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For a free, no-obligation initial design consultation, please contact us. We'd like to help you if we can.
For a free, no-obligation initial design consultation, please contact us. We'd like to help you if we can. |
The Very Best of the Very Latest....
The very latest products appear in trade journals long before they show up in Home Depot or Lowes.
Of the products recently introduced, here are our picks of the best, the interesting, the different and the unusual.
Proving that just when you think there is nothing clever left to invent, someone comes up with a product that is smart and innovative; the PermaFLOW self-cleaning p-trap eliminates most drain clogs by generating turbulence that keeps drains free of debris. But if it does clog, a manual wiper clears any debris. Lose a ring down the sink? The transparent PermaFLOW p-trap makes it easy to find and fish out. Goodbye Drano®, hello PermaFLOW. What will they think of next???
Watch the video or visit the web site.
Pump Sunlight Almost Anywhere
First came skylights. Big holes in the roof to let in daylight — and let out a lot of heat. A better, newer option — light tubes. Smaller than skylights, less likely to leak, and they let in a lot of daylight for their size, but let much less heat escapes.
The Huvco Parans system is very different. It uses a dynamic solar collector on the roof to gather light which is sent through optical cables up to 60' to any of a dozen different fixtures that look just like ordinary light fixtures. The collectors actually move to follow the sun across the sky for the most light. Now you can transmit light from the third floor roof to the living room through a cable the size of your thumb. Forget the big holes in the roof. The trade-off? The price won't make you faint, but it will leave you light-headed. It will come down, though, as more companies get interested in the technology.
For more information visit Huvco.
Undermount Sinks for the Rest of Us
Undermount sinks are preferred by most homeowners because they seamlessly flow into the countertop, eliminating the grunge-collecting lip of drop-in sinks. Until now, however, such sinks could be installed only beneath pricey stone or solid surfacing countertops. There was no good way to undermount a sink in a laminate counter top that would last more than a few years.
That has now changed. Karran Products has introduced a light-weight acrylic undermount sink that bonds seamlessly to the underside of a laminated counter top.
The sink selection is still rather limited (and only in white or bisque), and there are just a few counter top fabricators familiar with the product (we happen to be one of them), but the list of both is growing.
At about $300, the Karran sink is no more expensive than a good composite sink, and comes with an incredible 50 year warranty against staining. For more information contact us or visit karranproducts.com.
A Microwave in a Drawer
The microwave has always been the red-headed step child of kitchen design.
There is just no good place to put one. On-counter models take up too much valuable countertop space. Under-cabinet units must be small to fit under wall cabinets, ending up too small to be fully useful. Over-range microwave-vent units are too high for safe use by all but the tallest.
Sharp has found the answer with its pull-out microwave drawer. The appliance provides superb access by placing the microwave right at the most convenient height. It can even be installed under a Sharp cooktop. It's not all roses, however. The microwave does not include a turntable — a rather astonishing oversight, and because it is the first one, the price is easily about double that of a premium microwave, but coming down. Kudos to Sharp for a long-awaited and much-needed improvement in microwave placement — by a copier company?. GE where were you? For more information contact us or visit Sharp.
Continues...
Maple cabinets complement original wide-plank pine floors, once covered in linoleum, that were cleaned, stripped, painstakingly repaired, then refinished.
Photo-realistic computer sketches like this let you see your finished project long before we actually start building. It's much easier — and a lot cheaper — to make modifications in the computer than once we start construction.
Just because your bathroom is small does not we cannot remake it into a functional, gracious and elegant room.
