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Keys to a Healthier and Environmentally Efficient Kitchen

November 6, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

Health and wellness are top of mind among homeowners in Indianapolis, and many of our clients have expressed interest in creating healthier spaces in their homes. Key components of kitchens, baths that contribute to a healthier and more environmentally efficient home include:

Material quality
Airflow
Effective lighting
Thermal comfort
Comfortable movement throughout the space
Acoustical comfort

Material Quality

Cabinets, paints, hardware, countertops, floor and wall coverings and other materials you select for your new kitchen can contribute to a healthier space and lifestyle. We specify paints, glues, cabinets, and other materials with low to no volatile organic compounds for clients who want a more environmentally friendly and sustainable space. VOCs are chemicals found in many products used to build and maintain homes. Once the chemicals are in the home, they are released into the indoor air we breathe. Natural wood cabinets, stone countertops and glass backsplashes are all environmentally favorable.

Airflow

A healthy kitchen needs adequate airflow and ventilation. The ability to provide fresh air and create cross-breezes from open windows or doors contributes to a healthier kitchen as does a properly sized vent hood or fan that meets your range and cooking style needs. Clients that want to be on the cutting edge may be intrigued by an interior garden that grows vertically, also known as a living wall. Another healthy kitchen option is to create indoor herb gardens or strategically locate herb planters. Living walls and interior plants help reduce stress, improve air quality, enhance creativity and absorb sound, among other benefits.

Healthy kitchen design also accounts for the way you and your family cook and eat. A healthier kitchen should contribute to a healthier lifestyle that includes the use and consumption of fresh ingredients from an outdoor garden, living wall, indoor plants and herbs. Refrigerated drawers near the stove can help to keep foodstuffs fresher for longer periods. Open shelving, glass containers, glass-front refrigerators and glass-front cabinets showcase foodstuffs and can encourage you and your family to consume more wholesome foods than processed packaged goods.

Effective Lighting

Lighting can make or break how your kitchen looks, feels and functions. Natural light from windows, doors, skylights and other sources contributes to health and well-being. The use of lighting controls, dimmers, switches and motion sensors can help boost your productivity and energy and enhance your sleep quality.

Thermal Comfort

Thermal comfort is another crucial component of designing a healthy and environmentally friendly space. The use of smart thermostats, heated countertops and floors and a tight building envelope around a new kitchen keep the area toasty in winter and cool in the summer in an environmentally responsible way.

Comfortable Movement Throughout the Space

A new kitchen should allow all users to effectively and safely navigate the space. The three main areas of a kitchen referred to as the golden triangle comprises storage areas, including the refrigerator; the cleanup area, including the sink; and the cooking area, including the stove. The sink should ideally be located between the refrigerator and the stove to ensure a comfortable and unencumbered traffic flow and efficient use of the space. Each leg of the triangle should be between four and nine feet, and the total distance of the triangle should be between 13 and 26 feet to promote safe and easy navigation throughout the space.

Comfort also is derived from clean lines and a sense of calm that results from uncluttered countertops and islands.

Acoustical Comfort

Acoustics are the final element of a well-designed healthy kitchen. Noisy dishwashers, appliance motors, clangy sink bottoms, and surfaces that enhance sound disturb what otherwise is a peaceful kitchen. Eliminating unnecessary noises is part of a healthy design that homeowners in Indianapolis welcome and deserve.

If you want to learn more about additional design elements and strategies to promote a healthier and more environmentally efficient space in your home, give us a call or make an appointment to visit one of our beautiful showrooms.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

November 4, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

During the fall months, meals become heartier for most families. But with busy schedules, not everyone has time to make complex meals. This recipe for Chicken and Dumplings is filling and warm but requires very little time and is ready for you when you walk in the door! Imagine the stress of your day rolling off your shoulders as you finish your busy day and walk into your home to the smell of a warm home cooked meal.

Pair this with a crusty loaf of bread and a side salad for a wonderful home-cooked meal tonight!

Ingredients:

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
1 can of Chicken Broth 14.5 oz.
2-10 oz. cans of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Creamed Corn
1 can of Biscuits 16.3 oz.
1/2 White Onion chopped
1/8 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Pepper

Instructions:

Place the chicken breast in the crock pot. Cover chicken with broth, soup, creamed corn and chopped onion. Sprinkle on the garlic powder, salt and pepper then place the lid onto the crock pot.

Cook on high for three hours. After three hours, spoon the chicken out of the pot and shred it, using two forks. After the chicken is shredded place it back into the crock pot.

Cut the biscuit dough into bite size pieces. Place biscuit pieces in the pot and cook on high for an hour.

Now you are ready to serve this delicious comfort food!

Benefits of a Galley Kitchen

October 30, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

Apartments and smaller homes often have galley kitchens. These narrow spaces are called galley kitchens after the galleys on boats. A small and narrow footprint can in reality be a highly functional kitchen space if the appliances are laid out in a proper work triangle.

The benefit of a galley kitchen is that there are very few steps between the stove, fridge and sinks, the work triangle of any kitchen. It may not be possible to open the fridge and the oven at the same time, as in this kitchen, but when does that ever really happen.

Galley kitchens can work if you have one chef in the family. Getting two or more people in a galley kitchen can be tricky. Having enough counter space can also be tricky. Having a microwave built into a cabinet or above the stove is a good way to save valuable counter space in a galley or any small kitchen.

