Home Improvements that Help Sell: In The Kitchen

Top Kitchen Design Trends for 2016

Photo credit: William Lesch; designed by: Lori Carroll and Associates, Tucson, Ariz.

Transitional, traditional, and contemporary styles remain the most popular in kitchen design but two new kitchen styles are popping up: industrial and farmhouse, according to the 2016 Design Trends Survey from the National Kitchen & Bath Association.

Neutral colors remain the dominate color scheme, with whites/off-whites, grays and beiges/bones being the most popular by far. Sixty percent of survey respondents report utilizing two or more colors within a kitchen space, a trend that has been growing since 2015. The two-tone trend is also growing more popular within kitchen cabinetry. Forty-two percent of designers report using a mix of color cabinets in their recent remodels. Respondents also reported in mixing up the kitchen color palette by using a different countertop material for the island versus the perimeter of the counter space.

NKBA reports the following top 10 kitchen design trends for this year:

1  Transitional style, with contemporary emerging.

Photo by: Jeremy Swanson; Designed by: Anne Grice Interiors, Aspen, Colo.

2  Gray/white/off-white cabinets.

Photo credit: Craig Thompson; designed by: Kitchen & Bath Concepts of Pittsburgh, West View, Pa.

3  Pull-outs, tilt-outs and tilt-ins for storage.

Photo credit:  Craig Thompson; designed by: Kitchen & Bath Associates of Pittsburgh, West View, PA

4  Wood flooring.

5  Quartz and granite countertops.

Photo credit: Mike Kaskel; designed by: Kitchen Encounters, Annapolis, Md.

6  Outdoor kitchens (mostly in the southeastern part of the U.S.)

7  Built-in coffee stations and wet bars.

8  Pocket doors.

Photo credit: William Lesch; designed by: Lori Carroll & Associates, Tucson, Ariz.

9  Special pet spaces (e.g. designated feeding stations, under-counter crate areas and special pull-outs to store pet food and toys)

Photo credit: Craig Thompson; designed by: Kitchen & Bath Concepts of Pittsburgh, West View, Pa.

10  Docking and charging stations.


By Melissa Dittmann Tracey, REALTOR® Magazine

Buying a Home, Summer 2015

Buying a Home Summer 2015 by Lori Koschnick

Go Home . . . and Bring Home that Dog!

#HomeRocks.  Home Rocks with even more gusto when you adopt a pet and bring home a dog.  My dog is part of the family and my greatest fan -- his big face is in the window watching me pull away from the garage when I leave home and it's there again to cheer on my homecoming at the end of the day.

"Belly-Boy" (short for Bellamie, which I'm told is French for "beautiful friend") is my buddy, gives great hugs, and is the cover-dog for this video pictured above .  The breed comes from the Pyrenees Mountain range along the border of France and Spain. Belly-Boy pops up again at the tail end of the 30 second video with my son.  The photos were taken just moments after we adopted this Great Pyrenees puppy. 

You'll see our first Great Pyrenees love, "Champ" (short for "Sir Woolly Britches" -- my husband refused to call out "Sir Woolly Britches!" in public) at the end too.  He keeps watch over the new pup with his boy, "Luke."

Finding and procuring a home of your own, just like finding the perfect pet, is a process that requires a bit of waiting.  Often it involves plans to fulfill dreams of bringing home a 4-legged furry pet.  When you find a house that's "home" for you and you get the keys in your hand . . . finally, you can bring home the dog or cat you've always wanted.  They're waiting to go home too! 

Aa a friend of Adopt-a-Pet and home buyers, I'd like to help you find a home to call your own and a forever home for a dog or cat waiting to be adopted.  Coldwell Banker Real Estate is on a mission to help find forever homes for 20,000 dogs! 

Direct questions to Realtor, Lori Koschnick, independent agent for Coldwell Banker The Real Estate Group Inc.  Coldwell Banker offices are independently owned and operated.

Infor@LoriKoschnick.REALTOR  or  Lori@HomewardBoundPro

Zero Net Energy Real Estate

Zero Net Energy: Homes consuming only as much energy as they produce by renewable means.

