By Mark Pruner
Few rooms have changed more in today’s state of the art homes, than have kitchens. From the way they are designed, to the way they are built, to the material and appliances, today’s kitchens are not your mother’s kitchen. The level of sophistication has gone way up, and the design process has gotten more complicated, but the visualization is much easier.
High-end kitchens don’t just happen they are carefully designed, and the process starts with the homeowner meeting with the designer to discuss, just how the owner uses their kitchen. Today’s kitchens are much larger than in previous generations and they also are much more of a social center than they were before.
Having said that one of the main things the kitchen designer needs to do is find out how the homeowner does meal prep, so that she or he, doesn’t spend lots of time crisscrossing these new larger kitchens. Computer assisted design, CAD software, has been used for decades, but the latest generation of software gives homeowner interactive, photo-realistic images that can be turned to different angles and only need a few mouse clicks to change the paint colors and counter tops. This is a huge improvement over the old pen and ink, black and white, two-dimensional drawings. The owner can meet with the designer in person or over Zoom and tweak the design as necessary.
At 35 Sterling Road, which was just listed, the brand-new kitchen by designer Sabine Gooden, was a real “Oh wow” design. Sabine worked with the owner on a wide variety of designs. One thing the CAD software really helped with figuring out how to fill in an unusual, angled wall with a custom designed cabinet. The final design almost makes the angle disappear.
Center islands have long been big things and they are getting bigger. Many islands were originally marble, but that material is too soft and also shows stains, particularly, red wine stains. The result can be a need to refinish the counter every few years. Granite which is really hard and comes in lot colors was the next trend, but most high-end kitchens now use quartzite. The counter is often white with beautiful patterns throughout and the surface is hard and stain resistant.
For islands, the trend is for thicker tops and “waterfall” sides where the quartzite continues over to the sides of the island. Instead of electric plates showing in high-end islands, the electrical sockets are precisely drilled right through the quartzite to fit the socket.
Appliances are another area, that is seeing rapid development. Induction stoves that heat pots using electromagnetic waves save energy. They also stay cool, which can be a real safety factor with kids. Even the hoods over stoves have gone high tech with Miele making a telescoping hood with multiple lights and fans that goes up out of the way when not needed but drops down during cooking to catch all of those smells you don’t want permeating the house.
You would think that cabinetry wouldn’t be that high tech, but it’s one of the areas that is seeing what was exotic, becoming more commonplace, and here design is particularly crucial. We are seeing more spice racks that pullout around the stove, but at 35 Sterling, these units are a foot wide on each side of the stove. This allows the chef to have all of her cooking oils, spices and other condiments right where she is cooking. Also, the stove often creates a dead space under the adjacent countertop, so here the designer has put in two levels of articulated pullouts that pull out and over so that all the formerly dead space is utilized.
Appliances are also high-tech with Sub-Zero refrigerators being standard in high-end homes, but now both the freezer and refrigerator doors are double wide for extra space. And, in a first for me, Sub-Zero has put in a wine cabinet with temperatures and humidity controls between the oversized freezer and refrigerator compartment. Dishwashers have disappeared behind custom fronts that match the cabinets. The top-of-the-line Cove dishwashers, and other high-end dishwashers, put the controls in the top of the door so that when the door is closed all the controls and lights, of which there are a lot, disappear.
So, while hoods now drop down, mixers pop-up. These mixers with attached bowls are bolted to a wooden base which is then attached to metal arms that pop-up from under the island and lock in place. When not in use, you just pull the releases under the base and mixer folds back into its own cabinet.
Today’s modern kitchen come with lots of built-in draws and adjustable shelves all with soft closing so no more worries about slamming delicate items.
These are just some of the highlights. The number of features that were incorporated in this state-of-the-art kitchen continues to three pages. At the end of the day, they make for easier meal prep and give you time to socialize in the kitchen and breakfast areas where lots of guests are now congregating and keeping the chef/homeowner company.
Mark Pruner is a Realtor with Compass. He can be reached at 203-817-2871 or mark.pruner@compass.com
