Master of Ceremonies - A Toast to Toast

How man has advanced. From toasting toast on open flame, to toasting toast in a streamline steel temple of all that is good and holy with bacon and ketchup on a Saturday morning.

A toast then if you will, to the time when every fist toaster owner upgrades their toast to Dualit. Like the 'topping out' ceremony marking the intermediate completion of a building's structure, a kitchen's first Dualit toaster marks a coming of age. Unlike a topping out ceremony however, purchasing a Dualit is unlikely to appease the tree-dwelling spirits of displaced ancestors (unless they like bacon sandwiches).

Storm Shutters - For Storms [& Showers]

I don't know when or how the trend for interior shutters landed in the UK. Fantastically functional if you live on a Caribbean plantation, but perhaps stretching it when installed on trendy terraces in Clapham.

The sun is never strong enough in Britain and our windows tend to have glass in them; rendering interior plantation/storm shutters a bit of a pretence. Unless of course you invert the principle entirely. What if the storm was on the inside or you needed to shade the outside? Fully waterproof shutters have a natural (and functional) home in the shower. Made to order in 12 weeks by the California Company.

From the Desk of DesignTrawler.com

It makes sense that the work environment of DesignTrawler.com (or any entrepreneurial caveman) should be flawlessly designed, relentlessly practical and powerful enough to send shuttles in to orbit.

Enter desk of DesignTrawler.com - Smoked glass with 25 plywood veneers; based on Carlo Mollino's £7,050 Cavour writing desk. Coupled with a desktop-grade HP HD workhorse and panoramic Xerox+Matrox displays for some 300% more screen real-estate. This trawler's now ready for takeoff...

Ikea Flexes its Muscles - Be Afraid

The news that Ikea may be on the edge of a fundamental shift in it's design ethos started to circulate in the design press last week. It's pictured 1,000sq ft kitchen took Gold in the Toronto Interior Design Show and there's a reason designers are concerned.

Ikea is the quirky cousin of interior outfitting; they have a 'nice' design ethos and a produce affordable kit for students and newlyweds. But when the tolerated relative turns up with New York style machine cabinets, heavy duty accessories and wall mounted antlers; they're muscling in on Mancave territory.