April 6, 2025 • 34 mins
Dean and John Cordero from the Kitchen Store talks trends such as lighting and the baseline drawers. Dean talks about the blind corner problem in many kitchens and other tricky problems. Dean and John dive into the idea of customization as luxury. Lastly, Dean talks wood material when it comes to cabinets: oak, maple, cherry, walnut
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Kf I AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app.
Talking Cabinets today with my very special in studio guest
John Cordero from the Kitchen Store. John is always looking
for new things. We're just talking about trends. Let's talk
(00:20):
about that a little bit. You were just up at
the Builders show in Vegas, looking specifically from the cabinet
maker's viewpoint of everything. What'd you see up there that
impressed you new or trends that you're seeing. You know,
in the world of cabinets, lighting, light is a big thing.
Lighting is coming in strong. We see it a lot
(00:42):
in closets, but in kitchens we're gonna start seeing a
lot more lighting. So lighting beyond just the under cabinet
lights on the uppers, or let's say, you know, let's
say you've got a higher ceiling and we throw some
LED lighting up on top of the uppers. Our clients
love love, love led light down in the kick because
it becomes actually I found it for most of our
(01:04):
clients becomes their favorite movie night light. They leave all
the other lights in the kitchen off and they just
dim those kick lights. There's just enough glow in the
kitchen to come in and make the next microwave popcorn
and head back in without disturbing everybody who's watching the movie.
But you're talking about stuff that's internal. Now, open a pantry,
boom lights, Open a pantry, Open your drawer and it
(01:26):
lights up your drawer. Open your doors. You see the
light inside. So no more having glass doors and need lighting.
Now you open your doors and bam, there it is.
Now we've we've traditionally talked about if you're going to
build a traditional drawer box or you know, out of
a wood or wood kind of structure you're building in
(01:47):
a cabinet shop, then you know you got your typical,
uh you know, low end kind of stapled and glued
butt end joint drawer boxes not our favorites at all.
If you're going to do one, you're looking for dovetailed drawers,
hardwood box sides and dovetail drawers because you're not relying
on any physical connection there. You've got those teeth that
(02:09):
are interlocking and that drawer just never comes apart but
going and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's literally
when it comes to a wood drawer box. There you go,
that's that's the that's the summit of that. But you're
seeing drawerboxes made out of all sorts of materials.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Now we're seeing them out of metal, metal, aluminum. They're
just look amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
A lot of these coming out of Europe these days.
Europe inspired.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, we kept talking about it earlier in the show
European style cabinets. So Europe is inspiring a lot of
the new styles that are coming out. You got that
nice flat modern look.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, Now that's another thing we were talking about for
a while, the flat, very sleek modern look. You know,
some people were picking it up and like, I guess
if you're an ultra modern contemporary kind of a vibe,
that's fine. And a lot of people were letting go though,
because those materials they think of shiny melamines and for
(03:06):
micas and what you know, that kind of stuff, and
it feels cold, feels a little you know, antiseptic, a
little clinical. Uh, And I get that, I totally get that,
but not these days. It doesn't have to be that
way these days. Now now you can have the clean lines,
but these organic woods and these deep rich colors and
(03:28):
so that sense of like woodiness to a kitchen can
totally happen in a completely contemporary, clean line looking kitchen
these days.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, you get the beauty of the wood, the way
the mood the wood moves and everything. So it's it's
amazing with the things are coming out of Europe with
these panels.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And we were talking last segment about you know, like
the advantage of soft clothes, hardware and stuff. But you
you what you saw somebody advertising was it was a
forty eight inch base draw forty eight inch wide cabinet
with a four foot wide drawer.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, they jumped inside the drawer. You're talking to a
grown man, probably maybe about one hundred and eighty pounds
jumped in the drawer, got in there, and the drawer
still functioned perfectly. The stuff that these manufacturers are bringing
out when it comes to hardware is just getting better.
And that's one thing I like doing. I like going
out going to conferences and learning. Then I want to
(04:21):
bring it back into the kitchen store, things that people
don't really get to see out there. I like bringing
new stuff in. That's what I love about you guys too.
That's why I keep sending people down. I'm like, you know,
you go here, you could see some things. You go there,
you could see some things. But I know that you've
got the whole spectrum there, and you're always trying to
bring in the newest stuff so that everybody has all
(04:42):
of the options available to them. One thing I'm doing
at the kitchen store says something new guy there. I'm
trying to upgrade the showroom, trying to bring in the
new trends that are coming in, new stuff that's out
there that people really don't get to see, stuff we
get to see on social media, trying to bring it
into the kitchen store. That's why we like to encourage
people open every drawer, try something different. You'll be surprised
what you find in our store.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's shocking how it can be changed. Let's talk
about the trend of trend. It's not a fad by
any means, but this new hardware, all of this kind
of stuff, a lot of people I would say still
still clearly well over. I don't have a scientific basis
for saying this. I'm going to say well over eighty
percent of people have older style kitchen cabinets in which
(05:26):
they're base cabinets. It's a drawer and door drawer and
door down below, right, and maybe if they've upgraded along
the way, when they open the door down below, there
may be a rollout shelf right. But by and large
in the industry we've kind of abandoned drawers, I mean
doors down below. In base camp it's all drawers now right.
(05:48):
I mean it's not an absolute rule, but you guys,
I know for a factor, designing more base cabinet drawer
full of drawers. And by drawers though, I mean big,
heavy bearing pot nine inch deep pot drawers that I
can put all my pots and pans in. And the
advantages Why open a door and then reach down and
(06:12):
even pull out a glide when you can just slide
the drawer open, then there it is all exposed.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Biggest advantage. I tell people, you remember what you have,
so you have your old doors, you open your doors,
you have your just shelf. You forget what you have
in the back with drawers, it's right there, it's easy
to grab.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It all comes out. And so when we say full exposure,
we're talking about the entire drawer coming out of the
cabinet box. So you can just look down on the
top of it and see everything in the drawer, even
the stuff all the way.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
At the back. No word luxury.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
No, that's standard, that's standard, standard stuff. All right, we
got to talk about more about that, and we will
do it right after it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I had my megaphone button pressed. Would you like to
hear that again?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I like to use that little feature when I say
words like sign because it sounds like I have more authority.
But I accidentally pressed it, and all of a sudden,
now I'm in an echo chamber. All right, Hey, Hi,
can'fi Dean Sharp the house whisper, Welcome back. We're talking
cabinets with my very special in studio guest, John Cordero. Yes,
(07:27):
I took less calls today than normal because John and
I have just so many things to talk about and
I want to get as much about cabinets out as
I possibly can. So I apologize for not taking more callers.
And I also do not apologize because we're just trying
to cover and we've got so many cool things to
talk about. So we've been talking about new trends and
(07:48):
new features. We would be completely neglectful of the majority
of kitchen cabinet shoppers or homeowners who are looking to
redo their cabinets, if we did not address you and
I the ever plaguing question of the blind corner. Okay,
(08:12):
right right, I mean tell me we don't need to
talk about that, right, the blind corner? What is the
blind corner? Where you all know what the blind corner is?
