Thursday, April 5, 2007

WaTeR

How to Drink More Water Everyday

Got water?


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Got water?

There are a variety of reasons to drink plenty of water each day. Adequate water intake prevents dehydration, cleans out the body, and promotes healing processes. Substituting water for beverages high in calories can also help control weight. Follow the steps below to make sure you're getting enough of this most basic necessity.




Steps



  1. Determine how much water you need. You've probably heard the "8 X 8" (2 L) rule--drink eight 8-ounce (250 ml) glasses of water per day (2 L)--but the amount of water a person needs varies depending on his or her weight and activity level. A better way to determine your specific recommended water intake is to divide your weight (in pounds) by two. The resulting number is the number of ounces of water you need each day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs., strive to drink 75 ounces of water daily. Metric people should divide their weight in kilograms by 30 - so somebody weighing 70 kg is going to need 2.3 litres per day. (See warnings below.)
  2. Measure your daily intake of water. Do this for a few days. If you find that you're drinking less than the recommended quantity, try some of the following tips.
  3. Carry water with you everywhere you go in a bottle or other container. Before long, you'll find yourself reaching for it without a second thought.
  4. Keep a glass or cup of water next to you whenever you'll be sitting down for a long time, such as when you're at your desk at work. Drink from it regularly as you're working.
  5. Try wearing a digital watch that beeps at the beginning of each hour. Use that as a reminder to pour yourself a glass of water. Vow to drink that water before the next beep. If you drink only one small (6 ounce or 180 ml) cup per hour, you'll have consumed 48 ounces (1.4 L) by the end of an 8-hour workday.
  6. Get a water purification system. Purified water tastes very good and may help make drinking water more appealing to you. Be aware, though, that as you grow accustomed to purified water, you may find that tap water leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
  7. Add Lemons or Limes to your water, it makes it taste better and makes you want to drink more of it. Be careful not to make it too sour, just a splash or sourness should do the trick.


Tips



  • Except in very rare cases, it is not necessary to buy expensive bottled water. Companies that sell water have a financial interest in convincing you that tap water is undesirable. However, if you choose to drink tap water, please be aware of the pollutants and additional chemicals that exist in many tap water sources. Some studies have linked the long-term accumulation of these chemicals in your body to chronic health problems. A simple water filtration system or boiling of the water will help reduce these risks.
  • Instead of that Coke, try a glass of water. It may not be as tasty, but it's a lot better for you than drinking almost ten teaspoons (50 ml) of white sugar. It's also considerably cheaper, especially if you drink tap water.
  • If you really can't stand the taste of your water, try adding a tiny bit of fruit juice or a squeeze of lemon or lime--just enough to slightly change the taste. Refrigerating your water may also help make it more palatable.
  • For a feeling of accomplishment, fill two 32-ounce (1 L) water bottles (or one big 64-ounce (2 L) bottle, as in the full "8x8" (2 L) amount) in the morning and make sure you have consumed the contents of both by the end of the day.
  • Drinking a full glass of water first thing in the morning helps wake the body up. So kick-start your day with water!
  • Water helps you look good. By flushing out toxins and impurities, water can make your skin clearer, smoother and younger looking.
  • Drinking water helps you control hunger. Drink a large glass of ice water 20 minutes before meals. The cold causes your stomach to shrink somewhat, which will make you feel full more rapidly.
  • Whether drinking tap or bottled water, do some research on the source. In some places, such as Philadelphia, the tap water actually contains the same electrolytes that are in Gatorade. On the other hand it's also possible that your bottled water may be from a different source than its name suggests. If the bottle says 'Municipal Water Supply' or something to that effect, then the company has simply bottled tap water, and you're probably wasting your money.
  • If you find out you have lead plumbing, and water is abundant in your area, let the water run for about thirty seconds before filling your glass. This can reduce the amount of lead--and the bad taste that accompanies it--in the water you drink. If you live in an area with a shortage of water, however, this is probably not a good option.
  • To convert the units of measurement in this article to metric units, you can use Google Calculator
  • Some nutritionists believe that you should only drink water at least 20 minutes before a meal and 1 hour after, not during or immediately after eating. The theory is that your digestive juices need to remain undiluted in order to properly break down your food for proper nutrient uptake.
  • Every time you walk past a water fountain, take a sip or two.
  • Gradually increase your daily intake of water by starting with, for example, 1 L. Keep a 1 L bottle of water in the fridge and aim to have it finished by the end of the day. Increase this amount every day.
  • Vow to drink only water for a month. Once your body becomes accustomed to it, it will be hard not to drink enough water. Also, by the end of the month water starts to taste delicious...no lie!
  • To get the needed 8 oz. (250 ml) glasses of water, say 8, put 8 hair ties or rubber bands on your right hand to represent each glass of water you need. When you drink one of the glasses, switch one rubber band to your left hand. Your goal is to get 8 hair ties on your left hand before the day is up! Or simply start with a 2 L bottle of water and make sure it's empty by the end of the day.
  • If you don't like the taste of water try hot water. It's a different taste and it feels good on your throat!
  • Try drinking cold water out of a glass instead of a plastic or paper cup. The glass will retain the cold better than other materials and will keep your water crisp and fresh-tasting longer.
  • Brita filters work well
  • Crystal Light flavours water and has practically no calories or carbs, don't use too much...just a pinch to flavour your water
  • Try getting a really fun waterbottle that you enjoy having around, it makes drinking water more fun!
  • Also you can try eating saltier foods before having a glass of water, it'll make your mouth a bit drier and you'll feel the need to drink more water.
  • Eat ice, it's water and it tastes really good!
  • It has recently been proven that tea is as good or even healthier than water and can extend one's life by a few years.


