EMOTIONAL APPETITE

In todays scattered, hectic world, the kitchen remains an oasis of calm, organisation and social ease. Is the kitchen still a separate entity a standalone structure in the home? Or are we ready to accept it as an extension of daily living? 30 years ago the kitchen was the nucleus of the nuclear family. This was in part driven by necessity the need to eat, the need to communicate with a family centred on the kitchen-bound housewife. It was a functional place. Now that function is being replaced with emotion and creativity. People want to show off, and to explore the emotional relationship they have with food. The kitchen has become the primary entertaining space in the home. Cooks cook, chefs create, and today we all want to be chefs and creators to feel like professionals in our own homes. Food is emotion, emotion is communication and communication has transformed the living space we once called the kitchen.

Is it time to rename this space? The kitchen is dictionary-defined as a room or part of a building equipped for preparing and cooking food. That room no longer exists. The walls are being removed, the space is open. Yes, it is still a space for cooking but just as importantly for socialising, sharing

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01 Open living/dining space 02 Emotional food 03 Work/play kitchen

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and learning. It is the new living room comfortable, social and entertaining. Materials, finishes and the physical state of kitchens are also starting to reflect the ambience of other parts of the home. Seamless surfaces and noble materials such as stone, marble and solid timber are machined and crafted into exceptional pieces of art, framing and shadowing key elements. Hard angular forms are tamed with contrasting timber, richly-coloured quarry hues and soft metallic touches. The role of the kitchen is evolving and so is the palette of materials. The space must have character, be cohesive and most importantly weave into the social fabric and architecture of the home. This is evident at both ends of the market. Premium offerings from Boffi, Bulthaup and Monotti and IKEAs affordable kitchens are all speaking a similar language. The kitchen should be comfortable, functional and should relate to other areas of the home.

Kitchen appliances have hitherto remained stagnant, devoid of innovation, just chalk lines delineating the kitchen layout. Designing a kitchen has felt like a monochrome game of Tetris. Fridges, freezer, ovens and hobs have changed little over the past 20-30 years, besides the odd eco enhancement or fan-assist function; if anything, they have taken on the bland personas of consumers electronics highly reflective, chromed and bezelled. Scale up an iPad and you have an induction cooking surface. Take a TV off its stand and you have an oven facia. Stack two Bose iPod docks up and, hey presto: theres your fridge. Are emotion and delight the chalk lines of future kitchens? Maybe appliances and spaces will work handin-hand, generating a stronger emotional tie with how food is prepared and shared. Kitchens of the future will need to connect with how and where people eat, how food is stored and the social aspects preparation. Technology will be embedded more meaningfully in products, becoming the spine of the kitchen rather than the skin. The social spaces of the home are now influencing the use of materials in the kitchen. In turn, the kitchen is becoming not only the social hub but a place to relax and express the personality of the entire home. Kitchen furniture will play a major role. Just as sofas have become more prominently personal statements, mirroring the bed in size and comfort so kitchen furniture will take visual and functional references from other, more traditionally comfortable parts of the home.

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04 Boffi kitchen 05 Bulthaup kitchen 06 Rough cut stone work surface

It is important not to forget that beneath all the appliances, fittings and fixtures, the kitchen is still a room. All the elements of colour, character, decoration and furnishings we use to express personal taste in other rooms are just as critical here
Sir Terence Conran

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The future of kitchens is visually richer, more emotive and more connected. This will be born of a shift in attitude knowing that the kitchen is no longer just for cooking and reflected in every aspect of design. Bodums family of kitchen appliances point the direction here: bright and playful, engaging everyone. The kitchen has ousted the living room as the heart of the home, the place where you make connections with friends and family on a daily basis. These connections will shape its evolving identity: functional, useful, but above all emotional.
07 Valcucine kitchen 08 Schiffini kitchen interior 09 Bodum toasters

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