No matter how big a kitchen is it’s never big enough. Recent research showed that 66% of occupiers begin to find their kitchen too small after just two years. Furthermore, as the role the kitchen plays in home life continues to grow, the physical space it occupies continues to shrink.

This paradox of less room, more space poses significantly challenges for designers. In a market in which the kitchen plays a significantly role in determining the commercial value of a property, optimizing the use of space is a vital component in the creation of a successful scheme.

There are several variables at play in our industry that are further intensifying the pressure on designers to arrive at ever more ingenious methods of achieving efficient use of space in the kitchen.

A booming property market has led to smaller properties, and even smaller kitchens. Apartment living is, literally, on the rise, as droves of young, free singles flock to the cities to combine work, rest and play in a single vibrant locale.

Strangely, research has also shown that members of this traditionally rebellious demographic are now displaying a homebird tendency (even in their modest apartments) that sees them spending more time at home entertaining friends (in the kitchen) than out on the town.

The rise of open plan living and the dominance of the minimalist aesthetic has brought with it the need for clutter free kitchens and whispering appliances. If the working space of the kitchen is now part of the living space of the home, then we have to look closely at how we can control clutter and unsightly paraphernalia when it comes to entertaining or enjoying leisure time with the family.

Similarly, those clean lines and uninterrupted planes of minimalist schemes are breathtaking in the showroom, but the flotsam and jetsam of a working kitchen can burst the bubble of this purist aesthetic in an instant.
And finally, a lifestyle media saturated with property development and interior design content has a created a new breed of design-conscious homeowners with expectations many times the size of their kitchens. All these factors conspire to create a context in which maximizing space and controlling clutter are often a kitchen designer’s primary objectives.

Stuart Frazer Contracts, in collaboration with SieMatic, has been tracking these trends as they emerge, working with the UK’s leading developers, architects and interior designers to ensure that a development’s kitchen caters specifically for its target market.

There are several strategies that can be called upon to create tidier, more efficient kitchens against the variety backdrops noted above. As the premier supplier of SieMatic kitchens to the UK contract market, we have developed new ways of blending the company’s innovative products with an intelligent approach to design to achieve an optimum balance of functionality and aesthetics.

The company’s MultiMatic system is at the very cutting edge of kitchen storage technology and has played a key role in some of our best results, especially in smaller properties and apartments. It discretely incorporates storage space into walls, base units, and tall cabinets and is completely modular and expandable, allowing the user to modify their system to further optimize space.

Tall cabinets have proved highly effective in a variety of contexts. They remove the need for long banks of wall cupboards that can strangle the ambience of a kitchen, whilst complementing the presence of the fridge freezer. The SieMatic ranges stand up to 2.3 metres high and, when combined in one section of the room, make for a lighter, more open aesthetic – especially when complemented with a central island. When it comes to achieving continuity between the kitchen and the wider living spaces in an open plan scheme, again our relationship with SieMatic has played a significant role. The company’s highly versatile SL range has become an essential tool in our design arsenal as the trend for open plan living has gathered pace.

The SL’s internal tracking system (as with all the SieMatic ranges) allows shelf position to be adjusted at 16mm intervals, affording the flexibility to achieve an unprecedented level of space optimisation. Externally, the slick handleless design creates the appearance of stylish furniture rather than kitchen cabinet.

Functionally, the extra capacity that this range incorporates affords the user plenty of space to stow away the kitchen paraphernalia that would interrupt the smooth, minimalist flow of the room. Aesthetically, the ‘kitchen furniture’ concepts allows us to smooth the boundaries between the kitchen space and the rest of the interior and create a seamless transition.

Other manufacturers are also responding to these new market conditions and a host of space-saving appliances are now flooding the market. Dishwashers and ovens that fit into the aperture of a microwave; under counter double ovens; double oven/microwave combinations; narrow fridges; magic corners; plinth drawers – the list goes on.

Whilst innovative furniture, appliances and accessories are all strings to the designer’s bow, there is no substitute for intelligent and creative design. By relying too heavily on space-saving gadgets and gizmos, it is all too easy to create a room that is aesthetically unbalanced and lacking cohesion with the rest of the interior.

Sound design principles, combined knowledge of the market and awareness of the latest manufacturing innovations are required to create a truly integrated solution: a kitchen that uses space efficiently, looks impressive, flows with the rest of the property… and is still working effortlessly two years later.
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