Want to know more about the contest? One winner will receive an entire kitchen full of Horton Brasses kitchen hardware. Read more to find out how to enter.
I’m very excited to introduce to you the judges for this life changing contest. We have assembled a virtual onslaught of kitchen powerhouses who have everything covered—from what looks good on the plate to what works well in a design layout.
Who better to judge a kitchen hardware contest than professionals from both the design and cooking fields. These folks know style, function and,quite literally, good taste.
But I’ll shut up now and start introducing. We’ve got a lot of people (and blogs!) for you to mingle with! And don’t forget, you and your friends and family and co-workers and whomever else you recruit on your “vote for me” team can drop a ballot in the box by commenting on our judges blog posts that mention this contest. So do check in regularly at the sites linked!
And the judges are….
Team Atticmag!
Jane Freiman
Jane Freiman is the founder and editor of Atticmag.com, a blog dedicated to kitchen and bathroom design and home décor. She has enjoyed a multifaceted career as an interior designer, newspaper and magazine editor and cookbook author.
Jane lives in New York City and created Atticmag after directing the award-winning arts, entertainment, life style and celebrity news coverage at the New York Daily News, the nation’s fifth largest newspaper. Previously, she was New York Newsday’s restaurant critic, a commentator on Bloomberg News Radio, contributing editor and columnist at New York Magazine, and the consulting editor at Cook’s, now Cook’s Illustrated. Jane’s experience as a syndicated food columnist, cookbook author and restaurant critic began at the Chicago Tribune. Prior to that, she had worked as an art dealer in New York and Paris.
In Los Angeles, where Jane was born, she graduated from UCLA with an AB in Art History. She also holds an Interior Design Certification from Parsons School of Design and a diploma in culinary arts from Luberon College in Avignon, France. She is the author of two award-winning cookbooks and an avid collector of Swedish antique furniture, Oriental rugs and great shoes. She and her husband, the journalist and war correspondent Sydney Schanberg, will soon move from New York City to the house they renovated in New York’s Hudson Valley.
Allison Arnett
It was Allison Arnett’s French Gray Island Kitchen that first caught
Atticmag founder and Editor Jane Freiman’s eye. Her obvious love of
homes and design led to her position as Shopping Editor. Allison’s
fondness for furniture and accessories began as a child in her family’s
furniture store. Although she has no formal training, over the years
she has built on her natural creative instincts. Allison loves to
frequent local antique shops and is always on the look out for them when
traveling. She has spent the last five years decorating their new “old”
stone cottage – a recent Atticmag feature was her search for a pair of
French os de mouton chairs.
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Food Blogger Greg Henry of Sippitysup
I may not be a design expert. But I am a food blogger and I am in the kitchen a lot. I also survived a monster of a kitchen remodel, and learned something in the process. The biggest design challenge in my remodel was doing a modern kitchen for someone who cooks as much as I do. While still making it look and feel like it belonged in an 85-year-old Italian style house in Hollywood. But I didn’t want an “old fashioned” styled kitchen either. It needed to walk the line between historically appropriate and conveniently modern. Because my kitchen and how it looks and functions is a reflection of my life and my blog.
Sippity Sup-Serious Fun Food is about fresh takes on the familiar. My recipes & wine pairings tend to be simple, modern and colorful, with roots in traditional styles. This philosophy seems to have been embraced by the online food community. I have been a speaker at The FoodBuzz Festival and CampBlogaway. I have led cooking demonstrations in Panama & Costa Rica and developed recipes for major brands. I was even featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Angeleno and Garden Design. These experiences have allowed me to see that why I cook is every bit as important as how I cook. I’m drawn to simple pairings of diverse flavors. I think we should eat healthy, but prefer classic techniques using real ingredients. Including real fats. I think a bold hand and a deft palate allow the simple beauty of food to shine. And though I am serious in my pursuit of these things, I believe food should be fun. Serious Fun.
