06 Jun Deborah Main Struts with Rutt at Architectural Digest Show

Strutting with Rutt is a great thing…you wanna know why?  Because Rutt Cabinetry is pure magic. They know inside and out fine craftsmanship and artistry and what kind of luxury experience their cabinetry can truly provide for their customer. So much that in their words, “For those who know, Rutt Handcrafted Cabinetry is truly the only choice”. And while on #BlogTourNYC and at The 2014 Architectural Digest Home Design Show I learned why.

(Note: My trip to New York City was presented by Modenus, was paid for by our generous sponsors. Many thanks to DXV,Miele, BLANCO, Rutt Cabinetry, West Edge Design Fair and Prizer Hoods. Photography, other than my own, is from the Rutt Cabinetry press kit. All opinions expressed are my own, unless quoted.)

I may not have Rutt Cabinetry in my kitchen, but I do know what it means to take great care and attention to details in handcrafted work, as I do that every day with Deborah Main Designs luxury pillows. But I also learned how important details are when I remodeled my own home from top to bottom. The height and lines and door handles of the kitchen cabinetry were very important to me in selecting a cabinet and I must have spent weeks selecting the door knobs to accent them.

The important thing is that details matter in luxury design and you need to be very happy with your kitchen, as it is often (and in my case it is) the heart of a happy home. (check out our “Details Matter” Pinterest board.)

Attention to details is exactly what Scott Stultz (pictured above) with Rutt Handcrafted Cabinetry gave us at the AD show.  I was so enraptured with Scott’s eloquent presentation at the 2014 Architectural Digest Home Design Show on our 3rd day of #BlogTourNYC that I immediately wanted to hire him on the spot to describe Deborah Main Designs’ new UnZipped Collection to our customers!! He has a way with words that is both enchanting and inspiring, and frankly quite sensual.  But what’s behind those words is even more fascinating because Scott is the one who designed the new Ruskin series of cabinets for Rutt.  (Here’s a press release about renowned designer & architect Scott Stultz joining forces with Rutt Cabinetry for this special new series).

And my intern, PR consultant and writer, Chloe Scheller, captured Scott Stultz’s description of the new Ruskin series best in her post below: “It is like poetry for the eyes”.   (Note: I wanted to feature Chloe’s beautifully written post here to thank her for all she did this spring to support Deborah Main Designs. You can follow her on her blog and Twitter.  Many thanks to a talented young woman. We wish Chloe much success in her future endeavors! (and yes, that means our internship position is open for the summer, so if interested, please email me your resume at inquire@deborahmaindesigns.com ).

And Scott Stultz sure made us feel that we were witnessing “poetry” when he described the curves and signature style of the Ruskin Series. Rutt Cabinetry is not just a cabinet company but one that is leading the pack with innovative design that remembers history but moves forward with contemporary design. Please learn more about this wonderful company below.

Rutt Cabinetry is Poetry for the Eyes, written by Chloe Scheller

Rutt Cabinetry is a notable leader in custom cabinetry and beautiful craftsmanship. Rutt Cabinetry prides itself on their commitment to outstanding work all the way down to the meticulous wood grain matching and hand finishing. Rutt Cabinetry also offers their clients hand-selected lumber, precision fitting, grooved sides, top dust covers, styled doors and drawers, interior accessories, clear conversion varnish, artistic stains and paints, mullion door features and patent-pending dovetail joinery.

Since customization is vital, Rutt also provides custom wainscot paneling, mouldings, turnings, home interior passage doors and custom furniture pieces to make your room designs run smoothly and harmoniously together.

Last August, their new series, Ruskin (above), designed by designer Scott A. Stultz, made its debut. The Ruskin design provides a fresh appeal on traditional styling and is exclusively available at Rutt Cabinetry. Inspired by his late father, a theorist of the Victorian age, Stultz aimed at designing beyond the usual alterations on traditional design. The Ruskin series provides the home with a timeless look instead a novelty trend.

 “When designing the Ruskin series we paid great attention to proportions and combination details, resulting in a familiar traditional look with a contemporary ethos that is alive with the moment,” said Stultz. “Ruskin is not limited to just traditional. It is transitional; it is classical, it is arts & crafts, and can lean pretty hard towards contemporary when appointed with other contemporary details.”

The Ruskin series was featured in a 20’ X 20’ full kitchen booth setting at the 2014 AD Home Design Show in March. Stultz was in attendance at the AD Home Design Show and gave a captivating presentation on the design. Stultz started at the very beginning: how we at Rutt Cabinetry fill a space.

Scott beautifully stated:

“the tension and balance between our primal and intellectual needs is a key issue in how we conceive our interior spaces and the design of the objects with which we populate them.”

There it was: designing simplified. He had the exact words for which all of us inherently understood but didn’t know how to articulate. As Stultz suggests, primal needs are a person’s desire for comfort, safety and a sense of belonging without forgetting our need for a little adventure and risk-taking. Our intellectual needs are the ones we need for a sense of order and our need for something aesthetically pleasing, something beautiful.

“If you want visual order in a space that also speaks to your primal need to inhabit, it’s a different proposition. Comfort and order don’t readily co-exist,” said Stultz.

This makes sense. We don’t often see comfort at our doctor’s offices, banks or schools where order is considered the key to professional appearance. On the other hand, we don’t necessarily see order in the average comfortably, lived-in home or at least define it with that way.

