Kitchens: The Best of Fine Homebuilding (For Pros By Pros Series)

Rating:
Summary: Good ideas, but the style is disappointingly dated
Review: This is a well written collection of articles from the folks
at Fine Homebuilding Magazine, with a great deal of detail
on a wide variety of kitchen remodeling topics. However, the
articles were written between 1981 and 1995, with most of them
dating from the late 80's. Sheesh, did designer kitchens really
look like that then? We've come a long way since then. For
example, there is an article on building your own concrete
coutertop. It's well written and very detailed, but it treats
the subject like it's so exotic. I mean, the countertop looks
fine as they build it, but I want to know the secrets to Fu-Tung
Cheng's concrete forms -- now those are exotic! They also talk
about solid surface countertops as the "latest thing". But
there are excellent articles on building your own cabinets (face
frame or frameless) and on the overall kitchen layout, among
others. I would recommend this for anyone likely to remodel
their kitchen themselves, but it can probably be skipped if you
plan on hiring someone to do the work. Get the "Kitchen Idea
Book" (also Taunton Press) instead.

Rating:
Summary: Good ideas, but the style is disappointingly dated
Review: This is a well written collection of articles from the folks
at Fine Homebuilding Magazine, with a great deal of detail
on a wide variety of kitchen remodeling topics. However, the
articles were written between 1981 and 1995, with most of them
dating from the late 80's. Sheesh, did designer kitchens really
look like that then? We've come a long way since then. For
example, there is an article on building your own concrete
coutertop. It's well written and very detailed, but it treats
the subject like it's so exotic. I mean, the countertop looks
fine as they build it, but I want to know the secrets to Fu-Tung
Cheng's concrete forms -- now those are exotic! They also talk
about solid surface countertops as the "latest thing". But
there are excellent articles on building your own cabinets (face
frame or frameless) and on the overall kitchen layout, among
others. I would recommend this for anyone likely to remodel
their kitchen themselves, but it can probably be skipped if you
plan on hiring someone to do the work. Get the "Kitchen Idea
Book" (also Taunton Press) instead.