The transformation of the kitchen into stage, gathering place and home-life hub is perhaps the most significant re-modelling of domestic arrangements of the last two decades. Kitchens have become bigger, better equipped, and richer in materials just as architectural borders have broken down and the idea of the kitchen as a defined, sealed-off, strictly functional space has gone up in smoke (smoke and unwanted culinary odours are now dealt with by discreet but super-powerful extractor devices, of course).
There are still ways that the kitchen might evolve though. As elegant and refined as the best contemporary kitchen units, bases, hobs, cookers and what used to be called ‘white goods’ are, they still have a job to do. That functional imperative is hard to ignore. And when the kitchen is set in a more relaxed living area, it can still come off like an uncomfortable and unwanted guest.
Italian kitchen specialist Cesar has committed itself to making that aesthetic and functional shift between kitchen area and living area less jarring, bringing a greater sense of balance and flow
Italian kitchen specialist Cesar has committed itself to making that aesthetic and functional shift between kitchen area and living area less jarring, bringing a greater sense of balance and flow. Its new Dressup system, the work of Udine-based design Garcia Cumini, establishes a design language and material palette for kitchen bases and wall units that can comfortably and elegantly stretch into other areas and applications. What works for kitchen units and shelving now works just as effectively in other areas of the house. ‘In our projects, we look not only for cohesion and harmony but also versatility,’ says Cinzia Cumini.
In essence, the idea behind Dressup is simple: if you make your kitchen units, frames and profiles elegant, light and flexible, and in the right mix of materials, they stop being emphatically kitchen fixtures and the same elements can be reconfigured as wall units, shelving units and cabinets anywhere. ‘Dressup’s modularity makes this project versatile. It is easy to use it not only in the kitchen but also in the living area or in smaller places like bathrooms and entrances,’ says Cumini.
Dressup opens up all kinds of compositional possibilities and can make the kitchen the truly defining feature of your domestic design
Key to the new design is a radical re-alignment she adds, ‘rethinking the standard paradigm of the containment of horizontal drawers’ to create a more open and modular vertical system. The idea works because of the development of thin, sharply elegant profiles, in ribbed aluminium, champagne, black and bronze – and equipped with invisible spaces to accommodate optional features such as LED lighting, accessory hooks and the wiring for sound systems. These were the building blocks of the Dressup system.
