With Great Ideas
Are kitchens in for changes now that we’ve crossed into a new century? Yes, interesting changes are underfoot, according to trends experts. Kitchens, they say, will continue to take on new roles, so they’ll have to become ever more spacious; further ease and the information age will come to appliances, which will drastically change lay-outs; and cabinetry will work differently and look like furniture.
Barbara Umbenhauer, a trends watcher at Rutt Custom Cabinetry, explains that kitchen design is closely tied to the way families live, and the busier families get, the more they want ease and comfort.
“The kitchen is no longer a place where mom presides over cooking and cleaning chores,” she says. “It’s a complete environment for families and friends. Family members don’t always eat at the same time. They’re in and out of the kitchen, sometimes at different times and sometimes at the same time. And in many homes, everybody cooks. That means there has to be multiple cooking and prep stations. We’re already seeing kitchens with two microwaves, two dishwashers, restaurant stoves with extra burners and grilles, a choice of ovens, and several sinks located at strategic points.
“Then, on weekends, guests pop in, and since every party ends up in the kitchen, it has to be great-looking, too. This is where the new furniture-like cabinetry comes in. A kitchen that incorporates furniture is more comfortable and civilized than a room of nothing but built-ins. Free-standing units that may look like armoires, built-in cabinetry that combines two colors, and antique finishes are some of the techniques used by designers to add charm and comfort to kitchens.”
New Design Ideas
Barton Lidsky of The Hammer & Nail, an award-winning kitchen design firm in Wyckoff, NJ, feels that new refrigeration systems, which are available as a series of differently zoned cooler and freezer drawers and cabinets are already changing kitchens drastically.
“The fact that there’s no big hulking refrigerator to fit into the scheme of things has banished the need for the classic kitchen ‘work triangle’,” he says. “But that’s only part of the new freedom from formula design. Increasingly, our clients ask for design that would be unheard of a few years ago. A good example is a kitchen we designed with three islands, each one in a different geometric shape. The owner didn’t like the idea of built-in cabinetry along every wall.”
Lidsky agrees that kitchens will continue to grow in size, but he feels that designers must be careful to plan the space with niches and partitions to create different areas with a sense of intimacy.
“One large room is boring,” he notes. “It lacks movement, and it’s often noisy.”
