‘Country Manor’ by Rhatigan & Hick
The kitchen is the hearth of the home, which is why people are drawn to it. And as we use the living room less and less, the real ‘living room’ in the house is more likely to be a big kitchen than a traditional reception room.
Think about all the life that takes place in kitchen; cooking, eating, talking, lounging and entertaining. Its design should incorporate all these activities and not be limited to the consideration of hobs and fridges.
IIse Crawford is a strategic designer who has been in the business of creating and predicting what’s next in design for more than a decade. She is the Creative Director of Studioilse, which created New York’s latest exclusive destination – Soho House New York, Babington House in Somerset and the Electric Cinema in Notting Hill.
Here are some of Ilse’s excellent tips and ideas on kitchen design.
1. Bring back warmth and comfort
There is a theory that, the more expensive the kitchen, the less time you will spend in it. This is partly because people spend money on dreams. It’s like clothes: the things you spend most money on you never wear. These days, people are trying to work out how to get that warmth and comfort back into their kitchens again.
2. Design your kitchen around your life
Ask yourself how often will I cook? How do I like to cook? Do I have a lot of people around? How many people will be eating? Will we be eating in sequence or together? Am I an emotional cook or a precise cook? Precise cooks generally need lots of space for spreading things out, whereas emotional cooks just do a bit of chopping! You need to understand how much time you spend in the kitchen, how this time will be spent and how you would like this time to feel.
3. Make your kitchen visible
Don’t allow your kitchen to be hidden or partitioned out of sight. Design your kitchen so that people are drawn near to you as you cook. Consider a kitchen/dining room or draw some stools up to the work surfaces.
4. Clever lighting
Natural light is good but not essential. As we use our kitchens most in the evenings, they’re about warmth more than light. If you have only a couple of rooms that give good light, save them for the bathroom and bedroom.
5. Materials make atmosphere
A concrete floor will instantly give you a different feeling to a wooden or a marble floor. In combining materials you choose the energy of the room. Choose things that lend a natural feeling to the room. Then mix these with something modern so that the room is stimulating. So, for example, go for butcher board mixed with, say, metal. But don’t go for a totally industrial finish; it’s just too clinical. The design of the next decade is going to be about bringing soul back into modernity.
Tell us what you think:
Do you agree with Ilse's ideas - and do you have any kitchen design advice to share?
Tell us in the comments below.
