Category: Home Services

What does your dream room look like?

Do you dream of custom organization solutions, or specialty cabinetry to fit an unusual corner in your home?  Imagine incorporating beautiful woodworking that has been created especially for you and your family into your home… custom cabinets to suit your needs, entertainment centers crafted to fit your style, closets & bookcases to help you get more organized, and a wine bar or fireplace mantel to make your home more cozy and entertaining. Let us help you create those feelings and the rooms of your dreams with custom designs. We have a wide selection of choices of styles, woods and finishes to choose from.  No matter what style  you may be seeking, or what your custom needs may be, we will have a unique option to offer you.  Take your current rooms from good to fantastic with custom cabinetry and services from Laslo Kitchens. 

If you can dream it, we can do it.  Let us make your dream room a reality with our custom cabinets and services.  We proudly service the Greater Lehigh Valley, Allentown, Easton, Bethlehem,  Bucks County and beyond.  Contact us today for a free evaluation and see how we can help to meet your custom needs.

Have you considered outdoor kitchens for entertaining?

Think about having your guests entertained outside with a fully equipped outdoor kitchen area, complete with counter tops and room to prep.  But don’t just stop at the kitchen, what if you could entertain your guests with a comfortable and welcoming sitting area for them to watch you create what you will be serving?  An outdoor staging area where you can showcase your cooking skills as your friends and loved ones sit and enjoy their favorite beverages with a roaring outdoor fireplace to provide the warmth and relaxation.  The kitchen is the heart of the home, and in the warmer months, you can take that feeling outside as well!

There is no end to the outdoor creations we can help you design when it comes to outdoor kitchens and fireplaces.  Custom design. Finest materials. Reliable contractors.  Call us today or visit our showroom and let’s talk about your next outdoor or indoor custom design.  We are local to the Lehigh Valley and proudly service Allentown, Easton, Bethlehem, Bucks County and beyond.  Scroll down to see all the beautiful outdoor designs that you can create with Laslo Kitchens.

Are you a business owner with a home office?

Your office is your motivational and inspirational space.  Why not create a space that will create an environment that reflects your personality, provides organizational efficiency and a place that says “success” to your clients with a home office renovation. Environment contributes to inspiration.  Inspiration contributes to success.  Would you find it easy to work in this office?

 Do you need a home office renovation?

Imagine sitting in your office trying to come up with some creative ideas for writing your next blog, developing your next strategy, or welcoming your clients to meet.  Do you draw inspiration from the mixture of aromas from your herb garden that just happens to sit adjacent to your office with an open concept plan?  Would you like to?

Or you can add french doors for a beautiful entrance to the patio where you can entertain your clients,  discuss that next big deal, strategize with your team or bounce ideas off of your business partner to inspire your next move. The environment you work in can be the difference between a functional and enjoyable day, versus a disorganized stressful one.  Laslo can help with designing a functional and beautiful office space.

What room would you change in your home to reflect your personality?

Have you ever considered a home remodel to include a bathroom with his and hers vanity areas or a beautiful skylight to allow the rays of the sun to shine down on your plants?  Would you sleep more comfortably with a bedroom that has a fireplace to keep you cozy and warm on those cold winter nights? Or perhaps a bathroom with a sunken tub with pulsating Jacuzzi jets to bring comfort to your tired muscles as you relax in front of strategically placed window that allows the sun stream in while you soak away your stress in luxury?  Or how about a functional craft room with plenty of room for spreading out your scrap-booking supplies with overhead track lighting strategically placed? Or consider entering your patio with a wall full of arched doorways with glass doors?

If you think Laslo Kitchens just remodels kitchens…you are about to embark on a virtual adventure.  You will see that we can help you with your home remodel, to create any room into a room that reflects your unique personality and needs.  Look around…allow yourself to imagine your home remodel after rooms were designed to suit your personality, hobbies, family, and style.

When John and Sherry Petersik, the dynamic DIY duo behind YoungHouseLove.com, sat down to plan their kitchen renovation (pictured here), they knew that opening things up was at the top of their priority list. “Our kitchen has almost no natural light, so anything we could do to make things lighter and brighter was a go,” Sherry Petersik explains. “We’re no strangers to taking doors off closets or opening up a floorplan, so open shelving was an obvious choice.” But while sleek open shelves stocked with perfectly styled cake stands and fruit bowls look gorgeous when you’re adding them to your Pinterest boards, how practical will they be in your real-life kitchen, when your real-life (read: messy!) family is looking for a place to stash that half-empty box of Lucky Charms? Learn here the pros and cons for open shelving and cabinetry—and then choose the best configuration for your kitchen.

Pros: Open Shelving

A light, airy and modern look. Try floating shelves over an exposed brick wall for an industrial chic aesthetic; shelves with decorative brackets over subway tile have more of a vintage, farmhouse vibe.

Easy access. No digging through messy cabinets so items are easy to spot. (Say goodbye to husband kitchen blindness!) “Open shelves force you to stay organized—this is a good thing!” notes Petersik. “They also enable you to unload the dishwasher way faster, which was a big selling point.”

More affordable. There’s no two ways about it: Shelves are simpler to build and thus a fraction of the cost of cabinets, whether you buy them ready-made or go the custom DIY route. The Petersiks spent $141 on materials to build their shelves themselves, and estimate they would have spent upwards of $300 to get enough cabinets to fill the same space.

