Modern/European Kitchen Cabinets - Page 3

American maker might be less for similar style/quality. sorry, don't know them but came across this site and seemed interesting: www.henrybuilt.com

All of that stuff looks so incredibly dated. This whole 70s revival isn't going to last long.

I can't believe people are into wenge wood and shag carpets again.

Do you think? I only looked at shapes. He seems to be copying those of the Italian kitchen cabinet makers.

Yea of course. These square panels everywhere is just so disciplined. There is no character at all with that kind of design, it's so cold and by now, incredibly generic.

I've never bought into the universality of cold and warm in design. To me, there is nothing more sterile feeling than a newly built house done in the classic style. It just smells of trying to be something that no longer is. An old, classic house is fine, but new ones, and especially new kitchens done in Classic European style just scream "wrong" to me. Of course, I am biased having been brought up with a heavy dose of modernism, so it is what feels natural and comforting to me. On the other hand, I am no fan of wood kitchens. I think they look cheesy and like somebody is attempting to add "warmth" to what really should be a machine.

No I agree, and I have no problem with an industrial, stainless steel french style kitchen either. I'm also not a fan of McMansions and that style, but most of the modernism you see today is full of Eames chairs and MvdR... not exactly something "current". People who live in a modernist setting love to put down people who live in Federalist houses and such built in 1990, telling them that they're trying to relive what happened long before, when they themselves are not exactly living in something so modern. So, you don't have to be live in something totally modern that looks like a high end Ikea catalogue or some tragic Tuscan Revival in a Pasadena cul-de-sac. There's a lot in between, and it's quite easy for many things to look sterile if it is generic and uninspired. Thinking that a period house has to be from that time is just lazy thinking.

I couple of years ago I read a very interesting article about this phenomenon. It was based on Le Corbusier's idea of "period" versus modern and excoriated people for doing exactly what you say. "Modern," when referring to 1920-60s furniture is now nothing but another form of "period," and one wonders what the original modernists would think about that.

I don't imagine they'd look on said ignorance favorably.

Personally I cannot stand being around so many things which look like they'd been built by CNC machines. In public places, modern architecture works extremely well, but to live in, it depresses me. A lot of it is far too rationalized, sensible, and clean.

Well, then it's a matter of taste and there's no right or wrong. I think the modernist kitchens are brilliant. Their application in the American ranch house intruigues me. I also have seen a kitchen recently built with hickory cabinets, white tile countertops, and stainless steel applicances that went quite well with the house, built in 1917. I grew up around both the more traditional homes as well as these modern interiors. That was in Clayton, MO where there was quite a bit of money, and typically both were done very well.

If anything the '70s are underrated. People who are into Modernism have a fetish for the '50s and '60s and many tend to look down on the '70s as tacky or plain ugly. This is especially true of "Modernist capitals" like LA.

My idea of the perfect compromise of what you call sterile modernism and "warmth" are the designs of Edward Durell Stone:




I admit I have a particular fascination for strictness and discipline in design; there's something quite Teutonic about the idea, which I like. That said, I also appreciate something more organic and florid though in measured doses.

The floor is to die for. I just do not like how they use wood, as beautiful as the screen is.

It seems many mid-century buildings used a variety of engineered woods and copious amounts of fancy veneers.

yea exactly. Particle board and plywood with some cheesy veneer.

Some fancy veneers are very beautiful, notably the ones used by the Deco makers like Ruhlmann and Leleu, and also some of the Scandinavian stuff like zebrano and rosewood.

Solid wood is not the best idea in a kitchen. The heat and humidity change too much. Anyway, veneer has always been the choice for fine furniture and cabinetry, with solid wood being more for peasants. The only thing that has really changed over the last many years is the surface below the veneer.

As to something earlier, I hate wenge and don't understand the attraction to it at all. When we first moved in to our place, our designer chose all Christian Liaigre stuff, much of which was wenge. I guess he revived the stuff in the public eye. After about a year I was so tired of it that I sold every bit on Ebay, without having anything new on order. The good news was that we sold it for about 90% of what we paid and then were able to choose good looking stuff.

Just seeing pictures of it makes me ill (not ours, but typical):