Blum Crazy

So last week the wife and I had our first budget/update meeting with our house builders. They were -- surprisingly -- close to the budget (which is not as sexy as it seems given that they haven't pounded a nail yet). In this meeting, we also talked about silly frilly things like window cut-ups and kitchen cabinets -- topics that I decided, long ago, belonged to people named Martha and Chantal.

When we were first thinking about using these builders for our house, Bob, the co-owner of the company, took us through a house they were building in Brentwood, the neurosis capital of L.A. The owner was a chef, and the kitchen had a huge range, a spacious island, and some of the coolest drawers I have ever seen.


You've seen variations of Blum products in those cool looking but cheap Ikea furniture. They make the hinges and drawer slides and hardware. Well, they've come up with a drawer and door system where, no matter how hard you slam it, as it's just about to close, it slows down and slowly pulls the drawer or door closed. Pretty cool stuff.

So as I'm sitting there in the meeting and say, "how about the Blum Motion," the builder says, "sorry, don't think we can do it with the brand of cabinets you have picked."

So I did what any normal, totally insane home builder would do. I called Blum in Austria and asked how I could get them on my cabinets. Turns out I need to pick a different, more expensive brand.

Is it insane to upgrade cabinets just to have them not shut? Probably, but it's very cool stuff.