Warnings



  • Increasing your water intake may cause you to have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. To avoid this, you may want to stop drinking water a few hours before bedtime--or make sure you visit the toilet before bed!
  • While adequate water is essential to health, it is possible to drink too much water or any other beverage, and there has been considerable scientific debate surrounding how much water a person really needs per day. According to Snopes - the Los Angeles Times has reported that "Kidney specialists do agree on one thing, however: that the 8-by-8 (2 L) rule is a gross overestimate of any required minimum. To replace daily losses of water, an average-sized adult with healthy kidneys sitting in a temperate climate needs no more than one liter of fluid...the equivalent of about four 8-ounce (250 ml) glasses. According to most estimates, that's roughly the amount of water most Americans get in solid food. In short, though doctors don't recommend it, many of us could cover our bare-minimum daily water needs without drinking anything during the day."
  • Drinking excessive amounts of water can cause serious health problems for some people.
  • People with some heart conditions, high blood pressure or swelling of the lower legs (edema) need to avoid excess water. If you have a history of kidney problems, especially if you have had a transplant, consult your doctor before increasing your fluid intakes.
  • You shouldn't drink too much water while eating as it waters down your stomach acid and can cause digestion problems.
  • If you live in a place with a lot of heat (e.g., the desert), you will have to drink extra water.
  • Keep in mind that the eating of ice may break or chip your teeth, and may damage the enamel. (Dentist's Recommendation) Try sucking on ice instead!


Things You'll Need



  • Water
  • Bottle (Optional)
  • Money (If you buy bottled water)

ToP 5 BaD FoOdS/DaNgErOuS

The Five Top Contenders in The BAD FOR YOU FOODS Category




The Five Top Contenders in the BAD FOR YOU FOODS category.


It's hard to believe those foods that taste sooo good can actually be bad for you. We often hear it said that there are no bad foods, only foods you should eat in moderation.


The following foods are "bad foods". Not just eat in moderation, but actually avoid whenever possible; hard as that may be. They have no nutritional value and provide the body with a healthy dose of toxins. Any food that doesn't provide nutritional content is a toxin to the human body as well.


Here are the 5 worst foods ...


1. Doughnuts


Doughnuts are fried, usually in trans fats; they are full of sugar and refined white flour. Store-bought doughnuts are made up of over 35 percent trans fat.


An average doughnut will provide you with about 200 to 300 calories. This is mostly from sugar, all the while providing very little nutritional content.


Starting your day off with this American idea of a breakfast food is worse than no breakfast at all. Not only will it quickly raise your blood sugar level, it will also drop quickly and will leave you hungry again much sooner than a bowl of oatmeal.


2. Soda



One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar (3.33 Tablespoons, nearly 1/4 cup), 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, not to mention the large amount of artificial food colors and sulphites. Diet soft drinks are no better, as they are filled with harmful artificial sweeteners like aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet, and Canderel). Aspartame is listed as an excitotoxin. This ingredient alone inflicts damage on brain and nerve cells by literally exiting the brain cell to death.


