Majjie's Blog

Have you noticed the cutting edge trends in kitchen design recently? There are doors with intricate decorations; with ridges and with sculptured patterns. There are imaginative islands in strange shapes or appearing to float in the air. There's a great feeling of space - except, perhaps, where you actually need it - like between the hob and the sink; they're sometimes crowded together, to make room for the more dramatic features. Ovens are often inserted into walls, or banks of tall units - without a worktop in sight.

These kitchens look beautiful. But you wouldn't want to actually do any serious cooking in them! They're not designed for the multitude of tasks that get carried out in many family kitchens - the multitude of things that need to be stored in a kitchen - and for the multitude of small appliances that most people use these days. They would be fine for preparing a one-off special meal, though - the sort of cooking men tend to do. And for many of these kitchens you'd want a full time cleaner - otherwise you'd have to turn into one yourself.

If you want to have a look at some beautiful modern kitchens - then pop over to the Kitchen Mogul's blog: Kitchen Design Think Tank. He specialises in collecting pictures of these amazing creations. It's a great place to visit for design inspiration ... some of the kitchens are actually good looking and practical ... but it's also a good place to see kitchens that are more about art than design.

Have a look at the Mayan Kitchen from Saporiti Italia:

It has plenty of worksurface - but not much else, from a practical point of view. As the Mogul says: "There is a compromise here in that the ultimate functional possibilities for the island have been purposely restricted to enable the aesthetical beauty of this monolith to be adored in all its splendor!" That's man speak for "beautiful but useless". The Mogul also reckons that the etched doors; "invite light and shadows". I reckon they invite grease and dust!

The Kitchen Mogul is himself a kitchen designer - and I'm sure he can come up with an excellent practical design when required - but he's very enthusiastic about these more artistic kitchens. Here he is talking about another trendy kitchen design, entitled 3D Kitchen Art:

"3D kitchen art is moving from the realms of concept to the mainstream arena. And its about time too, as for too long the simplicity of making flat kitchen doors has created an economic reason for churning them out.  This concept creates some real interest for the viewer, light and shadow just drip from every raised element ..."

No mention of how impractical those raised elements are, in a busy kitchen, and what a nightmare they would be to keep clean. He may be right - that this sort of style will become mainstream in 2012 - but only for the sort of kitchen where cooking isn't high on the agenda.

I'm entirely in agreement with the Kitchen Mogul - about the need to value design input more, when thinking about kitchens - and, of course, I want my kitchens to look great ... but I think looks have to be secondary to functionality. That's the challenge of kitchen design. Making a kitchen look beautiful is easy ... if you don't need to bother about using it!

I design a lot of different kitchens - from IKEA ones where the units cost considerably less than £5,000 - to bespoke furniture where the cabinetry alone is £20,000 - £30,000. I suspect that the Mogul works only at the top end of the market - with budgets way above the ones I work with. He says that: "Skilled bespoke kitchen designers can look at each project as a piece of functional art so surely this should be given a higher value than a mass produced product sold from a pre-manufactured check list!" (He was talking about Kevin McCloud's questioning of the quality differentials between a £5,000 and a £50,000 kitchen - as most of the kitchen industry has been - including me).

Well - if the Mogul can get paid a fortune for designing very artistic bespoke kitchens (practical or not) - then I'm not knocking it - good for him! I know which end of the market is more of a challenge for the designer, though - and it isn't the bespoke end - so I'm not entirely convinced about this higher value argument.

So, is it a man thing - this extension of art into the upmarket kitchen, at the expense of functionality? Is it only female kitchen designers who think that functionality is equally important - and who get satisfaction from delivering good looks and practicality - without that added edge of originality and beauty? I've touched on this subject before - when exalted kitchen designer Johnny Grey berated kitchen designers for their lack of originality.

What about the customers? Are they men or women, commissioning these kitchens where beauty comes first? And do they actually use these rooms for preparing everyday meals and feeding a family? In my experience, women are much more practical than men, when it comes to their kitchen layout and finishes. I can just imagine what some of my female clients would say if I suggested an island where the "functional possibilities ... have been purposely restricted"!

So what do you think?