Cons: Open Shelving

What you see is what you get. If you’re constantly fighting clutter pile-up on the various surfaces of your home, adding more surfaces in the form of open shelves may be inviting disaster.

Dust. If you use open shelves to store the fine china set that only gets used at Christmas, do expect to have to rinse off a layer of fuzz before use, or plan to stay on top of regularly dusting these spaces. A better fix is to keep open shelves reserved for your everyday plates and other items in constant rotation—they won’t have time to sit around and grow sweaters in between uses.

Spillage. If you live in earthquake zone, forget it!

Pros: Cabinets

Out of sight, out of mind. Cabinets offer instant clean up because order can be restored just by closing the doors.

Variety. Shaker, beaded, arched, beveled, traditional, modern, stained, painted, lacquered… you name it— there’s a cabinet style to match it. And forget cookie-cutter. Most cabinet makers will even let you mix and match cabinet styles and finishes for a completely custom look.

Cons: Cabinets

Can make a room look top-heavy. If your kitchen is dark, narrow or has low ceilings, lots of overhead cabinets can add to the claustrophobic feel. A shiny finish and hardware will help reflect light; choosing some glass doors will also open things up (and let you display some of your nicer serving pieces).

Cost. There are no two ways about it: Cabinetry costs more than—often double—open shelving, because of the materials involved and labor required for installation. But you can save money by choosing affordable builder-grade cabinets and then dressing them up by swapping out the hardware or adding decorative trim. Or consider painting your current cabinets; the Petersiks gave the rest of their kitchen a facelift to match their wall of shelves by going this budget-friendly route. It cost just $249 versus tens of thousands for new cabinets, but do be prepared to invest many hours of sweat equity.

High gloss finishes entered the realm of kitchen cabinetry several years ago via the top European design houses. Since then the popularity of the look has increased, and high-gloss is becoming more prominent in everything from kitchens and baths, to closets and furniture. Materials technology has also advanced to bring high gloss to market across all price points.

At every level, high gloss has proven a very popular finish that will likely continue to thrive. Part of the allure is that the sheen can serve many different design functions. High gloss can create emphatic contrast, particularly when used with surfaces that reflect nature, like the dark, textured wood grains that are also waxing in popularity. A color trend that is increasing in popularity involves using high gloss for accent colors that really pop. But high-gloss can also be reductive. Take the white high-gloss kitchen for example. It is a perennial favorite for its sleek, clean, modern sensibility. In such an application the high gloss not only minimizes the attention to the surface, but goes so far as to defer the visual back into the open space of the room.

There are many ways to achieve a high gloss finish, and some of them also support other kitchen cabinet trends. Look for high gloss door and drawer fronts that have contoured edges and either integrated handles or no handles at all.

METHODS FOR ACHIEVING HIGH GLOSS

The classic approach to high gloss is to simultaneously apply paint and a high gloss lacquer to wood cabinets. This is best when it is professionally applied to ensure a uniform sheen. Lacquer is a good material for high-gloss finishes because it’s easy to work with and can be sanded flat and polished to a high gloss. The problem with high-gloss finishes is that with crisp reflections surface defects are very obvious. While undoubtedly beautiful, high-gloss lacquer is not the most durable or water resistant finish. Considering that the kitchen is an environment that is increasingly being utilized as living space, lacquer alone may not be the best approach to high-gloss. There are however some very intriguing hybrid applications, including the use of premium high gloss lacquers on top of thermoformed doors, which both ensures an ultra-smooth surface and improves the durability of the finish.

Another high-end option for high gloss cabinets is solid acrylic panels. This relatively new material is increasing in popularity in the luxury European kitchen houses. The material is specially manufactured so that the high level of gloss is consistent throughout the panel. While this may seem a bit like over-engineering for a surface aesthetic, the solid nature of the material allows for easy re-finishing and repair, suggesting a long product life cycle. Additionally, solid high-gloss acrylic panels are waterproof and will not warp or yellow in the sun.

At a more moderate price point, high gloss cabinetry can be achieved by laying up a thin panel of acrylic on top of a substrate, generally thin MDF. The surface aesthetic is the same as the solid product, but at a lower cost. The panels typically receive an edge treatment that seals them and the substrate material can be specified to be water resistant.

Traditional laminates, both HPL and TFM, offer high gloss finishes. There are several ways that this is achieved, including specialty overlays and technologies that impart textures (including press plates, release papers and belts). Technical HotCoating is another method that is beginning to make its way into the North American laminates market. For this process PUR is heated and applied in an even coat directly over melamine. In all cases the panel is sealed. Laminates are typically scratch and water resistant, characteristics that are increased with HotCoating.

Three-dimensional laminates, also know as rigid thermo-foils are another option for high-gloss. These plastic films (typically vinyl, OPP and polyester based) are thermo-formed around the surface of a panel in a vacuum press. This method allows the high-gloss surface to wrap around contoured edges or profiles.

There is no doubt that high gloss finishes have captured the imagination of designers and homeowners alike. The plethora of materials that offer the aesthetic give specifiers the flexibility to play with highgloss, whether they are just test driving the look as an accent, or committing to an entire project with materials that will stand the test of time.