While the relationship between the kitchen, dining and family living areas has always been important, it is now becoming even more prominent. No longer an isolated cooking area with a few cupboards hung on the wall, today's kitchens are part of an open plan design, integrating the kitchen with the other key living spaces of the home. Pam Carroll looks at how to meet the challenge.
The kitchen as furniture concept is in part being driven by
home theatre systems, which are an increasingly common feature in integrated kitchen and living areas. They are having an impact on kitchen layout, acoustics and storage.
For example, the proliferation of cooking shows has led to a rise in the use of video cook books for those who want to watch instead of read their recipes. Yet however useful they may be, people don't want a TV screen constantly on display, so the need to hide them behind roller doors or by other means has become another kitchen design challenge.
Screens, sound systems and indeed all other appliances have to blend in to the interior environment of the kitchen, as furniture does in other living areas.
Design trends
European kitchen design has long held considerable influence on Australian kitchens. In 2004, the European minimalist look is still maintaining its push. Sleek lines, long drawers, flat faced doors, long handles and thicker bench tops are very much the order of the day.
‘In keeping with European theme of long continuous lines, many kitchen designs now eradicate doors in kitchens altogether,' says Nouvelle Designer Kitchens' Simon Hodgson. ‘It was previously hard to do, but now we're even designing drawers around the sink cabinet.
'‘Horizontal lines in the kitchen are also being carried through to horizontal grain lines on veneers. The affect is stunning,' added Hodgson, who is also the Chairman of the Kitchen and Bathroom Association of NSW for the Housing Industry Association, and the Vice Chair of its national association.
The European influence is strong, concurs designer Andrew Dee of Wonderful Kitchens. ‘As kitchens are visually on show at all times, there is a great deal of attention to joinery - finishing lines and shadow lines are important. Kitchens are the nucleus of the home and it has to work with other living areas.'
Robert Bayly, a designer at South Australian-based Jag Kitchens, says: ‘People are looking for simplicity in their life and this is being reflected in kitchen design. Kitchens are becoming cleaner visually, with less clutter.'
Bayly sees more galley kitchen layouts, not the old walk-through type, but rather parallel work benches at one end of an open plan space. Again, a galley plan brings clean lines to the fore, with separate cooking and wet areas. Island benches with seating accommodation for quick meals are also popular.
