you wash and i´ll design
(evening standard wednesday 2 july 2003)

among the toughest challenges in interior design is making the perfect small kitchen. in any home the kitchen is the engine room where an ever-expanding battery of appliances and gadgets must be accommodated and so, when space is limited, the pressure is on to make a room that is not just functional, but that is also a pleasure to work in and looks great.

“everything revolves around getting the ergonomics right,” says architect georges andraos, who has worked on kitchens of all shapes and sizes from castles and grand country houses to small family homes. “a sink or a fridge in the wrong place makes life unnecessarily difficult, and so the aim is always to plan logically and reduce the walking it takes to complete any task.”

along with finding the right place for everything, he is also a firm believer in making a high-quality environment with plenty of natural light and fresh air. “of course, everyone cooks in different ways, but the start of the process at home is to look at what people like to cook and eat and build from that.”

while large spaces certainly provide plenty of scope, the small kitchen concentrates the mind of the professional space engineers; here homes and property takes a look at andrao´s own compact kitchen and those of two other top architects.

the open plan kitchen

yasmine mahmoudieh
mahmoudieh design

in setting up a london office for her architecture practice, yasmine mahmoudieh found a flat in a new development in an ideal location in north london. the flat looked over a canal basin and had great rooftop views. “but the interior were horrible”, she says. “it was fitted with cheap materials and chopped up into small places”.

mahmoudieh, whose main office is in berlin and who has worked on many high profile projects including sas radisson hotels, decided her first step was to gut the place completely. the new kitchen is in the same location as the old, but is much more finely tuned. “because the living area was being opened up, the kitchen had to look good but not intrude obviously into the space”, she says.

sheer finishes in stainless steel have been chosen for the bespoke kitchen units. “the steel has been sandblasted to give it a matt finish, which doesn’t show scratches or fingerprints, and the cupboards above the work counter have push catches so there are no handles to distract the eye.” the island counter between the cooking and dining areas is unusually high. “it is very comfortable for me to work at because i’m tall,” mahmoudieh says. “but it also function as a breakfast bar and makes a great drinks bar for parties .“it also provides valuable extra storage space and is built in the same african belinga wood used throughout the apartment for cupboards and flooring. intriguing details include the pale-blue glass splash backs (the generous use of glass is a mahmoudieh trademark), which continue the sheer theme and are backlit to provide a band of light. lighting is subtle and clever: there are ceiling-recessed fittings and further lamps tucked away in the useful bar-style glass hanging rack fixed to the ceiling. the final touch is the dining table, complete with an array of individual designer dining chairs. what it cost: the hand-built kitchen, without appliances, cost £10,000.