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Cooking Chic
Benefits of a Blum Kitchen
Imagine this scenario: Friends are coming to dinner and you want to impress them with your culinary skills. You glide open your beautifully organized spice drawer and pull out a bag of herbs (freshly ordered from Provence) and your finest Italian olive oil (extra-extra virgin, of course). You also have drawers custom-designed for the specialty cookware you'll need – say a fish poacher, a crepe pan, a vegetable slicer.
Later, when you're ready to set the table, you'll reach into the drawer that contains your silverware (each type of utensil in its own stainless-steel, dishwasher-safe tray) and the one that holds your good china (all neatly stacked and secured in innovative plate holders). Then you'll swing open your elegant cabinet doors – the ones that open really, really wide – and gently take down your sparkling crystal champagne flutes.
Surely, you're thinking, it all sounds too good to be true. I could never be so organized, so professional, so worthy of a write-up in the local society pages! According to Karl Rudisser of Julius Blum, Inc., (pronounced "bloom") you can – you just have to begin with the right kitchen.
Rudisser should know. He is general manager/executive vice president of the Stanley, N.C., U.S. headquarters of an Austrian company that makes what seems at first glance to be a rather prosaic line of products: cabinet hinges, metal drawers, drawer runners and space-maximizing storage systems. But Rudisser, like his homeowner customers, prefers to focus on the end results. What Blum actually sells is research-based European-style efficiency to homeowners who want a superbly organized, top-of-the-line kitchen.