If you've got a kitchen that has a corner like
it turns ninety degrees anywhere in your kitchen. Some of
you have a couple of them because you've got a
horseshoe shaped kitchen cabinet. But configuration. But when a base
(08:36):
cabinet twenty four inch based cabinet runs into a corner
and then turns a corner and then more twenty four
inch based cabinets take off, you got a twenty four
by twenty four inch hole back in the corner there
one of those cabinets. Well, it doesn't it's not a rule.
I mean, you could just leave it blank and just
ignore it. Some people, out of frustration of their previous kitchens,
(08:58):
have chosen to do just that, and you're like, nope,
not going to be there's not going to be anything
back there. The two cabinets are going to touch on
their front edge, and my life is going to go
on without frustration. Because I had that for a while,
and I completely forgot that I had a waffle maker.
It lived back in there for eighteen years. I never
saw it, and eventually I realized, Oh, when I was
(09:22):
cleaning out my kitchen, Oh, the waffle maker's back here.
So it's a hard to access area. It's not easy
to reach. In the eighties came along, you know, the
lazy Susan corner with the double door with the extra
set of hinges that gets all floppy and weird and
that people end up cursing. And I know they're still
(09:46):
very popular, those round turnstyle, you know, with the little
wedge cut out of them, the pie shape.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But the point is, the blind corner has always been
a problem that gets has in the past been solved
in various ways. We live in the golden age of
the blind corner. We have here's here's you can announce
to the world today officially that mankind has solved the
(10:16):
blind corner problem. And the reason I say that is
because there's so many hardware alternatives to deal with the
blind corner. Give us at least a couple. It's getting
better too.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I'll tell you that there's certain things that we don't
even know about that are out there for the blind corner.
But your biggest ones are your LeMans. The Lamon's a
any shape that comes out, kind of swings out real nice.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
It's just a single That's what I've got in mind.
I've got I've got a Laman's corner because the Lamans
doesn't take it full advantage of every square inch of
space back there, but it takes advantage of a lot
of it. And it's on this swing arm and you
just open up one side, one door on one side,
grab the front of this. Uh is it technically a shelf?
(11:04):
What do we call it?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I guess yeah, it's kind of a shelf. You grab
it and the whole thing comes out, the whole blind
corner disgorges itself outside, and so yeah, we load it
up because there's nothing I can't get to right now.
It's got some curves on it because of the way
it moves out, and that's why it doesn't take full event.
But there's also like the revsh shelf, a magic shelf,
those hay ful of makes them too, where literally one
(11:29):
thing slides out, slides over, the next thing slides over,
and it's it's taking advantage of every square inch of
the back. It's getting better. So what have you seen?
What have you heard? Tell me?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So while I was in Europe, we got to see
this one corner where it's actually on the countertop. So
it's a mechanical device that goes up and down. So
imagine you have your blender in the corner. It just
goes down. You never get to see it, but it
goes in the corner, beautiful thing. Then you just press
a button, comes right up.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So I never thought that that it's a great place
to put like an elevator platform, exactly what it just appears. Yep,
up it comes. There are so many options now some
see some people are thinking right now, like, ah, that's ridiculous.
I would never want to do that with my That's fine,
that's fine, but some people would. The point is there
are so many options these days, so many options. Like
(12:22):
Tina and I chose not to do the full revishelf
thing because we got lots of storage and we don't
have that much stuff, and so we didn't need to,
you know, we didn't need to take advantage of every
but we didn't want to leave the corner blind. So
the Lamans was a perfect a perfect option.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That's a great choice. The lemons. You can't go wrong
with the Lamans. It's either you forget what you have
back there or you bring it out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, it just all comes out. So blind corner one
of the most difficult things traditionally to deal with, Like,
how are we going to deal with that?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Solved? Solved?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Are there any other problematic areas in the kitchen these days? Well,
let's stick with the corner. Well, the lazy suits and
the pie Yeah, I started to buy anymore. Have you
seen the new drawers that are in the corner, No
drawer boxes that are in the corner. Still got the
thirty six by thirty six cabinet in the corner. Instead
of putting that pie cut, you put drawers. You go
(13:14):
to three drawers, you go to four drawers. You use
a little space. But oh oh okay, yeah, so yeah, yeah, no,
absolutely that I've seen. Yes, the angle drawers, drawers that
are coming out of the forty five out of the corner,
full extension drawers.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Full extension there twenty four inches indeed, yeah, which is
even better, which is a lot of space and a
very clean look in the corner, super clean look in
the corner. And here's a better one. The doors, you know,
the ones you say you hate, the bifold doors, They're
coming out with better doors that open up kind of
like just open up, spread open, real nice, even better
to get in on the inside, as opposed to that
(13:49):
bifold door where you slam on your neighboring doors.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
That's that's my issue with the bifol doors is the
fact that you've got an extra set of hinges and
as you're closing it, it swings out and and you know,
marks up the other door next to it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Better hardware, Suasuni is coming down with some beautiful hardware
when it comes to the corners. I'll have it soon
at the kitchen store. I want to bring that in.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And then specialty inserts like Tina had mentioned, the the
mixer stand. Okay, tell everybody about what they can do
with a mixer. Like people are like, I need room
on the counter for my mixer. Well, not necessarily. You
don't have to necessarily have to make room for it
on the counter.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
No, the mixers are big and people don't want them
on their counter You like having open counters now, so
the mixers.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But mixers are also heavy and so and so, especially
older folks don't necessarily want to be lugging a mixer
out of a base cabinet.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
No, we have a platform that kind of comes out
evens out with your countertop. You don't even have to
take it off of the platform. You have it, just
the plug, plug it into your wall. Your mixer's there.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
The mixer forever lives on this platform, forever lives in there,
which kind of hydraulically slides down into the base cabinet.
And when you need it, you open up the drawer
and out it comes, and it comes up and it
locks and you just work with it there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And that's one thing where you work with Right, I
have a mixer, Where do I put it? Want to
build a cabinets for it? And let's make sure where
there's a plug in the back. Make life easy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
What about places to store baking sheets, spices?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
We have that too, Spice rollouts, nice little compartments definitely
always next to the stove, little compartment slides out. You
got your spices, put your spices in there, even for drawers.
You could kind of do a little spice drawer box
where you line up your spices all nice and beautiful
and then quick access to them. That's what I am.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
We have our cook top on the end of the
island and the first drawer under it, full extension, thirty
six inch wide drawer, nothing but spices.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
How easy is it to go through your spices?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Oh my gosh, it's the easiest thing in the world,
because Tina decided to customize our spice system when we
redesign the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So that's the other thing with spy that's a pain
in the butt is that you go to the store
and you know that spice bottle is that size and
this one. I mean some of them are nice, some
of them are like all uniform, but you have to
buy within that brand then, right, so she can buy
any spice she wants from anywhere, because you know, it
was like I want to say, it was like fifty
(16:18):
bucks on Amazon to buy one hundred spice bottles and labels.
