Chilling With Signature Kitchen Suite

So why Napa? Why did Signature Kitchen Suite develop their Experience & Design Center there? Perhaps it’s their dedication to the vintner’s way of life and the Technicurean’s passion for great wine. It is said that the Paris Tasting of 1976 put Napa Valley winemakers on the map. In a blind tasting, two American wines, a Chateau Montelena Chardonnay and a Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon fbeat out the best wines of Burgundy and Bordeaux. Since then, Napa Valley wineries have grown from just over a dozen to several hundred today, and along with the vineyards grew Americans’ love and appreciation of the wine culture.

This year at KBIS, the National Kitchen and Bath Association launched the inaugural “30s Choice Award.” The NKBA honors an outstanding group of young professionals as part of its Thirty Under 30 program. At KBIS, the incoming class was tasked with scouring the KBIS show floor searching for the most innovative products, ideas, and technologies in 10 categories which are selected as the NKBA 30s Choice Awards. The new SKS integrated wine column refrigerators were singled out for this prestigious award in the Smart Home Integration / Wi-Fi Enabled Product category..

I love this shot of the dining room at the Signature Kitchen Suite Experience and Design Center with the wall of integrated wine columns. Who wouldn’t want this in their dining room? They surprised us all in this room with a cupcake party to end our second evening there.

Unique to the brand’s new integrated wine column refrigerator series is Wine Cave™ technology, designed for precise wine preservation, inspired by the traditional, historic old-world caves of wineries, located in Napa Valley, Calif. Carefully tailored to mimic these ideal environments, the exclusive Wine Cave design significantly reduces vibration – a primary impediment to wine preservation, which causes chemical imbalances affecting the quality, flavors, aromas and texture – as well as minimizes temperature fluctuations, limits light exposure and locks in humidity.

The 24” wide integrated wine column holds up to 113 bottles and can accommodate up to three different temperature zones for reds, whites and sparkling wines.

SKS has also launched the True Sommelier™ app that helps wine collectors manage their personal collections, including making pairing suggestions, remembering favorites,and suggesting alternatives when your favorite is unavailable.. Being in Napa, we certainly couldn’t overlook the importance of wine in our culinary culture. Vineyards have become more plentiful throughout the US. We enjoy really nice ones throughout Virginia, but nothing compares to the grapes grown in Napa Valley! For the true wine lovers and collectors, it’s important to have the very best equipment to protect the wines they’ve collected from favorite local vineyards or their travels.

The 18”wide integrated wine column holds up to 71 bottles and offers two temperature zones.

If you’re not a wine collector or just don’t keep your wine around long before drinking it (yours truly), SKS has developed the perfect French door refrigerator for you. The two bottom drawers have the ability to set the temperatures to serve as either a freezer or a wine drawer!

Signature Kitchen Suite has put the same innovative “True to Food” philosophy into action with their refrigerators. They offer “Speed Freeze & Speed Chill”. The faster something freezes, the smaller the ice crystals — meaning less disruption to your food. Freezing fresh food as quickly as possible, Speed Freeze helps retain original flavors, vitamins, nutritional value, and appearance. Speed Chill uses the same innovative thinking in the refrigerator, quickly bringing the temperature back to optimum level after the door is opened for an extended time.

And talk about a smart appliance, the SKS freezers offer Adaptive Defrost. Meet the freezer that gets to know you. Adaptive Defrost measures the number of times you open the door and ambient temperature to select the best time to defrost. When you are away, it will defrost less often, saving energy and reducing freezer burn.

As the love for excellent food grows, so grows the need for space. Fortunately, the Signature Kitchen Suite 30-inch Integrated Column Refrigerator is brilliantly engineered to provide the industry’s largest capacity column, featuring 18.0 cubic feet of storage capacity. Food deserves to stay fresh as long as possible through optimum temperature. Ingenious features like a linear compressor and engineered all-metal interior help to minimize temperature fluctuations to maintain food freshness — brilliantly engineered to help you do your part in the battle against food waste.

One of the coolest features I discovered with these refrigerators and freezers is the integration of cleverly hidden True-Illumination™ Lighting. The LED lighting is within each shelf and moves with the shelves which ensures that the spotlight stays focused on the food, not shining in your eyes.

Time to wine down! After a great few days of learning and marveling at all of the ingenious features of the SKS line of appliances, we were ready to relax a little and of course, enjoy more wine! We ended one evening here at Zach’s Lounge, named for SKS General Manager, Zach Elkin.

