The Living Kitchen

If the old expression ‘home is where the hearth is’ is anything to go by, the domestic space where food is prepared has long been aligned with notions of warmth and comfort. ‘Contemporary kitchens’, however, as Michael Lammel of German product-design agency NOA suggests, ‘are increasingly becoming a social living area.’ And he should know. His team has recently collaborated with Franke Kitchen Systems – the largest business division of the Franke Group and world market leader in kitchen sinks and taps – to deliver a comprehensive new concept: a supremely modular product line that makes the kitchen as aspirational and expressive in terms of design and functionality as the living room.

Launched in late 2015, the clue to the Frames by Franke product line is in the name. Joining up all the functional devices you’d expect to find in the kitchen – from appliances such as ovens, hobs and hoods to hardware like sinks and taps – Franke Kitchen Systems has introduced a holistic and highly consistent meta-collection of products to the market for the very first time. On the one hand, this unique system allows architects, planners and other specifiers to frame their kitchen spaces according to their high professional expectations, while, on the other, enabling end-customers to shape their individual lives and working environments within the realm of the kitchen.

Greater than the sum of its parts

Silo thinking is a thing of the past at Franke. Why allow yourself to be constrained by traditional categories? If the division between kitchen and separate living spaces is becoming ever more blurred, then why not break down the arbitrary division between product groups by developing a complete system of products that share a common language with regard to performance, aesthetics and design, and which reveal a consistently high level of technical and material know-how.

Think of Frames by Franke as a set of building blocks: 41 elements for the kitchen that can be combined and configured almost endlessly to meet the needs of your project. A pared-down and highly contemporary formal expression, strong on right angles with the neatest of radius corners, teams up with premium stainless steel and sophisticated, gently reflective hob and cooker-hood surfaces, to form the kind of modest elegance you’d expect to find in living areas, spaces which traditionally have tended to have the most emotional resonance when it comes to being at home.

Seamless optical integration is the key, with ultra-clean lines making for an over-arching harmony. High-performance ovens and steamers sit perfectly into walls, while ceran ceramic hobs, housed within stainless-steel frames (it’s not called Frames by Franke for nothing), offer perfectly flush surfaces. There’s visual flushness, too, as it were: the hobs’ operating panels only become visible when in use. Sinks also recede into the background when they’re not needed, thanks to elegant glass chopping boards that can quickly be deployed to cover them over. In short, every element is able to take a step back, so to speak, when not required, with hoods sliding away and even electronic operating elements switching into a discreet ‘ghost’ mode. The result is a space that’s still a kitchen, but not immediately and predominantly legible as one.

You’ve been framed

Any colour as long as it’s black, Henry Ford famously said of his Model T automobile. And it seems that when it comes to high-end kitchens, timeless black is the colour most requested by discerning clients. Which makes sense, if you view your project as something that transcends the whims of fashion. That said, Frames by Franke is also offered in champagne as an alternative colour choice for those who prefer a more noble hue to their kitchen environment.

But whatever the chromatic direction, a meticulous attention to detail in terms of finish, polish and fittings provides unity of design language, not to mention the signature slender, stainless-steel frame that surrounds each of the products within the system, the keystone of its visual consistency and refinement. ‘In terms of price, we are always moving between the upper-medium range and the top price segment,’ says Samuel Vonrueti, Franke’s Category Manager Cooking. You get what you pay for, so the saying goes, and those who choose to specify Frames by Franke are in no doubt of the value of their investment, in the way it looks, feels and functions.

Make It wonderful

If Franke – as their brand campaign slogan ‘Make It wonderful’ puts it – seeks to dabble in a bit of alchemy, taking the familiar, the ordinary, the everyday and transforming it into the less familiar, the less ordinary and the more pleasurable, then Frames by Franke can safely be said to meet this aspirational benchmark. Not only with regard to design, but also when it comes to the experience the products offer their users. ‘With this product line’, explains Chief Marketing Officer, Renato Di Rubbo, ‘we have perfected kitchen processes. Nothing has been compromised in terms of modern design and sophisticated functionality.’

Functionality means different things to different people, of course. Which is why three different collections within the product line guide specifiers in selecting the right combination of products for the end user. For lifestyle cooks, the aesthetics of their kitchen environment are in themselves a function, one that’s just as important as any other aspect; the Style Collection is aimed specifically at this tribe. Semi-professional as well as amateur chefs will find the Passion Collection, with its high-performance products that guarantee an optimal workflow in the kitchen, meets their tough demands. And for those whose budgets are more constrained, the Essence Collection delivers a capsule set of products, without a compromise on quality.

Whichever way you slice it, the innovative and beautifully harmonised Frames by Franke kitchen system makes kitchen spaces wonderful and the experience of cooking wonderful, too. Whether the food you cook is also wonderful is still up to you. But a betting man would say that with Franke you’ve got a major head-start.