“Zones” are key to timeless beauty.
The kitchen used to be an undignified space. It was once where food was cleaned, pummelled, minced, spiced and cooked by an obliging underclass. Set off from social and familial quarters, out of sight.
The medieval banquet hall and the Anglo-American dining room – now these were true theatres of consumption, where modern ideas of family dining would emerge. The best kitchen makers today know how to combine
these two elements – kitchen and banquet hall, form and function – in ways both elegant and seamless.
“Simple can be beautiful,” says Mario Furtado, owner of Marana Kitchen & Home Design, a boutique kitchen and design shop in Toronto’s west-end. “A well-zoned kitchen is intuitive; it puts everything you need at your fingertips, and that can make cooking with family and friends a pretty memorable experience.” This might explain why zoned kitchens have become so popular among consumers.
A zoned kitchen helps choreograph everything from storage and chopping to cooking and serving by designating certain areas of the kitchen for specific tasks. This, Mario says, promotes a natural workflow, while allowing more cooks in the kitchen at one time. “Drawers pull out a full 24 inches, and upper doors lift instead of swing,” he adds. As an added benefit, this approach helps designers maximize usable kitchen space and open more room in the house for families to mingle and serve food, for people to talk, and for guests to be entertained.
“Simple, clean lines, not a fussy look,” is how Mario describes the aesthetics of many zoned kitchens. Seeing is believing. At Marana Kitchen, Mario and his design team have married form and function to produce a variety of beautiful results. “Think of Grace Kelly,” Mario tells me with a warm smile. “That’s what we’re after – a beauty that’s timeless.” – Text by Betty Barkman
Source Guide
Marana Kitchens – www.maranakitchens.com
Blum – www.blum.com
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