COMMENT AND OPINION | Keith Brisley
KEITH BRISLEY OPINION
Freelance kitchen designer, Keith Brisley, is calling for independent KBB retailers not to get stuck in a rut, be original and look beyond current trends in order to push the boundaries of design
Do design trends stifle creativity? D
uring the late Nineties and early Noughties, the maple shaker kitchen became ubiquitous. Most London estate agents’
windows showed endless repetitions of this generic kitchen design.
Now, most of those kitchens are in landfill, dividing walls have come down and we are in the open-plan era. The open-plan style, however, becomes dysfunctional when it is the only space in the house apart from the bedrooms and bathroom. When that is the case, the social hub becomes a competing and fractious mix of sounds and activity – and very little tranquillity. I worked with a developer client who was insistent on an open-plan approach in all of his new properties and referenced his own kitchen as a shining example of the genre. Indeed, his kitchen – with one quirky exception – was fantastic, encompassing a social family hub with perching areas, dining area and comfortable seating in addition to the culinary necessities.
Just because they [open plan] are seen
as the current ‘trend’, they shouldn’t be the default for everyone
But here’s the rub, his house also had a separate
formal dining room, lounge and snug. Plenty of room then for escaping the social hub when the mood calls. But I can bear witness after nine months with a national kitchen company that walls are being knocked down at an alarming rate to accommodate the open-plan trend and, more often than not, with no convincing design argument. It has simply become what designers do, repeated and reinforced among a battalion of kitchen ‘designers’ whose only real interest is in making the sale, come what may.
I would be interested to know how many designers in the independent sector would actually challenge a
Blocked
Many years ago, I blocked a large new-build project because, in the design meeting, the house builder insisted that the fridge-freezer should go behind the door in the utility room. This meant you not only had to leave the kitchen to get to the fridge but, once there, you had to close the door behind you in order to access it. I am currently redesigning a property that the former owner had made open-plan. The wall that had originally been removed between the kitchen and the lounge will be put back. This will reduce the size of the kitchen by two-thirds, but I am adding a walk-in larder. By using a pocket door in the new wall of the kitchen, it will be possible to open up the space when required and close it off when not. One corner of the new kitchen will be occupied by the walk-in larder. This will house the washing machine and vented tumble-dryer in addition to a dry storage area. All in all, this approach will increase the overall sense of space and make for a more harmonious home.
The new kitchen design isn’t predicated by a cabinet manufacturer’s portfolio or by a particular brochure shot but on an eclectic mix of materials and a style that works for the homeowner.
The national volume producer/retailers are getting better at their job and if design stops being original and fresh, what sets the independent retailer aside? Is a bland array of handleless flat doors with an island any different in an independent showroom from any other mass- market retailer’s showroom? More importantly can the general public even tell the difference?
I appreciate that there are plenty of clients who clearly want open-plan or demand that minimal, clean and uncluttered look. But just because they are seen as the current ‘trend’, they shouldn’t be the default for everyone. Let’s all try to be original.
24 · May 2021
client’s request for an open-plan design? I have trained many designers over the years and the two-pronged syllabus was, firstly, to go out with a fitter for a fortnight and, secondly, never to utter the words “but that’s what the client wants”. What the client wants is to get sound advice from a passionate, knowledgeable designer always looking for originality.
It must be accepted that, during the course of the process, compromise must ensue from both sides and if, once rigorously negotiated, the client indeed wants an uninspiring and sometimes impractical design, then at that stage you – the designer – have to make a call as to whether it is your business or someone else’s. If you are in the enviable position of having more than enough work, you may decide to turn down the project.
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