Manolo for the Home

When you can’t live without something, you can at least make it look good. Heat, for example, is something those of us in certain parts of the world cannot do without, which means that radiators and other heating elements tend to get the shaft. It’s there, we accept it, and we move on to “more important” things like the color of our walls. But why should the humble workhorse that is the radiator not have a chance to live a life of high style? Radiators drab? I just say no. Check these flashy numbers out for a little taste of what I’m talking about.

Colored, European-style radiators that match one’s decor perfectly, whether they’re in the bathroom or the bedroom. Like a nice warm towel or shirt in the morning? Pegler has you covered with bright radiators that are a lot more cheerful and chic than your average heat source.

While some might find these tall hotties a little creepy in the dark of night, they are quite cool. The Oreste & Emma radiator designed by Andrea Crosetta might look best in a public space where it will be seen by a lot of people.

In traditional spaces, cast iron is where it’s at. The Cast Iron Reclamation Company carries gorgeous, old school radiators modeled after those produced in France in the 1890s.

Cast iron doesn’t have to look old fashioned, however. Just look at this unique radiator designed by Joris Laarman for Droog Design. It’s very pretty and modern without being overwhelmingly angular or unfamiliar… it’s like the traditional radiator’s younger cousin.

Of course, if you have established radiators that you cannot replace for financial reasons or because you don’t own your flat, you might be able to incorporate them into your decor. Some people paint their radiators a contrasting color so it stands out, but Wary Meyers Decorative Arts painted this Park Slope radiator to make it blend in.

When I lived in Berlin back in the day, the tiny kitchen we had in our otherwise massive flat contained a refrigerator that was orange. I mean bright orange. None of this white, cream, black, or stainless bunk for the Germans. Though I can’t recall if our stove was equally colorful, I can remember being surprised and delighted by the orange refrigerator that complemented our orange kitchen. That room in particular could easily be described as retro-modrn, and that was just the built-ins!

It’s a shame that the only places selling very colorful kitchen appliances here in the States seem to be Big Chill and Northstar. And then, of course, they’re quite expensive and really only work if you’re a fan of retro kitchen appliances.

I do like them, but wouldn’t it be nice if some of the European kitchen appliance manufacturers would decide to sell to us here in the U.S. of A. so we could all have colorful refrigerators and stoves without having to opt for retro kitchen appliances. Of course, everything would still be quite expensive, but at least there would be some variety beyond the usual four-color palette!

Needs versus wants has come up quite a bit on my little corner of the blogging world, both as it pertains to weddings and as it pertains to outfitting one’s kitchen. We’ve seen hot chocolate cups and useless kitchen gadgets and even the Pasta Pronta.

Now, in the tradition of the egg pricker, we have the egg cracker.

But it’s not just any old egg cracker! It’s the Swarovski crystal egg cracker, which adds a little glamour to breakfast time.

The Clack Egg Cracker is the essential kitchen gadget and ideal gift for those who love their boiled eggs perfectly sliced. No more whacking eggs with the back of a spoon and having to peel off bits of shell. No more attempting to make a perfect slice with a knife without letting it slip. Just a perfectly cut shell.

This strikes me as one of those things one might see on an infomercial featuring sad looking folks who are too clumsy to open a plastic bag, marinate a chicken, or yes, peel a soft boiled egg. I realize that this particular kitchen gadget wouldn’t take up too much room in a drawer or cabinet, but when you add to it all of the other useless kitchen gadgets in the world, you might just have a bit of a clutter problem.

Ever tune into the Home Shopping Network? There’s something a little naughty about watching uppity women desperate to sell you something you don’t really need in the next 15 minutes. I don’t have a television, but the Home Shopping Network has gotten around that by putting their inventory online. How else, after all, would reclusive people like myself ever discover how empty their lives are without the FreshPrep Toss & Chop Salad Tool?

Now I realize that staring into its gaping maw doesn’t tell you much about how this apparent miracle of a kitchen tool functions. Luckily, HSN is there to clarify things.

Toss, mix and chop your food all in one step with our FreshPrep Toss & Chop™ Salad Tool. This amazing cutlery device allows you to quickly make healthy, fresh meals. Conveniently and swiftly prepare all the ingredients to make egg, chicken, tuna or chef salads, holiday stuffing and more—all in one bowl. Simple and easy to use, this great little tool saves you time in the kitchen so you can spend it with friends and loved ones.

I can’t deny that I do like spending time with friends and loved ones! Who doesn’t? Fascists, that’s who! So toss out your knives and your forks, and fill your kitchens with cooking and prep gadgets that don’t have any kind of cross-functionality. It’s the American way!

Among all of the merchandise Martha Stewart puts her oftentimes less-than-unique stamp on, her Blue Collection for KitchenAid isn’t half bad. The color she’s chosen remains popular for those whose kitchens can use a splash of color, and the iconic KitchenAid mixer still cannot be beat.

