Form Follows Food – new kitchen trends by Li Edelkoort for Caesarstone

I’ve spent the last couple of weeks deep diving into kitchen design research. With our extension build complete and the flooring ready to be fitted we really need to make a decision about ordering our new kitchen units and work surfaces. Despite the fact that I’ve now been blogging about interiors for almost ten years I’ve felt surprisingly overwhelmed by the prospect of designing a new kitchen for our home, so when this beautiful new trends book created by Li Edelkoort for Caesarstone landed on my doormat a few days ago it really could not have arrived at a better time.

I’m always interested in reading Li Edelkoort’s thoughts on where design is heading, so I was happy to immerse myself in these stunning images. The accompanying forecast she has put together explores the relationship between material, design and food and how they inspire each other.

Using different surface finishes from the Caesarstone collection she identifies three key kitchen material trends for 2019 – Conceptual Concrete, Marbling Mood and Dark Rituals.

Conceptual Concrete

Conceptual Concrete focuses on the inherent beauty found in robust, raw materials and on the authentic textures produced during industrial manufacturing processes. Think rusted metals, cement floors and exposed pipes. These rugged materials are “comforting, appeasing and make us feel safe” Edelkoort claims.

The concept of ‘cementing’ materials together is increasingly being found in the food that makes its way onto our plate, she argues, with ingredients being chiselled, pummelled, mashed or blended into pastes. She interprets this new level of craftsmanship in food preparation as an antidote to the alienation and fatigue we feel from the increasing amount of technology we are now surrounded with in our daily lives.

Marbling Mood

If you already have (or are about to invest in) marble kitchen worktops you’ll be happy to hear that the marble trend isn’t going away any time soon.

“In difficult times, an indulgent way of life tends to entice society, helping people to forget and escape in a moment of bliss” says Edelkoort. “A need for adorning, a quest for decoration and an urge for embellishing are currently resonating through the creative industries, inviting designers to make life more emotional, celebrating the romantic beauty of sophisticated materials and the organic motifs of veined surfaces that inspire a stylish image.”

Above – eggs with veined patterns created using natural dyes such as tea or soy echo the appearance of solid marble work surfaces.

Above – marbled meringues by The Meringue Girls

Dark Rituals

Drawing inspiration from recent trends in cooking that focus on primal rituals such as foraging, a general downscaling of what is put on our plate and a more sober, essentialist lifestyle, the third trend shifts firmly away from the idea of the kitchen as a clinical white room. Instead it becomes a dramatic space filled with darker materials – black quartz, cast iron, black clay pots and scorched ingredients. Food is presented in blackened or charred shades, or tinted with squid ink.

Above left – black bread made from vegetable carbon. Above right – blackened walnuts served on an art object by Marga Kirbis.

Each of the three distinct style palettes offers a visual representation of how food has become a new design discipline, and how this in turn is influencing the design of our kitchens.

Where do you think kitchen design trends are heading? Are you ready to embrace drama with dark moody surfaces? Do you love the raw brutalism of concrete? Or do you prefer the classical look of white marble?

All images courtesy of Caesarstone.