Part of our Design Principles course at Florence Institute of Design, was learning the layouts and specifics of designing kitchens. Kitchen spaces are very detail-oriented spaces, which require attention to a harmonious balance between function and aesthetics.
Project Details:
Project Location: Florence, Italy
Area: 60 meters squared
Client: Myself
Supervised by: Prof. Arch. Federica Fabbri
Year: 2022
भारत के रंग
(Colours of India)
For this project, I enjoyed taking inspiration from my culture to create a kitchen that tied the ornate shapes of India’s architecture as well as its rich colours, seen across India’s cuisine, monuments, textiles and beyond. (The spices of the Masala Dabba was also a key inspiration in the colour palette)
I also wanted to blend Rich Mother India, with modern elements of design, as can seen in the clean lines of the kitchen itself. Simple details, such as, designing the cabinet doors and drawers with a concealed handle, lend itself to this modern touch.
In the end, a blend of old and new, regal and modern was created.
In the section below, you can see that I designed a large butler's pantry for storing kitchen utensils and food items. This would allow one to keep the main kitchen space very clean and clutter-free.
Another part of kitchen design, was creating a functional layout. We learned about the infamous Kitchen Triangle: the triangulation of the main kitchen appliances: stove/oven, fridge and sink. I created an island kitchen with the sink location in the island, which augurs well to the open floor plan. Other functional elements that I added were a pot filler and a lot of lower cabinet storage.
The luxury of open shelving made sense, due to the plethora of storage available in the pantry, allowing one to display beautiful plates etc on the shelves and tuck away unsightly tools and appliances in the butler's pantry.
Below, you can see a few of my sketches for this kitchen design. One of the key design elements were these ornate arches that decorated and framed the opening to the kitchen. It was inspired by my visits to Agra Fort, India, and the architecture that I saw there.
This project was so much fun and also a lot of work. It definitely gave me a newfound appreciation for Kitchen designs. I realise that the Kitchen being the "heart of the home", brings with it many details that have to be considered, especially in terms of function, safety and practicality.
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