A Hardworking-House Term to Know

Zero Net Energy is a goal for builders; learn what ZNE means for you.

If you have not yet heard the term “zero net energy,” or ZNE, you will soon be hearing it everywhere. Most simply it means that a building consumes only as much energy as it can produce by renewable methods. Since buildings consume about 25 percent of our nation’s energy, the savings and implications of ZNE are enormous. For several years the U.S. Department of Energy has supported innovation in this area by sponsoring the Solar Decathlon. The biannual competition invites contestants to design and build a house that runs primarily on solar power and produces as much electricity as it consumes.

California building codes have already mandated implementation of ZNE by phasing in complete compliance by 2020 for all new homes, and remodels and additions that significantly upgrade a house, constructed in the state. Since California has at least 10 percent of the nation’s population and the ninth largest economy on the planet, its influence in this area is quickly scaling and spreading across North America. However, California codes prioritize renewable energy production last on the list of requirements that can assist with a home’s compliance. Energy consumption reductions and improved building design performance standards and technology are being phased in first.
 
Here are a few things that can be and already are being addressed by innovation to achieve this goal.

Caddis Architecture

Financing the investments. When ZNE applications show a return on investment in a relatively short amount of time, financial entities are keenly interested in supporting them. California has built incentives into its programs to promote them. Yet the savings on energy consumption alone has propelled lending institutions to support them, as they clearly see the payoff. The trend is spreading. The Colorado residence seen here, by Caddis Architecture, was designed to be ZNE. While its progressive and innovative design embraces a contemporary aesthetic in conjunction with achieving ZNE, vernacular home design, as illustrated in the Florida home below, can be adapted to meet this goal just as easily.

Energy Smart Home Plans

Crisp Architects

Reducing consumption. Probably the most obvious energy-saving consideration is doors and windows. In the past the glass-enclosed sunroom seen here, by Crisp Architects, would have been impractical during New York’s winter months. Dual- and triple-paned glass, along with other techniques and advances in window design, allows configurations to reduce energy use. In the Seattle house below, awnings with automated systems that sense rain and shading requirements provide a more passive solution to energy consumption at doors and windows.

Mohler + Ghillino Architects

Divine Design+Build

Regulating consumption. The incandescent bulb is gradually being phased out. First, compact fluorescent lamps took their place, which cut energy usage significantly. Lately, LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, have been cutting energy consumption even more. These compact and long-lasting fixtures not only greatly save energy, but they also allow innovative and dramatic lighting effects to be achieved.

The flush and elegant undercabinet fixtures seen here have been mounted snugly, keeping the crisp, clean lines in this modern kitchen. Dramatic lighting effects define the contemporary bath design below. In addition, LEDs can be designed to change color, adding another dimension.

Brilliant SA

Paragon Kitchens

Managing consumption. If you think all of your home electronics and mobile devices that need electricity are contributing to a larger electric bill, you are correct. Utility companies estimate that about one-third of an average home’s juice is consumed by such equipment.

Most appliances and electronics with power cords plugged in draw some electricity even when their power button is off. One of California’s goals is to require switches on all electrical outlets so that electronics that normally stay plugged in can more easily and conveniently be switched off.

Even if you just can’t live without the soft yellow glow of the incandescent bulb in your favorite lamp, you can save energy by installing a dimmer switch on that light fixture or on a hardwired light switch that controls it. Dimmers can save half or more of the energy of a bulb’s full capacity.

Legrand, North America

Another California requirement is that lights in certain rooms, such as baths and garages, be connected to motion sensors. This helps, for example, to keep the kids in check when they go around the house turning on the light in each room they enter without turning if off when they leave. In addition, depending on the type of room, incandescent fixtures are not allowed to be installed. The state requires that any hardwired fixture be “high efficacy.” This can be types with compact fluorescent bulbs or LEDs.

