Platform about design and technology in the kitchen, home, and bathroom industry
Let me be straightforward and get right to the point: I would prefer to have a kitchen as big as my living room. Or rather, a kitchen that is my living room. With wall-to-wall countertops, drawers I don't even know exist, and appliances I only understand what they do when I accidentally press a button. Delightful.
But the rock-hard reality right now in my little boomer apartment? My kitchen is small. Modest. And, as it turns out ... I'm certainly not the only one who actually finds that quite fine.
The mini-kitchen is on the rise. Not out of poverty or because people can't "afford something better," but increasingly consciously. We live smaller. We live smaller. And with that comes, slowly but surely, a new appreciation for compact, smart and efficient kitchens. Not as makeshift, but as a conscious choice.
In my three-drawer-and-a-shelf setup, I cook just fine. I keep what I need, I use what I have. No 18-piece knife set, no extra grill for "that one dish I might make someday," no herb maze with jars from 2017. No overkill of equipment that requires a separate collection of manuals. No, just: a pan, an oven, a knife, a board. And it works. Starving to death is therefore by definition a No Go.
Yet somewhere it falters. Because we as an industry are quite fond of "more. Bigger stove, deeper noiseless drawers, six advanced built-in appliances, kitchen units in the hype of Japandi from here to Tokyo. The showroom models are usually just short of a runway. The idea that a kitchen must be at least 5.5 meters to be taken seriously is deeply ingrained. And fair is fair: it also sells nicely.
The average new construction home in the city is not a palace. Single-person households are no longer a niche, but the norm. Square meters are expensive. Consumers are more mobile, less attached to possessions, and ... let's just say it: the need to gourmet elaborately with six people is also waning. Many people cook short, quick and practical meals. So why are we still trying to fit that lifestyle into a kitchen concept designed for the Burgundian with space ánd time?
I therefore advocate a revaluation of the compact kitchen. Not as a temporary intermediate solution or "entry-level model," but as a full-fledged alternative. Kitchens that don't scream for attention, but whisper of cleverness. Think of modules that you can move, appliances that combine multiple functions, storage solutions that really save space. Not three dishwashers, but one that is really economical. No oven and microwave and steam unit, but a smart mix.
The kitchen industry should see this compactness not as a limitation, but as a challenge. As an opportunity. Demand is growing. And the generation that will soon decide doesn't automatically want more. They want better. Smarter. More flexible.
So yes, I still dream of that XL kitchen. But until then? Long live the mini-kitchen. Not because I have to, but because I can. And because it works surprisingly well. And I'm still not starving.
