Fresh thinking
Ikea’s ‘Concept Kitchen 2025’ is a project undertaken alongside design studio IDEO and students from universities in Lund and Eindhoven, intended to explore the future based on anticipated global trends (such as increasing urbanisation, rising real estate costs and scarcer natural resources) and the effects of those changes on cooking and eating habits. “This concept kitchen is not really about solutions – it’s about how we’ll behave in 2025,” IDEO stated at the time of the exhibition. For instance, a pantry of individual self-refrigerating containers for people who have their groceries delivered and don’t store as much at home. Another piece was an interactive table, which acts as induction cooking surface, dining table and worktop. Technology built into the table would recognise the food placed on it and offer recipe suggestions.
These types of tech-advances are not merely pipe dreams but are right around the corner – we can already charge laptops and phones by placing them on induction-infused furnishings, for example. Meanwhile, all the top kitchen-makers in Europe are toying with tech-infused designs, continually creating ranges that meet the growing roster of consumer wants and needs.
Not only are today’s designs pushing the boundaries of technology, they are re-inventing kitchen layouts and functions. The earlier tenants of traditional kitchen designs, such as the classic work triangle between cooktop, sink and refrigerator, are being broken down and put together in fresh ways. Some configurations eschew the triangle, instead offering up a linear kitchen, often hidden behind cabinetry.
At one extreme is the avant-garde interpretation of the 21st-Century kitchen by Italian architect Alessandro Isola. Based in London, Isola dreamed up the Cut Kitchen, which completely re-configures the kitchen and injects it with unexpected surprises. “Why should a kitchen be fixed, un-moveable, permanent? Today’s kitchen is more often than not the ‘hub’ of the home, right at its heart. Its importance has been elevated beyond just food preparation. Now it’s the place so many of us meet and probably have some of the most interesting conversations of our lives!” Cut is quite cutting-edge, with movability and transformation at its core. The foundation of this adaptable design is a table that is tucked neatly into Cut’s island and can serve as a typical kitchen counter. However, the table can also be arranged in various positions and can be rotated 90 degrees, to rest adjacent to a low storage cabinet that pulls double-duty as a seating bench. Even the pull-down ceiling-hung cabinets feature mobility and can alter the look of the kitchen depending on their arrangement. “The intention was to create a kitchen with strong personality, a sculptural piece that stands centre-stage, to be seen and admired, to seduce, surprise and entertain, through its ability to adjust to use and desire,” Isola says.
New designs have rethought the space, by taking into account how modern kitchens are being used by a home’s inhabitants – whether as a work or entertainment space, a meeting area, or just a place to cook. Hence, the latest
introductions often include features such as dining tables, living-room-like wall units and ambient lighting into this culinary centre.
“The kitchen is the heart of the home,” states US-based designer Karim Rashid, who recently introduced his first designs for the space. “With that in mind, the intention of the Karan kitchen by Rastelli is to take what is often a banal archetype of kitchenware and turn it into an elegant communal experience. The concept revolves around an open pedestal island. The tapered curve of the island invites friends and family to pull up a seat.” For this configuration of Karan, both the island’s tap and LED light retract into the counter to create a flush surface; and the addition of a multi-purpose cutting board over the sink creates a solid dining space. The soft curves of the island continue on the wall unit for a fluid profile; and a rounded cut-out creates a cooking and prep area. The system also includes an inset back-lit mirror edged by ambient lighting LEDs. Channel opening cabinets hide the refrigerator, oven and pantry storage. “The use of glass, in matt or glossy finish, for doors, as well as the ceramic, helps to make a model that is already original and recognisable even more exclusive,” Rashid adds.
The Karan kitchen, like all of Rashid’s oeuvre, features a fluid, futuristic vibe when the system’s glossy finish and organic lines are chosen. Other design ateliers are taking a different direction with their kitchen systems, giving them subtle furniture-like styling.
From Molteni&C Dada comes the Vela special edition, a very ‘of-the-moment’ kitchen, but one that focuses on a minimal linear profile, dressed up by multiple materials and a combination of open and closed components. Designed by Dante Bonuccelli, Vela features an island with table-tops on both sides. One sits slightly higher than the counter, creating a bar-height counter, while the other rests below the counter at table height. The island is in brushed steel, with welded sink, sides and open shelves. As a counterpoint, the island doors and the ‘ Up&Down’ top configuration (as the two end tables are called), are in a rich Santos wood.
A more humble approach comes from German kitchen accessories maker Naber and the company’s young award-winning range, aptly named Concept Kitchen. Designer Kilian Schindler began with the idea of an essentially openplan kitchen and developed a range of furniture-like modules, informed by the instantly recognisable lines of Tolix’s Marais A chair, designed in 1934 by metalworker Xavier Pauchard. The Nabar system, manufactured by French metal furniture maker Tolix, was designed with mobility in mind, and proves the antithesis to the fitted kitchen. So while some kitchen systems, such as Cesar’s freestanding Maxima 2.2 or SieMatic’s new furniture like Urban, may look movable, Concept Kitchen actually is. “We have designed the system such that it can be assembled easily and without the need for tools,” says Schindler of the programme, which can house everything from the kitchen stove to the sink. “In this way the kitchen becomes furniture you can simply pick up and take with you.”