Heart of the Home...

One of my favorite kitchen projects... Clean and contemporary...

Breakfast area, taking advantage of the spectacular views.

Alrighty, so we all know that the kitchen is the heart of the home… Where everyone congregates, and regardless of how often you have a party and try to shoo everyone into the living room, or the designated “party” area, there’s always the biggest crowd in the kitchen…  God how I know Adrian would love a kitchen the size of our first floor, but alas, that’s not going to happen in the immediate future, but I think he’ll make due for the time being…

I’ve had to work on quite a few kitchens over the past decade and it’s funny how often you think you know everything, or at least a good grasp of what a kitchen project entails; but as appliances, technology and the utilitarian factors of a kitchen change, so too does the design.

So many of our clients are now requesting work areas within the kitchen, as in a small desk area for a laptop and a phone.  The realization that so much time is spent in this part of the house has finally sunk into not only the mainstream frame of thinking, but also the occasionally snobby world of interiors.  The reason I say that is because even though we have these amazing trade shows, Arch Digest, or NeoCon and such, showcasing all the innovative and new creations offered, many old school designers are set in their ways of thinking as to what “beautiful” and “proper” is…

I do have to say that the amount of wonderful hardware, both decorative and internal has come a long way… The fact that you can brush up against a drawer and it intuitively pulls itself in… Or tapping a door with your elbow, since your hands are dirty and despite the force, gently aligns with the cabinet, and not a sound was made.  Amazing… The fact that basically every client requires a TV in the kitchen is another challenge again.  Where are you putting the cable box and/or the dvd player if the house isn’t fully integrated into a system?

Okay, I know at the end of this rant, there should be some words of wisdom tacked on, but I don’t have any, other than the fact that everybody has a different lifestyle.  Everyone has a different functional use for their kitchen… There’s not a real hard and fast solution to any of it.  I love doing kitchens though, the fun appliances and gadgets is always a joy…  I’ll show you in another week or two this amazing new French company I’ve been introduced to, Lacanche.  Gorgeous isn’t the normal adjective to describe a range, but I’ll change your mind about that!

Seriously... This is like the Bentley of ranges!... Gorgeous!