Today I learned that one of the most important quality assurance tests you can run on a kitchen is this one here:

It is the “pasta sauce test”. And it involves repeatedly boiling a cauldron of water underneath some cupboard doors for at least several hours.

It is an important test because the combination of heat and humidity is particularly tough on certain kinds of finishes.

So if you happen to be in the market for a new kitchen, make sure you ask them about the pasta sauce test.

P.S. Scavolini is supplying the kitchens for both Junction House and One Delisle.

According to a recent study out of UCLA, which I discovered via this Curbed article, American families tend to spend most of their time at home in informal, rather than formal, spaces. That means more time in the kitchen and family room, as opposed to in the living room and formal dining room. 

I’m sure this comes as no surprise to all of you. Was a study necessary? Maybe you even have plastic on the furniture in your formal rooms because, you know, they’re reserved for “entertaining.” The reason I mention this is because I thought it was funny how Kate Wagner describes this phenomenon in her Curbed article:

The ironic inefficiency of hyper-exaggerated high-end entertaining spaces belies a truth: These spaces aren’t really designed for entertaining. They’re designed for impressing others. And not just impressing others: After all, it’s general politeness to compliment a host on their home no matter how impressive it is. The real goal, deeply embedded in these oversized, over-elaborate houses, is not for guests to say, “Oh wow, this is nice,” but to make them think, “Oh wow, this is nicer than what I have and now I feel jealous and insecure.” In true American irony, these giant “social” spaces (and McMansions in general) are birthed from a deeply antisocial sentiment: making others feel small. Considering that so often our guests are members of our own family adds another layer of darkness to the equation.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kate Wagner, she is the founder of McMansion Hell, which is a hilarious website dedicated to blasting McMansions. A pejorative term for houses that privilege raw size and the appearance of wealth over quality. Now that you know that, I am sure the above blurb makes a lot of sense.

Vipp is a 3rd generation family-owned Danish company that makes everything from kitchens and lighting to prefab homes. But it all started with a pedal-controlled waste bin that Holger Nielsen – a metalworker – crafted for his wife Marie’s salon in 1939.

I love their design philosophy. It is centered around “fewer but better products” and around lasting function over ephemeral trends.

But equally interesting is what they are doing with their Vipp Hotels. Instead of large hotels, they offer individual rooms in unique locations, such as this 55 square meter design object in the Swedish wilderness (pictured above).

The rooms they have crafted are, not surprisingly, stunning. And that’s because they are deliberately designed as a tool to showcase their kitchens, bathrooms, bins, and other products. 

Here is a quote from their CEO taken from a recent Surface article:

“Traditional retail seems to be losing its power, but what is not losing power is our desire to see or do something interesting. I see our hotels as the experience economy coming alive,” says Kasper Egelund, CEO of Denmark-based Vipp.

Clever.

Image: Vipp