Design NY Home & Design Resource Guide Features Concept II

The equation for high-quality custom kitchens, baths, closets, and tiles is simple. The answer is Concept II, the result of one robust showroom plus one talented team. For nearly 50 years, this comprehensive design showroom and the studio has been giving customers a graceful and much appreciated al...

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MCC Interior Design Students visited the Concept II Showroom

On February 15th, Monroe Community College Interior Design Students, with instructor Deborah Roides, visited the Concept II showroom for a hands on experience relating to a unit on "Materials" (IDE 102). The discussion was led by Deb O'Connor an alumni of the program. Emphasis was placed on ethic...

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Concept II Kitchen Trends featured in The Roc Report Story

Just as each jewel and timepiece is the beginning of a special story or celebration that builds memories over time, we feel so incredibly fortunate to have started our story and continue to build our memories here in Rochester, New York. Drawing on his dad's experience running a watch repair serv...

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Concept II Supports MEG's Gift

Concept II proudly sponsors the MEG's Gift 2018 annual golf tournament, dinner and silent auction.Meg's gift is a non-profit organization created out of love to advocate for mental health intervention and to nurture an inspirational legacy through community involvement and support.MEG's gift is a no...

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Concept II collaborates with architect Jon Schick

Read more about this collaboration to design, supply and install the kitchen and bathrooms on this new home on Canandaigua Lake, in this Design NY Magazine article. Published on March 3 Written by Karen Marley Imagery by Sandra Kicman ALL IN GOOD TIME Tucked against the shore of Canandaigua...

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Concept II sponsors an Evening with Andy Cohen

On October, 25th, Concept II sponsored, An Evening with Andy Cohen. An event to support the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.   See images from the event below.

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Cooking With Steam - The Benefits of a Steam Oven

What's the first thing you think of when I say steam oven? I think if you've even heard of one, you might be inclined to say that it's a great way to cook things like vegetables and rice.  You may also be aware that cooking with steam is recognized as a very healthy way to cook because the ingred...

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Concept II + Quartz Plus, True Partners in Rochester, NY

You have many options when it comes to choosing a countertop for a kitchen or bath remodel. We find that most of our customers are deciding between granite and quartz for a solid surface. In the Rochester, NY area, we have a great resource in Rocky Mountain Granite. The showroom on Basket Road in...

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Concept II Of Rochester, NY Awarded Best Of Houzz 2017

Over 40 Million Monthly Unique Users Nominated Best Home Building, Remodeling and Design Professionals in North America and Around the World Rochester, NY, January 17, 2017 -- Concept II of Rochester, NY has won "Best Of Design, And Customer Service" on Houzz®, the leading platform for home remo...

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Cemented in My Heart - The Use of Cement Tile

Have you ever been to our tile showroom? I only ask because if you haven't shopped for tile lately, or if your experience is limited to the big box chains, you aren't seeing the whole picture in tile. One of the most exciting developments is the supply and demand for encaustic cement tile....

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Arabesque Affection - The Use of Arabesque Tile Design

arabesque noun ar*a*besque   Simple Definition of ARABESQUE: * a complicated decorative design made with many lines that curve and cross each other * a ballet position in which the dancer stands on one foot and holds one arm forward while the other arm and leg are held out behind Source:...

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Wood You Tile? The Use of Porcelain Tile that Looks Like Wood

Have you ever been told to go to "your happy place"?  Maybe it was at the end of a yoga class, or in those countdown seconds before a surgery? Well this is image you see above is mine and you are welcome to use it anytime. I look at images of tile all day long, sometimes at night too, come...

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The Devil is in the (Brass) Details - the Resurgence of Brass Hardware

Be still my heart. When this brass hardware re-awakening started showing up on the pages of my favorite design magazines I think I cried a little. We needed this!  I know I speak for designers everywhere when I say that everything had gotten a little (read: a lot) cold.  All at once the be...

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Floating Ideas... Floating Bathroom Vanities

I chose these three bathroom vanity images for the title banner because the first thing I want to do is dispel the myth that wall-hung or floating bathroom vanities are exclusively contemporary. Wildly different in feel, the above bathrooms are all benefiting from the use of wall-mounted bathroom va...