And now they're all labeled with our spices and it
doesn't matter what our refill bottles look like. They live
in the pantry somewhere and when the cinnamon gets low,
she you know, just refills it. But you know, when
I open it up, it's all alphabetized three rows of spice.
(16:40):
I think we have one hundred spices in there, and
they're all just facing me right where I am wanting
to tap one in to the recipe or into the
pot or the pan or whatever. It is just the
greatest thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Let me ask you, how does that make you feel
nice and organized? Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It just it makes you feel great. It makes you
feel great, makes you feel like you want to be
in the kitchen. You know, you want to cook more.
You want to It is it is, And I know
what you're getting at. That's the idea, right, the idea
of being able to customize anything. Like you and I
were talking about, we should talk about a little more
after the break. The idea of customizing anything is the
ultimate luxury. It's the ultimate luxury. And I don't mean
(17:20):
it's luxury in the sense that you're paying luxury prices
for luxury materials. It's the customization is the luxury because
it just fits your life hand in glove.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It's just there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It is, And you know, and so when I cook
and I just reach down and I'm like, all right,
and I need some oregano and I need some and
there it is and I do it and it goes
away and it's just clean and clear and and my
my mind stays clear.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
And I love.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Cooking in my kitchen, ease of life, love it, love cooking.
It's just just it's just the greatest thing ever. That's
that's that's what it affords. It organizes, uh, and the
and the other fats. You know what We're going along,
So we're going to talk about this on the other side.
I want to talk about just the idea that a
if you were to replace and I've done this mathematically
(18:08):
with clients to show them sometimes, if you were to
replace pretty much an existing kitchen one for one, you know,
with new contemporary all access cabinets, how much additional storage
can we get in that exact same kitchen just by
renewing the cabinets. Don't say it now, let's talk about
it on the other side of the break. We will
(18:29):
be back with my special guest, John Cordero from the
Kitchen Store.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You are home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That's me.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It is a beautiful spring day here in sunny southern California.
I hope the weather is treating you well wherever you
find yourself. I know that it's not beautifully sunny everywhere
across the US, but I hope you're warm or cool, comfortable.
I hope you're just comfortable, whatever that means. And I
hope that you've got big plans for the day, because hey,
(19:06):
it's a day. It's a day, you know, as a
good friend of mine likes to say, any day you
wake up and find yourself above ground, that's a good day.
And so here we are, and we want to make
the most of it. We are making the most of
our time on the show today talking cabinets, which is
a massive subject and I think we're trying to cover
(19:27):
as much as we can in as meaningful a way
as we can with my special in studio guest John
Cordero from The Kitchen Store. John is a cabinet expert
par excellence and the Kitchen Store is, as you should
know by now, the best, my favorite kitchen design showroom
(19:50):
in Southern California. So John is here and we're just
picking his brain, taking full advantage of his expertise. Right
before the break, I mentioned the fact that, you know,
we were talking about cabinet efficiency and all these improvements,
and I'm not going to hold you to a percentage
or anything like that, right, just but I tell our
(20:12):
clients all the time, Hey, you just if you were
to just change out your cabinet boxes one for one
from these old cabinets that you have that are forty
fifty sixty years old to their modern day equivalent. I'm
not talking about expanding the kitchen or changing the configuration
of the kitchen, just changing them out to current style,
(20:32):
contemporary cabinets. And they don't have to be contemporary looking.
I just mean new cabinets that we're going to increase
your storage capacity and your organization capacity. Is that true
or not true?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
True? It is true.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I find it that the access, the storage, the usable
storage space. You know, again, like pantry cabinets. I mean,
you guys have got pantry cabinets now where it looks
like it's a I guess technically it's a door, but
it doesn't have a hinge because when I grab the
handle and pull on it instead of it swinging open
(21:09):
to reveal pantry shelves. The I pull on it and
the entire thing comes out. It all glides out. So,
in other words, a large pantry. Everybody's dream about a
pantry is, or our maybe dream slash frustration is you've
got that large area. And I'm not talking about a
(21:30):
walking pantry, a pantry cabinet, a pantry cabinet. You got
this large area. You can hold a lot of stuff,
but if you pack it full of a lot of stuff. Again,
it's kind of like the blind corner. You can't get
to the you never see what's in the back because
it's twenty four inches deep. But now there is literally
pantry hardware where the entire pantry contents slide out into
(21:52):
full view, and so you can pack it full. And
that's what I mean by a modern cabinet versus replacing
the old pantry. Technically, is it the same size, sure,
But in the old pantry you couldn't put that much
stuff in there, otherwise you're gonna lose it. And the
new one you can pack it full if you want,
because it all comes out and fully exposed.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, of course you have the pantry pull out, which
you just mentioned everything comes out with the door and
you got all your accessories. We also have where you
do rollouts. You open your double doors. It's your utility
cabinet and you got your rollouts. You don't have to
worry about what falls behind your cans or your goods
come fall behind the shelf. The rollout comes out full extension.
(22:36):
You get to see everything.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You have upper cabinets now where the door actually lifts
up like kind of like on hydraulics, it sort of
lifts up above and exposes everything. And you've got cabinets
where the contents of the cabinets come down closer to
you and lower down closer to the countertop. So there's
(22:59):
just all these functions these days in terms of accessibility function.
And it looks good. It doesn't like and it looks good,
looks good. All right, you know what here we are.
We've got one more segment to do, and so you
and I are going to have to discuss during the
(23:19):
break what it is that we're gonna pump out for
this last segment in order to kind of round out
the show.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Welcome to the program. I am glad that you are
with us. If you just joined us, we're at the end,
but don't forget. This is also the House Whisper podcast.
This broadcast, this live broadcast is also the House Whisper podcast,
which you can find everywhere your favorite podcasts are found.
And this entire episode this morning with my special in
(23:58):
studio guest John cord Arrow from the Kitchen Store, Southern
California's finest cabinet design showroom. This entire episode in about
an hour, will be in full podcast Glory on the
free iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your podcast,
wherever Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you just enter Dean Sharp
or the House Whisper or Home with Dean, doesn't matter,
(24:21):
any of those things, you'll find it. Boom, there it'll be,
and not just today, but year's worth of these broadcasts.
It is all listed by topic and so it literally
is an audio home improvement reference library that you can
listen to on demand as many times as you want,
whenever you want, wherever you want, on planet Earth and
(24:43):
maybe even the Moon. I don't know, I don't know,
I have it soon soon the Moon coming to the
Moon soon, the house whisper coming to the moon soon.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Anyway, we've got just a few minutes, John to kind
of round out this discussion. We've only scratched the This
is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything.
But I'm very satisfied with where we've gone because I
think we've as opposed to getting bogged down and all
sorts of technicalities along the way, I think we've encouraged
(25:14):
our listeners to really understand you that as intimidating as
this subject is, because it is deep and wide, you
don't have to be intimidated as you approach it if
you're doing it with the right people. If you're doing
it with the folks like you at the kitchen store,
they will be encouraged to play, to imagine, to dream,
(25:35):
to explore. It's all free, right windows shopping is free,
and in that process you start to realize aha, wait
oh ah, And before you know it, you know, kind
of the cornerstones of that new dream kitchen start forming
up in somebody's mind. And then with a with the
aid of a creative professional design staff and everything available,
(26:00):
it's on the market.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Next thing you know, it's happening. It's a reality, yep.
