Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Kitchens are machines, it was once thought: efficient workplaces with everything within easy reach for culinary agility. Latterly, though, they became places more for spending time than saving it. Contemporary new-builds often have an open-plan kitchen-dining-living space, the vestigial cupboards crammed against one wall, while renovations frequently see walls removed to create vast rooms, with marble-clad kitchen islands forming a central hub and replacing the lost storage.But is the noughties enthusiasm for the open-plan concept waning? As rustic prep tables with adequate space for your knees replace the awkward island in popularity, a number of designers are looking to the past for inspiration, embracing more partitioned kitchens. These often honour the original tucked away locations, and are closed off with doors; featuring galley-style layouts and sleek eat-in areas. The advantage of this open-plan backlash: the ability to contain mess, noise and smells. Earlier this year, Greek architect Stamatios Giannikis renovated a 1967 apartment in Thessaloniki with new stainless steel counters, pale oak cabinets and dark green tiles. Its mid-century feel echoes the architecture. Giannikis, unusually for such an extensive renovation, kept the kitchen in its original location, even though removing the wall to “unite the kitchen with the living spaces” would have been quite easy, he says. Giannikis retained the kitchen door, with its frosted window. The only change he made in terms of layout was to move it from accessing the hallway to leading on to the living room, in order to create a “fluid relationship between the kitchen, the dining room and the living room”, he says, “while maintaining the benefits of a closing door”. Clients often request open-plan designs for dining and cooking, regardless of whether they are the best solution“For people who cook frequently, having a door is always better than an open-plan kitchen,” he asserts, explaining that in Greek apartments built until the late 1980s, kitchens were in a separate room. From the 1990s, those walls fell down.“The tide of open-plan kitchens has not yet started shifting in new constructions in Greece, but [it has] in renovations,” Giannikis says, noting that although open-plan kitchens can require fewer square metres than separating the kitchen from the dining room with a door, the cost of relocating them in existing buildings is high. At Fabio Fantolino’s family apartment in Turin, Italy, a closed-off kitchen is designed to be like a world apart from the rest of the house and “hidden away”, especially when hosting family and friends for dinner parties. For Fantolino, it was necessary to conceal the kitchen. “We Italians are among the people who spend the most time sitting at the table. For us, mealtime is about sharing, dialogue and relaxation. Dinners often last for hours, and the preparation for a dinner is even longer,” he says. “The kitchen can turn into chaos, and it’s not always possible to restore order before the guests arrive.”A set of white doors close off the kitchen from a hallway, and a glass door on the other side reveals the dining room, which joins a living room around a corner. “The opportunity to hide everything for a few hours by closing a door is an advantage.”His kitchen feels traditional in some ways, with its spacious rectangular room, L-shaped countertop and green cabinetry. A wall of wood-fronted cabinets conceals the refrigerator and pantry. “Our kitchen is meant to be an intimate place reserved for us,” Fantolino adds. “It is a room in the house that needs to be practical and functional.” He believes open kitchens are more suitable for a younger generation who prefer a casual environment, and closed kitchens are better for families, or those with an active social life. While doors were anathema to architect Malay Doshi, he did see the advantage of a kitchen that was tucked away. When renovating his apartment in Ahmedabad, India, he chose to slot the kitchen into a small nook to optimise space and make the remaining interiors appear more spacious. Plaster finishes the kitchen walls and cabinetry, mirroring the polished concrete flooring accented with dark green marble. India has a “kitchen-centric culture”, with large families enjoying elaborate meals that are prepared at least twice a day, Doshi says. The kitchens, then, are “typically bustling” and behind closed doors. Despite being condensed, however, his kitchen has no doors and he sees it as being “open plan” — “quite the opposite of a typical Indian kitchen”. Likewise, at a duplex apartment in Paris, a new eat-in, galley-style kitchen was created by architect Alex Delaunay for a cosier feel. It is tucked away from the rest of the apartment but opens on to a four-seat table. A wall with pale wood built-in cabinetry has two stacked ovens, and directly across is a long, white countertop with a sink in front of a window; further beyond is a bar area with two stools. The apartment’s “generous” floor plan allowed for making two different spaces for family meals: a larger dining table, with cabinets on two sides, overlooks a living room. “The kitchen layout is very intentional,” says Delaunay. “We sacrificed an existing adjacent bedroom to increase the footprint of the brand new kitchen, pretty much doubling it.” Despite a larger footprint, the kitchen is still designed to be closed off and disconnected from the rest of the home. Clients often request open-plan designs for dining and cooking, regardless of whether they are the best solution, says Filipe Magalhães of Fala Atelier. “Open-plan kitchens are mostly guilty pleasures from my clients, regardless of them making sense or not in any given space.” He recently persuaded clients to transform a formerly open-plan apartment in Porto by adding, not removing, walls. The new kitchen now measures just 1.8 by 3.2 metres, with bright turquoise cabinets from top to bottom. “Compact kitchens are often more logical,” he says. Delaunay is also critical of the overuse of open-plan layouts. “I think an open kitchen that is not a very social space can be overrated,” he says. “It should probably be tucked away for convenience because it doesn’t need to be as presentable. One can focus solely on cooking,” he says. “It is hard for everyone to sit at the counter and have a nice conversation while a loud faucet is splashing around in between people.”Many homes in historic city centres around the globe, including traditional Dutch houses, tend to be compact, so there is not much room for the optimal “open” layout. For architects Maria Vasiloglou and Victor Verhagen, who renovated their Rotterdam home, an intelligent design of cupboards and open shelves that are out of sight and a great choice of colours, surfaces, and textures is “more important than the perfect layout.” Tucked-away kitchens might be the unsung hero of the culinary process — even if they require a touch more organisation. Take the plunge and embrace the purge.Find out about our latest stories first — follow @FTProperty on X or @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
