If you take away the dominance of food, what comes next? If cooking was the purpose of the 19th and early 20th century kitchen, what activities will take us into this century’s kitchen space?

As back rooms that were places of work for women, where the unremitting daily tasks of caring and providing were carried out, kitchens were not places of fun or leisure, but were rather more of duty and purpose. As household tasks are now increasingly shared between both genders, the contemporary kitchen has become a place where we can mix our domestic activities with enjoyable ones such as chatting, snacking or reading the newspaper.

In these happier kitchen times, our spaces are tailored to suit our instinctive needs – space, light, communication and nature. The kitchen is now a liberated space. So what’s next? What behaviours will influence how kitchen designers create  the kitchen of the future? To predict or anticipate this we need to look at how we live in and utilise the whole house.

Rooms have broken down their ‘use’ barriers, essentially become more multipurpose and open plan. Their conventional labels don’t necessarily apply anymore. Technology (and I say this with care because I have always been a bit of a sceptic regarding claims that it changes us as people) is playing a big role.

The proliferation of iPods, 3G phones and laptops democratically spreads the use of technology to allow it everywhere in the house. Every room can now be a media room, work room, game room or reading room, although not a kitchen! The cellular structure of the house is disintegrating and the kitchen is not just not exempt, but at the forefront.

Over the last few decades, the kitchen has been the most active room in the house in terms of evolutionary use. Dining rooms fell under the remit of the kitchen twenty years ago, being relocated to the front of the house. The various functions of the living room have also accrued over a similar time frame and now hallways, gardens and multimedia are in the orbit of the kitchen.

Five socio-economic forces that might account for these changes include: shortage of time because both men and women work: women’s liberation (if you are in doubt of this look at kitchens in Asia or the Middle East); open plan living with its addiction to light space; less formal social attitudes and behaviours; the widespread adoption of central heating; and changed attitudes about food and cooking.

Stay tuned for more on the evolution of the post-culinary kitchen.

Part of the conversation when we start working with new clients is to explain why a Johnny Grey kitchen isn’t just any old kitchen. Various adjectives (depending on which side of the Atlantic) can be used to describe our kitchens: high-end, custom, bespoke, top-of-the-line, premium, and of course, luxury. Luxury, in turn, comes with its own set of associations. One of our favorite approaches to luxury is “Rough Luxe,” a concept developed by designer Rabih Hage in his London hotel of the same name.

Our version of “Rough Luxe” uses design to hold together a series of very individual pieces of furniture, some of which are antiques, bric a brac and found pieces, combined with the application of principles based on neuroscience – you might call this instinct-based design. “Rough” in this context means a focus on texture, using solid, natural materials and finishes. Here you can see an example of a kitchen we designed for a family of six. They wanted something unostentatious that reflected their love of textures and colour.

The finishes in the cabinetry and furniture we used evoke texture and age. This is an example of how we celebrate wear and enjoyment of tear and embrace irregular and hand made imperfections in the construction of furniture and fittings.

The other component of “Rough Luxe” is of course luxury. Luxury means our bodies are quietly taken care of. In neuroscience terms, the design responds to our hard-wired needs. Elements of this include efficient but hidden ergonomics, long views, natural light and the relaxing effect of seeing nature and keeping in tune with the time of day. We also design to maximize ease of movement, ’soft geometry’ and other body support mechanisms like non-slip surfaces and worktops at the proper height.

Here you can see how we’ve applied some of these principles using freestanding furniture in the center of the kitchen.

The circular shape of the peninsula allows your body to move around without having to make sharp turns or walk at a specific angle to meet a straight line/edge. It also has no sharp corners so does not alert peripheral vision and its link with the brain’s fight and flight mechanism.

Finally, it’s also important that the space reflects the personalities of our clients. The incorporation of clutter and happiness-inducing objects allows one to feel at home. Here you can see how the client has used her own wallpaper and freestanding pieces and put her individual stamp upon the style and taste of the room.

Cast iron casserole with wooden handle first made by Iitala in 1960. Once celebrated on a Finnish postage stamp. Combining design usability with a traditional cast iron pot, Timo Sarpaneva’s inspiration came from his blacksmith grandfather. Image from Iitala.

The recession is closing in on minimalism. Sleek, cool, mono-aesthetics for people who don’t want to actually live in their homes is so last year. Goodbye as well to souless power kitchens where any signs of life are verboten. There are no remnants of actual cooking, with everything cleared up before you can say, “We’ve had a great dinner.”

Minimalism costs a lot. Less is meant to be much, much more and the punters want you to know it, the reverse of what you would hope. Hidden hinges, skirting boards, massive wall to ceiling cupboards, wide floor boards, frameless doors and windows do not come cheaply. It’s a statement of control and the power to impress. I must admit that one wants order if the chaos and clutter become too invasive, but it only takes a single glance at a Russian Oligarch style banker penthouse apartment and I quickly want my clutter back. These swanky pads are destined for people who don’t want homes but swanky hotel rooms, fully owned but barely lived in. If these minimalist interiors were once our aspirational home models, they are no longer.

All of this is not an attack on modernism, but merely a realisation that its true heart lies in a more accommodating and instinctual approach. When you visit Charles and Ray Eames’ Case Study house in the Palisades, you get a full taste of how they lived with found objects adorning walls and tables, a huge low level trolley on which sits a portable jungle – moved around the room according to mood. You can feel how much they loved living there.  Minimalism is grand standing for interior designers and frustrated architects who made an alliance with overly rich domestic control freaks. Letting designers impose a strong style statement is only justifiable if it makes people feel comfortable. In these troubled economic times, I suspect we are going to loose our interest in high status interiors and go for simpler, instinctual designs that cater to basics, such as functional well-made furniture, creating the right ambience with access to outdoors, sunlight, natural materials, and things handmade to last.  IKEA stuff that looks great but quickly deteriorates seems wasteful and unecological.  We will learn to accept that things will wear, and should be worthy of repair.  There will still be room for pattern and decoration and texture, but it will be chosen more for provenance and mood and less for fashion.

What could come out of this financial crisis that would be good is support for artisans in all aspects of home renovation, with a concomitant desire for authenticity and less bling, more confident personal expression, the use of found objects, expanding the use of junk shops and repairing things. Careful choice exercised whilst purchasing things will be allied to the end of anti-mess behaviour at home and the minimalist lifestyle.