Kitchens with soul: 8 top design trends for 2019 

If the kitchen used to be the heart of the home, it is now both the heart and soul – replenishing our passions for food, entertaining and life in general. We spoke with three designers about current and future trends for the kitchen.

Kitchen trends tend to be a slow evolution as many of us are now cooking more from scratch, saying goodbye to our microwaves and deliberating over sculleries, induction cooking, anti-fingerprint nanotech finishes, and outdoor kitchens. It wasn’t so long ago that touch cabinetry was ‘the thing’, but even this is being confined to less accessible doors because a few too many people wrestled with doors and drawers that opened when they leaned on them by mistake. We spoke with Leanne Larking from quattro::uno, Julia Shuttleworth from Hacker Kitchens, and Samantha Elliot from Green Room Studio about the latest trends and other quirks of the kitchen.

1. A uniquely personal kitchen

“New Zealand buyers are becoming more discerning but Kiwis are not as casual as we think we are,” says Julia. "I think we’ve become tired of crappy products that don’t deliver on what they promise, and people’s tastes are becoming a lot more diverse. If we have seven very different kitchens on display, each one will appeal to someone.”

“Many of my clients have a passion for food and entertaining and we design their kitchens according to their specific needs,” says Leanne. “An example is a client who made bread every day. It was part of their culture and making this on the island where the hob was to be situated looking out to the view was special and important to them."

“As designers, we need to understand our clients and how they use the kitchen space, making it really functional for everyone,” suggests Julia. “What does a typical day looks like in their kitchen? How do they pack the dishwasher and who does the lion’s share of the work in the kitchen? There are so many more options now, so it’s about balancing all of those needs and wants.”

2. Open-shelving and cooking from scratch

Due to trends for health eating and more eco-conscious consumption, there is a current move away from convenience food to cooking from scratch. This is tied in with environmental concerns about using plastic packaging and reducing the amount of waste we send to landfill – feeding the growing popularity of Bokashi compost bins and multiple recycling bins.

“Cooking from scratch is making open shelving very trendy again so we’re seeing a shift to storage containers, especially glass jars, on show in the kitchen, because more people are bin purchasing, rather than buying groceries that are pre-packaged,” says Julia. “I think you can have a beautiful, modern kitchen and still have pots hanging up. It’s a kitchen that looks lived in – with your homemade preserved lemons on the shelf. More people are baking their own sourdough bread, making kombucha and creating foods for a diet that’s good for gut health too,” she adds.

“I have one client who bakes her own cookies from home and sells them, so she wanted to have stainless steel benches for hygiene and a huge wall of cool jars with all her ingredients to hand for easy access,” says Samantha.

3. A scullery or no scullery, that is the question!

In recent years, sculleries have become a popular addition to kitchens, with the main objective of hiding mess, especially now the island is often the gathering place for breakfasts and entertaining family and friends 

“The scullery is very handy for additional preparation when entertaining and for offloading dirty dishes to the dishwasher, away from guests, but it’s generally more convenient to have everything to hand in the kitchen,” says Leanne.

“Sculleries were huge but that is now fading into a room for washing up and hiding appliances and gadgets,” says Julia. “People often end up having dishwashers and bins in both the spaces, which means having to manage that on daily basis, which is ultimately more work. It can feel a bit overdone, with little streamlining of how we actually function in the kitchen.”

The consensus is that the scullery is great if you're an avid entertainer but big sliding cupboards that hide kitchen detritus may do the same job and you won't have to double up on bins and appliances.

4. Super-tap technology

Taps that deliver cold and hot filtered water, along with sparkling water, are also set to become commonplace in the kitchen. Our three designers predict that these all-in-one type taps will be in every kitchen in the future.

5. The light of the kitchen

If you hadn’t already noticed, lighting is a big thing in kitchens these days, with dramatic feature pendant lighting, linear pendants and LED strip lights that glow from under cabinetry and out of benches. This trend is set to continue.

6. Anti-fingerprint nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is now being used in our kitchens in the form of clever anti-fingerprint finishes, which means that beautiful metallic finishes, like bronze, copper and stainless steel have become more durable and appealing for use on benchtops, cupboard doors and splashbacks, as well as sinks and taps.

“Stainless steel is highly functional so it will be really interesting to see how this is manufactured and introduced into New Zealand kitchens, and not just the privilege of imported kitchens,” says Leanne. “Arclinea kitchens, in particular, showcase lovely combinations of bronze cabinetry with warm timbers and fair natural stone. It's a beautiful combination, which, I'm sure, will influence a lot of local designers.”

7. Induction or gas?

As a method of cooking, ceramic stovetops are less popular these days as induction technology seems to be taking over or, at least, as popular as gas. “With induction, you can control the heat, the surface is cool to touch and it is reactive – heating up very quickly, much like gas,” says Julia.

“There is a myth that you can only use certain saucepans on induction tops and, perhaps, that was the case 16 or so years ago when they first arrived on the market, but we have tried everything from expensive pans to cheap pots and they all seem to work with the modern induction cooktops,” says Julia. Often, the choice comes down to matching the stovetop up with the type of hot water heating system being used in the home.

“Microwaves are definitely a hidden thing these days or not part of the kitchen appliance list at all,” says Samantha. “And appliances like ovens and rangehoods are integrated into the cabinetry a lot more –­ they’re treated more like furniture.

There has also been a silent evolution of extraction hoods, which are now super quiet. “I watched a demonstration of a Schweigen rangehood that sucked up a bowl of golf balls and held them there, and you couldn’t even hear it going,” says Julia.

8. The engine room and the heart and soul of the home

“More people are entertaining from the kitchen these days; it’s how they’re using their kitchens – with friends sitting around while the owners are preparing food,” says Samantha. “I’ve noticed bigger islands and barstools, as well as the kitchen being used for family breakfasts and homework as .”

Outdoor kitchens seem to be in nearly every home we feature on ArchiPro these days – they’re definitely a thing! Perhaps, a reflection of the relaxed style of living we enjoy in New Zealand and, if you’re lucky, complete with fancy BBQ, woodburning fire, pizza oven, and wine and beer fridges.

“The kitchen isn’t just a kitchen anymore, it’s the engine room of the house,” suggests Julia. “As well as for cooking and informal eating, it’s the main space for entertaining; it’s where the laptop lives and it’s the dumping ground for school notices and paraphernalia. And while it’s getting smaller in some aspects, it’s growing in others.”

With all of these trends in mind, perhaps, in the future, our homes will be pretty much one extended all-seeing, all-dancing kitchen with a few bedrooms tucked off to the side.