Yep....how many house fires will result from people copying the "look"? Not me,thank you

Smoley hokes, Batman! That is a seriously idiotic idea. A better idea would have been to hang them next to the sink. You know, where they would be handy for use.

non cook, obviously

And am I the only one who wonders also why the knives are behind the sink? Maybe switch up the two?

There shouldn't be ANYTHING hanging behind a gas range - towels nor knives. You want your kid standing on a chair reaching for a knife over a gas range - I don't.

It's not that easy to knock knives off a good magnetic strip, but they've allowed for that by putting a cutting board that size right beneath them, where you're sure to bump them every time you maneuver the cutting board out or put it away. This whole kitchen is "genius" all right.

lol, bpathome!

IF there were a vent hood, it would take care of the smoke from the towels....

Like my first kitchen designer, NOT a cook! Which is why she was replaced by my second KD ;-)

Yikes! The other ones weren't genius at all but at least none of the rest were dangerous. Paint your cabinets! Install shelves! Creative a beautiful pantry! Use a pegboard! I mean, gosh, NOBODY has EVER thought of these before, LOL. My personal favorite "Add Metallic Hardware!" Because, you know, most of us have been using rope and string. How innovative. :)

The towels aren't the biggest fire hazard in this picture. The stove is apparently installed right next to a combustible wall.

LOL, funky. :)

I think there's a wall to the left of the sink as well as a wall to the right of the range, which I think indicates that this is one tiny kitchen. Obviously, their plan is to "accidentally" burn the house down so that they can use the insurance money rebuild with a larger kitchen.

Yep....how many house fires will result from people copying the "look"? Not me,thank you

Yes, that was my first thought. Towels hanging over a gas stove -- how can this be good?

And am I the only one who wonders also why the knives are behind the sink?

And that was my second thought; however, this isn't as bad as the towels. If you're hand washing your knives, this means you can put them directly away.

IF there were a vent hood, it would take care of the smoke from the towels....

Okay, I wish I'd thought of that!

"The towels aren't the biggest fire hazard in this picture. The stove is apparently installed right next to a combustible wall."

Eek. I never really thought about this until now but the gas range in our apartment when I was growing up was right against the wall in our galley kitchen. My mom now lives alone in a smaller apartment in the same building and her gas range is the same way. Interestingly, the only major fire in that building in over a century was caused by a smoker who fell asleep in bed a few years ago.

Hold the phone, a chalkboard? I just read yesterday chalkboards are out. Apparently these guys didn't get the memo!

Mirrored backsplash? Now that's funny. I wonder if my kids would come downstairs just to spit toothpaste on it :)

For a moment, I thought - "how cute and silly, they staged the cutting board by sticking flowers on it!"

And then I saw the kindling over the range!

I figure once those towels get loaded with cooking grease, they'll burn that much better!

My MIL had a mirrored backsplash for years and it looked nice, actually. When she replaced it in a renovation I kept walking in there expecting to see myself for years afterwards :)

Ah I see, they were being sarcastic!

We had a mirrored backsplash in our kitchen (before redo) and it took me awhile to realize I had to turn around to see behind me!

The towels are there to make sure that the wood shelf over the range catches fire.

You have no idea how idiotic the world at large is unless you've been wading through some of the same inane ideas that litter Houzz and are featured in their articles too. Not to mention all of the amateur designers with a degree in modeling clay who want to hang out their shingles and commit equally atrocious code violations. I've ranted on more than one thread about how being a bored housespouse with an eye for color doesn't qualify anyone to be a designer. There's a whole cadre of those posting eternal dilemmas with love fests for support for bad ideas, and they get upset when common sees is interjected into all of the hand wringing. Like the fact that wood burns.

I like #7: Put cork board on your fridge.

Somehow if I'm spending thousands of dollars on a new fridge, the last thing I'm going to do is turn it into a cork board. Or even an old fridge especially the SZ one they are showing in the pic.

cpartist - That's exactly what I thought when I saw that so-called genius kitchen DIY. Yep, didn't see that one coming.

