Milan Design Week 2016 Blog Series – Part Three KITCHEN TRENDS

The four huge exhibition halls at the 2016 Eurocucina show in Milan were filled with the most overwhelming number of kitchens. Some were quite retro in styling and some were crazily overtop the top. There were some stunning kitchens, wonderful ideas and great inspiration.

The key kitchen design trend was layering. Deeper colours and texture also came through strongly in Kitchens (refer to Blog 1 to look at this in more detail).

Let’s look at the kitchen design trends in the following sections:

Benchtops

Fine benchtops were more dominant, although there was a sense of “everything goes” as there were also some very thick chunky benchtops on display too. The most prominent benchtop edges seen were bull nose, shark nose, chipped edge, and simple sleek straight edges. Layered benchtops, where different heights were used with overlaps, often in different materials.

The benchtops ranged from super thin to thick and chunky with a combination of surfaces.

The shark nose benchtop edge was very popular, combined with a deep negative detail between the cabinetry.

Layering of benchtops in terms of finishes, heights and thickness is a key trend.

Chunky timber benchtop layered on a thin sleek surface.

A combination of shape, texture and finish.

The use of matt, textured benchtop surfaces wasprevalent. Dekton is a great product available in the New Zealand market to achieve this look.

Cabinetry

Wood grains, particularly laminates were everywhere in the kitchens, for both cabinetry and splashbacks.

Another strong trend was the matching of the vertical and horizontal surfaces, benchtops and cabinetry being made in the same material and colour.

Cabinetry was broken up by the use of open shelving, different colours and finishes, the use of wide negative detail, and different heights and depths.

The use of mesh panels were everywhere, for cabinetry, lighting, drawer liners and room dividers or screens.

Wide negative detail between the vertical cabinetry to visually break up the block of cabinetry.

Open shelving and mesh breaks up this wall of cabinetry.

Cabinetry broken up visually with an interesting use of different heights and depths.

Cabinetry broken up visually with an interesting use of different heights and depths.

Lots of timber – floor, cabinetry and benchtop.

Cabinetry raised quite high off the floor.

Rangehoods

Beautiful, decorative recirculating rangehoods, looking like pendant lighting. There were a number of other rangehood options using different shapes and finishes.

I love these rangehoods doubling as lights, in a beautiful copper finish.

An interesting sloped rangehood in the same finish as the wall.

A rangehood hidden by a big circle front creates an interesting contrast in shape.

A timber fronted, quite sculptural rangehood.

Another gorgeous rangehood/light combination. These really looked stunning.

Tapware

Rose gold, matt black and matt black with chrome were the key finishes seen for the tapware.

Appliances

The most amazing appliance development that I spotted was in the area of cooktops. A huge trend was individual elements mounted in the benchtops, rather than a panel of elements.

An exciting extension of this was induction elements that were so integrated into the benchtop surface that the only way you could see where they were positioned was a small indentation in the surface of the benchtop. You literally place your pots directly onto the benchtop surface. This creates a very streamlined look.

Induction elements incorporated into the benchtop.