Could you discuss the impact of the "Smart House" on kitchens. We all know that kitchens are seen as "high tech" areas of the home, how has the home computer impacted the kitchen itself, workstations, functionality?
I think all of the above. I am just working with a client who has two computer monitors needed in the kitchen, one that she can be doing some things with, and one that her kids can be doing their homework on. So it will cover everything from homework to entering recipes. I have many clients who work at home, and want to work in their kitchens. They want to have their home office, but want also to be able to go into a comfortable place like the kitchen and still do their work. It's a part of our lives, the home computer, it's a very real thing, and it is necessary to add this to kitchen technology.
What's to come for kitchen design? De Giulio believes that kitchens will continue to grow in size and scope with a great amount of light built into the design.
Can you put your "futurist" hat on and give our readers some idea of the "trends" that we will see in the future in kitchen design?
I think it's the kitchen as a room, not as a kitchen alone. I think they will continue to be large and get larger. Things like fireplaces, soft seating areas to hang out in, a great amount of light. The best views to the yard, the amount of interesting objects the family owns, the collectibles, one-of-a-kind pieces.
With this in mind, have you ever designed a kitchen based on an object d' art that a client may possess? In other words, built an entire kitchen motif, say, out of a long treasured grandfather clock or other family heirloom?
As a matter of fact, yes, all of the time. In fact, I can think of a client that has a great work of art that their kids simply love and we are building this entire shelving system around that work of art. They love it! I had another client that had an old icebox that belonged to her grandmother, and she used to play with it when she was a little girl, put her dolls in it and so forth. We took that and refinished it and refinished the hardware and made it a part of the kitchen. I think that, those are the things we look for specifically with a client, as driving forces in the motif.
It's really about getting to know the client and doing a great deal of listening, I think is the most important part of our job. When people ask for ideas from me, I say, "Y'know I am really just not qualified to do it. What I need to do is spend time with you, listen to your concerns, learn more about you." And then, after that, you just know in your heart that there's no question, here's what we should do. And, by that time, your client should say: "fantastic."
Regarding color, do you have a particular philosophy as to color use in the kitchen?
If there is a single element that is most important, it's, again, proportion. Many times color achieves proportion in a space. It may be a large wall in a kitchen that you want to accentuate and you do a different color there.
Color is the emotion of the kitchen. The uses and the mixes of color, the palettes we have clients most respond to are the warm palettes. The grays, the steely grays of before are not popular anymore, and I can understand it. People want warm, comfortable environments. There may be an element that they want in a cooler color, but generally speaking, most clients prefer a warmer palette.
Do you find that there are certain colors to avoid when decorating a kitchen? Colors that make the food unappetizing?
Typically, not in a residential setting. Because there are so many different elements in the residential kitchen we tend to not have to worry about that so much. I have done some work in test kitchens, in which food must be photographed and you always talk about that. What particular granite is going to look best to put plates on. Residentially, there are so many elements in terms of color that surround it, it's really more if people want something, what do they like, what do they love colorwise.
