Merillat Completes Dream Kitchen for Winner
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Zack Kaefring won Merillat cabinetry’s “Works Like a Dream” $30,000 kitchen makeover contes. The Denver-area homeowner worked with Merillat and a professional designer to transform his small, 1920s, galley-style kitchen into a more functional space. See slideshow below.

DENVER - Zack Kaefring, winner of Merillat cabinetry’s “Works Like a Dream” $30,000 kitchen makeover contest, is enjoying a fully remodeled kitchen that looks and works like a dream. The Denver-area homeowner worked closely with Merillat and a professional designer to transform his small, 1920s, galley-style kitchen into a beautiful, functional space with much more storage and room for entertaining.

The kitchen makeover is the culmination of the “Works Like a Dream” contest, where homeowners were invited to submit a photo of their current kitchen and create a mood board to inspire their dream kitchen using Merillat’s online Step-by-Step Kitchen planner. Kaefring’s submission, which shared his desperation for a kitchen makeover in his charming Craftsman-style home, stood out among thousands of entries.

“Our old kitchen was so bad, you really didn’t want to be in it,” said Kaefring. “We are so thankful for this opportunity. We knew what we wanted for our kitchen and this gave us the ability to make it happen. Now we have this beautiful, fully functioning space that really works for us.”

A New History for an Old Home

Throughout the remodel, Kaefring worked closely with Jan Neiges, professional designer with The Kitchen & Bath Studio, to maintain the original character of the 1920s home while bringing a classic and clean feel to the space. Although he works in construction and is well versed in many aspects of remodeling, Kaefring found the help of a professional designer essential to bringing the dream kitchen to life.

“Jan brought design skills and expertise to the process that I didn’t even know I needed,” said Kaefring. “Her experience and professional eye helped create a finished, practical space that is loaded with smart organization yet still fits the character of the home.”

With his designer’s help, Kaefring selected Merillat’s Tolani door style in Chiffon finish, an understated white Maple door that lends a modern take on a classic style to complement the home’s architecture. Glass-front doors lighten the space and provide a venue for displaying dishes and other items. The kitchen’s storage was greatly increased with the addition of more cabinets and storage solutions such as roll-out trays in all base cabinetry, a tall pantry pull-out and a pullout wastebasket to hide garbage and pet food. The kitchen also includes a CoreGuard™ Sink Base to help prevent damage to the cabinetry from minor leaks and spills under the sink.

Beyond adding more storage, another priority for the homeowner was being able to entertain with ease, a common design requirement among Gen Y (born between 1979 and 1997) homeowners. According to recent research, Gen Y homeowners use their kitchen for activities beyond eating or drinking like watching TV, working on a computer and entertaining guests. To help make the kitchen suitable for entertaining, the entrance between the kitchen and dining room of Kaefring’s home was widened and a Merillat® Masterpiece moveable island was added at the end of the counter to provide counter space with the flexibility of a freestanding piece of furniture to use for food prep, storage and serving.

“The layout and storage features of the cabinets are our favorite aspects of the kitchen,” said Kaefring. “We went from nothing to this unbelievable space. We didn’t know just how much we were missing before the remodel.”

For more information on the products used in the remodel, visit Merillat.com.

About Merillat. A dash of function. A pinch of innovation. Merillat cabinetry offers smart storage solutions and functional design to help make prepping, cooking and entertaining in the kitchen easier. Just ask Merillat spokesperson, renowned chef Curtis Stone—someone who knows the importance of a well-designed kitchen. To learn more about the many beautiful and intelligent cabinetry options from Merillat, along with kitchen tips and recipes from Curtis, visit Merillat.com. Stay in tune with the latest news and updates from Merillat, be sure to check out Facebook, Twitter or the Merillat Roundtable blog.

1 GenShift 2011 Study Methodology. Harris Interactive® fielded the study on behalf of Masco Cabinetry from February 28 to March 2, 2011 via its Harris Poll QuickQuerySM online omnibus service, interviewing a nationwide sample of 1,027 U.S. adult homeowners aged 18–65 years old. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error that are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with non-response, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100 percent response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the U.S. adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to be invited to participate in the Harris Interactive online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

For more information and to download the complete study, visit www.genshiftkitchen.com .

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