THE GREATEST POSSIBLE AMOUNT OF FRESH AIR WHILE COOKING

THANKS TO THE CONVINCING ARGUMENTS PRESENTED BY THE KITCHEN DESIGNER, THE HOME OWNERS CAST ASIDE THEIR CYNICISM AND CHOSE A BORA Basic COOKTOP EXTRACTOR SYSTEM. THE NEW APARTMENT KITCHEN WITH AN EXTRAVAGANT DARK GREEN DESIGN INSTANTLY PASSED THE PRACTICAL TEST.

Cologne’s Nippes district is vibrant, multicultural and extremely green. Apartments there are particularly popular among young people, especially when their designs are as bright, open plan and loft-like as in this penthouse apartment that a father purchased for his daughter in a newly constructed multi-family house. “Both the father and his daughter have a strong sense of aesthetics and are very design savvy”, states Jonas Buividavicus, whose company jb stahldesign the apartment owner contracted to design the kitchen. “The building’s architects had pre-planned for the kitchen to go under the skylights so that the plug sockets and other connections could be installed in the appropriate places”, reports the kitchen professional. “However, this suggestion in no way met the apartment owner’s design requirements.” He therefore took it upon himself to design a new, functional kitchen with elegant lacquered fronts, a sleek worktop and, above all, a calm and clearly structured layout. 

But this was easier said than done: the window meant that it was impossible to install an extractor hood on one side. That left only the second arm of the L-shaped kitchen for the stove and hood. “I quickly realised that the head-height extractor hood would not only leave us with no space for essential appliances like an oven or fridge but also prevent us from achieving a clearly structured design layout with equal-width cupboards”, recalls Jonas Buividavicus. The solution: a BORA cooktop with an integrated downdraft cooktop extractor, which he would position on the side of the room with the window. This would leave enough space on the other side to evenly distribute the dark green kitchen front with wall cupboards. 

When Jonas presented his proposal to the owner and father of the future resident, the response was not particularly enthusiastic. The owner was afraid that a downdraft extractor system simply would not work properly. Only when the pair attended a cooking demonstration at the Cologne furniture trade fair did his opinion change: the sceptic was so impressed with the live cooking on a BORA cooktop with an effective extractor that he gave the green light for the installation after all – plus the kitchen designer presented a further improvement to the solution: “So that as few oil and fat splatters as possible end up on the window when cooking, we chose an extra-deep worktop with a depth of 67 cm. And if the odd splatter does end up on the glass, the window is relatively easy to clean” – just like the worktop made of the silky-smooth nanotech material Fenix, which acts like an anti-fingerprint coating.

The unusual kitchen layout also offers another advantage: on fine days, the resident can cook in her functional, designer kitchen by the open window – for the greatest possible amount of fresh air in a kitchen. The summary of everyone involved – “We are extremely satisfied with the BORA solution” – is therefore hardly a surprise.