Why Design
a Kitchen
The kitchen is the fundamental room of the home
A well-designed kitchen has a profound impact on daily wellbeing. It is not a simple assembly of furniture, but a complex system that integrates technology, aesthetics and human behaviour. In an average family, more than 3 hours a day are spent in the kitchen: every design error is paid for every single day for years.
Prof. Vincenzo Pazzi
Objectives of
Design
Functionality and balance between use and aesthetics
A well-designed kitchen is never the result of chance. Every choice responds to precise criteria that determine the quality of the daily experience. The designer must balance the needs of the user with the technical and architectural constraints of the space.
Prof. Vincenzo Pazzi
The Evolution
of the Kitchen
From service room to heart of the home
The modern kitchen is the result of a centuries-long evolution. Understanding its history helps to grasp the design principles we use today and the directions in which the sector is evolving.
The separate kitchen
A service environment, confined to the lower floors. The open fire as the only cooking system. No ergonomic design, space governed by domestic staff.
The Frankfurter Küche
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky designs the first rational kitchen: 1.9×3.4 m, every centimetre optimised. It is the mother of the modern fitted kitchen, inspired by an ocean liner cabin.
The Italian fitted kitchen
Snaidero, Scavolini, Aran revolutionise the market with interchangeable standard modules. The kitchen is born as a democratic industrial product: beautiful, accessible, modular.
Design enters the kitchen
Boffi, Varenna, Bulthaup elevate the kitchen to a design object. Aesthetics become the primary design parameter. The concept of "lifestyle" applied to the kitchen is born.
Open kitchen and living kitchen
The kitchen opens onto the living room and becomes a social space. The island transforms the cook into a social protagonist. Smart technology enters appliances. The kitchen/living boundary disappears.
Prof. Vincenzo Pazzi
