At Kuttler Kitchens, we're always on the look out for new products to sell that will enhance our projects and our customers' enjoyment of their homes. We've long admired the offerings of DuVerre hardware and it's with great pleasure we announce that we're now selling the full hardware collection from DuVerre.

Tranquil kitchens bring to mind unhurried mornings where there's time and a comfortable spot to linger over a cup of Earl Grey. "Tranquility" is the second palette in our series of kitchen design ideas.

The overriding theme of what we do is that we capture the lives and personalities of our clients and then tell those stories through well-designed rooms. One of the ways we capture the essence of our clients is through presentation boards and palettes so we decided to show a series of five palettes that told a story. It's our hope that these palettes will be a starting point to empower you to tell your own story. "Sustainable" is the first palette in our series of kitchen design ideas.

Last Monday I wrote a post about a little, unscientific experiment I conducted last week. I followed up on Thursday with my initial findings and here we are a week later with my final words on the subject.

Maybe. To reprise, I took two six-inch by six-inch samples made from a cabinet shelves. One was 3/4" particle board and the other was 3/4" fir plywood. They are entirely representative of the materials that go into contemporary, quality cabinetry in the US. I soaked these samples in bowls of water for 72 hours and fished them out to survey the damage.

OK, on Monday I wrote a post and detailed my plans for finding out what happens when a six inch by six inch sample of 3/4" veneer plywood and a six by six sample of laminated 165 lb. particle board get dumped in water and left for a few days. The water immersion part of this test ended yesterday and before I get to what I've observed so far, let me state a couple of things. For starters, if your cabinetry ends up floating in water for a couple of days, how well it's going to hold up is the least of your problems. So the odds of immersion are slim at best. Secondly, this is not a scientific experiment by any means nor are the findings that follow some kind of a sweeping indictment or endorsement of these products' categories. All this test does do is test a hunch I had about these very specific samples. OK, with that out of the way, let's get to it.

I get asked a lot of questions about the relative merits of cabinetry constructed with a particle board box as opposed to cabinetry constructed with a plywood box. I find that most people who ask that question are looking for me to agree with whatever their opinion is so I don't argue. It's a topic like religion or politics in a lot of ways.

So as promised, here are some better photos of some of the new offerings for spring from my pals at Medallion Cabinetry. Everything I'm showing here is from Medallion's Platinum line of inset cabinetry. Feast your eyes.

I have never seen cabinetry go on sale in my life, but these are not usual times. Thanks to a promotion from Medallion Cabinetry, Kuttler Kitchens is running a series of specials though the first of May 2009.

The first is a 50% discount on all specialty finishes on orders of ten cabinets or more in our Designer, Designer Gold and Platinum product lines. That's all specialty finishes: glazes; classic, vintage and heirloom paints; the Coastal Collection; Vinyard, Pino Noir, Antique and Legacy Distressing. There are some examples of these specialty finishes scattered across this post. Come by the showroom to see them up close and in person.

As I mentioned earlier, framed cabinetry comes in three primary overlay styles: standard overlay, full overlay and inset. Here's a breakdown of what those terms mean. This is a standard-overlay door. You can see how the door doesn't cover the face frame completely. This is an old-fashioned design that's not at all popular anymore. Think twice before you buy standard-overlay doors! The arched top rail on this door further dates this door style.

I've been highlighting some of the new inset door styles available from Medallion Cabinetry, and it occurred to me that not everyone knows what that term means. Inset cabinetry is one of the three general styles of door overlays that are available in framed cabinetry. Before I describe those three styles, it might be helpful to review the differences between framed and frameless cabinetry. Cabinetry is made in two primary construction styles, framed and frameless. Here's a shot of what I mean by framed cabinetry.