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Living in the Kitchen
It seems ironic that families have less and less time to sit down together for a meal, yet kitchens are rapidly becoming the heart of the home. Their reason for being is expanding from a room set aside solely for food preparation into one that incorporates the needs of everyday life.
Kitchens are becoming a social hub, fully integrated with a larger living space. In the United States (where houses are comparatively larger) that typically means kitchens are combined with family rooms.
The kitchen designs I saw at this year’s Salone del Mobile, in Milan, reflect this change. The trend is strong and is clearly moving toward designs that allow kitchen components to flow seamlessly from the food preparation area directly into the living space.
I spent my kitchen time in Milan checking out the contemporary designers. With 160 different vendors and more than 39,000 square meters devoted solely to kitchens, I just couldn’t get to every building. But the trend applies across the design board. Here’s just one example of how the new trend is being applied.
The exhibiter, in my opinion, that did the best job of visualizing the kitchen/living trend was Valcucine. Their unique glass-covered cabinets (2mm thick) can be printed with customized graphics, photographs, or simply a solid hue. The sink and hob were creatively integrated into the lower cabinets and fit beautifully into the open shelving.
Directly across from the workspace, a cabinet with LED-lit, glass shelving hangs on the wall. The cabinet not only looks like a work of art, the extra-large, sliding doors allow for greater visibility and access to tableware or pantry items.
Another wall holds the oven and refrigerator (behind the right-hand door). Again, the doors are wide and slide to open. When closed, the wall becomes a solid block of color – pink in this case.
Around the corner from the pink wall, Valcucine installed a family room. A red built-in cabinet sits below a wall cabinet. The same playful graphic is incorporated in the upper cabinet thereby unifying the overall space. A table for dining blended perfectly with the lounge seating.
Aside from the exposed sink and hob, one could barely tell this all about a kitchen. Whether or not you like the childlike graphic (personally, not for me), I think Valcucine did a nice job of demonstrating how kitchen and family space can live as one.