June/July Issue

[Lisa S]

Bravo! Reading the article, "Kitchen Legacy" was like uncovering a treasure. How wonderful to uncover a completely intact 1912 kitchen. I admired everything ~ the kitchen tables and chairs (I have it's cousin), the frilly curtains at the window, the sweet table cloth, that mouth watering, fantablous stove... I enjoyed reading about the California Cooler. (We must have had one in our kitchen too. I uncovered air vents during our remodel.)

Everything in this issue was excellent. It's a keeper.

[Breezy]

I've been looking for the latest issue at Wally World and haven't found it yet but now I'm really eager to find it to see that kitchen you mentioned Lisa!

[chyna]

Now I am eagerly awaiting the mail lady to bring mine. :)

[Nikki]

Bravo! Reading the article, "Kitchen Legacy" was like uncovering a treasure. How wonderful to uncover a completely intact 1912 kitchen. I admired everything ~ the kitchen tables and chairs (I have it's cousin), the frilly curtains at the window, the sweet table cloth, that mouth watering, fantablous stove... I enjoyed reading about the California Cooler. (We must have had one in our kitchen too. I uncovered air vents during our remodel.)

Everything in this issue was excellent. It's a keeper.

Cool! I will have to pick this up when it comes in. So far, I haven't been able to find the new issue near me. It always seems to take a long time to come in.

Would be interested to know more about the "California Coolers"....that must be what these weird vents are on the exterior wall of our kitchen. The interior stuff has been removed but the vents on the outside are still intact, they are all trimmed out so I'll probably just leave them.

[oxide]

I just found it at Meijer yesterday, and when I have time, I'll sit with a cup of tea and read it. Can't wait!

[Hillary Black]

Hello! I just wanted to let you know that you can see the June/July issue cover and more on C&B's web site. Go to www.cottagesandbungalowsmag.com.

Be patient, please. There's still a redirection notice because our company, Beckett Media, is creating new web sites for our publications. Just wait and it will click through.

I hope you enjoy this issue. One favorite of mine is the eco-cottage -- built with strawbale construction set in a field of lavender with wisteria framing the windows.

Also, you can find Cottages & Bungalows on newsstands including Target, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Borders, Barnes & Noble, via direct dealers and at select grocery and drug stores.

Re: California Cooler -- Here's the interior detail so you can see the slatted shelves. This is from a 1920s bungalow. The cabinet is open at the top (through a vent to the roof usually) and at the bottom so cool air from the basement can flow through the cabinet for storing vegetables, etc. I want one!

[Lisa S]

The California Kitchen is an idea that needs to resurface. Along with a laundry shute and a dumbwaiter. How cool would it be to send water up to the kids at bedtime?

[yarborough house]

Now you're thinking Lisa...I would like the dumb waiter just to carry all the folded laundry back upstairs..and a laundry shoot - well that should be a requirement. Especially if you have kids..haha
I like the idea about the california cooler..I wonder how well it works in environments with a lot of humidity though..? hmmm

[Heather]

We HAD a California Cooler. It looked exactly like the one Hillary posted. It was brilliant how it was made - it was on the one part of the house that didn't every get direct sunlight. We used it all year round but it had to go as we made our kitchen larger. Here is a pic from the outside when it was ripped down.

[cheapdiva]

This is one reason more new homes have laundry rooms on the 2nd floor - VERY smart. But a dumbwaiter would be handy for sooooo many other things!

[oxide]

I have to agree with some of this issue's Letters to the Editor. Why did the C&B covers suddenly go from pictures of whole houses (or whole rooms) to close-ups of some non-descript single item like a picnic table?

THe big draw of cottages and bungalows as structures is their pleasing shapes and curb appeal. Or the high-quality craftsmanship of an interior, like nooks and crannies and pretty rooflines, woodwork and beadboard and built-ins. Something integral to the house, rather than a single item. Please go back to showing a whole house. I'm partial to Storybook and Tudor, but that's just me.

Oh, and more floor plans too! Or at least some sketch of where the furniture is. I'm a floor plan nut. Tell me why bungalows were so efficient and cottages are so cozy, while McMansions look like they were spawned out of an evil vortex.

OK, I'm done complaining. I LOVE the California cooler idea. Does anyone know what the exact temperature of such a cabinet would be?

[Hillary Black]

Tell me why bungalows were so efficient and cottages are so cozy, while McMansions look like they were spawned out of an evil vortex.?

Ha! Because they WERE spawned out of an evil vortex! (Perhaps the evil trio greed, ego, wastefulness?)
But regarding bungalows/cottages efficiency and coziness, we address that a lot in the magazine. It's what we celebrate -- the craftsmanship, attention to detail, clever use of space and materials, respect for the setting and proper siting -- in vintage homes and in new designs by architects/builders who are going back to those same sensibilities in their work today. It seems to me that those qualities are what most people want.

Thanks for the input, Oxide. Comments and suggestions are always appreciated and help us learn what the readers would like to see.

Hillary

[yarborough house]

Hillary,

I have to agree with Oxide on the covers. I liked them better as showcases for the bungalow and/or cottage as a whole. I can see rooms displayed inside or in any other magazine but the cover should in my opinion represent the title and overall design of the magazine. It catches the eye more when you see an awesome cottage or bungalow on the cover with great curb appeal. When you have a picture of a kitchen or picnic table it just looks like any other magazine. And we know you are not any other magazine :)

[oxide]

Thank you for listening! I love the inside of the magazine. I even love the high-quality advertising. My dream is to someday take a ranch house and turn it into a cottage, and I'm keeping all my issues of C&B for when (IF!) that day comes.

Some of the cover shots of rooms are really cool. The Fall 2007 cover of the kitchen (Buyer's Guide to Lighting) is stunning, because it's so obviously Arts&Crafts. The cover shot of open kitchen shelving (eco friendly walls) is cozy too because it's cottage. But if the cover is a nondescript door or a table set for "entertaining" a la Martha Stewart, I have to double check that the magazine to confirm that it's really C&B.