Customer Reviews

Kitchen Culture

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I'm addicted to coffee table books on home design, and I usually love kitchen design books- my all-time favorite book which I took on vacation and also recommended to my book club was "Great Kitchens". I think that this book overpromised. Johnny Grey stated that he's "reinventing kitchen design". The reinvemtion is his trademark style of semi-circle curved cabinets and round and oval islands. The workmanship on these curved units is amazing and the photographs do them full justice. I was wondering where in the world a person would have curved cabinetry custom made...and lo! The cabinetry is available through "The Grey Guild". Johnny Grey is the only kitchen designer featured in this book, which is terrific is you're an ardent fan. I found that I was not a fan (yawn), seen one and you've seen the unique, all of the rest is style differences. The book, to me, was a shameless sales job for Johnny Grey and his organization. I would have given the book a "2" rating, but the section on kitchen ergonomics at the back redeemed this book a little, in my opinion (finally something useful!). I do design, build, and live with new kitchens, as my husband and I are owner builders and rennovators. His kitchen designs would be a pleasure to cook in (for the most part), but the curved cabinetry would blow up my largest kitchen budget before appliances were purchased. These kitchens belong in multi-million dollar homes and they aren't a reasonable design choice for even a million dollar home building budget. The money spends quickly in homebuilding, and a large part of the house budget is gone before the house is finished enough for kitchen purchases. In my expereince the kitchen budget receives the most scrutiny and is the source of most budget arguements. These "Grey" kitchens would pass muster only in a project where money was no object and the budget had no ceiling.

The best kitchen design book I have ever seen. Grey has spent time evaluating the ergonomics of the kitchen from the proper height for the oven door, space between various dedicated work surfaces to raising the dish washer 14 inches so you never have to bend over to put your dishes in to be cleaned. It makes so much sense and the designs are diversifed from modern to classic traditional - and they are just beautiful! He is ecologically mindful and his advice from floors to counter tops to appliances was eye opening for me and very practical. I am designing my new kitchen based on his recommendations. The best news is it will work for me now with kids and still work for me when I am 75 yeras old thanks to the ergonomic design.

My husband and I need to update our kitchen. I am a librarian so I have access to a lot of books on kitchen design, but this was by far my favorite, so much so that I bought my own copy. What an innovative way to look at a kitchen! By using bright colors and soft curves, Johnny Grey has opened my eyes to what an inviting space a kitchen can be for my family and I look forward to integrating his concepts into our eventual design.

This book is extremely innovative. It is definately not for those who are looking for safe tried and trued kitchen design. It is for anyone who wants to design "out of the box".

Kitchen Culture: Re-inventing Kitchen Design, does exactly this. It takes those obscure thoughts and whimsys' and shows you it can be done. I showed this to a cabinet maker friend who was very impressed and he said that you could achieve this using cheaper materials if you so wished. He was not daunted by the fact that it was built by an English master craftsman, it merely removed obstacles that shapes can produce. This book fits my "whimsy" well, read enjoy and create.

I love the underlying concepts in this book. Kitchens should be ergonomic spaces, with function coming first. They should also be designed with the way we live in mind. This is the starting point for Johnny Grey's "revolutionary" kitchen designs. His kitchens use unfitted cabinets to create efficient work centers tailored to your needs. The sink cabinets, for example, are higher than typical cabinets because you are mostly working at the bottom of the sink, not the top.

The kitchens featured are wonderful, but all of them are impossible for anyone who doesn't have millions of dollars to spend or when space is limited. While the curved custom cabinets are beautiful, it would have been nice to see at least one or two kitchens that use off-the-shelf cabinets in innovative ways. If you are working with a creative designer they might be able to take this book and run with it, but if you are a DIYer it will be hard to envision these ideas in your own kitchen.

On the upside, the section at the back that details the ergonomics of kitchen design is very useful, and possibly worth the price of the book.

Want to create a kitchen which is artistic as well as functional? Look no further than Alex Wilson's Kitchen Culture: Reinventing Kitchen Design, which provides a rich photographic selection of ideas which are both practical and exciting. From the latest ideas for storage and appliances to using natural light and creating logical work patterns and surfaces, KITCHEN DESIGN is packed with not only photos and ideas, but tips on materials, suppliers and applications, making it more well-rounded than most.