The fantastic invisible kitchen coming soon to a home near you

Appliance manufacturers chase the latest trend --
built-in units you never have to look at

By Maria St. Claire

As every doctor who's been in the real estate market over the last decade knows, kitchens are often what sell a house. Until very recently, the kinds of kitchen everyone coveted were big, flashy affairs with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, refrigerators the size of walk-in closets and massive stoves capable of preparing meals for a platoon.

Picture this: a peaceful place with subdued lighting, the walls panelled in softly glowing mahogany, a leather easy chair or two in front of the fire, the music of a string quartet wafting from the stereo. Welcome to the new kitchen. And where, you might ask, are the appliances?

Why they're tucked in ever-so-discretely behind the panelling disguised as cupboards and armoires. Built-in refrigerators and freezers slide silently out from under

counters. Dishwashers are tucked in behind wooden cabinetry. Warming ovens glide from a large drawer. Stove hoods are concealed.

Perhaps the only evidence that this is a kitchen is the sink and a discrete stovetop. Designers call it the integrated kitchen fitted with invisible appliances. An integrated kitchen is almost certainly coming to a house near you in 2004.

Our eating habits are changing, says Toronto sociologist, Marge Stephens. "Ten years ago the hallmark of a successful host or hostess was the ability to entertain a dozen guests with a sit-down dinner. Today, life is too hectic. Weekends are for catching your breath, not slaving over a hot stove. The fashion is to go out to a restaurant for a leisurely dinner with a few friends and leave the cooking to the career chefs."

That doesn't mean the kitchen is becoming less important. It remains the room in the house that's used the most. As one Hamilton, Ont interior designer puts it, "People like to hang out in the kitchen. Always have."

Not surprising then, kitchens are becoming more like living rooms with comfortable seating and amenities usually found in the TV room. "The living room has been getting smaller and less important," confirms Witold Rybczyunski, author of The Perfect House, lately of McGill's School of Architecture and now professor of Urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania.

HERE COME THE APPLIANCES
Kitchen appliance manufacturers are well along in building integrated kitchen equipment consumers will never have to see.

Sub-Zero, the company that pioneered the enormous industrial-sized units popularized in the '90s says sales of what it calls disappearing fridges are up 25% over 2003. Always a high-end supplier, their under-the-counter line of drawer units start at around $3,500 with prices running up to $5,500 for a full-sized fridge that will blend with the rest of the kitchen cabinetry. For the time being they're the only company offering slide-out drawer units. Other suppliers--Fridgidaire, Amana, KitchenAid and others -- are expected to join them later this year.

General Electric has announced a pullout fridge that looks like a desk drawer and a stove hood designed to hide behind cabinetry. The company already offers an 80-centimetre-wide slide-out warming oven that looks like a horizontal filing cabinet.

Bosch sells a popular dishwasher in which the controls are concealed on the inside and which operates almost silently. Miele has gone one better with its Incognito line that is so silent the company had to add a tiny LED light -- an optical cycle indicator -- that shines though the cabinet so you can tell it's operating and don't inadvertently open the door mid-cycle.

The invisible kitchen isn't for everyone but if you're redecorating or updating to sell you should seriously consider it. Five years from now it may be the hottest thing in town.