Why would a person aim at a luxury kitchen? And what are the salient aspects that make it up? These are questions that I personally ask myself during the design and construction phases of custom-made kitchens, built by hand, built with high-level craftsmanship and consequently each one becoming different from the other. What is the main theme behind the concept of a luxury kitchen?
Let’s proceed with order.
Let’s start with some easy and shareable considerations.
The luxury kitchen can be designed and built in both modern and classic styles. The choice of style does not affect its value.
What makes the difference, what transforms a “normal” kitchen into a luxury kitchen?
There are guidelines that diversify it, out of personal tastes.
Indeed, in the luxury kitchen the lines are clean and simple.
While this may sound logical for a modern style furniture, it may not seem so for the classic style. Here the concept of simplicity has a wider meaning, where the lines, the friezes, the decorations must be proportionate, the right relationships and thicknesses created. It is a magical equilibrium, where excess leads to tacky, excess that expresses a lack of taste. And where reducing, removing too much, makes the aesthetic poor, disharmonious. And if you think about it, the same concept also applies to the modern genre, where you don’t find the frieze, but the detail of the wood grain, rather than the point of opacity of the lacquer.
Spaces are large and airy. The large, basic space is a sign of luxury and the luxury kitchen needs generous space. In this way you give character to the environment, make it valuable and, at the same time, equip it with everything you need. Where the necessary can and must intersect with a superfluous healthy: here, to give you an example, a luxury kitchen can be able to accommodate a wine cellar, or a blast chiller. Because this is not superfluous, because it becomes vital to a life worth living. In all its facets, without having to limit yourself.
Details are always an element that distinguishes luxury kitchens: unique elements and high quality materials must express their value and level. Which materials? Technology always creates new ones, but the real value is linked to the use of natural materials, always different, not available indefinitely, with its own unique characteristics. And the prince of these materials is wood, the undisputed champion.
The style changes, also the shape, and the finish, but it is the cornerstone from which to start. Wood is an innovative material: each wood, each plant is unique, changes the tone, the grain, but shade of color. Your luxury kitchen will never be the same as another kitchen! Let's add the details, too. They make the difference. The workmanship, from the opening mechanism, from the smoothness of the drawer but ... and much more!
How is a luxury kitchen built?
What is, in the imagination, its composition that enhances its greatness and value?
In the people imagination, a luxury kitchen has often two islands: one used for preparing food, the other for entertainment. Accompanied by a large block of columns. In this organization of spaces it is essential that everything has its own location: equipment, appliances and raw materials must have their own retractable space that contains them. In a luxury kitchen, the appliances are top-of-the-range, each with specific functions, in order to meet the nutritional needs of all guests and to have all the possibilities for experimentation at hand. Luxury kitchen also means a closet that contains what has to be hidden and some details to enhance its quality and personality.
Do luxury kitchens have to be organised in this way?
Well, I would say no. This is the stereotype, certainly beautiful and scenographic, with a strong aesthetic impact. And if it matches your wishes, you can do it. Luxury is generally a stereotype, but the very essence of luxury is the one that is personal, an expression of interior wellness. And it is precisely the plus of luxury, the true essence. While the mass market imposes styles, choices already made upstream, luxury, the real, strong one, allows you to give ample space (space is a concept of luxury) to your emotions, your ambitions where the kitchen is perfect, precise, tailor-made for you. If you think of a suit or a dress, true luxury is not the famous brand, but the tailored suit, the one that reflects all the canons of your body. The luxury kitchen is created in the same way.
I like the example of the dress because I tried it firsthand. I bought high-end branded clothes, well made and with a beautiful aesthetic impact. I bought tailored suits, built around my person … what I can say is that there are no comparisons! Two worlds: tailoring is your suit, branded is the suit of others.