Kitchen Design Think Tank

The aesthetic simplicity of this design helps to camouflage an impatient yearning to be noticed.   The black, super sheen doors absorb their surroundings by reflection and blur the boundaries between kitchen and architecture.   Only the kitchen worktop provides definition presenting an angular anomaly that defies convection and provokes a slight tilting of the head! This angular feature is thrust to the fore with the help of a basic monochrome colour scheme but it is the same choices of colour and finish that help to conceal an anthropometric miscalculation! A slight gradient allows the base unit doors to lean against the wall.   It could be argued that having the units deeper at the bottom adds aesthetic interest and allows artistic flair to be satisfied but it may eventually be a pain, increasing functional reach distances and causing stresses on the lower back!

This design is refined and balanced showcasing a considered amount of asymmetrical styling and including the now mandatory open shelf space to allow it to be considered commercially on trend! But no matter how beautiful or socially aspirational this kitchen appears to be it would still provoke some negative reactions every time the cook realised they had forgotten something from the consumables zone! Sometimes it is important to remember that humans are not as efficient as they think they are; that is why creating a functional methodology for each and every kitchen design is essential.   Allowing the kitchen itself to interrupt workflow patterns and functional efficiency can weaken the strength of a design and it can only be left to personal judgement to ascertain if the aesthetics are powerful enough to forgive this potential functional weakness!

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

It is interesting to see how the stainless steel worktop is set lower here, plunging into the cabinetry and creating real aesthetical impact.   However, The Mogul must question having the hob positioned at this lower level for several reasons!   Firstly, having the hob set at this height may increase the danger of small children accessing the potentially dangerous cooking zone.   Secondly, by lowering the hob you may have to drop the extraction system in order to achieve the optimum performance.   For an individual of average height this may impede the view of the cooking zone.   There is also the possibility that your head may come into contact with the fan when trying to observe the cooking area....especially the back rings!!   Finally, The Mogul asks if the functionality has been compromised by having the stainless steel worktop embed itself into the cabinetry?   Does the unification for these two elements mean that a drawer, positioned withi...