Kitchen Design Think Tank

  Amongst the chaos there is order! And here we see a vibrant mix of functional art that inspires the onlooker to delve deeper into this design and realise the complex levels of thought that have inspired such a flagrant disregard for convention. Excitement can be conjured by the exotic, and this design by Gitta Gschwendtner for Schiffini floats the notion that functionality can become an artistic experiment.   To some this may just be a series of boxes but to others this could be seen as an attempt to deliver a functional revolution through artistic evolution. The Mogul approves!

Confidence is an alluring quality which becomes even more potent when ostentatious tendencies are subdued!   This kitchen appears to be submissive, overshadowed by an architectural and interior design vision that has diluted its functional identity by dressing it in a living room masquerade!     But silent elements can provide great drama and it is the complexity of this design that makes it almost unrecognisable to the untrained eye!   The clever layering of textures, shapes and materials allow this shape shifting kitchen to dictate a commanding position within the home, silently influencing everything and everyone who becomes inquisitive enough to be drawn in on a tractor beam of style! Kitchen design has evolved into a confident discipline with the power to influence the future of our living spaces.   Given time this evolutionary process will help increase design discipline integration, allowing kitchen design to become an eminent design influence...

The power of kitchen design has lain dormant, entombed in an architectural catacomb that has restricted its development and regurgitated a legacy of design submissiveness! Recently released the kitchen is beginning to wreak its revenge, absorbing its surroundings and rendering furniture and accessories obsolete!   This magnetic vortex of design influence is helping to reshape how we live and how home life is designed. If you think that your living space is missing something it most likely is!   A kitchen!

In order for kitchen design to keep pace with the evolution of human existence we must consider new ideas and innovations.   By rejecting the surrounding architecture as the divine design influencer kitchen designers are free to explore diverse shapes and forms which allow the kitchen to perform its primary functional role but also encourages new interior design and social trends. This kitchen is a play with shapes, a simple combination of forms which helps to maximise functional performance while delivering aesthetic desire in a compressed form.   By Including a book shelf this free standing design even manages to consider how it can replace traditional living room furniture.   It’s reassuring to know that even though our living spaces and kitchens are becoming more compressed designers can still find room for the ever essential wine cooler!!   Cheers!!

Smooth infinite edges are impressive and soft geometry is certainly more approachable but here we see how cutting corners can potentially remove preparation space! This design oozes a space odyssey vibe and The Mogul loves the attempt to punctuate the design with an island that can only be described as a hovering dot of functional opportunity! Really different!   Top marks!

A sobering reminder that within kitchen design artistic expression is only allowed to exist as a consequence of functional necessity!

This kitchen has been given an inner sanctum, a protective layer of architectural skin, a buffer against the harsh industrial surroundings, a space that could actually be described as a room.   But is this feature a restriction upon the open plan influence the kitchen has recently enjoyed and a regression into the past? The glass panels expose the somewhat featureless kitchen and living space allowing them to exude a glimmer of warmth into the bleak surroundings.   The elevated room level, contrasting materials and independent structural alignments provides the kitchen with further architectural detachment.   It is as though this is a kitchen within a house within a warehouse! Oh you might want to mind your head when entering or leaving this space.  

There is a simple purity to this design that disguises a cunning technological complexity.    The designers have indulged our innate love of natural materials and geometric form to create a kitchen which can only be described as an exemplary functional art exhibit. This fantastic design has been lovely fashioned from solid ash boards and the functional services have been carefully entombed within the rich warmth of the timber.   The simple shape of the island defies convention presenting a minimal but highly functional preparation and cooking area.   The functional and aesthetical requirements are completely satisfied though the introduction of a socially inviting cantilever which naturally runs off the main surface of the island.   And if the island wasn’t enough, lurking in a background is a show stopping transformer with the visual and functional power to floor any onlooker! This is kitchen design supremacy!

There are some interesting features in this design.   Immediately the eye is drawn to an impressive cantilever which extends endlessly across the room only defying gravity by leaning subtlety on a supportive crutch.   This zero gravity feature of fantasy has also been given a shoulder to cry on, a functional support which is designed to take the weight off the burdens that everyday life can throw at us.   The low level storage area which supports the end of the cantilever has been given an extended gable that transforms it into a cosy snug, perfect for casual entertaining.   The wall units mirror this feature by including a high level shelf which meets an extended gable end. These features are impressive allowing this kitchen to traverse the void between kitchen and living space but do these elements dilute the functional capacity of the kitchen.   Is it possible that potential storage space has been replaced by fresh air and that the high and low level c...

Reflective surfaces cause unavoidable introspective contemplation.   With this design there should be no regrets! It is fabulous!

Abstract self expressionism strikes again!   There is just something spontaneously sporadic about this design that is compels you to look and question the designer’s rationale!   Is this a modern masterpiece, a Picasso inspired design, or is this a blatant attempt to be different that hasn’t really worked?   Whatever decision you come to it must be said that the tall wall units to the left of the image seem isolated and strange, temporarily causing the eye to drift from the main body of the design. But maybe that’s abstract!?