So let's talk about wood. You wanted to talk about
wood and meaning you know the material the wood materials
that are available for cabinets these days. And we were
laughing during the break because oak and maple send shivers
down some people's spines because they think oak. Okay, here
(26:24):
are the two kinds of wood you can have. You
can have oak and it's going to be kind of
honey colored, and I'm really sick of that. So that's
oak is honey colored and maple is yellow, and that's
what you can get in a cabinet, right right, Okay,
But there's more, there is more, So what tell us, Well,
there's alder cherry. Those are just two woods that are
(26:46):
just look amazing. It's all what you're looking for. So
if you want nice, warm kitchen, cherry gives you that
beautiful wood. Green alder has amazing green. Does cherry have
to be red? No, you add a stain to it
because people think about cherry wood and they're like, but
I don't want a red kitchen.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Cherry has that that tradition of being red, right, But
the naturalness of the cherry is just amazing. Even the
clear cherry looks beautiful.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, so don't think so much in terms of the
color tone of the wood, but think about the grain,
the beautiful, elegant grain that cherrywood is. It's a gorgeous
wood grain.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Well, here's when I forgot walnut. Walnut is my amazing
Well you saw my kitchen. I have walnut countertops around
my sink. I love walnut. Walnut is one of my
all time favorite woods. There's something about it that just
loves me and I love it. I just think it's
one of the sexiest woods ever. The color, the grain
is just amazing. You want to see beautiful grain, go
(27:46):
look at a walnut. Yeah, which, I have a kitchen
at the kitchen store.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
We have one.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Now, what about some woods that take paint wells others
that really are better off stained, I mean, and and
some and some paint gray cabinets. If you have like
a traditional middle panel shouldn't be wood at all MDF
medium density fiberboard. And people are like, what, I don't
want cheap md F. Well, first of all, it's not cheap,
(28:13):
it's not low quality. But those typical scalloped raised panels
that go in the inset of a kind of a
traditional cabinet door if it's if it's going to be
a paint grade cabinet, there's no reason to make that
natural wood because number one, if it's paint grade, we're
not seeing the grain. And number two, the achilles heel
(28:34):
of sometimes of that panel because it gets really thin
on the edge where it tucks into the doorframe. The
achilles heel is over time, those things can split along
its grain line. So we don't want an inset cabinet
panel that ever wants to split. And that's why MDF,
which take paint, takes paint like like a champ is
(28:55):
a beautiful is the right thing to put in the
middle of that kind of.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Door, especially if you're around a place where there's a
lot of moisture. MDF is going to be your friend.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
No expansion, no minimal expansion and contraction versus the wood grain,
true versus the wood grain. So what about paints versus stains?
For certain kinds of wood, some take it better than others.
Maple is always going to be your best thing when
it comes to paint. It just has a tighter grain
and grabs the paint very well. So when you hear
maple paint grade just means it's wood that's basically good
(29:25):
for paint. Most of our doors are all actually a
lot of our doors are all maple pink grade. We
do have some that are MDF. Some manufacturers do the MDF,
which is also really good for your cabinets. But basically,
when you do a stain, some woods where grab really
nice rich tones depending on the grain maple, you could
(29:47):
do a stain on maple you get some nice little colors,
but maple does what maple does since it's such a
tight grain. Walnut you can get kind of creative on
wana too. Cherry and alder will give you nice different
variation on different color stains. So this is what I
love about. And if you've never been to the Kitchen Store,
I'm going to describe the wall.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
The wall.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
This is what I love about the Kitchen Store. So
you walk into the Kitchen Store showroom, the main showroom,
and if you were walking, walk in about ten feet
and then turn around and look at the wall that
you just walked in through.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Up above.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You guys have every imaginable door style okay, in other words,
door shape detail, you know, middle panels, shaker style, flat contempt,
all of it, all of it, all of it up there. Okay,
So there's every kind of door style up there, and
then there's every kind of wood grain up there to
(30:45):
see and every kind of color and so and the
message is expand your mind, look at all of this
and understand that you could get any kind of that,
any type of that wood, in any kind of door
style that you want, or painted any color like this.
And it just it's the first part I think of that,
(31:05):
that widening of your mind education to realize I really
have options.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
We call it our diamond wall, your diamond wall. So
you start from a clear and then you could go
just down, looking down, what kind of stains, what the
wood does?
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You start darkening in intensity pretty much, Yeah, as it
goes along. Yeah, it's it's just it's just a great education. Well,
here we are, John, Thank you so much for being
in a studio with me. It is always a pleasure
to hang out with you and just talk shop and uh.
And I think that it's something that's really valuable to
our listeners as well, and so I thank you again.
(31:41):
Tell everybody where the Kitchen store is and how to
get to you, and when they can get to you.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Kitchen store. We're out in Coover City where we're the
on Sloughson and Jefferson on the exit off of the
four or five. So if you guys want to come
see us, we're here. We're open Monday through Saturday from
nine to five, and I'm always around. If you guys
want to come, just talk to me and learn some stuff.
I might not be one of the designers there, but
we do have many designers that can help you out.
(32:08):
But I'd love to talk. I love to share my knowledge.
So if you guys want to come down, ask for me.
I'll be more than happy to answer some questions.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
All right, So we haven't figured out what the special
house whisper deal is yet, but I will tell you
right now. You go into the kitchen store, ask for
John and say I'm here because Dean Sharp sent me. Yeah,
because Dean Sharp sent me in, And you know what,
You're going to treat him right definitely, right on, right on.
Thanks so much fun, Thank you. All Right, y'all, here
(32:36):
we are. I'm limiting my closing thoughts today because I
just wanted to squeeze every single thing in. I'm just
going to remind you follow us on social media, all
the usual suspects at Home with Dean. If your home
is in need of a personal house Whisper attention, you
can book an in home design consult with us at
Housewhisper dot Design. Thanks again for spending this time with me.
(32:57):
It is truly and I mean this would all sincereah.
It is a privilege to be able to be of
some assistance to you at this very special place that
you call home. And I will just leave you with
this one bought today. There is nothing more important in
your life than the people in your life. This life
of ours, it is made up if it's good by
(33:20):
good people, and it's by bad people. And so take
your time, fift filter, make wise choices about the quality
of the people in your life, like the quality of
the people that I have in studio with me. Those
are the people that every day are going to help
you get out into this beautiful day and build yourself
(33:41):
a beautiful life. All right, y'all, have a great week.
I'll see you right back here next weekend. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
(34:03):
demand on the iHeartRadio app
Kf I AM six forty. You're listening to Dean Sharp,
the House Whisper on demand on the iHeart Radio app.
