Tomorrow’s Kitchen Today

November 14, 2012

By Silvana Longo

With 2012 drawing to a close and the holiday season just around the corner, you are acutely reminded that you never made the time to take on that much needed kitchen renovation that would breathe some much-needed life into your home. Even if it’s not feasible this year, you can certainly start mapping out this major renovation now and beat the kitchen blues in 2013. HD&R went to the Toronto luxury kitchen experts to find out the latest and upcoming trends to help you begin your journey to kitchen perfection. Whether you go high-end, mid- or low-range, remember to adapt your style choices to adhere with the seamless flow of your home.  The first interview was with luxury kitchen expert, Matteo Trevisan from ItalInteriors. We talked about the Boffi line he carries at his store on 359 King Street East.

BOFFI KITCHENS,
Matteo Trevisan of ItalInteriors

Silvana Longo: What are the latest features in high-end kitchens? For example, are appliances bigger or more compact?
Matteo Trevisan: For Boffi, Islands have been the real feature with the introduction of the K14 and K20.  The K20 is the newest addition. They are designed by Norbert Wangen.
The K14 uses a countertop with a unique 35 degree angle profile.  Boffi does this detail in Corian, Stainless Steel and Marble or Stone.  The K20 has a very unique countertop and door detail.
The door has a return detail on the top which covers the edge of the countertop. Another beautiful detail are the corners of the cabinetry. Doors and gables are mitered to create a sharp edge.
For the appliances, more of our clients would like to hide the appliances and Boffi has some cabinetry which allows for this.  The tall cabinets of “Duemilaotto” has this feature. The oven can be placed behind a set of pocket doors. It’s an old system with a new trick.

SL: What does the new luxury kitchen look like? Is quartz still the preferred countertop for custom kitchens? Glass backsplash?
MT: I find that many architects and clients don’t want the kitchen to feel like a traditional kitchen. In the sense of lower and upper cabinetry together. Where possible, a set-up with two islands or an L-Shape island has been very well received. Especially when the kitchen is in the middle of an open concept layout. Dining and living room on either side. For these applications, a unique island truly becomes the feature of the space. I think this is a reason for the success we and Boffi are having with the K14 islands. A relatively new material to the countertops are what Boffi calls “stone look”, which is a Zodiaq Quartz material made by DuPont. The Zodiaq is available in polished, matte or the stone look material, which is textured. We have not used glass backsplash for some time. More of our clients are either using the same material as the countertop or dressing the entire wall in a stone or marble or unique material.

SL: What country or trends are influencing the luxury kitchen?
MT: Italy, of course.!!!! Especially when it comes to design and manufacturing of a luxury product.
A company like Boffi knows that engineering high-end product is very costly, for this reason Boffi teams up with companies who are already the best in what they do.
This collaboration allows both parties to push the limits of design, function and creativity. Boffi does this with companies like KWC, DuPont, Foster, Scholtes, Fantini, Signorini, Miele, Gaggenau, etc.
Several of these companies will manufacture specific products for Boffi’s use only. This partnership also allows Boffi to offer many unique, one-of-a-kind products manufactured by high-end, well-known and trusted suppliers.

SL: What can we expect to see in 2013? For example, bright-coloured, light or dark kitchens? What is prevalent?
MT: From what I’ve seen, I don’t think bright colours will be the trend. During this year’s Milan Fair, I noticed more shades of grey, black or white. For Boffi, it seems the white will continue to be the most selected of the finishes.

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Filed under: EDITORS' NOTES,FROM THE EXPERTS