When placing flooring in a galley kitchen, don’t fight against the natural narrowness of the space. Wood floors should be installed with the planks running the same direction as the counters. Emphasize the length of the kitchen to make it feel larger.

In smaller kitchens, the total amount of materials will be less than in a larger kitchen. This means you can splurge on the granite countertops, the more expensive cabinets and the better quality floors. The bulk of your budget will still be on the appliances. To save space, use a counter depth refrigerator. Every inch counts in a galley kitchen.

If you need help choosing the right products for your galley kitchen, ask us for help!

Withstanding the Test of Time

October 30, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

Fads and trends come and go. Many homeowners in Indianapolis can remember when avocado-colored kitchens were all the rage or when pastel paint dominated design thinking. While it is tempting to look at what’s trending when renovating your kitchen or bath, our showroom advises selecting products, styles, and color schemes that can withstand the test of time.

White Cabinetry

There’s a good reason why more than 50% of kitchen renovations feature white cabinets. White cabinets offer a blank canvas for the remainder of the kitchen. They provide a classic, clean look and match any design motif from European modern to traditional and everything in between. White kitchens are timeless; their reflective qualities can make a smaller space appear larger, and, due to their popular appeal, they help increase the value of your home at sale time.

Contemporary Design

Clean lines are another feature that can withstand the test of time. A contemporary kitchen offers a clean, stylish, and uncluttered look and feel. Contemporary motifs pay homage to practicality because they focus on maximizing the use of available space and light, and that also can make a smaller space appear larger. When we design a contemporary kitchen, almost all appliances, even smaller ones such as coffee makers, are built into cabinetry. Countertops are left uncluttered, and many homeowners in Indianapolis appreciate the fact that contemporary kitchens are easy to clean.

Storage

A well-designed kitchen is an organized kitchen. Lack of customized storage solutions is one of the most common regrets of homeowners in Indianapolis after renovating their kitchen. We cannot emphasize enough the need to develop a storage plan for your new kitchen that addresses how often you cook, entertain, hold gatherings, and use the space. A great kitchen must not only look out of this world, but it also must incorporate the best functionality that meets your needs.

An almost endless array of options is available to store cookware, food, utensils, countertop appliances, recycling containers and so on. A professional kitchen designer can custom design trays to exacting specifications that account for your kitchen equipment’s actual dimensions. Specifying trays for drawers to hold cutlery and kitchen gadgets to match the drawer helps avoid movement and keeps what you want in its place.

Customized storage solutions are not confined to a kitchen to make a home look, feel and function superbly. Bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms and entryways all can make a home much more enjoyable if they are outfitted with storage solutions that meet your family’s needs and lifestyle.

Colors

Homeowners in Indianapolis often ask us about colors. While splashes of purple, turquoise, yellow, or green can become a focal point in kitchens and baths, we tend to favor palettes that can withstand the test of time. In addition to white, these include blue, grey, and cream tones.

If you are interested in creating a dream kitchen that will continue to be dreamy years after the renovation is complete, give us a call or make an appointment to visit one of our showrooms.

Design Resources

October 23, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

Our innovative and interactive website allows users to do a variety of things from checking in-stock products to virtually designing a room.

In this video, we take a look at our design resources section on our website. This section allows homeowners to access helpful tools for designing their space.

On the design resources page, you will find a variety of virtual tools to choose from. The design book is your personal catalog of design ideas that you loved and saved. In fact, you can upload your own room and design it virtually from our easy-to-use platform.

Also in the video, we take a closer look at the helpful tool, Measure It. Measure It is an effective and efficient tool for measuring your space to determine the amount of flooring you will need.

As always, we recommend consulting our professional sales representatives before ordering to ensure that you factor in waste.

Thanks for watching and be sure to stay tuned for more Design Resource videos!

Measure for Measure

October 23, 2020 by iccfloors Leave a Comment

COVID-19 caused our showroom to change the way we initially interact with homeowners in Indianapolis. When stay-at-home orders were in place, we developed a system to have homeowners assist in the preliminary design of their new kitchens by teaching them how to measure the space accurately. We even created a template for homeowners to use for bathrooms as well.

Measuring space remotely and conducting initial interactions via video calls will continue into the foreseeable future because it saves time, is easy and convenient, and, most importantly, it works. Remote measuring involves:

Measure the height of the space(s), from floor to ceiling, affected by the project. Note the measurement(s), with labels for each space, on the template.

Identify any rooms and/or spaces directly above and directly below where the project would take place.

Sketch a rough layout of the space(s) affected by the project on the template. It’s a grid format with each square representing one foot.

Measure the overall dimensions from wall to wall of the entire space and note each wall’s measurements on the layout.

Make a video of the space and take a 360-degree photo.

Label all windows, doorways, and appliances on the grid.

Measure the length, width, and height of an island or peninsula.

Measure the width and height of all windows in the kitchen.

Measure the width and height of all doors in the kitchen.

These measurements, videos, and images provide sufficient information to develop preliminary design concepts that we can present virtually or during an appointment at our showrooms. Before finalizing the overall design, our team will perform a final measurement to ensure a perfect fit.

If you are interested in creating a dream kitchen and bath and want to save time and effort and expedite the process by measuring and the space remotely for us, please call our showroom or email us for more information.