A lot of today’s kitchen designs are still based on the assumption that all homes require full-sized cooking appliances. But that’s not always true, especially in urban environments. Many people just don’t use their kitchens that often, or they’re only cooking for themselves. It’s about time we collectively rethink what we need from our kitchens (and the rest of our homes) and ask for designs that are more functional for modern lifestyles.

One concept that aims to save space and look good doing it is the Ordine from Adriano Design, a set of stove burners (or “hobs,” as they say in the UK) that hang on the wall when they’re not in use. The designers, brothers Davide and Gabriele Adriano, rightly point out that the common stovetop and oven range combo seen in most contemporary houses doesn’t meet everyone’s needs.

Today’s urban homes are getting smaller, so space is at a premium. Plus, more people than ever live semi-nomadic lifestyles, moving frequently for their jobs or to check out new cities. It makes sense to make home interiors more modular and transformable, tucking away seldom-used items so they don’t take up valuable square footage.

The Ordine stove breaks out of the ordinary in a variety of ways. First of all, its two-burner design is just the right size for many people who only cook every now and then. It features a touch-screen interface to adjust the temperature or set a timer. When it’s hung back up after use, it barely takes up any space. Plus, it has a high-tech look that fits in with other gadgets around the home, which is more than we can say for most kitchen appliances.

“Ordine! A revolution that will change the cooktop concept, a ‘burner’ that you freely place whenever you need to on our job and then, when you have finished, you just need to hang it like a cooking utensil or pot,” the designers say. “More freedom to interpret cooking space, modularity, grading … a small brick. Ordine transforms and creates a new order in things … in the kitchen … Ordine is a revolution — a deconstruction of the induction hob as we know it today. The hob is no longer an irremovable block in your kitchen, where the distance between the nozzles is never enough when you are cooking with larger pots. With Ordine, you will decide at what distance the nozzles need to be while cooking and how to put them back, leaving the surface free when you don’t need to cook.”

Flexible and adaptable, the Ordine is a clever way to free up space in small kitchens. Imagine how cool it would be if your entire kitchen was modular like this, so you had total control over how all the elements were arranged.

The post Future Kitchens: Minimalist Stove Burners Hang on the Wall first appeared on Dornob.

The Mother of Invention

Yu Li, the inventor of the kitchen-in-a-case called “Assembly” and a graduate of the Royal College of Art, was inspired by the quandary of a friend who had lived in an urban industrial space for several years. Since there was no kitchen in his makeshift apartment, he survived on a portable inductive cooktop and a utility sink mounted on a cart for cleanup. Li’s heart went out to him, and as she actively helped him move into a fancier place with a proper stove and sink, her mind started churning out solutions for all the other appliance-challenged renters out there.

The Components

Li started by listing out the bare necessities of cooking, dining, and after-meal cleanup. Each component had to be portable, small, and lightweight — not to mention effortlessly capable of being returned to the main carrying case to be stowed out of sight in a closet or cabinet.

“The idea is to trim the original kitchen space down to a few minimal elements so space can be designed simpler, neater, and transformed into other purposes to increase the space utilization,” said Li.

The kitchenette’s inductive cooktop had to be ultra-thin to allow other components to fit in the carrying case too. The cooktop itself features an ignition switch, temperature controls, and a timer. Also included in the case are one stainless steel pot, one shallow stainless steel pan, a serving plate, eating utensils, and a dish drying rack. Pulling double-duty are the serving plate, which also houses a wooden cutting board, and panhandle, which can easily be transformed into a pair of serving tongs. You may have to wash the dishes and pans in an actual kitchen sink, but at least you have the luxury of a drying rack. The entire set is bright white with a cherry red trim, and that includes the coated cookware.

Alternate Scenarios

Of course, Li’s design is perfect for lots of other scenarios, too. You may have a kitchen, but if you also have multiple roommates utilizing it, you’ll be thankful to have an Assembly on hand. Don’t care for balancing campfire cookware on disintegrating hot coals at dusk whenever you want to eat in the great outdoors? Just set up your Assembly and carry on. Even a solo trip to the beach can include a delightful meal as long as you have a few ingredients, a bottle of wine, and Assembly at your side.

The Future

With any luck, Li’s design will inspire other innovations in the kitchen and help make cooking in absurdly small spaces both feasible and fun. Some culinary experts even see Assembly as a boon to preparing and consuming healthier meals, since it’ll allow so many people to stop relying on fast food and take-out.

The post This Portable Kitchenette is a Must-Have for Small Living Spaces first appeared on Dornob.

If there’s one almost-universal complaint about kitchen design, it’s that the room should be far more efficient. The Chop Chop Kitchen from industrial designer Dirk Biotto is a modular kitchen designed to be accessible and super-efficient with some surprising features.

Chop Chop is meant to be ideal for the elderly and those with mobility problems. Everything is close together, making it easier to reach all of the functions without walking across an entire room to perform various functions.

The sink basin has a flip-open cutting board with grooves to make drainage simple. The cutting board (when clean) can also double as a dish drainer after you’ve washed a few dishes. The tall gooseneck faucet is easy to move into different positions to accommodate people of different heights and mobility levels.

The kitchen counter’s backsplash is made of pegboard that lets you attach various accessories and holders, customizing the kitchen to your specific needs. A recessed area in the counter either holds ingredients for easy access or simply gets them out of the way while you prepare a meal.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Chop Chop Kitchen is its built-in grater. The grater is recessed in the countertop and connects to a pull-out drawer just beneath. The drawer catches the gratings which you can then just scoop out, eliminating the hand-crippling pain of holding a grater with one hand and dragging a carrot up and down across it.

