Now, the real reason for the panelling industry traveling to Milan, is Eurocucina, the kitchen fair at Milan Design Week. In the background, I was working on a comprehensive, all including trend report. Here are a few highlights from it.
STYLE
Soft Maximalism deals with how materials and colour get mixed. The kitchen gets adapted to how we use it, which has an effect on material choice, lighting and scale. and although the image may suggest that herringbone wood layouts are still a trend topic – this was the only, but impressive appearance of it!
WOOD
While Eurocucina in 2018 had been dominated by solid colour in supermatt, this time round wood played a much bigger role in frontals. The trend for retro style interiors was obvious especially in regard to colour. Brown wood is back!
STONE
Italian marble is the epitome of stone, so it’s always interesting to check which way Italian designers are heading. Trend-wise the era of the white classics has ended. It’s a surprise, that a grey stone, Ceppo di Gré, is one of the new stone kids on the block, while grey is a no-no in all other areas…. Also, grainy stone looks, small scale sedimentary stone, is the way to go. For more details, you can check my previous blog.
TEXTURE
There was no other trendy look that was picked up by so many brands: the ribbed wood textures were everywhere! Not exactly clear who started it: we saw one example in 2018 by TM Italia, then the German brand Leicht showed it in 2020, as well as other firms at IMM Cologne. Will it stay? Hm, deep textures in kitchens usually don’t….
SUSTAINABILITY
was called out to be the leitmotif at Milan Design Week. At Eurocucina one had to look closely, but in the detail, in material choice and construction things are changing. Metal, glass and wood play an important role in this.
DETAILS
The base form of a modern European kitchen doesn’t change. The style of a kitchen is defined by the details: materials chosen, surface colours and finishes, the architectural layout (size, proportion, composition) and – really important – by all the small details like door profiles, types of edging, hardware, lighting etc.. Metallic accents in warm bronze, framed elements from glass doors to work space, and an overall softening of the form and colour palette stood out at Eurocucina 2022.
DECOR GUIDES
In addition, the full report includes a decor guide to wood and stone, giving clear direction for developments of range additions.
The Eurocucina trend report is available for sale or detailed presentations / seminars – call me or write me an e-mail. For a taster of what my reports look like, you may check this Issuu post: