Special report: kitchen trends from cologne
Here's the trend report I filed with Houzz.com last week . There are a couple of major things I saw that will be here this year, I can feel it in my bones. I'll write more about them later.
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The German town of Cologne is rapidly becoming the area to watch in terms of cutting-edge layout. Last week I changed into commemorated to attend Cologne's 2011 Internationale M?Belmesse (IMM) layout show. A spotlight turned into a kitchen-particular section referred to as the Living Kitchen ? The largest kitchen design trade display I've ever attended. As any person who is been to extra kitchen layout alternate indicates than I can depend, that is pronouncing something.
I was one of six U.S.-based design bloggers brought to IMM and the Living Kitchen by Blanco, a German sink and faucet manufacturer . What I saw is nothing like what I know is going on in the design scene in the U.S. As a kitchen and bath designer, I'm curious to see how quickly these trends and ideas end up in the U.S.
The pictures in this ideabook are photos I photographed as I walked across the display Jan. 20-21. There are also a few show-supplied pix that help make the factors my own pictures cannot.
As you study the photographs, face up to the urge to reject the ideas outright. European kitchen designers are solving the identical troubles any designers are, however lots of them provide you with specific answers with a purpose to end up being utilized by the relaxation of the sector ultimately. Can you see any of those designs running in your home?
Current own family room layout through other metros indoors fashion designer Paul Anater
Kitchens that integrate into the relaxation of the home are huge ? Massive ? In Europe proper now. Every kitchen appeared designed particularly to blend into the rooms that surround it.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
Can you notice this degree of kitchen integration ever running and turning into famous inside the US and Canada?
Current own family room layout through other metros indoors fashion designer Paul Anater
Without a doubt, the most important trends I saw in Cologne final week were textured, clearly-stained wooden and skinny, thin countertops. Count on that skinny counter top fashion displaying up within the US and the relaxation of the sector very quickly.
In two solid days of walking across the display, I should have counted on one hand the wide variety of three-centimeter "American" counters I saw. There changed into little or no granite however a variety of laminate and a porcelain counter fabric it is unavailable in North America.
These 1-centimeter skinny counters stood out because they're in such stark competition to what we see within the U.S. And Canada these days.
What would it not take to get you to embody the 1-centimeter counter?
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
This sink and faucet combination by means of Blanco shows something we never see in North America. This is a ceramic sink undermounted in a laminate counter.
The conventional knowledge in North America is that we can't undermount a sink in a laminate counter. European designers do it all the time, and it seems first rate.
Current own family room layout through other metros indoors fashion designer Paul Anater
Europeans use laminates in kitchens in approaches their North American opposite numbers by no means could. It makes feel even though. Laminates are sustainable and long-lasting and that they appearance high-quality whilst they're used nicely.
The current European version of the Great American White Kitchen is a white-and-wooden-tone laminated kitchen. What do you believe you studied of this white-and-wooden-grain blend?
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
Most European kitchen sinks have integrated drainboards. Drainboards are a a characteristic this is entirely missing from North American sinks. Why do you think that is?
This replicate-finish counter and included sink from Blanco is what is called a floating counter. In a floating counter, the 1-centimeter counter sits on a smaller deck to decorate the effect of the thin counter.
This is the exact opposite of the whole lot we see within the U.S. Proper now. I applaud this path and I wonder how it will play on this side of the Atlantic.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
Another thrilling assume I noticed in Germany last week is that maximum kitchen sinks are drop-ins rather than the undermounts so popular in the U.S.
In looking at this photo, I see skinny counters, laminate surfaces and a drop-in sink.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
Integration is the important thing to European kitchen design. Large, professional-size appliances had been no in which to be seen. Every equipment. It regarded, can be folded away and hidden whilst it wasn't getting used. A lot of this comes from the smaller common size of a European domestic, but now not it all.
A larger presence of integrated appliances is something I recognize we'll be seeing greater of in North America.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
The proper wall of this kitchen vignette show sliding doors that make the operating elements of this kitchen disappear while they may be not in use.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
For every integrated kitchen layout that included a kitchen desk and a sofa, there has been at least one that attempted to fit towards a wall and be beautiful for its own sake. A kitchen this minimal and streamlined is sufficient to make me need to purge all of my kitchen gear in order that I should live with this small area.
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
This kitchen covers all of the bases, from the floating, skinny counters to the incorporated appliances at the again wall.
The island inside the middle of the room is as an awful lot a espresso table as it's miles a kitchen island. Could you ever use an island like this?
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
This kitchen from the equipment producer Gorenje integrates a fridge, wall ovens, a steam oven, a microwave, a dishwasher, a cooktop and a hood. That's a lot of home equipment, but this room would not feel in any respect equipment heavy. What do you reflect onconsideration on this degree of smooth and minimized equipment integration?
Present day kitchen layout by means of different metros interior fashion designer Paul Anater
What I determined maximum thrilling were the U.S. Manufacturers who were at IMM's Living Kitchen and displaying new appliances they don't sell inside the U.S. This is a stack of built-in home equipment from KiitchenAid, a brand made by using the Whirlpool organization. Shown here are a steam oven, a small dishwasher and a wall oven.
Can you notice any of those developments ever making it in this aspect of the Atlantic? I'd welcome them, however alternatively, I'm a designer. I'm interested in all of this and I'm anxiously looking ahead to the appearance of the skinny counter on these shorelines. What approximately you?