Blue kitchens are not just a modern trend. Yes, they are all over social media, you can find pictures of astonishing blue kitchens on Instagram, Pinterest and of course, Google.
From very modern to very classic designs. As we surf through the web or scroll through social media posts, we find a mix of blue cabinets with white counter tops, or a mix of blue and white cabinets with natural wood accents. The blue kitchens seem to be a modern trend, but where or when did they become part of modern architecture?
The story behind the blue kitchen is rather interesting. Apparently, the trend behind blue colored kitchens started out in post-world war I Germany with the design of the “Frankfurt Kitchen” in 1926 by Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky, the first woman in Austria to complete her architecture studies. The Frankfurt Kitchen was part of a design for the new Frankfurt housing projects and became the “standardized kitchen”. In-depth studies of time efficiency in the home contributed to the design of the Frankfurt kitchen`s seamless workflow in a small space. The Frankfurt Kitchen allowed for more work to be performed in less space, thus alleviating women’s time in the kitchen and allowing them to have time to work outside of the home. Tens of thousands of Frankfurt kitchens were made.
So how does this relate to the blue kitchen? Well, part of the design of the Frankfurt Kitchen incorporated the materials used. For example, Oak was used for the flour containers because it warded off mealworms, countertops were made of beech wood because of its resistance to staining and knife marks. Doors and drawer fronts were painted blue because research at the time demonstrated that sky-colored surfaces repelled flies and other bugs. Hence, tens of thousands of blue kitchens were built in Frankfurt, Germany, making way for the modern blue kitchen.
Although the original design is no longer mass produced, the Frankfurt Kitchen design by Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky gave birth to the first “fitted kitchen”, which came installed with both furniture and appliances, as well as a window, a swivel stool, a gas stove, built-in labelled storage, a fold-down ironing board, an adjustable track ceiling light and a removable garbage drawer. The Frankfurt Kitchen was also a break-through in lifestyle changes, as it was the first time the kitchen was separated from the living, dining and sleeping space that was customary at the time.
Blue kitchens are not just a modern trend. It’s rock-solid history that goes way back and makes perfect sense in the realm of luxury real estate.
(sources: wikipedia.org, nonagon.style, architonic.com)
