Home briefs: After years in the round, Corelle goes square

Corelle Corelle is offering its first square-shaped line of dinnerware in four patterns.

After 35 years of making round dinnerware, Corelle sets the table with its first square-shaped plates and bowls.

Designed by Studio Levien, of London, one of Europe's leading design firms, Corelle Square features squared shapes with rounded corners and flared rims that fuse seamlessly with traditional rounded centers. The new tableware is perfect for mixing and matching with round Corelle designs.

The new dinnerware comes in oversized plates and bowls, from 25 to 33 percent larger than its round predecessors. Corelle Square is fashioned from the same glass material that is crack-, chip-, break- and stain-resistant.

Four patterns are available. All come in 16-piece sets. $60. Call 800-999-3436 or visit www.corelle.com.

Lightweight Post only looks like a load

What looks like granite but weighs only ounces? It's The Post, a molded polyethylene home-helper that looks heavy but is lightweight, weatherproof and easy to install.

The post measures 6 inches square and 54 inches tall, making it ideal for use as a plant hanger post, property marker, mailbox post or a water source if connected to a faucet.

Installation is easy: Just slide the post over a 4-inch by 6-inch timber, add accessories such as a potted plant or water spigot and hose, and the project is done. $100. Call 888-899-4216 or visit www.telcomgardenproducts.com.

Brown brings warmth to today's kitchens

What can brown do for you?

America's love affair with the coffee culture and chocolate has created yet another hot color for the kitchen: brown.

At last month's International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, manufacturers of kitchen appliances, cookware and tableware introduced a range of products in hues from espresso to double latte.

From Hamilton Beach came high-end toasters and blenders in mocha. From Le Creuset, casserole dishes in chestnut. And from KitchenAid, a stand mixer in copper.

"It all started in the 1990s when Starbucks turned up on every street done up in warm colors like brown," says Leatrice Eiseman, director of the Pantone Color Institute. "A new lifestyle was born. Then UPS changed its image using brown."

Now that chocolate fountains are stars of the party circuit, Eiseman says chocolate has taken over where coffee began. "This spills over into every aspect of home furnishings, including housewares."

Compiled from the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.,) and Washington Post