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HIDDEN
behind a downturn in the stock market, pain at the gas
pump and historic home foreclosures, the high-end
designer kitchen gleams on. The remodeling business may
be off in parts of Southern California, and some
consumers may be rethinking the need for $8,000
professional ranges, granite-topped islands and extra
dishwashers, but in the words of Los Angeles interior
designer Karen Haas: Clients still want “the best, the
brightest, the latest.”
“They’re
wanting these gadgety things,” says Cynthia Bennett of
Cynthia Bennett & Associates in South Pasadena. “Wine
refrigerators have become a staple, plus built-in coffee
makers and speed ovens.”
Whether
people are actually cooking more remains unclear, but
the primacy of the kitchen as a public shrine seems, for
the moment, secure. “I call them Lean Cuisine kitchens,”
Haas says, referring to her suspicion that warming a
frozen dinner might be the height of culinary expertise
expended by some owners of $5,000 ranges—not counting
occasions when the equipment is turned over to caterers.
BEDNARSKI’S former “dark
and ugly” kitchen. -- PHOTO
COURTESY OF THE HOMEOWNER
“No
one’s going toward Kitchen-Aid and the regular GE,” says
Susan Serra, a prominent New York designer whose clients
spend on average between $150,000 and $200,000 on new
kitchens that sport professional-grade equipment by the
likes of SubZero and Fisher & Paykel. “I’ve been against
these big appliances from Day One....What people forget
is what they really need.”
Midmarket manufacturers such as Kenmore and Frigidaire
have introduced versions of the high-end ranges for a
fraction of the cost. And in the opinion of Los Angeles
kitchen remodeling contractor David Ceballos, they’re
often just as good.
“You’re
paying for the brand name,” he says of the others. But
even people on a budget, Ceballos says, “still want that
professional look.”
 Overall
appliance sales have flattened, according to the
National Kitchen and Bath Association. But Elaine
Chaney, senior vice president for marketing and sales
for Dacor, the pricey appliance manufacturer based in
Diamond Bar, says its customers still want high style—as
long as it comes with intuitive technology that doesn’t
require a degree from Caltech to operate.
“Lots of
families depend on the high-school senior to put a roast
chicken in the oven for dinner because both parents are
working,” Chaney says.
Many of
the new computerized, dual-fuel, multiple-keypad ovens
require much more than turning a knob. These hefty,
restaurant-worthy stainless-steel icons from Viking,
Wolf and others make a statement and deliver charring
power, but the question is: To what extent are they
necessary for the average family’s menu—even a gourmet
menu?
“What’s
really impressive is being able to sear a steak,” says
Matthew Lee, a James Beard Award-winning cookbook
author, describing what a 15,000-BTU gas burner can
accomplish that most home stoves with 1,800 to 3,000
BTUs cannot. Yet Lee and his brother Ted, coauthor of
The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook, deliberately make do
with “a crappy four-burner Modern Chef” stove in a
Manhattan apartment so as to better develop recipes for
the average cook.
“If you
poke your nose into the world of the
been-there-done-that chef like Bobby Flay,” Matthew Lee
says, “it’s not the size of the kitchen you’ll notice
but its efficiency.” As revealed in the how-to videos on
www.danielnyc.com, the home kitchen of Daniel Boulud,
the chef-owner of the top-rated restaurant Daniel in New
York City, is relatively small, even cramped.
“Space
is so dramatically wasted in many of these mansions on
steroids,” says Katherine Austin, a member of the
American Institute of Architects’ (AIA) Housing and
Custom Residential advisory group. “You can have
high-end appliances in a small space.”
The
endurance of the showroom-quality kitchen indicates that
homeowners still regard this once-utilitarian part of
the house to be an emblem of status, as significant to
their self-image as the car they drive. Plus,
real-estate agents and (surprise) kitchen designers will
tell you that a camera-ready kitchen is key to a home’s
resale value.
Research
data on consumer preferences released by the American
Institute of Architects in February indicated “kitchens
continue to be the dominant design area within the home,
with dedicated computer work areas and cell phone and
personal digital assistant recharging stations becoming
an emerging trend.”
For
those waiting for the kitchen to come back down to
Earth, there was a glimmer of hope: The study noted a
slight retreat from top-of-the-line appliances.
One
factor that may speed the change in mind-set: the
growing interest in green building and renovation, with
an emphasis on energy efficiency, using renewable
resources and generally eschewing the kind of excess
that has been a hallmark of many recent remodels.
The AIA
survey found that 49 percent of the respondents wanted
renewable countertop materials like ceramic tile and
IceStone (made from recycled glass), as opposed to
quarried, irreplaceable stone like granite.
Even if
environmental concerns don’t sway them, some homeowners
are dialing back their kitchen plans because of budget.
Bennett says she’s been getting more calls for
“face-lifts” rather than complete overhauls. Given the
uncertain economy, she says, “I think a lot of people
are waiting to see what’s going to happen.”
Denys
Barbas, a designer with California Kitchens in Burbank,
expects changes to be minor, at least at first. “If
anything, they’ll pull back on some of the niche items,
like the $2,000 built-in coffee maker,” she says. David
Glasband, a long-time kitchen contractor based in the
San Fernando Valley, is less sanguine, noting that his
business is off 70 percent to 80 percent over the last
six to nine months. “The ultra-wealthy people are still
buying their Vikings, but aside from them, the Valley
has been impacted. Everybody’s scared and sitting on
their money.”
Textile
designer Martine Bednarski of Eagle Rock bought her
otherwise elegant 1928 Spanish Colonial revival home
near Occidental College a few years ago and was faced
with “a dark and ugly” kitchen that she knew she had to
renovate—but on a budget. The space was limited and so
was her wish list, but she had difficulty finding a
contractor willing to entertain any job less than
$50,000.
“I
finally found someone in San Dimas who would do it,”
Bednarski says. Instead of moving the washer and dryer
to the basement (which would mean more steps), she
decided to mask them with waist-level curtains, and got
a hardwood floor that matched the rest of the house, a
marble countertop, new light-colored cabinets, a
free-standing pantry and open shelving.
She
settled for a standard Tappan range and bought one
expensive appliance: a compact Miele refrigerator that
she wanted to look good because of its stand-alone
placement next to an entry.
Her
final bill: $40,700.
“I
didn’t compromise much at all,” Bednarski says, giving
up only a custom cabinet she originally wanted for the
dishwasher.
The
result is a handsome and practical kitchen that might
not be large enough to make a caterer happy but that
suits her needs as a single mom who, in fact, does a lot
of cooking. “I don’t think I would do it now,” she says,
“because I probably wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
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