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It's not a kitchen; it's a transformer
Kitchen islands are common in roomy seven-bedroom split-levels, but they're not a staple of your average downtown studio apartment. That could change if the Modern Space Saving Mini Kitchen catches on. Created by students at French design school Ensci, the all-in-one kitchen island combines all your essential kitchen appliances into a single piece of furniture, including a sink, range and cabinets. All done with your meal and cleanup? Transform! Everything in the island folds up and tucks away, leaving just a sleek white block that you can use as a desktop.
The idea has some merit, especially for small spaces in big urban centers. The design is probably too modern to work in a lot of apartments — in the photos below, you can see it really clashes with the hardwood floors. But if it gets back a chunk of floor space, what the hell?
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By sPITAN at 2:23 PM ON 07/01/09
Yes, and any food or residue left on the tops of the inner section will be smeared all over the underside of the leaves when closed without proper cleaning (as will no doubt happen). This will affect whatever tracks are used to slide the leaves and get gummed up not to mention gross. (think of what collects between your stove and counter)
And while the drainage groves are a nice concept they make for a rough table top. The better idea is to have the leaves unfold rather than just slide so that the kitchen working surfaces are not the same as the desk working surfaces. The leaves could slide after unfolding so it has the same capabilities, but this way no face of the work area is unable to be reached and cleaned.
By Old Man Dotes at 2:40 PM ON 07/01/09
Another rather obvious issue: Most Americans like to sit down while they eat.
Back to the drawing board, Ensci!
By Marty B. at 5:21 PM ON 07/01/09
Old Man, you ever been to a party? We're also talking studios here where sitting down room is at a premium.
I do think DVice is kinda stretching it with the whole Transformers theme to trot out various iterations of living innovations that have been popping up in Popular Mechanics since 1952, but whatever.
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Marty B.:
Old Man, you ever been to a party? We're also talking studios here where sitting down room is at a premium. I do t...More »