Spectacular Countertops from ThinkGlass
21 February 2012
“Tell Me True”
From the outside looking in, trends and fads must surely seem the same, but they’re really not the same thing at all, which is why I often write about the one, but never the other. Both can become enormously popular, but there is, all the same, a profound difference between them. The difference is longevity, which is an important distinction to keep in mind in any endeavor, but especially so in home remodeling.
Pantone’s Color of the Year, whatever it may be, is always a fad; kitchen cabinets are a trend. Actually, the latter is a fairly new concept, dating back about a century, but it’s taken over kitchens because of its practicality. I guess the difference is this: fads fade, trends thrive.
The kitchens of today are have only a little in common with the kitchens of fifty years ago, and I have to believe that they will have very little in common with the kitchens fifty years hence. Realizing that, a fair number of kitchen designers are on a constant search for whatever is “hot.” I personally feel this to be very much a mistake, because anything hot eventually cools.
One of the things some people in the field do to justify this constant attention on whatever is “hot” is to trot out the supposition that the average kitchen is replaced every ten years. I have never believed that figure. There are exceptions to everything, of course, but the plain fact of the matter is that most people own but one or two homes in their lifetime and build their dream kitchen-if they ever do-but once. Think how odious it must be for those who finally succeed in building that dream kitchen to discover ten years after the fact that it’s now outmoded! But if you build it around fads, you’re sure to achieve just that sort of result. Trends, on the other hand, are much more in the way of improvements and refinements of how we live, and kitchens always reflect that.
The one thing that is constant pretty much is that the kitchen is the heart of the home. When people come to our home, they immediately make a beeline for the kitchen, and that’s where they tend to spend the bulk of their time. But that brings me to the trend that is the subject of this blog, namely, kitchen islands in general, and ThinkGlass in particular. Truthfully, it was a press release on ThinkGlass that started out with our own lament: like it or not, everybody always ends up in the kitchen.
When we first got our home, we tried like heck to get people out of the kitchen and to the rest of our home, but we soon gave it up. It’s where people are comfortable. And hey, given a comfortable counter or island to sit at, friendly hosts and good eats and drinks, well, what’s not to like? What ThinkGlass has done, though, is just nothing short of genius. They’ve found a way to turn the gathering spot into the home’s focal point by the simple act of adding one of their glass countertops.
No, we can do better than that! What ThinkGlass does is add one of their glorious creations to the kitchen, and suddenly that room becomes one of the more sublime places that absolutely ever was. Don’t believe me? Look at what they’ve done with the kitchens we’ve featured in these pictures! Awesome is such an overworked word in these days of hyperbole, but I honestly don’t know of another that describes these countertops.
Glass countertops have so much to recommend them that it’s hard to know where to begin. Actually, we can do that, start with the fact that they’re glass, because it means a non-porous surface with no crevices to harbor bacteria, mold or mildew. You don’t seal it once a year or even once a century; you just clean it with any commercial glass cleaner or with simple soap and water. More than that, if the glass has been textured, there are no fingerprints or smudges to contend with. Glass is non-toxic, 100% recyclable and contains no additives, glue, resin, or laminates. The other cool thing about ThinkGlass is that they are widely distributed throughout the USA, so if you can’t find them. Nah, you can find them!
Coolest of all, though, is the incredible amount of flexibility you have with these countertops. ThinkGlass has worked hard to develop countertops that light from within, which is a touch that is both comforting and spectacular, if that does not seem like too much a dichotomy. When we were first married, my wife turned on the hood light to avoid entering a dark kitchen at night. It adds such a homey air that we have always done it. Well, man, one of these lighted countertops beats that idea all hollow!
If you want something else, or better still, if you have a kitchen designer looking to really make her mark in the world of kitchen design, I cannot think of anything more dramatic that a glass countertop, nor of any company more likely to produce that awe-inspiring countertop than ThinkGlass.
Finally, I started this by stating that the one thing I most want to avoid in kitchen design is putting forth a fad that will soon fade. So, tell me, if you had a kitchen with a countertop like those we show here, would you want to replace it?
Joseph
No comments yet
Leave a Reply