Kitchen Trends: The Culinary Living Room

Negotiating what clients need, value and how they want to communicate this to the world and in their own home will become a designer’s greatest challenge over the coming years.

Trends can be contentious, especially in an industry where projects can take years to come to fruition. This is why the movement behind the trend is what really matters; the social shifts that explain why change is occurring.

As designers we are expected to be at the forefront of design thinking, and in an era where clients have a constant feed of inspiration and influence, trade professionals need to offer insight that goes above and beyond.

Incorporating client’s design aspirations into their lifestyle has become key when designing their new kitchen as most projects nowadays involve some form of open-plan living. Whether walls come down to open their homes up or new extensions are built, the boundaries between spaces starts to blur. Kitchens borrow from the designs of the living rooms and use the same styles, materials and colours.

Following on from this notion the kitchen is already becoming much less dominant, and this will continue to reduce with hidden appliances, fold away units, concealed sinks and hob systems and open shelf solutions and illuminated display cabinets instead of wall units. As kitchen designers we are constantly presented with the challenge of creating a kitchen space that is, of course, functional yet blends seamlessly with its surroundings creating the social hub of the home. We even receive requests to hide the working areas of the kitchen from view all together.

By using materials such as metal, glass, natural stone, wood and textured surfaces harmoniously as well as the latest technologies and features from our furniture, work surface and appliance suppliers we are creating completely unique kitchen designs that are personal to our client’s homes.