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Expert Advice from Kitchen Designer Mick De Giulio The most important trend occurring in today’s kitchens is one about lifestyle. Increasingly, people want more than just to cook and eat in their kitchens. They want to hang out in these rooms. They are truly today’s living rooms, and appliances continue to evolve with this trend. I can clearly remember visiting Europe almost 25 years ago and being amazed at how far ahead I thought the Europeans were in their kitchen designs—particularly the design of their appliances. Cabinetry reflected more of a living space ambiance/furniture sense and their appliances were designed to integrate into kitchen cabinets and countertops.

The most amazing of the European appliances were their refrigerators. Designed without the discernable traits of a typical refrigerator, such as visible grills or stainless steel door trim, they were made as shallow as the depth of a standard European countertop and were clad in cabinet door panels.

If it weren’t for the fact that these refrigerators did not have freezers with icemakers or an automatic defrost feature, many of us American designers would have brought them back to the U.S. to specify in our kitchens.

As the European sophistication level of kitchens was imported into the U.S. during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, the American kitchen also continued to evolve to new levels. As more European products were making their foray into the U.S. kitchens, especially at the higher or luxury levels, it was enough for the main manufacturers in the U.S. to take notice and begin to think about exactly what it was that Americans were so interested in about the designs of the European appliances.

Exciting Changes

By the early 1990s, the U.S. manufacturers were starting to respond with even stronger designs. A seminal time in the luxury market occurred around 1995 when Sub Zero introduced its new 700 series. This new concept in refrigeration/freezing incorporated the perfected integration the Europeans were so good at, but took a giant step ahead in changing the dynamics of how a kitchen could be designed by offering the concept of decentralized modules.

A refrigerator is a massive object in a kitchen space. Visually, it commands a lot of attention and eliminating or disguising its presence in a kitchen can reinforce the aesthetic of making a kitchen feel comfortable—like another room or living space. In addition, the ability to now break this mass and locate components closer to work stations was a major change in the dynamics of creating a more functional kitchen.

Current Design Trends in Appliances

At the luxury level, an interesting polarization is currently now at play. Appliances are chosen either for their strong design/aesthetic statement or for their ability to seamlessly meld into the context of a kitchen.

Good examples of appliances chosen for their strengths of statement are the new, sleek Wolf range and the retro styled hand made La Cornue French range. They also become axial points of a composition and have the effect of a modern hearth in a great kitchen—be it traditional or contemporary. And, both of these still can integrate dimensionally and proportionately into a kitchen.

At the other end, are the perfectly concealed appliances. As kitchens are still evolving to look and feel more like another room, the ability to hide appliances is becoming increasingly important. Good examples of these are not only the aforementioned Sub Zero, but also dishwashers without exposed control panels, such as the Miele brand.

An Eye to the Future

Combinations of competitive forces at home and abroad, along with technology gains and market research will continue to bring better performance and feature improvements in appliances of the future. And, as the recognition and importance of good design in kitchens evolve, appliance aesthetics will reflect the new lifestyle statement that kitchens continue to make. More Editorials