Kitchenisms » bottle

Look: Dwell on Design at The Kitchn

Ele — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:50:49 +0000

How badly do I wish I had got to attend the Dwell on Design conference in LA this past weekend? Luckily, the folks behind one of my favourite sites, The Kitchn, did, and shared their thoughts here. They photographed some great new design items in the “Kitchen Ecology” exhibition, and I’m including my favourites below.

I love these colourful Log Bowls, from Loyal Loot. I might not want to eat out of them, but a larger one would make a great fruit bowl:

An eco take on the soap-repackaging idea, New Soap, Old Bottle from Amron Experimental:

The idea of a rocking lunch might be a bit far-out, but I like the look of these Balancing Meal servers from United Design:

Kathleen Hills

Ele — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:27:55 +0000

I remember seeing British designer Kathleen Hills’ work over at The Kitchn about a year ago. I come across a lot of tableware and kitchen products when I’m browsing the web, but the work of this product designer and Central St. Martins teacher really stayed with me. I recently came across her site and loved what I saw- here are my favourite pieces.

The piece that Hills probably gets the most press for, her “Made in England” china and beech rolling pin:

These Milkli double-spouted milk jugs come with colourful foil caps, as well as practical plastic ones:

I don’t use sugar cubes, but for this Sugar lump holder I might have to start:

There’s no way I could choose between all Hills’ plate designs, but here are my favourites:

Hills also makes beautiful light fixtures, including this Cluster light which I covet for my own kitchen (it comes in black, too):

Kitchen Idea: Re-bottle your dish soap

Ele — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:44:38 +0000

One of my favourite tips for creating a serene, unified space in any room is to get rid of branding. By that I mean, get your stuff out of the ugly packaging it comes in, and into something pretty! I keep grains and dried legumes in glass jars, remove store-bought cookies to a ceramic pot, and decant olive oil from a 3 lt. container into a small glass bottle by the stove.

Until I saw this at La Dolce Vita this week, I’d never thought to do anything about my bottle of dish soap, though. The photo is from the kitchen of Brooklyn Limestone, a fab reno blog that I read occasionally, and a little research taught me that the idea came from the incomparable Martha Stewart.

I think this is a great idea, especially if you can get as pretty a bottle as the one above. I imagine a pump-style would work better, though, so I’m on the hunt for one of those. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Etsy find: Upcycled glass

Ele — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:54:23 +0000

I’m a huge fan of reusing food containers. I store grains in glass passata bottles, and my current drinking glasses are actually old Nutella jars. (I forced myself to go through six of them to get a set. Tough, I know.) So I love what Etsy shop YAVAglass is doing: up-cycling old glass bottles into fun and quirky drinking glasses. My top three picks from their shop have surprisingly different looks.

One one hand, this set of four tumblers, upcycled from bottles of Boylan’s Root Beer. I love the fun, retro feel and think they’d be perfect for a summer barbeque:

On the other end of the scale, this set of ten glasses is surprisingly elegant. Made from old Cream Soda bottles, I somehow have no trouble imagining these as part of a sophisticated table setting:

And don’t forget the kids. This set of four, made from bottles of Bubble Up soda, look like they’d make great juice glasses: