Time marches on, but for America’s kitchens, it marches backward as well as forward. A growing emphasis on the kitchen as a multipurpose living space has given architects and designers the freedom to reinvent the room whole. Some have seized the opportunity—and an ever-expanding palette of materials and equipment—to take the kitchen where it has never gone before, using stone, glass, metals, and exotic woods in new and inventive ways.
Another breed of kitchen, designed for traditional or vintage homes, looks to the past for inspiration. Not content with a vague, superficial traditionalism, though, designers now use historical references—a slate farm sink, cabinetry designed to look like antique furniture, period lighting and plumbing fixtures—to weave elaborate and compelling stories. The fact that they may be entirely fictional—how old could that six-burner commercial range be?—hardly lessens their appeal.
The two approaches may seem as different as night and day, but they have much in common. The quest for the new responds to a very old impulse. Kitchens that push the leading edge of design represent a long and noble tradition. Meanwhile, the best antique-style kitchens are as current in function and space planning as their contemporary cousins. Both lead the way as the most custom room in any custom home. The new new thing or the new old thing; take your pick. You can’t lose.
