Bazzèo by NYLOFT and ODA Architecture Host “Brilliance in Design”

Bazzèo and ODA, office for design & architecture, have teamed up to create several new kitchen designs to be featured and unveiled in the redesigned NYLOFT showroom in New York. To celebrate the collaboration, the companies will host a culinary evening called “Brilliance in Design.” 

Taking place on October 3, 2013, guests will be able to view the new cabinetry concepts. Bazzèo and ODA representatives will be onsite to talk about their cooperation and their views of design today and how their philosophy reflects the current and future market needs.

“Cooperating with ODA and the imaginative and ingenious minds at ODA brought Bazzèo to the next level in design technology,” said Iko Aviv, founder and head designer of Bazzèo. “Eran Chen, Ryoko Okada (of ODA) and their team have brought cutting-edge architectural ideas to Bazzèo, which sets Bazzèo apart from other cabinetry companies.” 

Pictured: The Marron Glacé kitchen, a previous collaboration between Bazzèo and ODA. 

From Small to Stylish (transformation of small space)

By Erinn Waldo

Downtown apartments often have all of the location but none of the space. Before Plain & Fancy senior designer Brandy Cohen took over, a Chicago couple found themselves cooking in an 11-ft. by 9-ft. kitchen. 

“The kitchen design before didn’t maximize the space and it wasn’t to their aesthetic,” said Cohen. “I wanted to give them a transitional kitchen that would be functional for them and give them as much storage as it possibly could, while having it look beautiful with the rest of the home.”

Prior to the redesign, the modern kitchen boasted high-gloss cabinetry lined with aluminum and stainless steel trim. “The owner’s aesthetic style sat firmly right in the middle of contemporary and traditional,” explained Cohen. “They didn’t like the ultra sleek lines of the modern, and they also didn’t like the ornate detailing that usually comes with traditional styles.” 

Settling for a transitional style, Cohen next tackled the tiny layout by demolishing the adjacent powder room. The kitchen now opens up toward the living area. “There had to be that delicate balance between making it feel like furniture for the rest of the space but still being functional,” said Cohen. “The basic challenge was to give them way more storage than they had but still keep it open to the rest of the space.”

By adding cabinets against the back wall and relocating the appliances to one area, the kitchen has more storage and functionality. An L-shaped bar now faces toward the living area and the windows, opening up the space. “[The bar] makes the room seem a little bit bigger than it actually is,” added Cohen.

Quartzite stone covers the bar and the perimeter countertops. With a hint of green undertones, the dark stone boasts both durability and color. “The clients wanted some green in the countertops, but they didn’t want that to overwhelm it,” explained Cohen. The dark counter is balanced out by a white marble slab backsplash, which showcases a clean white tone with minimal veining. “We were just looking for a white to balance everything out and have a clean look,” said Cohen. 

Contrasting the white backsplash, Cohen chose dark brown-stained walnut wood cabinetry for its warm tone and visible graining. “The style has some detail to it, but it’s not ornate,” said Cohen. “It’s very simplistic without being too sleek and high gloss.” White glass upper cabinets complement the traditional wood and open up the space, adding both simplicity and lightness to the rest of the kitchen. 

“The main challenge was just trying to get the maximum amount of storage without having the cabinets overwhelm you,” said Cohen. “The white glass cabinets really did help create that balance we were looking for.” 

Redefining the Kitchen’s Focal Point

BY ELLEN CHEEVER 

Most kitchen designers are well-versed in the elements and principles of design and how to apply these aesthetic guidelines when creating a classic kitchen. For this story, we’ll define “classic” as a kitchen that is partially or completely separated from adjacent living spaces.

When planning such a space, designers pinpoint one area of the kitchen and then organize the details of the space to highlight this area.

Mantel hoods or elegant metal sculptural hoods are great focal points in such spaces. Using decorative ceramic or porcelain tile backsplashes coordinating with some type of geometric pattern below or around the hood area is another great way to create a sense of visual excitement and pull the viewer’s eyes toward the highlighted cooking area.

Great Room Focal Point

A different approach should be taken for a kitchen that is part of a multipurpose living area. In these open-plan living environments, the focal point may be the view outside the space, or an adjacent art-filled living area. In these cases, the kitchen needs to be visually interesting, but a space created to play a “supporting role” in the overall area.

In addition to changing how a focal point is identified, designers may find it useful to combine materials, select certain finishes or link different work centers together so they appear to be large or even over-scaled blocks of the kitchen work spaces. This approach to managing space is visually effective for living/cooking/dining communal spaces.

Ventilation equipment can also support this new approach to integrating the kitchen into a grander living area. Interesting new ventilation equipment innovations offer designers functional ways to make the ventilation system “almost disappear.”

One new exhaust engineering system, called “perimetric ventilation,” pulls airborne vapors, steam and heat through small openings along the perimeter (hence the name “perimetric”) of the ventilation system. This system does not require a large canopy holding area, which is an integral part of more traditional hoods.

In addition to this new ventilation system itself, re-engineered downdraft ventilation systems integrated into the cooktop, or downdraft telescoping ventilation systems, have been introduced. There is a renewed demand for such equipment because it can provide effective ventilation without having any wall- or ceiling-mounted overhead appliances required.

Principles of Design 101

When redefining a kitchen’s focal point, a quick review of the elements and principles of design is worthwhile. The NKBA Professional Resource Library volume entitled “Design Principles: Color – Form – Style” has an entire chapter discussing the elements of design. Using the information here, designers can create large room kitchen layouts that focus on the concept of combining lines into various shapes, and by defining space by the forms that are created within a room.

Consider these tips for working with shapes:

The shape of an object has a dramatic impact on the sense of fluidity within the room.