Fitted Kitchens Have Come A Long Way Since 1928

By Author: Samuel Brown
Total Articles: 17
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For a lot of people, a fitted kitchen is the dream. A kitchen made to your specifications; laid out for you, designed by you, with everything you could want.

Fitted kitchens – then known as “reform kitchens” – were pioneered by the German kitchen manufacturers Poggenpohl. Before them, kitchens had been a loose connection of free-standing units. There would have been the cooker, the cabinets and the worktops we would expect today, but not uniformity. To the modern eyes, they’d look more like a utility room than a modern kitchen.

In 1928, Poggenpohl introduced the first reform kitchens – the forerunner of the modern fitted kitchen - and in 1950 unveiled the first unti kitchens. These were symbols of the post-war age. A new era of pre-planned, ergonomic living. Gone would be the haphazard developments of the past, where everything from kitchen layouts to city blocks would grow up as and when needed. This was the era of the motorway, flat packed homes and atomic energy. Everything would be planned in advance, beautifully integrated and ready to use. Fitted kitchens also reduced the cost of production. ...
... The standardisation of units meant they could be mass produced and quickly installed.

The idea of the fitted kitchen reached its utilitarian extreme in 1969, when Poggenpohl commissioned German industrial designer Luigi Colani to design the ultimate “work kitchen”. Here, the kitchen and all its units were reduced to a sphere. The user sat in the centre with all appliances within arms’ reach. Whilst it’s unlikely this design was ever intended for wide scale use, it did show the point that kitchen design had reached; the complete precedence of utility.

People wanted more individuality from their kitchen. Many of us cook not just because we need to eat to stay alive, but because we enjoy doing it. The kitchen was not a mere utility; it was a recreation area as well.

Nowadays, you can choose between a range of styles for your kitchen, select the units you want and choose where they go. Online kitchen planners will even allow you try different layouts for yourself. Of course, interior designers will do a fantastic job if you can afford them, but why be constrained to someone else’s vision? With an online kitchen planner, you can try out endless combinations of units, layouts and combinations of the two. Would it still work if the fridge was over by the back door? What if you had a single, tall cupboard, rather than two base units? What if you had an island kitchen instead?

The possibilities are vast. Fitted kitchens have come a long way since 1928

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