According to Karin Bohn, founder and creative director of House of Bohn, kitchen design is perpetually in flux, the desires and expectations of her clients forever evolving.
“When I started out, everybody wanted a white kitchen,” she says, by way of example. “Now, that’s very rare. Whether it’s a single-family homeowner or a developer that we’re working with, it’s always about wanting something different. And that’s really rewarding because then we get to do things that are really outside of the box.”
Even so, Bohn’s kitchen designs have their constants. One, anyway — Gaggenau appliances.
Once you go Gaggenau, Bohn explains, you never go back.”
Take, for example, her recent, stunning kitchen design for a new architect-built family home in Caledon, Ont. — a commission that came when owners saw her designs on the Netflix show Restaurants on the Edge. The home was under was under construction when Bohn was approached, and she found its ultra-modern design riveting.
“It looks almost like a spaceship on 100 acres of land, ” Bohn says candidly.
Ultra-modern homes present unique challenges. The scale and aesthetic of cool modernism can require a balancing touch of warmth to avoid the feeling, as Bohn puts it, “of living in a museum.” The eventual kitchen design featured her firstever triangular kitchen island, which mimics the home’s dramatic roofline. The green colour statement provided warmth, echoing the scenery that the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked. Then there was the matter of functionality
“When I find out that a client cooks, there’s an instant chemistry there,” says Bohn, who herself enjoys baking on the weekend with her young daughter. “I say, ‘What are you cooking and what do you need to have?’ ”
In this case, the client was an avid cook and the list of requirements was highly specific. The Gaggenau appliances Bohn provided included a combi-steam oven, a five-burner gas cooktop and a built-in teppanyaki grill. “The kitchen had to be beautiful and functional,” Bohn notes, emphasizing that Gaggenau was her only choice.
You can execute five-star meals on Gaggenau appliances. Their quality and flexibility of design is unique.”
For this particular design, the cooktop has a mitred edge that waterfalls seamlessly, accenting the green Iranian marble countertop. Its control knobs were installed at the front of the stove, where they shine like a luxe accessory.
“There’s no other appliance brand that is doing that,” Bohn says of the elegant bespoke touch. “It just lends itself so much to luxury and to the modernism of the home.”
Take a look at a Gaggenau kitchen in action with chef Julie Hyde & Karin Bohn
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