I thought everyone here would appreciate that picture, and the article in general. I wipe down the fridge handles, and the area behind the handles when I clean the counters--because it needs it. Can't imagine what the cork would look like after a few weeks in my kitchen.

Some of the ideas were OK, but not new to most of us who post here. I think maybe the site caters to a younger, less experienced group--kids just out of college, furnishing their first apartments.

MamaG, thanks for the laugh!

Yes, and isn't it genius to point those lights towards the wall at the open shelf instead of down at the countertop where you are chopping and cooking?

That lovely framed art (that is mostly mat around a postage stamp) needs to be highlighted.

Also the light will bounce beautifully off of the glistening grease droplets (due to no hood) that have built up on everything sitting on top of the shelf. The dust and pet hair stuck to the grease gives much needed texture to the space.

That extra cutting board propped behind the sink obviously doesn't fit over the sink, so it must be so a second person can prep on the range top. Oh this is genius!

Not a great idea...but this is staging, not function. I always wonder if anyone really leaves their dining table set for 8, all the time or 27 pillows on the bed. Hey, if you do....more power to you :)

I would HOPE that no one would be foolish enough to have towels, curtains, paper towels or anything else flammable behind a range. Sheesh!

Springroz- LOL

Years ago I was looking through a kitchen magazine and noticed a "staged" photo shoot for a family with children. There was a knife staged right at the edge of the counter with the handle right at the edge. I wrote them and pointed this out. (that's how long ago it was - I wrote and didn't e-mail), and that it could be a safety issue with the children in the family. Anyway I got a very nice reply back saying that they would be taking safety into account when doing photos in the future. Who knows if they did or not.

"Apply a Mirrored Backsplash"

Maybe some people like this, but I lived with a mirrored backsplash for a while, and couldn't stand it. The fact that it showed every tiny splash and splatter was not the worst issue. It was that your reflection was cut off at the top and the bottom, so all you saw walking around the kitchen were torsos. And if, say, your middle-section, or your loved one's middle section, is not the slimmest, that is exaggerated without the rest of the body to balance it. Shorter children were disembodied heads. No, IMHO a mirrored backsplash not a good idea.

The plants between the range and sink would not work for me! I'd knock them over every time I brought something from stove to sink or vice versa! Sophie, you are so very right on! When I was seriously considering going back to college for a degree in interior design, I was amazed how much you have to learn to become an interior designer! But anyone can call themselves an "interior decorator," no degree or certification necessary, at least in most states. I've done lots of decorator type stuff for friends and family, and I help a real estate agent friend stage houses/condos on occasion. But I always refuse to take any money and I make sure they understand I'm not a professional designer, that this is just a hobby. I've never designed a kitchen or bathroom that is a total gut, because I am not qualified to do so. Well, I'm doing so now, but for my own house. If I burn it down with towels hung over the range, that's on me, but I'm not taking chances with other people's houses.

MamaGoose, thanks for posting! Very funny! And a little scary! I agree, these are ideas for newly weds or maybe college kids getting their first non-campus housing. I can remember being 20, pregnant with my first child, and building a bookshelf with planks of plywood and cinder blocks, LOL! AND thinking I'd come up with a very original design idea! Hahaha!

Lily Spider, I also read an article that said chalkboards/chalkboard paint are "out." Funkycamper, you mentioned "add metallic hardware." Well, the same article that said chalkboards are out emphasized that the number #1 design sin, like the ten commandments all rolled into one, is "mixing metals." Haha!

Funny funny!

You are all welcome. :)

I suppose it's possible the author of the article was close to a deadline, googled 'kitchen towels on hooks', and took the first (or cutest) pic that illustrated idea #11.

Debbie B, we had board and block shelves in the kids' study, and we weren't newly married! The shelves housed iguana tanks. I didn't want anything permanent because my plan was--as soon as the kids left home, the iguanas were outta here, too.