Drinking soda has been linked to osteoporosis, obesity, tooth decay and heart disease. Despite how awful it is to our health, the average American drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year (if my math is right, that is over 597 cans). Sadly, soft drink consumption among children has almost doubled in the United States over the last decade, due in part to our schools trading the health and future of our students for money. Soft drink companies make attractive deals with our schools to sell their products. School hallways are often lined with soda-filled vending machines. The large soft drink companies make deals with schools, offering commission on the sales and/or a large lump-sum payments to have this front row seat at our student’s money, future, and health. With soft drink vending machines at a school, a student’s soft drink consumption can increase by as much as 50 cans per year.


3. French Fries (and nearly all commercially fried foods)


Potatoes are bad enough when consumed in their raw state, due to how their simple sugars rapidly converted to glucose that raises insulin levels and can devastate your health. But when they are cooked in a trans fat at high temperatures, it gets even worse!


Anything that is fried, even vegetables, has the issues of trans fat absorption and produce the potent cancer-causing substance acrylamide.


Acrylamide is a carcinogen that is produced when foods are browned, (boiling and steaming are ok) during baking, frying or deep-frying. Over-cooked foods produce a large amounts of acrylamide. Acrylamides can also be created during microwaving.


When foods are fried in vegetable oils like canola, soybean, safflower, corn, and other seed and nut oils these become particularly problematic. These polyunsaturated fats easily become rancid when exposed to oxygen and produce large amounts of damaging free radicals in the body. They are also very susceptible to heat-induced damage from cooking. What is not commonly known is that these oils can actually cause aging, clotting, inflammation, cancer and weight gain. Not to mention that many of these oil are toxic to the body, having to be treated before we can consume them. Due to heavy lobbying and marketing campaigns to convince the public that the more healthy fats (such as the tropicals, like palm and coconut) are "bad for you" these oils have been promoted as the healthy choice in oil.


I have read a suggestion that it may be possible to create a "healthy french fry" by cooking it in a healthy fat like virgin coconut oil. Due to its high saturated fat content, coconut oil is extremely stable and is not damaged by the high temperatures of cooking.


4. Chips


This includes all those bagged crispy, salty fried snacks found in the snack food aisle in most grocery stores. Potato chips, corn chips, tortilla chips, puffy cheesy thing, and more, are fried in, so high in trans fats. Thankfully, due to the bad press trans fats have been getting lately many of the producers for these snacks are moving away from frying in these "bad fats". Unfortunately it doesn't change the fact that they have to fry these at high temperatures, potentially leading to the formation of acrylamide, the carcinogenic by product from browning foods, discussed briefly above.


The potatoes and corn used in these products are frequently GE (Genetically Engineered)/GMO (Genetically modified organism). The European market has banned the use and importation of GE/GMO foods due to the dangers they create. Not only is there a vast environmental danger to growing these foods, they also will be changing the face of farming. No longer will the little guy or the father in a third world country, be able to feed a family, they will be at the mercy of the seed producers to purchase the seed and needed chemicals to grow these GE/GMO foods. Not only does this force the small farmer (non agra-business farm) out of the market it will also take away the right to grow our own food. GE/GMO’s are also unsafe for the human body.


Depending on what and how the food produce was genetically modified it can result in animal diseases crossing over to humans, allergies and other new kinds of diseases. Just one GE/GMO Corn product has an Ampicillin resistance gene, inserted into the corn. There is already widespread antibiotic resistance, and Ampicillin is used in human health care. This isn't even the tip of the ice berg on the GE /GMO issue.


5. Fried Non-Fish Seafood


Fried shrimp, clams, oysters, lobsters, calamari, etc., arrive on your plate with the quadruple whammy of trans fat, acrylamide, mercury and the possibility of parasites, bacteria and/or viruses, even resistant strains. Many of these may not be killed with the high heat of frying.


Sadly, our oceans are heavily contaminated with toxic mercury and the aquatic "critters" that live and eat in the oceans are obviously also loaded with mercury, which we ingest when we eat seafood.


Mercury in the body can damage the developing neurological systems of fetuses and children, and cause memory loss, tremors, anxiety and other health problems in adults. In addition mercury can increase their risk of myocardial infarction and cardiovascular death according to recent studies as published in the American Heart Association journal, Circulation, and recent reports in the New England Journal of Medicine.


Not to "dis" non fish sea life, but they are known as the scavengers of the sea and dine on things that are harmful to the body. They are eating dead and decaying sea life, parasites and diseases included.