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The Absence of Color - The Use of White Kitchen Cabinets

Did you say you want a kitchen design that is guaranteed to endure? While it's true that interior design trends are fluid, and always changing, there is one thing that is ALWAYS going to be popular. White! And since you're looking at a kitchen and bath design blog, we're talking about white ki...

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Muddie... Designing the Mud Room

Ahh.... the suburban American mud room, often it's a casual (usually secondary) entryway to the house. It is typically intended as an area to remove and keep footwear and other outerwear.  As well as providing storage space through the use of well-designed cabinets, a mud room serves to increase the...

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Chasing (Tile) Waterfalls

The waterfall, as a tiled shower design, termed tile waterfall, is a reaction to the widely used horizontal decorative tile band that has been around since Roman Bath houses.  Sometimes called a listel (French) or listello (Italian) this has been a go-to way to add color/design/sparkle/motif to the...

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Spa Day: Pebble Tile for a Spa-Like Bathroom

Maybe it's because I'm going to the beach tomorrow, or maybe it's because we just picked up a great new stone tile dealer, but I've got pebbles on my mind. Is the pebble stone tile look for everyone? No, it definitely is not. But if you're looking for a casual, co...

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Trends in Kitchen Design

Like fashion, the world of interior design maintains its classics, but is always progressing, often in the form of trends. Concept II kitchen and bath designer, Derek Pino is frequently confronted with the question "what's the latest in kitchen design"? Grey Is The New White White paint has al...

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Walking Around, Looking Down

This drives my family and friends crazy. Everywhere we go, I'm looking at the floors.  I could tell you about the tile flooring in every restaurant and store I go to.  My brain is noting and cataloging every surface, for better or worse.  Of course this goes for hardwoods, carpeting, and vinyl, b...

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The Evolution of the Niche

Niche, nitch, notch, it doesn't matter how you pronounce it, just make sure you mention it as a "want" when prioritizing your next remodeling project.  I can't think of a space that wouldn't be improved by having one. The best examples of the usefulness of a niche is in the shower walls.  Her...

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Size Matters

Every year the tile manufacturers come to the tile convention trying to outdo each other with bigger, and bigger tile. They are doing it for you, because you made that face, and complained about the grout.  (There are other reasons, more on that later.) Let's take a trip, back through time, an...

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Mighty Marbles

I don't love to clean. I know that some people really enjoy it. I appreciate clean, and the ability to maintain clean, but that has not been a priority so far in my busy life. I accept that daily cleaning is not one of my strong suits, but I can also say that I will be the first to voluntee...

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LIGHTEN(ed) UP(pers) - Exploring the Open Shelf Concept

Some friends of mine were house hunting last year.  They spent every weekend going to open houses, looking for the perfect one.  They were really excited about one in particular, it had a good location, two bathrooms, a big garage... let's just say it ticked off all their boxes. The one drawback...

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Defining Timeless Tile Design

During the last ten years of working in this field, one of my greatest pleasures has been the observation of the evolution of design vocabulary.  I've even kept a little notebook of popular words and phrases that clients use to describe what they want.  I could probably write a blog on each one... m...

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Making Tile Selection Stress-Free

Just one section of the tile showroom at Concept II When people walk into the Concept II tile showroom for the first time, they often have the same thought, "How do you pick?!" I know this is true because as a Tile Designer at Concept II, more often than not, I hear it said out loud. "How...

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Best of Houzz 2016 Award Winner

We are pleased to announce that this past Tuesday, January 12, for the second consecutive year, Concept II was awarded a Best of Houzz 2016 award for Customer Service. This is due in large part to our clients' on-going support and positive feedback. An annual survey and analysis of the Houzz comm...

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Concept II's Virtual Showroom Tours

Get an inside look at the Kitchen, Bath, and Tile Showrooms at Concept II through our new Virtual Showroom Tours. In these virtual tours, you'll see examples of our kitchen and bath design and remodeling work as well as our extensive tile selection; one of the largest tile showrooms in Rochester....

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