But never fear, all Martha Stewart has done is made a selection of KitchenAid gear blue and slapped her name on it, so you don’t have to worry that your kitchen appliances will stop working in protest if you attempt to make waffles from a mix.

A wonderful post over at Carpe Diem illustrates just how far we’ve progressed when it comes to the price of consumer goods. Of course, when I say progressed, I only mean that we can get just about any tool or accessory for the home (be it curtains, couches, or the old fashioned toaster) for much less than our grandparents would have paid. Relatively, that is. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is for the economists to decide. Being that one can buy a toaster for a mere $12, I’m just fascinated by the overall difference in price.

Observe… The cost of Sears Toaster in 1949 was $16.95, which doesn’t sound like much but adds up to a whopping 13.5 hours of work at the average hourly manufacturing wage of $1.26. Whereas the cost of a Sears toaster in 2009 is $19.99, or 1.1 hours of work at the average hourly manufacturing wage of $18.03. That explains a lot about why my grandfather will repair a toaster that’s on the fritz while my father will just toss the old one and go and buy a new one at Wal*Mart. Me? I don’t have a toaster; I just use the oven.

I buy my flour in bulk from King Arthur Flour, which means I get a new catalog in the mail every month. It never ceases to amaze me how many one-off gadgets and appliances are sold by a company that ostensibly caters to series bakers.

The most recent example of flagrant pointless was the peanut butter and jelly spreader. It has a spreader on each end so you can avoid contaminating your peanut butter with jelly and vice versa. I personally prefer to use a knife in the PB and a spoon in the J, but that’s just me. I’d watch out if you’re using a runny jam, lest you find your fingers gunked up by sweet stuff when you turn it over to scoop your nut butter.

Then there’s the S’mores maker, which unfortunately did not come from King Arthur Flour. Back in my day — I can’t believe I just wrote that — we used a plate if we wanted to microwave up some s’mores. I’m guessing moms prefer washing a plate to scrubbing the defibrillator hands of an anthropomorphized…something.

Who buys these things, anyway?

Funny thing about New England…winter morphs directly into summer. Last week, I was wearing sweaters to keep the chill at bay. Now I’m wearing hardly anything in a futile attempt to keep heat stroke at bay.

I’m discovering that I am woefully unprepared to face the summertime. My lovely new home does not have central a.c., and we do not by any stretch of the imagination have enough fans. We need more, like this swanky art deco-inspired desk fan from Horchow.

Is it any wonder, I ask you, that I am browsing fans like they are pictures of my favorite celebs?

Everyone has that short list of items they’d take with them to that hypothetical desert island that comes up now and again in conversation. Much of the time, those things special to us wouldn’t be of much use to us on that island (what good is a Kitchenaid mixer without electricity?) but we’d haul them along with us anyway. Human being are kind of like magpies that way, and more power to us. I think that our ability to imbue inanimate objects with emotional value is fascinating.

Here’s my list, which I put together just now. I didn’t let myself think too much about my choices because I wanted to see where my impulses would take me.

1. I try to keep an unending supply of petit fours in my pantry. Sometimes I buy ‘em, and sometimes I make ‘em from scratch. You don’t want to run into me on the street when I’ve run out. Little cakes…they are my crack.

2. My collection of Russian khokhloma kitchenware is important to me because it represents a connection to my heritage. Well, part of my heritage seeing as that I’m what one might not-so-politely call a mutt. In more courteous conversation I hail from “mixed ancestry.”

3. I always admired my grandparents’ collection of masks from different parts of the world, and now I have all sorts of masks of my own. Why do I like creepy faces hanging inside my house but hate the creepy faces hanging outside of other people’s houses? I’m going to guess it’s because mine are culturally relevant. I do worry that they’re going to scare the hell out of my kids someday!

4. My red Oreck upright rocks my socks — it was a hand-me-down from my grandparents, and thank goodness for that. Vacuums are way more expensive than I assumed they’d be back before I ever had a floor of my own to keep clean.

5. As annoying and yucky and mean as they can be, I adore my my quatro of cats. Did you think I was going to say “the litter box?” Having living beings around is, in some way, invigorating, if only because I find myself chasing them around the house with the spritz bottle.

I guess at my core I am a crazy, cake-eating cat-lady neat-freak who has a weakness for other cultures. Now tell me, what are the five things that you wouldn’t want to live without? And what does your list say about you?

As I mentioned previously, I like my kitchens and my bathrooms to be white on white with white. However, there is a caveat. As much as I prefer a nice sanitized look where walls and floors and cabinets are concerned, I know that bringing in a splash of vivid color really makes a space pop from a looks point of view.

Does your kitchen need some brightening up? If so, you could do worse than to incorporate any of the yummy, pretty things pictured above into your food prep area decor.

(stay tuned for a rainbow in the bedroom *wink*)