Minimalist Kitchen Design Explained
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Explore Modern & Minimalist Kitchen Design Ideas
At first, the terms “minimalism” and “kitchen design” might seem mutually exclusive. The kitchen is the heart and soul of many homes -- is this truly the right place for minimalism?
The kitchen is where meals are prepared -- healthy home cooked meals that give loved ones the sustenance they need. It’s where families gather together for dinner and share stories about their day, on the rare evening when everyone is home together at the same time. It’s where friends and family congregate on important holidays, pitching in to lend a helping hand with last-minute prep or to help with clean-up when the feast is over.
It’s a place for people, for conversation, for fellowship and love. It’s a place for the sights, smells, and tastes of delicious, healthy food. It’s a place for laughter, family discussions, and maybe even the important healthy confrontation between loved ones that simply needs to happen.
And the kitchen island might be the most multi-functional space in the house. It’s where we catch up on the day’s emails after hours. It’s where we have coffee and check the day’s news or weather forecast on our phones before heading out. It’s where our kids do their homework when they need our help while we’re making dinner.
With all of this happening in and around the kitchen, is “minimalistic design” even realistic? Kitchens are meant to be lived in, aren’t they? How can something be lived in without… stuff?
The kitchen is where lives are lived.
Minimalistic Kitchen Philosophy and Design
It is possible. Kitchens can be truly “lived in” and minimalistic all at the same time. The space can be minimalistic and still feel warm. Clean and clutter-free while still being functional.
Adopting minimalistic design doesn’t mean you have to sell all of your worldly possessions and retire to a monastery to live the life of an ascetic. It simply could mean that you try to live with only the things that you truly need. And when you’re not using those things, they get put away. Out of sight.
Based on the idea to create an environment that allows you to breathe and relish a spacious environment, minimalist kitchen design is being interpreted differently. In this world of visual chaos, one of the aspects our mind uses to organize visual information is the Law of Proximity, established by Gestalt psychologists. Therefore, minimalistic kitchen design can be understood as an integral part of aesthetics, but others might revolve around tangible impacts on the effectiveness of the use of the kitchen. These can include clear and clean countertops, simple and functional appliances, and storage space where all of that “kitchen clutter” can be put away. One of the highly practiced principles of kitchen design, white spaces help to make logical sense of the kitchen designed utensils presented in a room.
Be honest, do you really need that battery-operated as-seen-on-TV wine opener? Probably not. A good old fashioned pocket-sized corkscrew will work just fine. If it’s good enough for the sommelier at your favorite downtown steakhouse, it’s probably good enough for your kitchen. How about that fancy egg beater, the one with that little handle you spin around? Again, probably something you can live without. A fork will do the job just as well, you just might have to put a bit more wrist action into it.
Clean, clutter-free spaces help us focus. When we’re not distracted by the mess and clutter around us, we can be truly present and engaged in the task at hand. Need some evidence? When you’re overwhelmed at work with all of the daily tasks mounting up, or at home with the neverending list of household chores getting longer and longer, what’s the first thing you do? Many people do two things in this situation -- 1. Clean their workspace, and 2. Make a to-do list.
There’s just something about a clean desk that helps you focus on that report your boss has asked you to deliver before lunch. Something about a clean kitchen counter that helps you tackle dinner prep. The space doesn’t need to be clean -- there’s plenty of room to get those things done, at least physically. Tidying up helps you mentally. It eliminates the psychological clutter and frees up the emotional space you need to focus on the task at hand. This is the power of minimalism, and why minimalistic design is so popular.
We’re so overwhelmed and distracted by everything around us, minimalism is a way to inject sanity into the chaos.
Minimalist Kitchen Essentials
Kitchen minimalism extends far beyond the design of the space. It also includes the design of the equipment and utensils that it’s stocked with. Simple, functional equipment. Clean, smooth lines, with no more parts than are necessary for it to be functional.
No need for fancy all-in-one devices, or super specialized tools that you only use once or twice per year. You should probably stay away from anything requiring a specialized utensil just to clean it. That’s definitely not minimalistic.
There’s actually a device called an apple corer-peeler-slicer. It’s fascinating. A marvel of engineering and sharp little metal parts that turn. And it makes apple prep go more quickly those couple times a year when you need to do all of those things to a whole lot of apples.
But otherwise it just takes up space. Space in your cabinet, as well as in your head.
Wouldn’t a paring knife do the job just as well? Sure, it’ll take longer, but you’ll also be more engaged in the work, putting more of yourself into it, and doing it with love.
Isn’t that what cooking is all about anyway?
Hast Kitchen Knives - Minimalism by Design
With their clean, smooth lines and unibody construction, Hast’s knives will look right at home in a modern, minimalistic kitchen. Unlike other over-designed knives with clunky wooden handles and fasteners, Hast’s knives are a single piece of matrix steel. They look as good as they perform. This special steel doesn’t just stay sharp longer, it looks incredibly sharp as well.
Take Hast’s utility knife as an example. Sized just right for those “in between'' kitchen cutting jobs like slicing or chopping small vegetables and cutting cooked meats, its blade is strong enough, yet nimble enough to get into the tight spaces required to separate broccoli or cauliflower florets. Jobs where a larger knife wouldn’t be the safest choice, and a smaller knife simply couldn’t do the job. Hast’s utility knife is just right.
This utility knife is also the perfect example of Hast’s commitment to the balance between design and technology. In Hast’s knives, these elements coexist in harmony, striking balance with a knife that looks great while performing at the top of its class.
Minimalism at its finest.