Talking Cabinets today with my very special in studio guest
John Cordero from the Kitchen Store. John is always looking
for new things. We're just talking about trends. Let's talk
(00:20):
about that a little bit. You were just up at
the Builders show in Vegas, looking specifically from the cabinet
maker's viewpoint of everything. What'd you see up there that
impressed you new or trends that you're seeing. You know,
in the world of cabinets, lighting, light is a big thing.
Lighting is coming in strong. We see it a lot
(00:42):
in closets, but in kitchens we're gonna start seeing a
lot more lighting. So lighting beyond just the under cabinet
lights on the uppers, or let's say, you know, let's
say you've got a higher ceiling and we throw some
LED lighting up on top of the uppers. Our clients
love love, love led light down in the kick because
it becomes actually I found it for most of our
(01:04):
clients becomes their favorite movie night light. They leave all
the other lights in the kitchen off and they just
dim those kick lights. There's just enough glow in the
kitchen to come in and make the next microwave popcorn
and head back in without disturbing everybody who's watching the movie.
But you're talking about stuff that's internal. Now, open a pantry,
boom lights, Open a pantry, Open your drawer and it
(01:26):
lights up your drawer. Open your doors. You see the
light inside. So no more having glass doors and need lighting.
Now you open your doors and bam, there it is.
Now we've we've traditionally talked about if you're going to
build a traditional drawer box or you know, out of
a wood or wood kind of structure you're building in
(01:47):
a cabinet shop, then you know you got your typical,
uh you know, low end kind of stapled and glued
butt end joint drawer boxes not our favorites at all.
If you're going to do one, you're looking for dovetailed drawers,
hardwood box sides and dovetail drawers because you're not relying
on any physical connection there. You've got those teeth that
(02:09):
are interlocking and that drawer just never comes apart but
going and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's literally
when it comes to a wood drawer box. There you go,
that's that's the that's the summit of that. But you're
seeing drawerboxes made out of all sorts of materials.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Now we're seeing them out of metal, metal, aluminum. They're
just look amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
A lot of these coming out of Europe these days.
Europe inspired.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, we kept talking about it earlier in the show
European style cabinets. So Europe is inspiring a lot of
the new styles that are coming out. You got that
nice flat modern look.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, Now that's another thing we were talking about for
a while, the flat, very sleek modern look. You know,
some people were picking it up and like, I guess
if you're an ultra modern contemporary kind of a vibe,
that's fine. And a lot of people were letting go though,
because those materials they think of shiny melamines and for
(03:06):
micas and what you know, that kind of stuff, and
it feels cold, feels a little you know, antiseptic, a
little clinical. Uh, And I get that, I totally get that,
but not these days. It doesn't have to be that
way these days. Now now you can have the clean lines,
but these organic woods and these deep rich colors and
(03:28):
so that sense of like woodiness to a kitchen can
totally happen in a completely contemporary, clean line looking kitchen
these days.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, you get the beauty of the wood, the way
the mood the wood moves and everything. So it's it's
amazing with the things are coming out of Europe with
these panels.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
And we were talking last segment about you know, like
the advantage of soft clothes, hardware and stuff. But you
you what you saw somebody advertising was it was a
forty eight inch base draw forty eight inch wide cabinet
with a four foot wide drawer.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, they jumped inside the drawer. You're talking to a
grown man, probably maybe about one hundred and eighty pounds
jumped in the drawer, got in there, and the drawer
still functioned perfectly. The stuff that these manufacturers are bringing
out when it comes to hardware is just getting better.
And that's one thing I like doing. I like going
out going to conferences and learning. Then I want to
(04:21):
bring it back into the kitchen store, things that people
don't really get to see out there. I like bringing
new stuff in. That's what I love about you guys too.
That's why I keep sending people down. I'm like, you know,
you go here, you could see some things. You go there,
you could see some things. But I know that you've
got the whole spectrum there, and you're always trying to
bring in the newest stuff so that everybody has all
(04:42):
of the options available to them. One thing I'm doing
at the kitchen store says something new guy there. I'm
trying to upgrade the showroom, trying to bring in the
new trends that are coming in, new stuff that's out
there that people really don't get to see, stuff we
get to see on social media, trying to bring it
into the kitchen store. That's why we like to encourage
people open every drawer, try something different. You'll be surprised
what you find in our store.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Yeah, it's shocking how it can be changed. Let's talk
about the trend of trend. It's not a fad by
any means, but this new hardware, all of this kind
of stuff, a lot of people I would say still
still clearly well over. I don't have a scientific basis
for saying this. I'm going to say well over eighty
percent of people have older style kitchen cabinets in which
(05:26):
they're base cabinets. It's a drawer and door drawer and
door down below, right, and maybe if they've upgraded along
the way, when they open the door down below, there
may be a rollout shelf right. But by and large
in the industry we've kind of abandoned drawers, I mean
doors down below. In base camp it's all drawers now right.
(05:48):
I mean it's not an absolute rule, but you guys,
I know for a factor, designing more base cabinet drawer
full of drawers. And by drawers though, I mean big,
heavy bearing pot nine inch deep pot drawers that I
can put all my pots and pans in. And the
advantages Why open a door and then reach down and
(06:12):
even pull out a glide when you can just slide
the drawer open, then there it is all exposed.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
Biggest advantage. I tell people, you remember what you have,
so you have your old doors, you open your doors,
you have your just shelf. You forget what you have
in the back with drawers, it's right there, it's easy
to grab.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
It all comes out. And so when we say full exposure,
we're talking about the entire drawer coming out of the
cabinet box. So you can just look down on the
top of it and see everything in the drawer, even
the stuff all the way.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
At the back. No word luxury.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
No, that's standard, that's standard, standard stuff. All right, we
got to talk about more about that, and we will
do it right after it.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
I had my megaphone button pressed. Would you like to
hear that again?
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Hello?
Speaker 1 (07:05):
I like to use that little feature when I say
words like sign because it sounds like I have more authority.
But I accidentally pressed it, and all of a sudden,
now I'm in an echo chamber. All right, Hey, Hi,
can'fi Dean Sharp the house whisper, Welcome back. We're talking
cabinets with my very special in studio guest, John Cordero. Yes,
(07:27):
I took less calls today than normal because John and
I have just so many things to talk about and
I want to get as much about cabinets out as
I possibly can. So I apologize for not taking more callers.
And I also do not apologize because we're just trying
to cover and we've got so many cool things to
talk about. So we've been talking about new trends and
(07:48):
new features. We would be completely neglectful of the majority
of kitchen cabinet shoppers or homeowners who are looking to
redo their cabinets, if we did not address you and
I the ever plaguing question of the blind corner. Okay,
(08:12):
right right, I mean tell me we don't need to
talk about that, right, the blind corner? What is the
blind corner? Where you all know what the blind corner is?
If you've got a kitchen that has a corner like
it turns ninety degrees anywhere in your kitchen. Some of
you have a couple of them because you've got a
horseshoe shaped kitchen cabinet. But configuration. But when a base
(08:36):
cabinet twenty four inch based cabinet runs into a corner
and then turns a corner and then more twenty four
inch based cabinets take off, you got a twenty four
by twenty four inch hole back in the corner there
one of those cabinets. Well, it doesn't it's not a rule.
