Reimagining the Kitchen Design Process

Appliances are often the last decision during the process of building a kitchen, coming after the overall design although they are arguably the most important features. Future Facility, a think tank within design firm Industrial Facility, thought this approach was counterintuitive, according to Fast Company. In order to change the way kitchens are built, the company created KIT: a completely customizable urban kitchen built up from appliances first. All appliances are based on the floor and only go to waist-height, becoming the base for countertops and shelves. This new thought process may change kitchens completely, Industrial Facility says.

The KIT was inspired by the way our kitchens are changing. As Kim Colin, cofounder of Industrial Facility explains, the kitchens have been shrinking. While kitchens are designed open to the home, they are 13% smaller than in the 1960s, and urban developments especially are increasingly configured around people cooking or just heating up simple, prepackaged meals from companies like Blue Apron.

Then COVID-19 came along. “Now that people are in lockdown, there’s all this joy of cooking going on,” says Colin. “People are rediscovering sourdough and learning how to grow useful kitchen herbs.” So even in a small space, you might want to have a lot of cooking capability, customized to what you want to do.

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