The kitchen has long outgrown its role as a purely functional space. These days, it’s where we work, gather, unwind. A place where utility meets self-expression, and design has become part of the rhythm of everyday life.
What once felt purely domestic now has its place in museums, showrooms and collector kitchens. The Bialetti Moka pot. Starck’s Juicy Salif for Alessi. These aren’t just tools. They’re cultural artifacts—deeply familiar, but still capable of surprise.
Alongside the classics, new icons are emerging. Tools that bring together craft, performance and design-led aesthetics. KitchenAid’s semi-automatic espresso machine is a countertop workhorse with bar-level credentials. KN Industrie’s glass pot turns boiling water into something theatrical. Le Creuset revisits its original flame glaze with a golden shimmer that belongs as much on the table as the hob.
And as we move from kitchen to table, tactility takes center stage. There’s the soft mineral grain of Villeroy & Boch’s travertine-inspired stoneware. The sharp elegance of Ginori 1735’s Gio Ponti designs. SchönhuberFranchi’s functional yet quietly architectural serving sets. Even the Smeg Soda Maker brings a kind of quiet, matte refinement to something as simple as sparkling water.
Because good design isn’t just about how something works—it’s about how it lives in a space, and what it brings to the people who use it.
Starck’s Juicy Salif — The Object that Refused to Behave
Juicy Salif is a citrus squeezer in theory, a design icon in reality. Philippe Starck’s spindly aluminum tripod was never meant to be practical. Conceived on a napkin while eating squid, it’s more spaceship than kitchen tool—and that’s precisely the point.
Produced by Alessi since 1990, it’s become one of the most talked-about objects in industrial design. Used or not, it holds its ground. Over the years, it’s been released in limited gold-plated editions and continues to live on in museums, collectors’ homes and the occasional brave kitchen.
Ginori 1735 — Porcelain with a Graphic Pulse
Gio Ponti’s Catene and Labirinto collections are nearly a century old, but still feel cutting-edge. Designed during his tenure at Ginori in the 1920s, both patterns embrace strong geometry and a kind of refined repetition that feels both classical and modern.
They’re crafted in fine Tuscan porcelain and hand-finished in rich tones—sapphire, emerald, scarlet, black—framed by gold or platinum detailing. In 2025, two new shades joined the collection, proof that a near-century-old design can still move with the times. They’re best mixed, matched and used—not just admired.
Bar-Grade Coffee, No Fuss
KitchenAid’s latest semi-automatic espresso machine brings café-level detail to the domestic kitchen, without losing the joy of a simple morning brew. There’s a 15-bar pump, a built-in grinder with 15 settings, and a precise steam wand for milk.
More importantly, it looks and sounds like it belongs—quiet, compact, and clean-lined. Available in five colourways, it balances substance and style with ease. It’s also Quiet Mark certified, which means no 6 on kitchen theaters. Just good coffee.
KN Industrie — The Pot You Can See Through
KN Industrie’s Glass Pot is one of those pieces that shifts how you think about an everyday object. Made from heat-resistant borosilicate glass with industrial stainless-steel handles, it’s unexpectedly sculptural.
You watch the process unfold—pasta swirling, water simmering, color building. It works on gas, ceramic and even induction (with an adapter), and looks just as good in a display cabinet as it does over a flame. Designed by Massimo Castagna, it makes a quiet case for beauty in function.
Le Creuset’s Flamme Dorée — Form Meets Fire
For its centenary, Le Creuset revisits its roots. The Flamme Dorée cocotte brings a third layer of glaze to its original 1925 flame color, adding depth, light and a subtle shimmer.
There’s nothing reinvented here—just a timeless cast iron pot with a better glow. The gold-toned steel knob nods to Le Creuset’s heritage logo, and holds its own up to 260 °C. It’s available in all the essential formats, from round cocotte to long-handled sauté pan. It cooks beautifully. Not only that, but it serves better.
The Moka — Still Italy’s Real Coffee Ritual
Designed in 1933 by Alfonso Bialetti, the Moka Express is still one of the most used coffee makers on the planet. Aluminum body. Distinctive octagonal shape. No plugs, no filters, no noise.
It’s been copied endlessly, but the original still holds up—and now lives in the permanent collection at MoMA. Well over 320 million sold says everything. It’s not nostalgia. It’s simply that nothing’s replaced it.
SchönhuberFranchi — For a Table That Thinks
SchönhuberFranchi’s buffet collection is low-key theater. Thin steel arms lift green glass platforms. Bone china dishes sit like petals. It’s all delicately balanced, but entirely practical.
There’s modularity for heat, for chill, for drinks and tea. Everything from tall beverage stations to discreet side tiles. It’s a buffet presentation without bulk or excess. Just a well-considered system that lets the food and objects breathe.
Smeg’s Soda Maker — Sparkle Without Showboating
Smeg’s soda maker ditches the usual plastic gloss in favor of a more architectural presence. Brushed aluminum body. Stainless steel accents. A dial that controls fizz without foot.
The bottle’s made from Tritan™ Renew with 50% recycled content, dishwasher-safe and well-sealed for travel. It’s available in four muted shades. No screen, no cables. Just a clean, quiet way to cut down on plastic and bring sparkling drinks back to the table.
Bump by Tom Dixon — Tea with a Lab Aesthetic
Tom Dixon’s Bump collection channels lab glass with intention. Made from hand-blown borosilicate glass, each piece has a smoky translucency that elevates the ritual of tea into something gently surreal.
The teapot holds just under a liter and includes a built-in filter. The cups are compact and rounded. There’s a tactile pleasure in using them, but they also challenge what a tea set should look like. Fragile, but not fussy. Bold, but not loud.
Manufacture Travertine — Texture Over Gloss
Villeroy & Boch’s Manufacture Travertine collection takes its cue from stone. Made in grès with a subtle, tactile finish, it balances elegance with everyday resilience.
There are round plates, long trays and pedestal stands—designed for serving, sharing or building visual layers on the table. They’re matte, quietly textured, and easy to mix with glass, linen, or steel. Understated, but far from forgettable.
Design doesn’t need to shout to matter. In the kitchen, it should work, fit in, and bring something extra to the experience of making, sharing, and enjoying food. That’s what good design really does—it makes the everyday just a little more considered.
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Last Updated on November 14, 2025 by Editorial Team