The new kitchens? Endless solutions to create bespoke domestic landscapes. Trends say that the new hearth is made by people

The kitchen is a place of pleasure. But it is also a technological, performing, energy saving space.

The design works on the relationship between the warm and emotional symbolic sphere of the domestic archetype and its more contemporary counterparts. The solutions come from an obsessive work on details, on what is not noticed but makes the real difference. There is obviously a fundamental fact, which is the aesthetic one: we move from an informal, warm, familiar atmosphere to the kitchen / monument, which represents and becomes social theater.

But beyond this instinctive macro vision and all linked to taste and lifestyle, there is the meticulous work made of geometric balances, millimeter relationships between thicknesses, transparency and opacity of the materials.

Light and focal points, as well as compartments, containers, spaces intended to store ingredients and tools.

Thicknesses, materials, colors make the difference

The trends of the kitchen can therefore be found in the particular. It is a research that must be told, which has a reason for everything. And that is never evident. Take for example the story of a product like Case System 5.0.

Twenty years have passed since Piero Lissoni and Boffi presented the first version in an industrial context that underlined the brand's typological leap. Since then the production technologies have changed and so have the achievable results on the finished product. The 2022 version of Case System 5.0 is a work on thickness contrasts: the five centimeters of the doors incorporate an 8 millimeter section that frames it becoming the handle. And overall they create a perception of solidity and durability.

The contrast with the thinner thicknesses of the tops and worktops defines a very contemporary visual frame, underlined by new materials and a palette designed by Piero Lissoni. However, everything is played in a seemingly infinite set of details, finishes and tones.

The kitchen is like this: it is defined in a set of choices that speak above all of the future user, of his relationship with the hearth which, all in all, despite being always the same (the kitchen is used to prepare food), is also incredibly micro variegated.

The kitchen 'outside': the outdoors is in fashion

However, there is a macroscopic trend: the outdoors. The new pastime seems to be cooking outdoors, transferring the functions of the home environment to open air spaces.

It is said to be a natural reaction to the need of nature. But there is perhaps also an attempt to make boundaries evanescent, in order to simply use all the space available. Outside and inside are similar: the outside is perhaps a little freer and a little more convivial. And in any case, there are so many brands, from the most spartan to the most domestic and complex, that have designed and produced kitchens outdoor.

Modulnova is one of these and, in an almost paradoxical way, manages to transfer the typical features of its visual DNA even on blocks intended for the open air. The choice of material for the surfaces confirms the desire to remain in the same aesthetic environment: graphite worked raw or sculpted in a linear ornament dialogues with nature and the harsh beauty of stone.

No waste, beautiful and smart: the new refrigerators

Technology is a present and increasingly decisive theme and seeks flexible and intelligent integration with architecture and interior design. The intuitive commands of the app and control panels that operate every type of function, from washing to refrigeration, decide on increasingly sophisticated operations.

The new Liebherr range of free-standing refrigerators contains advanced functions for optimal food storage, to avoid waste of both energy and raw materials. They are appliances to be programmed and controlled with intuitive apps, which however offer solutions unthinkable until recently, such as the Hydro-Breeze, a mist of micronized water that hydrates fruit and vegetables

App and digital controls for household appliances capable of becoming invisible

But technology is by definition invisible and immaterial. Thus, even the most cumbersome appliances must 'disappear' in domestic architecture, to blend in with the design of the kitchen and the surrounding space, which increasingly easily crosses over into the living area.

Asko dishwashers, in addition to being typically more capacious than the average (to save washing) and taking advantage of a simple series of washing cycles, have sliding doors that install flush.

No friction between the decorative door of the fully integrated dishwasher and the low plinth of the kitchen. The more 'service' parts of the environment integrate with the interior concept and promise a home that is increasingly livable and on a human scale.

Ph. Cover: a table signed Bitossi Home, which inaugurated its flagship showroom in via Santa Marta 19 on the occasion of Design Week 2022.