We had a wonderful time connecting with each other, making new friends both among the designers and the SKS team. Everyone from Signature Kitchen Suite was so gracious, knowledgeable and passionate about their brand. I’m very thankful for the opportunity to visit their absolutely stunning Experience and Design Center.

And a big thank you goes to the wonderful ladies of who put together these amazing opportunities! Your hard work and dedication to providing terrific educational and brand partnership opportunities is greatly appreciated!

Veronika Eagleson, Flo Von Pelet and Sarah Harman

Now I’m off to open a bottle of Cabernet with all of this talk of wine!

This post is sponsored by Signature Kitchen Suites, as they paid for my trip with the Modenus Designhounds to Napa. All opinions and commentary are my own.

JSI Raves: Thinking About Renovating? Wilsonart Can Make Your LIfe Easier!

Are you considering a kitchen or bath remodel in 2018?  Or are you building a new house?  In the Virginia area, one word that's been left out of the renovation discussion for the past several years is laminate, unless you're talking about taking it out.  But, Wilsonart did a terrific job of educating me at the 2018 KBIS show in Orlando.  These new laminates are not your Grandmother's old laminate!  

Photo courtesy of Christine Kohut of Christine Kohut Interiors

We were treated to a presentation by Danny Seo, Wilsonart’s spokesperson and host of NBC’s Naturally Danny, to showcase Wilsonart’s latest innovations.  This beautiful kitchen vignette featured the new Soft Silk (-21) laminate finish which is a stunning ultra-matte surface. This new finish is incredibly soft and smooth with a silky touch. Visit www.wilsonart.com/finish-options to learn more this spring.

One of the big trends that we saw throughout KBIS this year was the matte black finish.  It was featured heavily by the plumbing showrooms in their fixtures, but also by a lot of cabinetry lines.  While I love black cabinets, one drawback has always been that they show fingerprints and scratches.  But with this new Soft Silk Finish featuring AEON™ Enhanced Scratch & Scuff Resistance Technology, fingerprints and scratches are a thing of the past!  

Photo courtesy of Erica Islas of EMI Interior Design

I also enjoyed seeing their Material Mixology Collection.  With social media driving us to always stay ahead of trends and create instagram worthy spaces, Wilsonart has specially curated this collection that is bursting with character.  The out-of-the-box laminates in this collection beautifully capture the fluidity of design style and trends between residential and commercial markets, and join hundreds of other one-of-a-kind designs in the Virtual Design Library collection of laminates.  Check out the back lit Arctic Dune (#9253CM) laminate that serves as the backsplash in this terrific galley kitchen vignette.  And I love the cabinetry by MasterBrand Cabinets featuring this Wilsonart Phantom Charcoal (#8214K-28) laminate. 

Photo courtesy of Claire Jefford of Creating Contrast Designs

This was another terrific vignette showcasing how you can get high style with affordable laminates!  Love how they were able to incorporate the very trendy waterfall countertop which wraps around the base also.  They also have a lot of great wood grained laminates to create a hassle-free and easy to maintain shiplap wall.  

Wilsonart does a lot more than just laminate!  They have a beautiful collection of quartz products with a wide variety of styles, colors and textures. 

Photo courtesy of Claire Jefford of Creating Contrast Designs

They also do some wonderful things with their solid surface collection.  Check out their "Wet Walls" system that allows you to install directly over tile for a quick bathroom update.  

Wilsonart Wet Wall System – Benjamin Grey 1887K-22 (behind mirror wall), Grey Elm 8201K-12 (shower), Pearl Sequoia 5001K-07 (vanity wrap) and Mangalore Mango 7984-38 (vanity reveal).
 

These wet walls can simply any bathroom remodel project!  So, if you're entertaining the idea of undertaking a kitchen or bath renovation, be sure to think outside the box with your surface solutions.  Laminates, quartz and solid surface materials from Wilsonart are for more than just countertop materials.  They can provide a chic, yet affordable option for any surface in any space!

Please note: According to FTC rules, I need to disclose that my trip to KBIS was sponsored.    While I did not get paid for my time at KBIS, my hotel, airfare and some meals were covered.  As I write about our sponsors  I wish for you to know that I do not receive any additional monetary compensation for doing so.  And please note, the views expressed in this blog are totally mine!