Kitchen Design Think Tank

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...

Can you define where the kitchen stops and the architecture begins?   This design uses a seamless embrace to create a contemporary architectural unity that is disguised amid pastel colours and warming textures!   The sequencing of layers creates drama within the design right from plinth to ceiling level allowing the designers to explore texture, colour, form and light to maximum effect. The scale of the room is impressive and The Mogul is convinced that the brief suggested that the entire house should become the kitchen reducing the need or desire to visit any other room.   The architecture has been absorbed by the kitchen and has been granted a vital role in delivering the Holy Grail of kitchen design;   A kitchen that is both contemporary and safe, providing a wow for now and design longevity into the future. This design also displays a trend for 2012!   Polished chrome detailing mixed with wood veneer and paint!   Hats off here because this kitchen...

Having the extraction system suspended from the cabinetry provides this kitchen with some real architectural independence; it also creates a functional bridge uniting the cooking zones in two separate locations.   The tall oven housing is singled out from amongst consumable storage and presents an inverted cantilever to facilitate the needs of the hob!   This feature creates a “wrap around” effect, a soothing embrace that has the power to cocoon and envelop the kitchen user in functionality and precession engineering.   Add to this the elegant combination of walnut and stainless steel which has been detailed to enhance the physical form of the design and you have got a kitchen that will exceed expectations.

Modern kitchen design is now “traditionally” linear, angular and determinedly simple!   But in the quest for development, advancement and design diversity we occasionally see conceptual mutations, a line of change that attempts to become a commercial trend. But however simple the change it is important not to underestimate the complexity of understanding that inspires the designer to move their pencil in an unsolicited manner! By removing the angular punctuations caused by vertical and horizontal planes meeting the eye is invited to infinitely follow the shape of this kitchen. The cascading appearance used on the gables changes of mood of this design making it more feminine and gentle, allowing it to flow instead of rigidly making a statement.   The soft geometry is also more approachable but when used in this way can arguably restrict the potential functional reach of the worktop. Love it!

A breathtaking fusion of kitchen and architecture which delivers a crescendo of visual stimulation whilst achieving quiet functional order!

Expressively flamboyant architecture, shy and oppressed kitchen!     Missed opportunity!                                       

This kitchen is like a functional thread, using its smooth curvature to stitch together polarised architectural styles.   The kitchen is being used like sophisticated design cartilage, preventing friction and using its irregular and undulating shape to soften the sharp distinction between architectural styles.       This approach works well using contemporary cabinetry as the minimal nature of the design allows the period features to shine though without fear of being up-staged.   Likewise the understated detailing flows seamlessly into any minimally styled room. Great job!!

The kitchen pales into insignificance awaiting functional resuscitation within a sanitised architectural space. We see the kitchens functionality diluted and absorbed into the architecture with only the island presenting influence upon the space. Both kitchen and architecture are submitting to the imposing influence of nature.   Possibly a little human animation required here?!

Historically the kitchen played second fiddle to the architecture with kitchen designers finding their avenues of self expression restricted by steel and concrete.   But increasingly the kitchen designer is being invited into the limelight by the architect and the client and providing architectural definition within their designs.   This kitchen illustrates the point perfectly as the bulk framing around this design showcase how future architects may only be required to present the client with a cavernous space so that the “newly appreciated” kitchen designer can work a little magic, giving the client a highly versatile piece of functional artwork.    Having internal structures created in this way also means that the inner space is more flexible and more easily adaptable to the changing personal and demographical circumstances within the home over the years to come. We are entering the age of multi-discipline respect and communication, the age of the architectural kit...

These ideas highlight the relationship between the kitchen and the surrounding architecture.   Here we see a reminder that the relationship between these two separate elements is crucial and that it would be naive to think that they are independent!   And it’s not to say that a contemporary kitchen needs to be placed into a modern dwelling; it can actually mean the complete opposite, with appropriately designed contemporary kitchens providing the quirky contradiction to a traditionally designed period dwelling.   The deciding factor in all of this, and the one thing that determines the success of any design are the individual preferences of the personalities who animate the space.   Getting the balance right can create a functional, calming influence on our home lives!