The butcher block surface has a number of cool storage solutions that make it easy for cooks to keep everything they need within reaching distance. The kitchen units are tall enough that additional storage can be added underneath, and a cook in a wheelchair can comfortably reach the surfaces to work.

“With the countless features and the beautiful light wood used in the design, the Chop Chop is a real treat for the kitchen. Mixing our modern sense of functionality and adaptability with this beautiful wood, it still remains close to the traditional idea of a kitchen. And everyone knows tradition is very important when it comes to cooking!”

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If you live in an unusually small residence, you might laugh at the idea of somehow cramming a dishwasher and other full-sized kitchen components into your very limited kitchen (if you even have one.) But as apartments get smaller and smaller, manufacturers are going to have to think outside of the oversized suburban box in order to serve a large number of potential customers. Here’s one design that does just that.

Unsurprisingly a Red Dot award winner, the K5 by Kitchoo is a compact kitchenette design that’s practically the definition of compact, efficient and space-saving – a tiny all-in-one, side-island unit that serves functions normally occupying half of a standard-sized kitchen.

Two induction burners for cooking, a fridge (with freezer) for cooling, a telescopic tap, petite dishwasher and more … and all of it folds into an inconspicuous, table-topped side cupboard just 1300 mm x 1000 mm x 650mm. Designed for tiny spaces, this smart kitchen concept packs everything you need into a unit that’s small enough to fit in a tiny house or micro apartment.

Flush doors without handles and flat integrated appliances disappear into the seams when the unit is shut, but are available at the touch of a button, flip of a lid or pull of a handle as needed – handy yet minimalist through and through.

“The Kitchoo team consists of the best designers, technicians, and business partners, whose main objective is putting on the market sophisticated kitchen sets, designed for small spaces. Their product won several awards, among others, The Red Dot Design Award. Kitchoo compact kitchens are sold in Europe, the Middle East, and soon in North America.”

“Mebel Rust is an exclusive partner of Kitchoo, and is responsible for the entire production process, ensuring that the Kitchoo mini kitchens are made of the highest quality materials. Each kitchen is regularly checked before, during and after the production process to ensure the quality and longevity of the product.”

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It’s about time portable kitchens got a whole lot smaller while offering a whole lot more functionality. We carry complex computers in our pockets these days, so we should definitely have the technology, right? Ultra compact kitchens could make a huge difference in micro apartments, tiny houses and other spaces where even a kitchenette takes up too much space, but you just can’t make do with a hot pot and microwave.

This intriguing concept looks like it could offer just that. Black, white, ultra-modern and minimalist, the elegantly simple design features an amazing array of capabilities hidden inside for cooking, cleaning, cooling and disposing of food. At just over a foot and a half wide by about a foot long, it may the most compact all-in-one, complete-kitchen furniture/fixture object ever proposed – it literally has everything but the kitchen sink.

Like a portable cooking island, the entire system was designed by He Ruimin to move in any direction on wheels, with burner spots on the top for a chef on the go. This hot spot is covered by food cutting surfaces and preparation areas that can be pulled back to reveal the heating zone.

Fold-out kitchenware storage, a refrigerator door and disposal area all sit flush against the smooth curved side surfaces until needed. How does this design in particular manage to pack so much into such a small area? The main space-saving concept that works throughout the piece is quite simple: let no area go to waste in any of the three dimensions – such as the space typically lost beneath the open surface of a traditional table.

It’s a smart solution for a common problem, and refreshingly chic in its glossy black and white color scheme as well. Can’t you see this slotting right into an RV or van as a camper kitchen, or making a tiny house feel a little more like home?

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Image a simple, elegant and unassuming round kitchen pedestal table – with top that digitally displays dining options as well as the internet, sides that reveal stored food and hidden household appliances at the touch of a button and compartments to clean your dishes when you are done eating. Computerized, convenient, and eco-friendly, this futuristic dining-and-kitchen table design has it all.

Part dining room table, part kitchen island, this integrated computer-plus-furniture design by Petr Kubik is an ingenious work of industrial design. Everything you need to relax, eat and clean up is right at your fingertips. Hidden appliance spaces are designed to contain everything from a dishwasher and dryer to a toaster, coffee maker, water boiler, freezer, microwave and dinnerware containers.

Technologies employed include variable LED displays, nanotech surfaces for easy cleaning and pneumatic systems for internal mobility. Materials include glass, plastic and stainless steel. The pedestal portion connects everything from the top down into house electric, internet, water and waste systems.

The versatile round table top computer display becomes transparent as needed to display foods and beverages within refrigerated interior spaces (divided for dairy, meats, vegetables and so on). Openings to these areas rotate for easy accessibility while beverages can be grabbed from above.

While it is not yet built (let alone for sale), there seems little doubt that this is the way of the future – maximizing technology and versatility in objects designed for home use, making it possible to compact your kitchen, dining and living areas – saving space with multifunctional furniture.

“Future dining table – Let’s take a seat at a futuristic appliance that incorporates a refrigerator, white electrical goods, internet and dining table all into one.A table where food is stored and arranged so that it can be seen and which is always on hand.A table where small electrical appliances have their own place and are quickly and elegantly cleared away. A revolutionary compact appliance that emphasizes on convenience, energy saving & ergonomical usage.”

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