The Ruskin series begins with a profile similar to that of Gothic stonework with a clean mix between traditional and contemporary. Deep shadows and horizontal-favoring proportions provide the Ruskin series with a unique look. Stultz uses an eye-catching layering approach through a unique framing bead.

“The curves in all the mouldings are semi elliptical in section, their long axes on a vertical orientation. This creates a dynamic gesture that feels more expressive and satisfying than the arches we see in traditional mouldings,” said Stultz.

Stultz developed three different cornice treatments: the traditional crown moulding, cove top cornice (for free standing pieces such as appliance armoires), and flat cornice with a chisel angled step.

“While not at all literal, there is an allusion here to battlemented towers on medieval stone castles, a nuance of the past in an otherwise contemporary detail,” Stultz said, describing the cover top cornice. The flat cornice, however, has more of a “chameleon effect” with a modern take of a refined Arts and Crafts early 20^th century style.

The Ruskin style aims to promote vertical movement, pulling the eye upwards with its characteristic proportions. Among these elements includes the corner posts with shafts that become slender in the middle and sturdier looking at its bases. “Although not literal, they remind one simultaneously of trees and of castle towers, but still have a contemporary sensibility,” said Stultz.

The Ruskin series sensibly incorporates appliances making them also strong points in the kitchen. “We…perceive the island as an almost living presence, holding up its massive top on strong and sturdy posts that here read as legs on walnut pachyderm, made graceful by the elongated semi-elliptical profiles,” said Stultz. “The anthropomorphic character we instinctively endow them with is subtle enough to avoid caricature, but nonetheless makes a deep emotional imprint.”

The glass mullion doors contain individual panes of glass. The door within a door characteristic allows for the series to utilize a variety of wood species in a defined and careful way throughout the kitchen. The “interiors behind glass are finished in a carefully chosen color making the cabinets glow like houses lit at night, or like a soft summer sky,” said Stultz.

The wood hood with a pattern of slats and troughs and flared brow has similar characteristics of a roof or overhang. A pleasant surprise: a glimpse of metal can be found at the bottom. “This is on one hand a contemporary accent, but there is also the slight menace of teeth or claws,” said Stultz. “We experience a little thrill of danger that is pleasurable because it’s set in a safe context.”

As for the cabinet’s pulls and knobs, they can be compared to as “gleaming jewels” that are “tastefully restrained.”

It’s easy to see that, Stultz and the Ruskin series are quite poetic in nature and speak to the soul whether through presentation or aesthetic design, calling it to find that perfect balance between comfort and order.

Ruskin Series: Behind the Name

Stultz has looked up to John Ruskin since his days at architecture school and has influenced Stultz’s work for almost twenty-five years. As an art and architecture critic of the 19^th century, Ruskin surfaced a public appreciation for architecture and is noted for molding the designs of Victorian England. Ruskin is also world-renowned for heading the Arts and Crafts Movement but also as a modern thinker, beginning the groundwork for styles of the modern era.

Ruskin once said, “Our duty is to preserve what the past has had to say for itself, and to say for ourselves what shall be true for the future.”

For Stultz, this has become a quest to find that poise amid our primal and intellectual needs. And that’s exactly what he has done. The Ruskin series is “truly a style with a modernist heart and a historic soul.”

What to Look For in Kitchen Design

Chelsea Sullivan, an Interior and Cabinet Designer in Madison, Wisconsin provided Deborah Main Designs with some information on what both designers and home owners look for in a great kitchen. Here’s a remodel she worked on. (Please note the cabinets have similar style, but are not Rutt).

The first important component is functionality. When designing your kitchen make sure to answer the following questions:

• Can you move around easily? Are there not a lot of obstacles?
• Is there enough “touch down” space for food preparation and everyday item use?
• Is there enough functional storage? Pantry space, roll-outs, dividers, etc.

The second component to a great kitchen design is the style. Chelsea recommends opting for a more timeless design (like Deborah Main Designs learned with Rutt Handcrafted Cabinetry).

“Now-a-days our world moves around so fast and so do our trends! Dark stained cherry cabinets with accenting white trim and glaze has thankfully passed (for most of us)! Try picking something more classic, painted white, shaker style door, transitional hardware, as one example,” said Chelsea. “These styles are easier to dress and allow you to make changes to things like fabric, furniture and accessories as you grow with your home.”

Connect with Chelsea on LinkedIn or visit her Pinterest board for design ideas.

Thank you Chelsea and thank you Chloe. But most of all thank you Scott Stultz and Rutt Handcrafted Cabinetry.  Please view the video below if you’d like even further detail about the new Ruskin Series.

We at Deborah Main Designs really enjoyed learning all about The Ruskin Series at The Architectural Digest Home Design Show on #BlogTourNYC. It was a true honor! From highlighted details of Scott Stultz’s presentation and the fine craftmanship that goes into Rutt Handcrafted Cabinetry, you can see why when you “Strut with Rutt”  they lead the pack in luxury cabinet design.  Thank you so much to our sponsors!  With school out and summer starting, it’s time to start home remodeling and taking some time off to spend with family and friends. Till next time, I wish you a wonderful summer!   XOPG

Note: This is a sponsored post. All photography and opinions my own, except where noted by, and with permission from, Rutt Cabinetry and Peter Leach Photography.