I mean, you could just leave it blank and just
ignore it. Some people, out of frustration of their previous kitchens,
(08:58):
have chosen to do just that, and you're like, nope,
not going to be there's not going to be anything
back there. The two cabinets are going to touch on
their front edge, and my life is going to go
on without frustration. Because I had that for a while,
and I completely forgot that I had a waffle maker.
It lived back in there for eighteen years. I never
saw it, and eventually I realized, Oh, when I was
(09:22):
cleaning out my kitchen, Oh, the waffle maker's back here.
So it's a hard to access area. It's not easy
to reach. In the eighties came along, you know, the
lazy Susan corner with the double door with the extra
set of hinges that gets all floppy and weird and
that people end up cursing. And I know they're still
(09:46):
very popular, those round turnstyle, you know, with the little
wedge cut out of them, the pie shape.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
There you go.
Speaker 1 (09:55):
But the point is, the blind corner has always been
a problem that gets has in the past been solved
in various ways. We live in the golden age of
the blind corner. We have here's here's you can announce
to the world today officially that mankind has solved the
(10:16):
blind corner problem. And the reason I say that is
because there's so many hardware alternatives to deal with the
blind corner. Give us at least a couple. It's getting
better too.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
I'll tell you that there's certain things that we don't
even know about that are out there for the blind corner.
But your biggest ones are your LeMans. The Lamon's a
any shape that comes out, kind of swings out real nice.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
It's just a single That's what I've got in mind.
I've got I've got a Laman's corner because the Lamans
doesn't take it full advantage of every square inch of
space back there, but it takes advantage of a lot
of it. And it's on this swing arm and you
just open up one side, one door on one side,
grab the front of this. Uh is it technically a shelf?
(11:04):
What do we call it?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (11:05):
I guess yeah, it's kind of a shelf. You grab
it and the whole thing comes out, the whole blind
corner disgorges itself outside, and so yeah, we load it
up because there's nothing I can't get to right now.
It's got some curves on it because of the way
it moves out, and that's why it doesn't take full event.
But there's also like the revsh shelf, a magic shelf,
those hay ful of makes them too, where literally one
(11:29):
thing slides out, slides over, the next thing slides over,
and it's it's taking advantage of every square inch of
the back. It's getting better. So what have you seen?
What have you heard? Tell me?
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So while I was in Europe, we got to see
this one corner where it's actually on the countertop. So
it's a mechanical device that goes up and down. So
imagine you have your blender in the corner. It just
goes down. You never get to see it, but it
goes in the corner, beautiful thing. Then you just press
a button, comes right up.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So I never thought that that it's a great place
to put like an elevator platform, exactly what it just appears. Yep,
up it comes. There are so many options now some
see some people are thinking right now, like, ah, that's ridiculous.
I would never want to do that with my That's fine,
that's fine, but some people would. The point is there
are so many options these days, so many options. Like
(12:22):
Tina and I chose not to do the full revishelf
thing because we got lots of storage and we don't
have that much stuff, and so we didn't need to,
you know, we didn't need to take advantage of every
but we didn't want to leave the corner blind. So
the Lamans was a perfect a perfect option.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
That's a great choice. The lemons. You can't go wrong
with the Lamans. It's either you forget what you have
back there or you bring it out.
Speaker 1 (12:44):
Yeah, it just all comes out. So blind corner one
of the most difficult things traditionally to deal with, Like,
how are we going to deal with that?
Speaker 2 (12:51):
Solved? Solved?
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Are there any other problematic areas in the kitchen these days? Well,
let's stick with the corner. Well, the lazy suits and
the pie Yeah, I started to buy anymore. Have you
seen the new drawers that are in the corner, No
drawer boxes that are in the corner. Still got the
thirty six by thirty six cabinet in the corner. Instead
of putting that pie cut, you put drawers. You go
(13:14):
to three drawers, you go to four drawers. You use
a little space. But oh oh okay, yeah, so yeah, yeah, no,
absolutely that I've seen. Yes, the angle drawers, drawers that
are coming out of the forty five out of the corner,
full extension drawers.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Full extension there twenty four inches indeed, yeah, which is
even better, which is a lot of space and a
very clean look in the corner, super clean look in
the corner. And here's a better one. The doors, you know,
the ones you say you hate, the bifold doors, They're
coming out with better doors that open up kind of
like just open up, spread open, real nice, even better
to get in on the inside, as opposed to that
(13:49):
bifold door where you slam on your neighboring doors.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
That's that's my issue with the bifol doors is the
fact that you've got an extra set of hinges and
as you're closing it, it swings out and and you know,
marks up the other door next to it.
Speaker 2 (14:02):
Better hardware, Suasuni is coming down with some beautiful hardware
when it comes to the corners. I'll have it soon
at the kitchen store. I want to bring that in.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
And then specialty inserts like Tina had mentioned, the the
mixer stand. Okay, tell everybody about what they can do
with a mixer. Like people are like, I need room
on the counter for my mixer. Well, not necessarily. You
don't have to necessarily have to make room for it
on the counter.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
No, the mixers are big and people don't want them
on their counter You like having open counters now, so
the mixers.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
But mixers are also heavy and so and so, especially
older folks don't necessarily want to be lugging a mixer
out of a base cabinet.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
No, we have a platform that kind of comes out
evens out with your countertop. You don't even have to
take it off of the platform. You have it, just
the plug, plug it into your wall. Your mixer's there.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
The mixer forever lives on this platform, forever lives in there,
which kind of hydraulically slides down into the base cabinet.
And when you need it, you open up the drawer
and out it comes, and it comes up and it
locks and you just work with it there.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
And that's one thing where you work with Right, I
have a mixer, Where do I put it? Want to
build a cabinets for it? And let's make sure where
there's a plug in the back. Make life easy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
What about places to store baking sheets, spices?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
We have that too, Spice rollouts, nice little compartments definitely
always next to the stove, little compartment slides out. You
got your spices, put your spices in there, even for drawers.
You could kind of do a little spice drawer box
where you line up your spices all nice and beautiful
and then quick access to them. That's what I am.
Speaker 1 (15:39):
We have our cook top on the end of the
island and the first drawer under it, full extension, thirty
six inch wide drawer, nothing but spices.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
How easy is it to go through your spices?
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Oh my gosh, it's the easiest thing in the world,
because Tina decided to customize our spice system when we
redesign the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Right.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
So that's the other thing with spy that's a pain
in the butt is that you go to the store
and you know that spice bottle is that size and
this one. I mean some of them are nice, some
of them are like all uniform, but you have to
buy within that brand then, right, so she can buy
any spice she wants from anywhere, because you know, it
was like I want to say, it was like fifty
(16:18):
bucks on Amazon to buy one hundred spice bottles and labels.
And now they're all labeled with our spices and it
doesn't matter what our refill bottles look like. They live
in the pantry somewhere and when the cinnamon gets low,
she you know, just refills it. But you know, when
I open it up, it's all alphabetized three rows of spice.
