How do I hide a kitchen?

First, you see nothing. Only a 2.5 metre long, elegant wall unit. The ambience of the room is quiet and makes a high-quality impression at first glance. Refined, simple and elegant. Just like every other living room. Everything changes when this 2.5 metre long wall unit opens for the first time, revealing a sliding door. Behind the sliding door, there is a fully equipped kitchen that lacks nothing. How do you come up with something like this? An entirely justified question. The briefing and specification for the Häfele kitchen unit was the Häfele Functionality Cube: a fully functional apartment was to be created on 39 square metres – with a kitchen that doesn’t immediately look like a kitchen, but is technically state of the art. And, it should also be comfortable, of course. Get to work.

Good planning is half of the cooking.

What does a person need in a kitchen? And, possibly more important on this project: What can be implemented in an extremely small area, what should be the focus be on? The answers to these questions resulted in a list of requirements for the kitchen unit. Then suitable fittings were sought out. As always, the idea and the implementation both arose as a result of teamwork between cabinet makers and Häfele product range managers. The construction of the Häfele kitchen unit could begin.

Good planning is half of the cooking.

Suddenly, 20 centimetres were missing.

The 60 centimetre depth of a standard kitchen wasn’t enough any more. The reason being the inserted sliding doors. In order to achieve the full functionality thereof, 20 additional centimetres of depth was required. The opening day for the Functionality Cube was getting closer; things were becoming exciting and turbulent. People worked meticulously until the final second. At 6 am on the opening day of the cube, everything was perfect: the kitchen unit was working. Down to the last detail.

39 square metres and a fully functional apartment.

Everything included. Everything functional.

Sink, worktop, glass shelves, plinth drawers for optimum use of storage space, dishwasher drawer for filling and emptying with minimal back strain, drawer manager and cleaning product pull-out. There is really something for everyone here. For gourmets, there is a wine conditioning cabinet with two temperature zones. For purists, there are floating shelves made from glass and wood over the sink. For those who love convenience, there is the dishwasher drawer that can be filled while standing.

The most impressive is certainly the 2.5 metre long wall unit. Close it and everything is hidden. And you see nothing, just like before. Only a 2.5 metre long, elegant wall unit.

Close the doors and everything disappears.