sink in several years!!”

This is scary. A dishwasher miles from the sink. AGGGG!

New BLANCO sink and faucet - right next to the dishwasher. No more nightmares.

Scary remodeling story #3! This week is all about avoiding scary remodeling situations with good planning and advice from qualified design professionals. The BLANCO Design Council offers tips to help you sail through remodeling season without a fright.
This tip is from Gloria Graham, AKBD of www.kitchensforliving.net.

Tip #3: TWO WRONGS DON””””T MAKE A RIGHT!
“These two bulbous drawer cabinets were a creative effort to look cool and have great big deep drawers,” states Gloria.  “Instead they looked out of place and infringed upon the walkway between the island and the cooktop.  Eventually those big drawers began to sag too.  Here is our redo.  Sometimes simple is best.  We still have ample drawer storage as well as ample space between island and cooking area. There is even a drawer cut around the plumbing under the sink!”

Scary Kitchen Seeks Designer. HELP!!

Less is more in this beautiful "after" shot.

Scary remodeling story #2! This week is all about avoiding scary remodeling situations with good planning and advice from qualified design professionals. The BLANCO Design Council offers tips to help you sail through remodeling season without a fright.

This tip is from Vicki Payne, CEO/Producer of For Your Home.

Tip #2: Be prepared for hazards you cannot see.

According to Vicki, “The kitchen we just completed on FYH had lots of issues including lead and asbestos. But the scariest was what we found in the wall….mice.  You have to not only be a designer, contractor and magician to turn a kitchen from this into this…sometimes you also have to be an exterminator!”

The kitchen features a beautiful BLANCO faucet and sink. Tip 2+: Designers never skimp on the sink and faucet. The reason? The counter surface is always more expensive than the sink. Do not be tempted by free or cheap sinks. Once the counter is cut – it is more expensive to replace than that cheap sink that might rust out over time. Spend a little more on a quality sink and faucet! It is the most used appliance in your kitchen – and worth every cent.

Before Kitchen

Scary - behind the scenes.

A good sink and faucet like these from BLANCO can avoid scary situations later on.

Vicki Payne posing in the newly remodeled - and not at all scary kitchen.