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The
Hub
The Watermark
Ribbleton Lane
Preston
PR1 5EZ
Telephone
01772 252 377
Facsimilie
01772 252 410
Email
The Hub |
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The
function of the kitchen
Whilst the kitchen has always been the hardest working room
in the home, recent lifestyle shifts are demanding an ever-greater
versatility from a space in which we no longer just cook and
clean, but also work, rest and play.
As the function of the kitchen evolves in response to these
emerging cultural trends and developers focus on selling lifestyles
rather than properties, the design of the modern kitchen is
rapidly adapting to keep pace.
The kitchen is now a space where the whole family gathers
for a range of activities traditionally associated with other
parts of the home. Now the backdrop for the kids’ homework,
Mum’s soaps and Dad’s half hour with the paper,
the boundaries between living room and kitchen are becoming
increasingly blurred.
These changes have stimulated innovations in kitchen appliances,
furniture and design, with entertainment systems and open
areas for computers and gaming stations becoming a popular
feature. Taking this theme to the next stage, SieMatic has
recently launched the Media Unit: a completely integrated
piece of furniture that seamlessly incorporates PC, DVD, TV
and audio systems into the design of a kitchen.
The flexibility that we now demand from our kitchen is stretched
even further by the fact that ‘Staying in is the new
going out’. A recent survey showed that 41% of Britons
happily stay at home every night of the week, with only 13%
of us prepared to venture out on a Saturday night. The contours
of our social lives are changing with more and more of us
entertaining and socialising at home.
The removal of dividing walls and the incorporation of breakfast
bars and round tables is creating open spaces as conducive
to conversation as cooking, finally bringing an end to dinner
parties at which the host was hidden away in a steamy kitchen
whilst guests milled around in the living room.
More discerning homeowners are blending kitchen and dining
room into a single space coordinated with a strong design
element. Going far beyond just putting a table in the kitchen,
the trend is towards developing truly integrated kitchen-diners
with sleek glass, Corian or Granite topped furniture that
reflects the look and feel of the kitchen whilst conveying
the elegance and style of a modern dining table.
The proliferation of DIY, property development and cookery
programmes across all forms of British media is further fueling
the rise of the more discerning homeowner. As a result, expectations
have been raised significantly and clients have become less
deferent and highly specific in their requirements. This demanding
amateur developer/chef is very particular about the features
and appliances required to satisfy their passion for creating
restaurant quality global cuisine at home.
The problem here is that a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing and designers and contractors are often faced with the
task of diplomatically steering clients away from impractical,
misinformed disasters-waiting-to-happen. It’s our responsibility
to ensure the client receives a highly functional, aesthetically
pleasing kitchen that will be versatile and enduring, and
simply giving them what they want rarely hits the mark.
The increased visibility of the kitchen across the media,
combined with aspirational marketing approaches from property
and homeware companies has stimulated kitchen brand awareness
amongst consumers. In the same way that society demands branded
cars and fashion for peace of mind and as a statement of identity,
so homeowners are now demanding appliances and accessories
weighted with brand equity.
As the UK’s premier supplier of SieMatic kitchens, Stuart
Frazer Contracts has noticed a sharp increase in the number
of customers asking for the brand by name. With the entry
of a range of high profile brands from Benetton to Calvin
Klein into the homeware market, and the likes of John Rocha
putting their name to interior design projects, the role that
brand plays in the design of the kitchen is set to gather
strength.
As we move into the future, green living is set to become
a strong influence on the direction kitchen design takes.
In addition to incorporating multiple waste bins for easy
separation, Stuart Frazer Contracts are incorporating natural
sustainable materials into kitchen design and using colour
schemes based on tones and textures found in the natural environment.
We’re now working on extending this approach by incorporating
external features as elements for innovative interior design.
By taking design cues from the architecture of the larger
developments, we have worked on we have created a highly original
aesthetic and introduced an interesting cohesion between the
interior and exterior of the development.
As our lifestyles continue to evolve in a global age, the
space that we surround ourselves with will inevitably continue
to reflect these changes. The true innovators in our industry
will be those who preempt the dominant cultural strands of
tomorrow and trailblaze a functional aesthetic that sympathises
with them.
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