(16:40):
I think we have one hundred spices in there, and
they're all just facing me right where I am wanting
to tap one in to the recipe or into the
pot or the pan or whatever. It is just the
greatest thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Let me ask you, how does that make you feel
nice and organized? Oh?
Speaker 1 (16:57):
It just it makes you feel great. It makes you
feel great, makes you feel like you want to be
in the kitchen. You know, you want to cook more.
You want to It is it is, And I know
what you're getting at. That's the idea, right, the idea
of being able to customize anything. Like you and I
were talking about, we should talk about a little more
after the break. The idea of customizing anything is the
ultimate luxury. It's the ultimate luxury. And I don't mean
(17:20):
it's luxury in the sense that you're paying luxury prices
for luxury materials. It's the customization is the luxury because
it just fits your life hand in glove.
Speaker 2 (17:31):
It's just there.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It is, And you know, and so when I cook
and I just reach down and I'm like, all right,
and I need some oregano and I need some and
there it is and I do it and it goes
away and it's just clean and clear and and my
my mind stays clear.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
And I love.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Cooking in my kitchen, ease of life, love it, love cooking.
It's just just it's just the greatest thing ever. That's
that's that's what it affords. It organizes, uh, and the
and the other fats. You know what We're going along,
So we're going to talk about this on the other side.
I want to talk about just the idea that a
if you were to replace and I've done this mathematically
(18:08):
with clients to show them sometimes, if you were to
replace pretty much an existing kitchen one for one, you know,
with new contemporary all access cabinets, how much additional storage
can we get in that exact same kitchen just by
renewing the cabinets. Don't say it now, let's talk about
it on the other side of the break. We will
(18:29):
be back with my special guest, John Cordero from the
Kitchen Store.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You are home with Dean Sharp the house whisper.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
That's me.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
It is a beautiful spring day here in sunny southern California.
I hope the weather is treating you well wherever you
find yourself. I know that it's not beautifully sunny everywhere
across the US, but I hope you're warm or cool, comfortable.
I hope you're just comfortable, whatever that means. And I
hope that you've got big plans for the day, because hey,
(19:06):
it's a day. It's a day, you know, as a
good friend of mine likes to say, any day you
wake up and find yourself above ground, that's a good day.
And so here we are, and we want to make
the most of it. We are making the most of
our time on the show today talking cabinets, which is
a massive subject and I think we're trying to cover
(19:27):
as much as we can in as meaningful a way
as we can with my special in studio guest John
Cordero from The Kitchen Store. John is a cabinet expert
par excellence and the Kitchen Store is, as you should
know by now, the best, my favorite kitchen design showroom
(19:50):
in Southern California. So John is here and we're just
picking his brain, taking full advantage of his expertise. Right
before the break, I mentioned the fact that, you know,
we were talking about cabinet efficiency and all these improvements,
and I'm not going to hold you to a percentage
or anything like that, right, just but I tell our
(20:12):
clients all the time, Hey, you just if you were
to just change out your cabinet boxes one for one
from these old cabinets that you have that are forty
fifty sixty years old to their modern day equivalent. I'm
not talking about expanding the kitchen or changing the configuration
of the kitchen, just changing them out to current style,
(20:32):
contemporary cabinets. And they don't have to be contemporary looking.
I just mean new cabinets that we're going to increase
your storage capacity and your organization capacity. Is that true
or not true?
Speaker 2 (20:44):
True? It is true.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
I find it that the access, the storage, the usable
storage space. You know, again, like pantry cabinets. I mean,
you guys have got pantry cabinets now where it looks
like it's a I guess technically it's a door, but
it doesn't have a hinge because when I grab the
handle and pull on it instead of it swinging open
(21:09):
to reveal pantry shelves. The I pull on it and
the entire thing comes out. It all glides out. So,
in other words, a large pantry. Everybody's dream about a
pantry is, or our maybe dream slash frustration is you've
got that large area. And I'm not talking about a
(21:30):
walking pantry, a pantry cabinet, a pantry cabinet. You got
this large area. You can hold a lot of stuff,
but if you pack it full of a lot of stuff. Again,
it's kind of like the blind corner. You can't get
to the you never see what's in the back because
it's twenty four inches deep. But now there is literally
pantry hardware where the entire pantry contents slide out into
(21:52):
full view, and so you can pack it full. And
that's what I mean by a modern cabinet versus replacing
the old pantry. Technically, is it the same size, sure,
But in the old pantry you couldn't put that much
stuff in there, otherwise you're gonna lose it. And the
new one you can pack it full if you want,
because it all comes out and fully exposed.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Yeah, of course you have the pantry pull out, which
you just mentioned everything comes out with the door and
you got all your accessories. We also have where you
do rollouts. You open your double doors. It's your utility
cabinet and you got your rollouts. You don't have to
worry about what falls behind your cans or your goods
come fall behind the shelf. The rollout comes out full extension.
(22:36):
You get to see everything.
Speaker 1 (22:37):
You have upper cabinets now where the door actually lifts
up like kind of like on hydraulics, it sort of
lifts up above and exposes everything. And you've got cabinets
where the contents of the cabinets come down closer to
you and lower down closer to the countertop. So there's
(22:59):
just all these functions these days in terms of accessibility function.
And it looks good. It doesn't like and it looks good,
looks good. All right, you know what here we are.
We've got one more segment to do, and so you
and I are going to have to discuss during the
(23:19):
break what it is that we're gonna pump out for
this last segment in order to kind of round out
the show.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You're listening to Home with Dean Sharp on demand from
KFI AM six forty.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Welcome to the program. I am glad that you are
with us. If you just joined us, we're at the end,
but don't forget. This is also the House Whisper podcast.
This broadcast, this live broadcast is also the House Whisper podcast,
which you can find everywhere your favorite podcasts are found.
And this entire episode this morning with my special in
(23:58):
studio guest John cord Arrow from the Kitchen Store, Southern
California's finest cabinet design showroom. This entire episode in about
an hour, will be in full podcast Glory on the
free iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your podcast,
wherever Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you just enter Dean Sharp
or the House Whisper or Home with Dean, doesn't matter,
(24:21):
any of those things, you'll find it. Boom, there it'll be,
and not just today, but year's worth of these broadcasts.
It is all listed by topic and so it literally
is an audio home improvement reference library that you can
listen to on demand as many times as you want,
whenever you want, wherever you want, on planet Earth and
(24:43):
maybe even the Moon. I don't know, I don't know,
I have it soon soon the Moon coming to the
Moon soon, the house whisper coming to the moon soon.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
All right.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
Anyway, we've got just a few minutes, John to kind
of round out this discussion. We've only scratched the This
is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything.
But I'm very satisfied with where we've gone because I
think we've as opposed to getting bogged down and all
sorts of technicalities along the way, I think we've encouraged
(25:14):
our listeners to really understand you that as intimidating as
this subject is, because it is deep and wide, you
don't have to be intimidated as you approach it if
you're doing it with the right people. If you're doing
it with the folks like you at the kitchen store,
they will be encouraged to play, to imagine, to dream,
(25:35):
to explore. It's all free, right windows shopping is free,
and in that process you start to realize aha, wait
oh ah, And before you know it, you know, kind
of the cornerstones of that new dream kitchen start forming
up in somebody's mind. And then with a with the
aid of a creative professional design staff and everything available,
(26:00):
it's on the market.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Boom.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Next thing you know, it's happening. It's a reality, yep.