ChOoSiNg PoTs AnD PaNs

Choosing Pots and Pans to Improve Your Cooking


A few well-chosen pieces -- starting with a good stockpot and a heavy sauté pan -- can make a big difference.




As a Fine Cooking editor, I've had the chance to observe lots of great cooks at work. From them, I've learned plenty -- including the fact that good-quality pots and pans made of the right materials really can improve your cooking.



Rather than having a rack filled with pots and pans of all shapes and sizes, owning a few well-chosen pieces will give you the flexibility to cook whatever you want and the performance you need to cook it better.



I polled some of our authors to find out which pans were the most valuable to them and why. I then came up with six pieces, starting with two indispensables: an anodized-aluminum stockpot to handle stocks, soups, stews, some sauces, blanching, boiling, and steaming; and a high-sided stainless-steel/aluminum sauté pan with a lid for frying, deglazing sauces, braising small items like vegetables, making sautés and fricassées, cooking rice pilafs and risottos, and a whole lot more. The other four pieces I picked make for even more cooking agility and add up to half a dozen ready-for-action pots and pans that you'll really use.

All good pans share common traits .
In a well-stocked kitchen store, you'll see lots of first-rate pots and pans. They may look different, but they all share essential qualities you should look for.



Look for heavy-gauge materials. Thinner-gauge materials spread and hold heat unevenly, and their bottoms are more likely to dent and warp. This means that food can scorch. Absolutely flat bottoms are particularly important if your stovetop element is electric. Heavy-gauge pans deliver heat more evenly.

To decide if a pan is heavy enough, lift it, look at the thickness of the walls and base, and rap it with your knuckles -- do you hear a light ping or a dull thud? A thud is good in this case.



You'll want handles and a lid that are sturdy, heatproof, and secure. Handles come welded, riveted, or screwed. Some cooks advise against welded handles because they can break off. But Gayle Novacek, cookware buyer for Sur La Table, has seen few such cases. As long as handles are welded in several spots, they can be preferable to riveted ones because residue is apt to collect around a rivet.



Many pans have metal handles that stay relatively cool when the pan is on the stove because the handle is made of a metal that's a poor heat conductor and retainer, such as stainless steel. Plastic and wooden handles stay cool, too, but they're not ovenproof. Heat- or ovenproof handles mean that dishes started on the stovetop can be finished in the oven.



All lids should fit tightly to keep in moisture. The lid, too, should have a heatproof handle. Glass lids, which you'll find on certain brands, are usually ovensafe only up to 350°F.



A pan should feel comfortable. "When you're at the store, pantomime the way you'd use a pot or pan to find out if it's right for you," advises Fine Cooking contributing editor and chef Molly Stevens. If you find a pan you love but you aren't completely comfortable with the handle, you can buy a rubber gripper to slip over the handle. Just remember that grippers aren't ovenproof.



Some pans need special talents.
Depending on what you'll be cooking in the pan, you may also need to look for other attributes.



For sautéing and other cooking that calls for quick temperature changes, a pan should be responsive. This means that the pan is doing what the heat source tells it to, and pronto. For example, if you sauté garlic just until fragrant and then turn down the flame, the pan should cool down quickly so the garlic doesn't burn. Responsiveness isn't as crucial for boiling, steaming, or the long, slow cooking that stocks and stews undergo.



For sautéing and oven roasts, it helps if the pan heats evenly up the sides. When you've got a pan full of chicken breasts nestling against the pan sides, you want them all to cook quickly and evenly, so heat coming from the sides of the pan is important. Even heat up the sides of a pot is important for pot roasting, too. Paul Bertolli, Fine Cooking contributing editor and chef of Oliveto restaurant in Oakland, California, counts on his enameled cast-iron oval casserole by Le Creuset for braising meat because "it's a snug, closed cooking chamber with even heat radiating off the sides for really good browning." Bertolli finds that meat fits especially well into the oval shape.



For cooking acidic foods, such as tomato sauces, wine sauces, and fruit fillings, a pan's lining should be nonreactive. Stainless steel, enamel, and anodized aluminum won't react no matter what they touch, while plain aluminum can discolor white sauces and foods that are acidic, sulfurous, or alkaline. It can even make those foods taste metallic. Eggs, vegetables in the cabbage family, and baking soda are some of the other foods vulnerable to aluminum's graying effect. In the past, there was concern about aluminum and Alzheimer's, but evidence has been far from conclusive.



