Beyond its functional aspect, the kitchen is this gathering place which revolves around the ever-present pleasure of cooking small and large dishes.
The chain of difficult events on a global scale has created a desire to take refuge in enveloping interiors. Clinical kitchens, monochrome and glossy, are well and truly a thing of the past. The style farmhouse, seen and seen again, has become banal. The new layouts find their comfort in an in-between space made of cozy minimalism which alternates between clean lines and curves.
It’s time for transitional style: a marriage of contemporary and traditional with a dominant focus on one or the other. “We are in an interesting period which is shattering stereotypes in decoration,” says designer Manon Leblanc, new partner of Tendances Concept Montréal.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MANON LEBLANC
Designer Manon Leblanc
People no longer want a generic kitchen, but a layout adapted to their lifestyle and home.
Manon Leblanc, designer and partner of Tendances Concept Montréal
This desire for uniqueness becomes possible thanks to an increasingly diverse offering of devices and materials.
An airy decor
Although the partitioning of common rooms has been predicted for several years, the demand for open areas is still as strong as ever. In these conditions, the kitchen seeks to forget its function and to mold itself to the aesthetics of the living area. The upper boxes are eclipsed in favor of floating shelves, wall lights and pictures. Shelves and glazed modules, in total transparency or in blurred glass, provide the transition with adjacent rooms and highlight glassware, cookbooks and other beautiful objects.
PHOTO LISA ROMEREIN, PROVIDED BY CLAUDIA AFSHAR DESIGN
The partitions hide a number of objects and devices.
Place in order
Storage is concentrated in the lower cabinets and floor-to-ceiling cabinets. These modules hide a maximum of objects, small appliances and the pantry. “There is generally a coffee area and a lunch area, when it is not also a bar area which includes a pantry,” explains the president of Richard & Levesque kitchen designer, François Levesque.
If space and budget permit, the ultimate is to plan the layout of a scullery which will serve, depending on its dimensions, as a pantry, storage for appliances and waste bins, and even secondary kitchen to carry out dirtier tasks. This configuration allows you to optimize storage and keep the main kitchen cleaner.
In any case, to improve the kitchen experience, you need to find what you need quickly and easily. Storage systems are becoming more and more sophisticated, notes Manon Leblanc.
In a well-designed kitchen, you can often triple the storage space with the same number of square feet.
Manon Leblanc, designer
PHOTO FROM THE UKIYO COLLECTION, BY CLAUDIA AFSHAR AND COSENTINO.
Textures and warm tones create enveloping decors with Dekton from the Ukiyo collection by Claudia Afshar and Cosentino.
The new classics
Cabinet fronts are simplified with flat or minimally detailed surfaces. The shaker style, always present, is refined with finer contours. Added to this are grooved and fluted reliefs found on doors, but also on stone and wall panels.
The handles become more subtle or disappear completely, replaced by recesses on the facades. “Seventy percent of what we sell is either in the contemporary shaker style or in models with integrated handles,” observes Steven Kiekeman Fontaine, co-founder of Bokea. The company, which specializes in making doors to fit IKEA cabinets, produces many two-tone kitchens that combine wood with off-white or pale shades, such as pastels.
PHOTO JOSE MORALES, PROVIDED BY BOKEA
Facade in contemporary shaker style, in red oak, by Bokea
However, more vibrant colors are appearing on cabinets and counters, including deep reds verging on burgundy. For the majority of customers, the considerable investment represented by renovating a kitchen is, however, accompanied by long-term goals and simple choices. White, the classic of classics, is replaced by cream tones and warm grays to which green, including khaki, is added.