Dornbracht: Design freedom in the kitchen
Text by DETAIL - Zeitschrift für Architektur + Baudetail
München, Germany
11.10.16
In the past, kitchens as heavily-used workplaces and places of refuge for practically-minded housewives were largely excluded from encompassing design ideas. The latest innovations by kitchen manufacturers, however, unite both function and aesthetics. For a long time the kitchen was merely a workspace.
The kitchen has always been the communication and social focal point of a house. While in recent decades it has often been delineated by doors, the kitchen is now increasingly being opened up as a living area. This in turn increases the aesthetic requirements that clients have for the kitchen design. The kitchen is expected to visually fit in with the spatial concept of the adjoining living quarters. As a result, kitchen furniture, appliances, countertops, and especially cabinets, fittings and sinks acquire an entirely new meaning.
According to market analyses, the water-point is one of the key places in a kitchen, with 60 percent of activities taking place there. These findings motivated Dornbracht into seeking to optimize kitchen processes and to make domestic kitchens more professional. This called above all for tailor-made solutions to meet the different needs of the inhabitants. Thus the company developed, for example, various water-points for the different working steps and requirements in the kitchen (water zones), and for the convenient supply of hot or cold filtered drinking water (water dispensers). Flexible fitting solutions for kitchen islands (Pivot 360° fitting) and the smart integration of digital technologies (eUnit Kitchen) complement the professional kitchen equipment.
While the trend with respect to the other workspaces is towards storing as much as possible in the cabinets, when it comes to the fixed technical devices the emphasis is on finesse. They are the new heart of a kitchen – and should therefore be especially aesthetic and sensual. With Pivot, Dornbracht has brought onto the market a type of fitting that is particularly flexible. The long reach of the 55 cm pivoting range allows a 360° working radius. The product is therefore in the truest sense the linchpin of the kitchen island. Sync, in contrast, offers other advantages: The new pull-down fitting has a spout that can be extended downwards, and has a flexible pull-out hose that can be easily directed to wherever it is needed. This ensures maximum freedom of movement in the kitchen’s wet working area. A matte-black, heat-
insulated grip intuitively guides the user’s hand. Just like Pivot, Sync also has a 360-degree swivel radius. All these elements round off the kitchen design and ensure that the kitchen blends in with the overall design concept of the house.
Text: Katja Reich
