Kitchen design always begins with
putting people’s domestic habits
under the microscope. What, when,
how and where are we eating? How and
where do we socialise? Where do we
read, watch, work in the home? What
rubbish do we jettison, and where?
The evolution has been gradual, but
today’s kitchen bears little resemblance
to the room in the 1950s that was used
to knock up quick family dinners.
The desire to live healthily and our
growing knowledge of how daily habits
afect wellbeing are perhaps the bigest
inuences on kitchen design today. It’s
a direction that is being reinforced year
by year, so much so that last year’s
Global Wellness Summit identiied
the evolution of the ‘wellness kitchen’.
It is an evolutionary leap jump-
started by the move towards farm-to-
table eating and the desire for local,
seasonal, fresh, organic produce, which
changes storage needs, increases
preparation area requirements and hasencouraged the indoor kitchen garden.
Changing attitudes towards waste also
need to be accommodated. There’s
interest in air quality and the reduction
of visual and audio noise as a means
to soothe busy minds. Meanwhile, the
evident wellbeing beneits of a social
space in which to cook and eat have
led to the kitchen being increasingly
integrated within the home. ‘There
has never been so little kitchen –
or as much: the entire oor plan is
being rethought,’ proposes German
manufacturer Leicht. ‘There is an
evolution going on: from the open-plan
kitchen to a complete integration of
the kitchen into the living area.’ This
year, Leicht’s answer is an in-room
concept where the working parts of
the kitchen are concealed, and the
social bits are merged structurally and
material-wise into the home. As other
examples explored on these pages show,
the kitchen is becoming a holistic hub,
a place to nourish both mind and body.KITCHEN
‘Phoenix’
WEBSITE
poliform.it
THE BIG IDEA
Paring back is not just a matter
of aesthetics. There is a healthTHE SANCTUARY
POLIFORM
benefit to clearing up clutter
in the kitchen. It not only helps
integrate the space into the
home, but is key to the peace
of overworked minds. A need
to clear out unnecessary
gadgetry has been identified
too. At the very least, put
everything behind cupboarddoors. Poliform’s latest edition
of the ‘Phoenix’ kitchen does
it with finesse. Its tall units
with doors in black elm and
vertical spacers in embossed
lacquered carbon allow counter
clutter to be minimised, while
the concealed shelving keeps
everything blissfully organised.028 ∑