Stir it up in style

A kitchen for Rs 1 crore? House-proud Indians can now choose from a host of modular kitchen brands that cost that much, or more.

What “design” language can a kitchen possibly evolve? After all, isn’t it just a space in our homes where we cook our meals? Hamendra Sharma, managing partner, SIS Imports, the sole distributor for Poggenpohl in India, thinks otherwise. The company, which has been in India for the last 10 years, unveiled last month a three-storey, 8,500 sq ft, exclusive Poggenpohl studio in Bangalore’s Koramangala area, which, apart from the many modular kitchens it displays, also houses the Poggenpohl Porsche Design Studio. This kitchen from Poggenpohl, informs Sharma, is actually a synergy between design, luxury and technology, possible due to a collaboration of two premium luxury brands, Porsche and Poggenpohl. What makes it different?

“India holds tremendous potential for us and there’s been a lot of change in spending patterns in the last four to five years,” Sharma says. Kitchens, then, are no longer an ordinary place; they’re an extraordinary space on which people are willing to spend big bucks.

Not surprisingly, the cost of kitchens from the Poggenpohl Porsche Design Studio starts at a whopping Rs 1 crore. While women might swoon at its sleek design — complete with new technology, including touch controls on appliances, mechanical touch latch for all doors and drawers, built-in appliances, including a plug-and-play TV and coffeemaker — this is a kitchen targeted at men too.

Aluminum profiles of varying sizes constitute the basic framework here, enabling customers to position cabinet elements in a virtually unlimited number of configurations suited to their needs and tastes. The kitchen also features innovative use of glass and also includes multi-functional lighting. There are choices aplenty as far as wood veneers are concerned and clients can choose from satin-finished glass or black granite worktops. Additionally, the kitchen also boasts a high-tech audio-video system. But wait... there’s more. The electric appliances are operated via sensor keys, instead of buttons, and feature what Sharma calls “user-friendly dialogue displays”.

With kitchen — and modular ones at that — fast becoming the buzzword in the arena of innovative design, other global brands and companies like Cucine Lube, Miele and Hafele, to name some, are also offering high-class kitchen solutions for the discerning Indian customer.

Hafele’s range of kitchen solutions, for instance, starts at Rs 6 lakh and includes larder units, tall storage units, even stationery units, along with such things as kitchen counters and other cabinet applications.

Then there’s Miele, a German brand, which recently entered the domestic market and specialises in kitchen and other home appliances. For the record, it targets sales of more than Rs 100 crore in the next five years. The company wants to tap realty players, especially those building luxury homes, for products like wine conditioners (available between Rs 2.15 lakh and Rs 9 lakh), coffee machines, refrigerators, steam ovens, warming drawers and dishwashers. The products start at Rs 23,000 and go up to Rs 20 lakh.

Kohler, yet another German brand whose bathware range was available in India, also launched its kitchen range in February 2009 with an investment said to be Rs 100 crore.

Then there’s Artd’inox, a homegrown brand whose range of stainless steel kitchen solutions (Rs 10 lakh and upwards for a complete kitchen makeover) and modular kitchens are finding many takers as well. Who said kitchens are an ordinary space anymore?