So let's talk about wood. You wanted to talk about
wood and meaning you know the material the wood materials
that are available for cabinets these days. And we were
laughing during the break because oak and maple send shivers
down some people's spines because they think oak. Okay, here
(26:24):
are the two kinds of wood you can have. You
can have oak and it's going to be kind of
honey colored, and I'm really sick of that. So that's
oak is honey colored and maple is yellow, and that's
what you can get in a cabinet, right right, Okay,
But there's more, there is more, So what tell us, Well,
there's alder cherry. Those are just two woods that are
(26:46):
just look amazing. It's all what you're looking for. So
if you want nice, warm kitchen, cherry gives you that
beautiful wood. Green alder has amazing green. Does cherry have
to be red? No, you add a stain to it
because people think about cherry wood and they're like, but
I don't want a red kitchen.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Cherry has that that tradition of being red, right, But
the naturalness of the cherry is just amazing. Even the
clear cherry looks beautiful.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, so don't think so much in terms of the
color tone of the wood, but think about the grain,
the beautiful, elegant grain that cherrywood is. It's a gorgeous
wood grain.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Well, here's when I forgot walnut. Walnut is my amazing
Well you saw my kitchen. I have walnut countertops around
my sink. I love walnut. Walnut is one of my
all time favorite woods. There's something about it that just
loves me and I love it. I just think it's
one of the sexiest woods ever. The color, the grain
is just amazing. You want to see beautiful grain, go
(27:46):
look at a walnut. Yeah, which, I have a kitchen
at the kitchen store.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
We have one.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Now, what about some woods that take paint wells others
that really are better off stained, I mean, and and
some and some paint gray cabinets. If you have like
a traditional middle panel shouldn't be wood at all MDF
medium density fiberboard. And people are like, what, I don't
want cheap md F. Well, first of all, it's not cheap,
(28:13):
it's not low quality. But those typical scalloped raised panels
that go in the inset of a kind of a
traditional cabinet door if it's if it's going to be
a paint grade cabinet, there's no reason to make that
natural wood because number one, if it's paint grade, we're
not seeing the grain. And number two, the achilles heel
(28:34):
of sometimes of that panel because it gets really thin
on the edge where it tucks into the doorframe. The
achilles heel is over time, those things can split along
its grain line. So we don't want an inset cabinet
panel that ever wants to split. And that's why MDF,
which take paint, takes paint like like a champ is
(28:55):
a beautiful is the right thing to put in the
middle of that kind of.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Door, especially if you're around a place where there's a
lot of moisture. MDF is going to be your friend.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
No expansion, no minimal expansion and contraction versus the wood grain,
true versus the wood grain. So what about paints versus stains?
For certain kinds of wood, some take it better than others.
Maple is always going to be your best thing when
it comes to paint. It just has a tighter grain
and grabs the paint very well. So when you hear
maple paint grade just means it's wood that's basically good
(29:25):
for paint. Most of our doors are all actually a
lot of our doors are all maple pink grade. We
do have some that are MDF. Some manufacturers do the MDF,
which is also really good for your cabinets. But basically,
when you do a stain, some woods where grab really
nice rich tones depending on the grain maple, you could
(29:47):
do a stain on maple you get some nice little colors,
but maple does what maple does since it's such a
tight grain. Walnut you can get kind of creative on
wana too. Cherry and alder will give you nice different
variation on different color stains. So this is what I
love about. And if you've never been to the Kitchen Store,
I'm going to describe the wall.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
The wall.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
This is what I love about the Kitchen Store. So
you walk into the Kitchen Store showroom, the main showroom,
and if you were walking, walk in about ten feet
and then turn around and look at the wall that
you just walked in through.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
Up above.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
You guys have every imaginable door style okay, in other words,
door shape detail, you know, middle panels, shaker style, flat contempt,
all of it, all of it, all of it up there. Okay,
So there's every kind of door style up there, and
then there's every kind of wood grain up there to
(30:45):
see and every kind of color and so and the
message is expand your mind, look at all of this
and understand that you could get any kind of that,
any type of that wood, in any kind of door
style that you want, or painted any color like this.
And it just it's the first part I think of that,
(31:05):
that widening of your mind education to realize I really
have options.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
We call it our diamond wall, your diamond wall. So
you start from a clear and then you could go
just down, looking down, what kind of stains, what the
wood does?
Speaker 1 (31:19):
You start darkening in intensity pretty much, Yeah, as it
goes along. Yeah, it's it's just it's just a great education. Well,
here we are, John, Thank you so much for being
in a studio with me. It is always a pleasure
to hang out with you and just talk shop and uh.
And I think that it's something that's really valuable to
our listeners as well, and so I thank you again.
(31:41):
Tell everybody where the Kitchen store is and how to
get to you, and when they can get to you.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Kitchen store. We're out in Coover City where we're the
on Sloughson and Jefferson on the exit off of the
four or five. So if you guys want to come
see us, we're here. We're open Monday through Saturday from
nine to five, and I'm always around. If you guys
want to come, just talk to me and learn some stuff.
I might not be one of the designers there, but
we do have many designers that can help you out.
(32:08):
But I'd love to talk. I love to share my knowledge.
So if you guys want to come down, ask for me.
I'll be more than happy to answer some questions.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
All right, So we haven't figured out what the special
house whisper deal is yet, but I will tell you
right now. You go into the kitchen store, ask for
John and say I'm here because Dean Sharp sent me. Yeah,
because Dean Sharp sent me in, And you know what,
You're going to treat him right definitely, right on, right on.
Thanks so much fun, Thank you. All Right, y'all, here
(32:36):
we are. I'm limiting my closing thoughts today because I
just wanted to squeeze every single thing in. I'm just
going to remind you follow us on social media, all
the usual suspects at Home with Dean. If your home
is in need of a personal house Whisper attention, you
can book an in home design consult with us at
Housewhisper dot Design. Thanks again for spending this time with me.
(32:57):
It is truly and I mean this would all sincereah.
It is a privilege to be able to be of
some assistance to you at this very special place that
you call home. And I will just leave you with
this one bought today. There is nothing more important in
your life than the people in your life. This life
of ours, it is made up if it's good by
(33:20):
good people, and it's by bad people. And so take
your time, fift filter, make wise choices about the quality
of the people in your life, like the quality of
the people that I have in studio with me. Those
are the people that every day are going to help
you get out into this beautiful day and build yourself
(33:41):
a beautiful life. All right, y'all, have a great week.
I'll see you right back here next weekend. This has
been Home with Dean Sharp the House Whisper. Tune into
the live broadcast on KFI AM six forty every Saturday
morning from six to eight Pacific time, and every Sunday
morning from nine to noon Pacific time, or anytime on
(34:03):
demand on the iHeartRadio app
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