A unique kitchen with a cask and souvenirs from Mont Blanc
There’s guaranteed to be no other kitchen like this one. A couple commissioned the Tyrol master joiner Walter Mühlegger to create this customised design – open-plan, functional, with an extravagant blend of materials and a few personal souvenirs.
The customers originally went to Tischlerei Mühlegger in Kufstein to have a new, custom-made dining table built for their conservatory. However, it came up in conversation that the couple was also planning a living room and kitchen makeover. So master joiner Walter Mühlegger also designed them a new couch, a living room cabinet, new flooring and – as the centrepiece of their open-plan living area – a kitchen.
Kitchen studio: Tischlerei Mühlegger, www.muehlegger.cc
BORA Pure induction cooktop with integrated cooktop extractor
Photos: Zanella-Kux Fotografie, www.zanella-kux.at
Custom-made and one of a kind
For their new kitchen, the customers wanted a large, deep worktop and a clear view across the room. With this in mind, the joiner placed a kitchen island in the centre with a sink and a cooktop, from behind which it was possible to see the entire room when cooking. Thanks to the BORA Pure cooktop extractor system, which effectively and quietly suctions the cooking vapours away downwards, nothing disturbs the view at head height. ‘What’s more, the BORA design is simply great,’ says the planner. It blends in seamlessly with the clean lines of the kitchen design. All other electrical appliances are behind the fronts of the units on the back wall, as is a raised storage area in a recess. A bar adjoins the kitchen island, with room for two barstools. ‘The layout answers to our idea of a good, functional kitchen,’ says Walter Mühlegger, who himself loves to cook and so knows exactly what kitchen planning all boils down to.
A kitchen for wine lovers and mountaineers
Alongside the special blend of materials consisting of modern, matt black fronts, light-coloured granite worktops, oiled oak, and iron legs on the bar, the cask on the corner of the kitchen island is also an eye-catching feature. ‘The man of the house is a wine lover and has a well-stocked wine cellar, which gave me the idea of incorporating the wine cask into the design,’ Walter Mühlegger tells us how it came about. The cask is actually from the customer's own wine cellar. Shortened in height and made a little narrower, it is now the star feature of the entire kitchen.
A little less obvious, but just as original, is the bar counter. Set into the solid oak there are two stones fixed into place with resin. The stones came from the summit of Mont Blanc. Enthusiastic mountaineers, the couple took them from the summit of the highest mountain in the Alps whilst on their travels. Now, every day, when they set foot in their kitchen, the souvenir reminds them of their breathtaking experience at the top of the mountain.
