The Home Crowd

From The Kitchen @ Serafini Studios – A cooking blog by husband/wife team, Gabriel and Kristin Serafini. After living in their classic St. Louis area home for a few years, the Serafini’s undertook a massive kitchen remodel. There’s a window replaced with re-set brickwork, beams hidden, and the cabinetry and appliances entirely replaced and well photo-documented.

The granite countertop however, is the most unique piece of the project due to the royal blue river running through their countertop.

The blue river glows brilliantly due to the embedded fiber optic lighting system. Being in the St. Louis area, the river reflects a template of the nearby Mississippi River. How did they do this?

After selecting their granite, they took it to be cut by waterjet. I’d have been equally as impressed had they said the granite was cut little by little with a handsaw and a file. The waterjet, however, is a tool that shoots water at an ungodly PSI and offers the type of precision you can’t get with traditional saws, and thus a perfect choice for the Serafini’s hand-drawn river template.

With the void of the river ready, the Serafini’s found some blue bottles and crushed them down until they had small glass chips laid over and illuminated by fiber optic cable lighting.

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There’s a BEST way to load a dishwasher?  News to me.

Here’s my explanation of the dishwasher:

1. Open door, there’s two racks in there… a small one on top, and a big one down low
2. Fill up top rack as bending over is a huge pain in the ass.
3. Attempt to close top rack, take large washable items which prevented the top rack closing, and place them on the bottom rack.
4. Fill soap, shut hatch, and dish-wash!!!

Consumer reports, however, has a better approach from their Q&A where someone wasn’t pleased with how the kids filled the dishwasher.  Number one, I’m with the kids on this one, and number two, these people had kids so they wouldn’t have to rely on a dishwasher in the first place, right?

1. Load large items at the sides and back of the dishwasher, so that they don’t block water and detergent from reaching other dishes.

2. Place the dirtier side of dishes toward the center of the machine to provide more exposure to the spray. Don’t let dishes or utensils nest, or rest side by side, which can prevent water from reaching all surfaces.

3. Use the top rack for plastic and delicate items that are dishwasher safe.

4. Rest glassware on prongs to prevent breakage. And to prevent chipping, make sure that china, crystal, and stemware don’t touch other items. Don’t machine-wash brass, bronze, cast iron, disposable plastics, gold-colored flatware, gold-leaf china, hollow-handle knives, pewter, tin, or anything made of wood or with a wood handle.

More from this article, and dishwasher reviews at Consumer Reports