The kitchen is the true heart of the home. It’s where families gather, it is where parties happen, it’s one place in the house that can truly embody your lifestyle — whether you cook or not. We examine this most vital part of the home in this issue, taking in some tips on how to use tile in its design in our Shopping feature. Ceramic, porcelain, glass, wood and every other kind of material used for kitchen floors and backsplashes and how best to use them are discussed with a couple of experts in this article.

L. Sara Bysterveld also takes us on a tour of where our kitchen recyclables go and what happens to them after we discard them, while our Gadgets feature delves into some new variations on traditional kitchen tools.
Nobody knows better how to design a kitchen for everyday use than Sabal Homes, and Chalet — the award-winning builder’s elegant townhome project in Copperfield, graces our cover this month. With the opening of its first two show suites in Copperfield, Chalet has indeed raised the bar on kitchen designs especially in the townhome genre.

Laredo Place by Trico Homes, in Heritage Hills in Cochrane, is also featured inside; and with construction about to wrap up, this innovatively designed townhome project has attracted a lot of attention. Pointe of View’s Varsity Landing is preparing early for the new school year next year and is about to embark on this much-anticipated project in Calgary’s ‘university belt.’ Its biggest advantage is that it is a new development in one of Calgary’s most established inner city communities. UBG’s Origins at Cranston, meanwhile, emphasizes its attractiveness to first-time homebuyers.

Just in time for municipal election, Associate Publisher Jim Zang voices his take on CHBA Calgary Region’s votecalgary.ca website, and Jessica Patterson takes us 18 floors up to talk to an educator living the high life in Castello.