Traditionally, Chilean housing has used the kitchen as a central space in their designs, from which all other venues are deployed. Being a focal point within each project, it's important to deepen its design and occupy every available square meter in favor of its effective use. Today, we review 7 kitchens designed specifically in Chilean homes; each one with particular details and distributions, and different combinations of materials, furniture, and equipment.
According to their different contexts, each project has a specific relationship with the light, lighting up from above and/or visually connecting with the outside. As for its spatial configuration, we find interesting variations in the classic typologies of linear, U and L kitchens.
The materials used generate different atmospheres within each of these spaces, highlighting the use of Melamine, Travertine Marble, and Lacquered MDF, among others.
Los Halcones / FG Arquitectos + Demaria
Location: Lo Barnechea, Santiago
Year: 2011
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Xilofor
Predominant Materials:
- Concrete with grain painting, wooden frames of Los Vilos stone, placed on horizontal slabs.
This house is designed to be inhabited simultaneously in different spaces, independent but related to each other, being always part of a total. The interior spaces and the views conquer the whole land, and the exterior spaces are a permanent reference.
The kitchen incorporates into the design the needs and desires of how to live this space, where the machines are hidden but ready to be used. All the utensils, pots and other elements have easy access. It emphasizes a central island in solid oak to meet and work –using neutral but warm–, oriented towards a window that overlooks a stone patio with rustic beams, and the garden. The central island thus becomes the great protagonist of space, where we have installed the fire of the kitchen, always present.
El Pillán House / Raimundo Anguita
Location: El Pillán, Las Condes, Santiago
Year: 2017
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Nico Saieh
Predominant Materials:
- Covers of Silestone Mont Blanc, with built-in white Schock dishwasher.
- Walls and shelves cladding of Silestone Mont Blanc.
- Furniture doors of gray graphite melamine (bases) and soft white melamine (column furniture), and aluminum profile handles on the edge.
- Artifacts integrated into furniture and a wine cabinet with solid wood shelves.
This linear kitchen with 2 furniture lifts highlights a large elongated central space, where a working island and a daily dining table are located. The linearity is reinforced by the contrasts of tonalities between the elevation of columns and light-colored artifacts, and the row of dark-colored work furniture, which finishes off with the view towards the garden in the background.
The cooking area is concentrated on the roof illuminated by a linear lucarne, supported by the working island. To the front are the columns of floor-to-sky with the ovens and refrigerators. On the island, there's space to store crockery, cutlery, and tablecloths, while a wooden table serves as the daily dining room facing the garden.
Rocas House / Studio MK27 + 57STUDIO
Location: Zapallar, Chile
Year: 2012
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Fernando Guerra
Predominant Materials:
- Travertine marble to vein flooring, and white paint in ceilings and walls.
- Fronts of lacquered MDF, cover and backrest built into Silestone wall.
- Aluminum handles.
The kitchen is composed of three parts that together give an easy reading of the total. On one hand, there are floor-to-ceiling columns that incorporate the ovens and refrigerators, while on the other side there is a low table, side by side, that includes the worktop with its hood and the washing area, made up of the dishwasher and a pannable dishwasher. In the center, an island is located that serves to cook and attend to the guests. It has three white lamps that close the set.
Casatru / Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos
Location: Zapallar, Chile
Year: 2016
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Nico Saieh
Predominant Materials:
- Bright white lacquered and cedar wood veneer fronts.
- Aluminum profile handle.
- Silestone Altair and White Zeus Quartz Cover.
In this kitchen highlights a central island and U-shaped perimeter furniture. It has a sector to cook in the center, dishwasher at one end and refrigerators and ovens in the other.
The bright lacquer brings luminosity and vitality to space and contrasts with the elegance of the Cedar veneer. The handle is attached to the furniture, maintaining its sobriety and simplicity.
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Málaga House / Prietoschaffer arquitectos
Location: Las Condes, Chile
Year: 2017
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Xilofor, Roland Halbe
Predominant Materials:
- Black aluminum profile handle.
- Silestone Mont Blanc Quartz cover.
L distribution for cooking and washing with a central island in a single level to eat. The ovens and refrigerators are located in columns on the side wall. The lacquered in glossy blue polyurethane fronts give a sober and elegant character to the kitchen in general.
Zilleruelo House / Gonzalo Mardones V Arquitectos
Location: Brisas de Chicureo, Colina, Chile
Year: 2017
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Nico Saieh
Predominant Materials:
- Black aluminum profile handle.
- Mineral Dekton Kairoos cover.
The kitchen is characterized by an L-shaped space with a longitudinal island in the kitchen area and a separate table in the dining room area. The back wall has a cover for washing and stands furniture columns with ovens and refrigerators. The fronts of the furniture, in black laminate with veined texture, bring elegance and sobriety to the kitchen in general.
Beranda House / Schmidt Arquitectos Asociados
Location: Zapallar, Chile
Year: 2011
Kitchen: Xilofor
Photography: Xilofor
Predominant Materials:
- Lacquered NCS 7000- N Brightness Front.
- Dekton Aura cover and back.
- Black handle.
Linear kitchen conformed by two elevations facing a central island, directing the views towards the sea. One elevation concentrates the cooking area and the other, the washing area.
The different depths of the furniture stand out: the outstanding gray lacquered lead allows to frame the entire elevation, while the intermediate line of black lacquered murals generates a second depth to maintain a functional distancing in use. The lighting is generated on both levels, while the material of the roofs (Dekton) rises to coat the walls to emphasize its texture.
_-_K_-_V4_23.08.2016_copy.jpg?1549318802 "Chilean Houses And Their Kitchens In Detail")
