SEPTEMBER 2019 147
“SouthAfricanhomeownersappreciate
simple,beautifulandfunctionalspaces
thatwillremainbeautifulformanyyears
tocome.”–HeidiArensteinTHe essenTiAl elemenTs
This lifestyle, as agreed by our experts, almost always
involves a large amount of entertaining. Linear Concepts’
Selma Zaifoglu says, “South Africans are an extremely
social nation and every South African kitchen should
have a central seating feature possibly with an island to
facilitate social cooking.”
Philip Richards of blu_line agrees: “As South Africans,
we love to cook and have many family members to share
experiences with and the kitchen therefore needs to
enhance the experience of every person interacting with
this living space.”
Says Easylife Kitchens’ Dammermann, “It is as
important to have a beautiful kitchen as it is to have a
fully functional and practical layout. South Africans are
social by nature and their kitchens should accommodate
this, by allowing multiple cooks for social days, but also
be designed for everyday usage. Everything should be in
its place and within easy reach.”
Slavin adds, “The South African kitchen has evolved
like most around the world and has changed from being
a secluded space reserved for housewives into the hub
of activity in the home. They are now open-plan living
spaces with multiple functions and a huge contributor to
the overall aesthetic of the home.”THe fuTure
The kitchen space has come a long way in South
Africa over the past 20 years, as Easylife Kitchens’
Dammermann explains, “The kitchen was historically
almost an ‘afterthought’, just another room in the house
where cooking or baking happens. Open-plan living
changed this, by bringing the kitchen to the centre of the
home, allowing built-in appliances, engineered stone,
motion technology and freestanding islands to come to
the forefront of kitchen design.”
The next 20 years holds the promise of even greater
leaps in innovation. “The things that most excite me
when it comes to kitchen innovation is smart technology
being integrated into kitchen hardware as well asFuture ClassicsLinear Conceptsblu_lineEasylife Kitchens>