Interview yourself to help you choose the right pans.
There's nothing wrong with matching cookware in principle. Packaged starter sets are attractively priced, and a whole lineup of matching pans can be attractive, too. But a single material isn't suited for every kitchen task -- with sets, you're often stuck with pans you don't need. That enameled cast-iron casserole is just right for the cassoulet you'll move from stovetop to oven. But its matching saucepan overcooked your last caramel because the pan was too heavy to heft quickly once the sugar turned color.



You'll get more use out of pieces that you hand-pick yourself.



To decide what you need, ask yourself questions like the ones that follow.



Are you more likely to make saucy dishes like fricassées and sautés than delicate foods like omelets and crêpes? A bigger sauté or frying pan with high sides and a lid may be a better choice than a shallower, slope-sided omelet pan without one. "At home, I make a lot of dishes where the pasta gets thrown in with the other ingredients for the last few minutes, and my anodized-aluminum sauté pan is the one I always grab," says Molly Stevens of her favorite Calphalon pan. "It's responsive, I know the food won't scorch, and I love the handle." She adds that its anodized surface is easy to clean.



Do you cook lots of soup on weekends to freeze for meals during the week? A heavy stockpot may be essential. "I always choose heavy-gauge for anything that stays on the stove a long time," says Larry Forgione, chef/owner of the New York City restaurant An American Place, who says food burns and sticks whenever he uses a thin stockpot. Abby Dodge, Fine Cooking's recipe tester, agrees. "With soups and stocks, a heavy bottom comes first," she insists. "And if your budget allows it, go for the best."



Do you make pasta several times a week? Don't toss that big, thinner-gauge pasta pot if you already have one; it's fine for boiling and steaming -- and lighter is better when you're carting a boiling pot from stove to sink. But if you don't have a big pot yet, think about doubling up your pasta-boiling with stock- and soup-making by using a heavy stockpot.



Do you like making sauces? "When I'm browning or deglazing, I need to see what the pan juices are doing," says Jim Peterson, Fine Cooking contributing editor and chef. For such jobs, he avoids pans with a darker interior, such as anodized aluminum, and prefers a shiny stainless-steel lining.



Nancy Silverton, baker, pastry chef, and co-owner of La Brea Bakery and Campanile in Los Angeles, agrees. "I love the steady heat and surface of seasoned cast iron, but seeing color change is crucial, so I need a pan that's bright inside, like stainless," she says. Silverton cautions that tin- and aluminum-lined pans affect the taste of acidic foods, such as compotes and fruit fillings. Both Peterson and Silverton love the visual warmth of copper but agree that top-notch stainless with an aluminum core, like All-Clad, works just as well.



Do you often serve stews, pot roasts, or braised meat dishes? Paul Bertolli loves the way Le Creuset enameled cast iron handles such dishes. "I can start dishes on the stove, transfer them to the oven, and all the juices will be ready to deglaze in the same pot." He adds that one-pot cooking makes for swift cleanup, too. And Scott Peacock, a southern chef, loves enameled cast iron because "you can put on a lid, set the pot at the back of the stove, and it will hold the food at a good serving temperature a long while."



Do you like cooking chops, steaks, or thick fish fillets? Cast iron may be heavy, but chef and writer Regina Schrambling says that "for searing fish at intense heat and finishing it in the oven, I trust it." Scott Peacock likes it, too, especially for making golden-crusted cornbread, but cautions that unless cast iron is well seasoned, it can make acidic foods taste metallic, and that metal utensils themselves are apt to scrape off seasoning.



Circulon pans have a ridged nonstick surface. The food won't stick, but the juices will, so deglazing the pan is possible.
Are you trying to cook with less fat? Nonstick may be a good choice, and happily, nonstick technology has come a long way in the past few years. With the old-style, lighter-weight nonstick pans, it was hard to get the pan hot enough to sauté properly. Nonstick pans are now being made of harder, high-heat-tolerant metals, such as anodized aluminum and stainless steel, and the coatings themselves can withstand more heat and abrasion -- no more nonstick flakes in your food. Another potential disadvantage of sautéing in nonstick is the difficulty in deglazing. The nonstick surface can be so effective that you never get any good brown bits in the bottom of the pan. With Circulon, which has a finely ridged nonstick interior, browning takes place more like in a conventional pan, and Circulon's Commercial line is super heavy duty.

