A BOLD BLUE KITCHEN TAKES CENTER STAGE  

"The kitchen is the heart of our home.  Whenever we have a party, everyone wants to be in the kitchen.  That's why we have a 12' long island in our new kitchen!" explained homeowners from Prairie Farm, WI, who worked with Diana Weisner of Kitchen, Bath, Etc.  This small, rural community with a population of 350 is now home to a stunning teal blue kitchen that grabs center stage in this contemporary home with cottage details.

Diana, owner and designer of Kitchen, Bath, Etc. was a little surprised when her clients showed her a magazine advertisement with blue cabinetry.  "THIS is the color we want!" they explained.   Their other request was for frameless cabinetry, which had been recommended to them by their architect.  Diana promptly responded that she could supply the cabinetry because her cabinetry supplier, Dura Supreme, can do custom paint colors AND they offer frameless cabinetry.   

Diana smiled as she recalled telling her Dura Supreme Rep that there really was no market for frameless cabinetry in her small, rural community in Wisconsin.  With perfect timing, Dura Supreme was offering a webinar specifically about the unique design challenges of frameless.   

Diana explained that the tips and instructions she got from the training were exactly what she needed to design and install this project without any glitches.  "I even spent 6 hours on the jobsite with my installer to make sure he understood how to correctly install frameless cabinetry and apply the molding.  "The project turned out beautiful and I have sold 2 additional frameless projects since then!  When my customers see the additional space available with frameless, many of them now opt for frameless."   

For the custom blue paint, the homeowners came to Diana with a small paint swatch.  "It's difficult to choose from a small paint chip and envision what that color will look like on an entire wall of cabinetry."   Diana went to a local paint store and had them mix a quart of paint so they could see a larger sample.  They then painted a board and sent the sample to Dura Supreme to be color matched.  When Dura returned the color match on a sample door, they immediately realized their first color choice was too much of a bright blue-green and needed to be toned down.   

Back they went to the paint store, where they worked with the paint formulator by adding a little gray to tone down the color and bring out more blue.  After tweaking the formula, they then painted up another sample board and sent it to Dura Supreme.  "The second try was a homerun and my customer loves the color and their new kitchen!  I was glad to be able to photograph this project for my portfolio because it is such a stand-out kitchen with a very unique color."       

Kitchen:  Alectra cabinetry with custom blue paint, Craftsman Beaded Panel door style. 

The webinar Diana attended originally aired on Oct 15, 2010 and can be found in our On Demand webinars, in the Training Programs section of our website (in the dealer login area).