Greenstar Technologies

Usually on the higher end, there are systems with control panels, like this one, or ones that can be coordinated with a smartphone application. The ability to manage systems throughout the home will allow consumers not only to monitor their own habits, but to coordinate with peak energy demands in their regions. Utility suppliers place a premium on consumption during the hottest days of the year, for example, when demand surges. Being able to use less air conditioning on those days and planning to spend time out of the house can be a strategic method to lower your bills and help the system meet demand where it is needed most.

Norocom Smart Home

In addition, lighting that can respond to daylight, building designs that allow in sufficient daylight to minimize or eliminate the need for artificial lighting, and windows and ventilation that can be automated to respond to desired interior conditions are other features that can help to reduce and manage energy consumption.

Nest

Employing technology. A good example of such technologies is the Nest thermostat, which works with smartphones to assist in the management of a home’s climate. A good example of how Nest can save you energy is to consider a time when you are out of town for business. Let’s say you are in Los Angeles for three days, and a heat wave has enveloped Dallas, where you live. You set the temperature in your house to 82 degrees Fahrenheit while you are away, which keeps your electricity consumption down. When you board the plane in L.A. to return to Dallas, you open the app and set the temperature in your house to 72 degrees. By the time you get home, the temperature in your house will be just right.

Nest

Daedalus Design Build

Daedalus Design Build

One of the best advantages of California’s implementation of energy codes is that the price of photovoltaic technology is falling dramatically. While California will always have abundant sunshine, it is likely that future household mechanical systems will use several technologies in unison to achieve a home’s energy demands and climate control. The urban Philadelphia residence seen here employs geothermal, solar electric and solar thermal systems to provide comfort. The Montana home below uses geothermal and solar systems for a large and sprawling design.

Teton Heritage Builders

Teton Heritage Builders

Solar panels double as shade devices and overhang protection for the doors of this Seattle house. Traditional architecture, as seen below, can include solar panels just as easily. Look for a future in which any house can be retrofitted with a myriad of technologies, as the solutions likely will be fluid and flexible.

Albertsson Hansen Architecture, Ltd

Energy storage. Probably the biggest challenge at this time is energy storage. It is currently difficult to achieve on an individual scale. Our public energy grids are still primarily dependent on power generated by fossil fuels, which can be readily adjusted based on demand. There are already problems with utilities wishing to maintain control of the energy grids and how they will handle the influx of individually generated supplies. Flexibility, on both the individual and public levels, will probably solve all of the challenges. Zero-net-energy homes may sound complex, but imagining zero dollars for electric bills, for at least a couple of months a year, seems simple enough.

Steven Randel, California licensed architect & contributing writer at HOUZZ

Great Lake Problems from Sandy

October 28, 2012
The Weather Channel Winter Weather Expert Tom Niziol says the effects from Sandy will be felt along the Great Lakes.

Mortgage Rates in U.S. Increase With 30-Year at 3.41%

By Prashant Gopal - Oct 25, 2012 9:00 AM CT

U.S. mortgage rates rose, increasing borrowing costs as home values extend a rebound from their worst crash since the 1930s.

The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage climbed to 3.41 percent in the week ended today from 3.37 percent, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac said in a statement. The average 15-year rate rose to 2.72 percent, from 2.66 percent.

Mortgage rates fell to record lows this month, spurring demand for real estate and helping support prices as buyers compete for a shrinking supply of listings. Home values jumped 1.3 percent in the third quarter from the previous three months, the biggest gain since 2006, Zillow Inc., a Seattle-based property-data company, said this week.

“Now that people have confidence that a bottom was reached and is in the rear-view mirror, now there’s a willingness to take advantage of those historically low interest rates,”Russell Price, a Detroit-based senior economist for Ameriprise Financial Inc. (AMP), said in a telephone interview yesterday. “Now they’re much more effective in facilitating an ongoing recovery.”

Contracts to buy previously owned homes climbed 0.3 percent in September from the previous month and almost 15 percent from a year earlier, the National Association of Realtors said today.
Purchases of new homes jumped 5.7 percent in September to a 389,000 annual pace, the most since April 2010, figures from the Commerce Department showed yesterday.

The 30-year average reached 3.36 percent earlier this month, an all-time low, according to Freddie Mac.

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