DeSiGnInG A BeAuTiFuL KiTcHeN

Designing:


From the latest in lighting to the newest looks in hardware, Lowe's has everything you need to complete the whole project. Come in and let us help you get started today.




In the kitchen shown here, the layout was defined by the shape of the existing space. The arrangement of cabinets and appliances is typically based on two things:


  • The logical adjacencies needed between fixtures and appliances based on tasks.

  • The traditional kitchen work triangle, which outlines minimums and maximums for spacing between primary work centers (refrigeration, clean-up and cooking). In addition, this room was large enough to accommodate an island cabinet which offers additional preparation space and storage as well as a great place to locate a secondary sink.

Kitchens are often called the "heart of the home," and it's easy to understand why. In addition to being the center for cooking, the kitchen is often the site of informal gatherings of family and friends, the place where homework gets done, bills get paid and dogs and cats get fed. So it's important that your kitchen not only live up to your functional expectations but be aesthetically pleasing as well.




Determine your color scheme to evaluate wood species and finishes, as well as flooring and wall colors. A warm, earthy "complementary" palette was the scheme of choice here, and individual components were chosen to support this scheme. "Complementary" color schemes, comprised of colors that lie directly opposite one another on the color wheel, produce vibrant looks and visual excitement. In this kitchen, the mellow green walls (American Tradition, English Ivy) play off the red tones of the durable natural-brick paver floor. Shenandoah's Orchard Maple cabinetry by American Woodmark, styled with graceful arched cathedral wall cabinet doors and decorative fluted trim, provides a "simplified traditional" look that's perfect for today's living. For countertops, we chose Corian solid surfacing in Burnt Amber for its solid good looks, durability and easy maintenance.





Stainless steel appliances from Frigidaire, initially chosen for their quality, dependability and sleek profile, provide a stylish contrast in texture and work well with the rest of the room's color palette.




Hi-arc Moen faucets in polished chrome provide continuity in the metal finishes and allow extra space under the faucet for easily filling tall pots and containers. Note that we chose lever handles for this kitchen, but other models offering single lever styles are great for one-touch operation. Stainless steel main and secondary sinks are strategically located to handle multi-tasks and multiple cooks. Cabinet hardware in a brushed pewter finish complements all.




Important to any good kitchen is a thorough plan for lighting. Here, we created "layers" of lighting by installing multiple types of lighting fixtures--recessed lights for general, ambient lighting, and over and under cabinet halogen fixtures for task lighting. For function as well as style, we installed a Sienna pendant light in antique pewter over the island. To control light and provide privacy, we selected a Levolor 1" natural wood blind in Sand ‘n Beach to coordinate with the maple cabinetry.

HeLp On CoLoUr Of KiTcHeN

 o
Need help w/renovation of small kitchen, colors etc




Hi, Please help me wih deciding what colors to use in my rather small l shaped kitchen. I have decided on granite countertops, ceramic floors and possibly but not necessarily stainless appliances. My other preference for appliances would be black. The only thing I am keeping in the kitchen is the red brick surround for the range I had never really cared for white cabinets but do you think they would really open up the space. If I go with white cabinets, then what color floor and countertops. Any and all suggestions are welcome-Ihave a whole houseful of renovations ahead of me but the kitchen has me beat. P.S does anyone think I could use some of the tin ceiling which is being torn out as a possible backsplash. I would like to mix the old with the nw a bit. Thanks a lot.



Follow-Up Postings:

 o
RE: Need help w/renovation of small kitchen, colors etc



It sounds like a charming space to work with. By all means save some of that ceiling for the backsplash! Paint and perhaps antique it to bring out the design. One thing I'd ask before suggesting any colors is "what type of style are you after?" I'm guessing maybe this is a bit of a "country" kitchen?


I will tell you what my mind instantly saw when I read this. Natural cherry, with a countertop in a blackish shade that would flow comfortably with the brick. A few country accents like that backsplash in an antiqued cream or tan or even a gold, antiqued to soften it. Baskets instead of doors in a few of the cabinets. Antique bronze fixtures and copper...lots of copper :) Walls in a dry brushed technique or a lovely ventian plaster, using a color that will end in a soft gold or yellowish finish. (That's not bright yellow but more of a honey finish).




Stainless or black appliances.




Have I gotten carried away yet? Oh! As to the "small" issue. Embrace it....use words like COZY instead of small. White and bright gets so septic. Cozy is so much more fun!