Leave it to the professionals: Alea Pro by Poliform

Just as a graphologist may discern that you are an anti-social health obsessive from the way you scrawl your name, the design literate have insight into the corners of your psyche from simply surveying the way you style your home; Vitsoe or velvet swag, Pawsonesque minimalism or rich Georgian colour palette, the choices you make when designing your living space tell the story of you. Except, perhaps, when it comes to the kitchen. There’s something very unifying about the design of cabinetry and countertops for kitchens. Progress has always leant towards ever more sleek and streamlined design, more functional fixtures, more maintainable materials. Whether your tastes or means are top of the range or basic, the fitted kitchen has historically given away few secrets, other, perhaps, than your level of cheffing skills.

The latest developments in kitchen design, however, are more aligned with the general shift towards individualisation in interior choices. We are starting to see increased mixing of materials and colour palettes, and the sort of fine detailing that brings more personality to the prep zone.

It makes sense given the moves kitchens have made lately to become the hub of the home – something that was afoot long before pandemic lockdown remoulded our living habits. Now serving all living purposes from bar, to schoolroom, to cafe and cooking HQ, we don’t want our kitchens to look clinical anymore – they need to show character like the rest of the home, but still perform impeccably. Poliform, the Italian design brand that is a seasoned maker of high-end kitchens, is the latest to respond to developments with thoughtful updates that shift the kitchen towards a more comfortable, liveable space.

In a move that respects sustainability concerns, its latest kitchen design, The Alea Pro is not entirely new, but an update on the brand’s best-selling 2003 launch, the minimal Alea kitchen designed by Paolo Piva. ‘Alea Pro aims to keep the key aspects of the model, linearity, simplicity in modularity,’ said Giovanni Anzani, CEO of Poliform. Detail changes to the original design include a line-softening chamfered edge to the top of the cabinet doors and an embellished handle profile available in the three finishes – aluminium, champagne and moka. Combined with one of a wide choice of finishes for doors, countertops and pull-out features, contrasts are built up allowing the horizontal and vertical lines of the assembly to sing.

New snack bars that extend out from the units – the flush-to-counter Planar, the softly rounded Sydney and the circular Lama – and invite life into the kitchen, whether they accommodate the cook’s helper, serve as a home working desktop, or a table for a kitchen dinner. The new elements, however, which injects a healthy dose of character to the cooking environment without sacrificing our newfound Marie Kondo skills for eliminating clutter, are the PR24 glass doors. Fronting floor to ceiling cabinets, base or wall units, they contain lovingly collected dishes and eating ephemera in a dust-free environment, while showcasing them and recalling the stories that brought them to your home. Arranged in a row or as a one-off feature, the glass fronts – clear or fumé – create contrast and rhythm, increasing the material palette and warming up the environment.

‘When I think of the various kitchen models, over and above dealing with the primary and technical features of a kitchen, I like that the environments themselves can transmit warmth and conviviality and can interact with the living and the dining space in a consistent project,’ says Anzani. The job of good kitchen design today is to create a high-functioning living space, that seamlessly blends all the long-time technical demands such as ease of openings and closings, efficient storage, cleanability, high-performing appliances and lighting, with a cosseting and characterful atmosphere. Alea Pro does it by blending materials exquisitely, softening edges, and allowing individuality to show through its transparent doors.

© Architonic