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Designer & Author James Swan
James Swan is head of New Wall Enterprises, LLC a Beverly Hills-based design and lifestyle group focused on delivering smart-design-daily to consumers across the country and around the world. As a lifestyle leader he has been featured in House & Garden Magazine, House Beautiful and the Los Angeles Times. He has chronicled a Trends & Shopping column for House & Garden Magazine, as well as his own design blog, The Design Quotient. Adding author (with the new book 101 Things I Hate About Your House) and speaker (NeoCon West) to his accomplishments has further broadened his influence.
A recently launched pre-publication Facebook Business Page features 101 Things I Hate About Your House with inspired interaction from a growing following of Swan’s work. Swan’s career took off back in Northern California at a noted San Francisco architecture firm, where he managed residential interiors. After that, Los Angeles beckoned, specifically the prestigious firm of Frank K. Pennino & Associates, where as senior designer he managed high-profile projects, and earned a reputation for refined classical design that succinctly reflected his clients’ lives. In 1999, Swan opened his own firm in Beverly Hills. Recently he his talents earned him VoxVodka/Out Magazine’s Designer of the Year Award. In 2009 Ballard Designs announced their first collaboration with a nationally known designer, James Swan. His collection of home furnishings and accessories will debut in 2011.
From 2005-2009, Swan has been a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. His other community commitments include PAWS/LA, which assists with the care of pets for people living with disabilities, and KidSmart, an art education foundation for inner-city youth. In his free time, Swan may be found indulging his passion for gardening, skiing and travel. Currently he divides his time between Beverly Hills, Boston and Pemaquid, Maine.
Kitchen Designer, Blogger & Creator of the Bornholm Kitchen—Susan Serra
Susan Serra CKD has over 20 years experience as a kitchen design professional. Her blog, The Kitchen Designer, explores new ways of thinking about kitchen design. There she shares her thoughts on the process of kitchen design, explores fresh ideas, emerging trends, and also redefines (or celebrates!) tradition.
After years at the top of her field, Susan recently released her own line of exquisite Scandinavian cabinetry—the Bornholm Kitchen. A small island off the coast of Denmark, Bornholm, its architecture and its interiors are the epitome of classic Scandinavian style. The landscape and design aesthetic are, at once: rugged, soft, clean, simple, fresh and so very green. Bornholm Kitchen is an expression of Bornholm, the island’s point of view.
Strong and sturdy construction details create the legacy and determine the longevity of a Bornholm Kitchen. Natural, high quality wood species and oil finishes add uncompromising beauty. Bornholm Kitchen is proudly American made.
Bornholm is designed to be a flexible collection of kitchen and bath furniture. It can be customized as required. The collection is seamlessly interpreted in any theme or style, transitioning between open spaces with ease.
A new design line also comes with a new blog. Follow updates and adventures and all things Bornholm at the cleanly styled Simply Bornholm.
Italian-American Food Blogger Vincent Scordo
Scordo.com focuses on food, recipes, lifestyle/culture, products, saving money, and how-to advice and tips, all from an Italian-American perspective (click here to read through some of my top articles).
I’m a first generation Italian-American and the son of immigrant parents from Pellegrina (Bagnara Calabra), Calabria in southern Italy. My parents taught me how to eat well, save money, manage a home, use my hands, and, yes, live like an Italian (which means living a little bit differently than everyone else)! Papa and Mamma also taught me about perseverance, craftiness, and compassion. Here’s my view on the Italian-American experience.
I’m not a trained chef, money manager, or regular on This Old House, rather a regular guy from New Jersey who’s been influenced by his southern Italian culture and tradition.
I’ve worked as a research assistant at an Ivy league university, a project manager at an Internet start-up, an interactive media director at an advertising agency, a usability and web marketing manager at a German car company, and as a brand manager at a consumer product testing and advocacy organization. As a teenager and college student, I worked as a garbage man, janitor, landscaper, travel agent, HTML editor for a climate change think tank, sandwich maker, and as a maintenance man at woman’s clothing shop. My wife tells me I make sense on occasion, but please challenge my assertions and advice with a comment and email.
Oh, Scordo means both garlic and forgetful and I have both a poor short term memory and a love for garlic (my breath is fine, by the way), so the name must be appropriate!
*Vincent also used Horton Brasses hardware in his own home kitchen remodel. And of course, he blogged about it!
Horton Brasses, Inc. 