Toyo Inhabitable Kitchen Designs
25 March 2010
“All Together Now”
One of the most exciting kitchen design innovations that absolutely ever was is the recent trend of incorporating kitchens into living quarters in such a way that they become part of a larger room devoted to family living. Electrolux calls them the “Live-In Room,” and I wrote a blog some time back about this called “The Evolution of a Revolution.” Since then I have come across a number of kitchen designers and manufacturers who have done something particularly innovative in this regard, and each time, I have waxed ecstatic, because every variation I have encountered has so much to recommend it, starting with the basic concept itself.
Throughout, I have maintained that Europe was leading the charge on this concept, because everything I saw in that regard came from them. Well, sir! Today I want to introduce you to a company that has more material and more ideas for this very concept than can be covered in this blog or half a dozen blogs.
Toyo Kitchen is a Japanese kitchen design company that has deliberately set out to create what they call the “Inhabitable Kitchen,” by which they mean a kitchen that is “viewed as a space for a whole life combining all sorts of living functions such as ‘to cook,’ ‘to eat,’ ‘to relax,’ etc.” They’re kitchen designs that really do everything they promise in the accompanying literature, which is to satisfy Toyo’s quest for comfort and to express a floating feeling with their island concepts.
Actually, this is a concept that exists at two levels: the “Inhabitable Kitchen” concept and the kitchen itself, and of the two the latter is probably the more important, because if it’s not a kitchen design that works well, what’s the point, really? Well, as it turns out, Toyo’s kitchen designs are outrageously well-designed and compact. And it is this last, the compactness, that astounds the most, I think, simply because of one of the principal methods they used to achieve it, namely their sink.
They call it a 3D sink, but it should really be
called the “Holy Humped Up Come to Glory Miracle Invention of All Time.” I have written about several of these use-the-sink-as-another-work-space concepts, and I honestly like all of them, but I don’t think I have seen anything as well worked out as this one. In fact I have even embedded a video from their site, which is in Japanese, but the logic of the sink is so clear that even though I didn’t understand a word of what was said, the virtues of the design were manifest.
And, really, it is that sink that brings such practicality to these compact kitchen designs. When you look at some of these pictures you can see that the sink is rather large and that there doesn’t appear to be a lot of counter space for food preparation. But think it through a little. How much do you prepare in a kitchen that does NOT involve the use of water somewhere along the festivities? You wash the meat and the vegetables, add water to any number of things and so forth. And whenever you use a chopping block or cutting surface of any type, you will eventually wash it. Well, then, why not, if it is possible to do so, do as much of this work as is practicable in the sink, inasmuch as that’s pretty much where you’re going to end up anyway. By designing
this sink the way they did, and adding just a bit to its size, they have provided their kitchens, whatever the size, with all the work area that is actually needed. And with the space thus saved, other living can be done.
What I find myself especially liking about Toyo Kitchen Designs is the grace and ease with which they can be incorporated into any room, which is an absolutely essential concept if one is to truly transform the standard kitchen into a room in which the family lives. How important is such a concept? I don’t know. How fragmented is your family? Do the kids grab a bowl of whatever and vamoose to their rooms to spend the rest of the evening on the Internet? Solution: move the computer to the kitchen. And when you get it there, include some seating areas, some living spaces, some family spaces. It’s the sort of thing that is an absolutely glorious concept, because of what it can do for family togetherness. Who knows? You might even end up with the whole family sitting around a dining room table, enjoying the dinner meal and discussing the events of the day. Sometimes the easiest way to come together as a family it to simply come together.
Joseph
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4 Responses to “Toyo Inhabitable Kitchen Designs”
March 25th, 2010 at 5:07 PM
Wow, what a great find this is.
Love the Isola the most. Their presentation reminds me of some of the italian companies, specially Valcucine, minus the mistery. Every detail is disclosed in here including CAD drawings!
Gotta go back to it to read again that Golden Proportion… Keep the good work!
March 26th, 2010 at 4:01 AM
Very interesting kitchen design, especially the sink setup as you mentioned. The video really helps to explain how it functions. The kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) made me hungry, but the dead fish ruined my appetite.
Joe
March 27th, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Love it !! Is the line sold in US??
March 28th, 2010 at 6:24 AM
To my knowledge the brand is not yet available in the USA, but I have every confidence that will change. And blogs like mine will probably lead the way! LOL! No, more and more, with the Internet, the small world concept I grew up with in the 1950s is truly becoming a reality. Toyo has some real cutting-edge stuff here. Why should they keep it only in Japan? As the word gets out, and it will, people will begin clamoring for outlets here. And truthfully, one or two in, say, New York and Los Angeles would be a great plenty for something like this. You could then easily ship the product all over the USA. Because of the design of our home, I really cannot use the entire kitchen, although there are times when I fantasize about going in there with a crowbar and half a day later having a bare room that would accommodate anything I wanted to put in it. But, as I started to say, I would kill for just that sink. It truly is the slickest of that type of sink I have reviewed for this site.