Everything shines at Andrea and Max

You rely on many different light sources in your home. Do you have tips for optimal lighting planning?
We have tried to adapt our lighting design to the size of the room, always placing spots symmetrically or evenly spaced. Generally, with the exception of a few pendant lights, we exclusively installed spots, as they integrate visually very harmoniously into our spatial concept. 

How did the topic of lighting influence your kitchen planning? And what was important to you in this regard?
Similar to the lighting concept for the house, we also wanted to illuminate our kitchen well. Here we opted for a total of nine directly integrated lights in upper cabinets and wall-mounted cupboards, one island lamp, as well as an indirectly lit recessed handle in the kitchen island, creating great indirect lighting. It was important to us, on the one hand, to have bright task lighting, but also to create indirect mood lighting in the evenings that beautifully accentuates the kitchen.

How did you arrive at the decision for your current kitchen lighting?
The great advice from our kitchen studio contributed significantly to this decision. We initially showed up relatively uninformed on the topic and could view various lighting options. This also led to the decision for indirect lighting in the recessed handle; we are very grateful for the idea and its implementation.

10. What was particularly important to you about the kitchen in general?
An important criterion for us was a handleless kitchen. Furthermore, we placed great emphasis on a downdraft extractor, as it provides headroom while cooking and baking. We also planned the kitchen island to provide sufficient storage space on all sides, and these cupboards offer enough depth for large pots and other kitchen utensils. Due to the open living and dining area, it's also very practical not having to carry dishes far for meals but being able to bring them directly from the kitchen to the table. Additionally, we wanted our waste containers, microwave, toaster, and other usually free-standing appliances to visually disappear. All of these are located within the sufficiently large cupboard areas. We also wanted the oven placed at a comfortable viewing and working height. Very practical are also the integrated, flush-mounted power sockets in the island.

Cabinets right up to the ceiling – very clever for optimal storage space. Was storage space important to you during planning?
Since we built without a cellar or pantry, a ceiling-high row of cabinets was very important for us to obtain maximum storage space. This could be implemented entirely to our satisfaction. We could store everything and even still have enough space left.

What dominated in the planning? Functionality or design?
Definitely both. We have an all-around functional kitchen that in our opinion is also very modern, blending visually very well into our open living and dining area.

Black & White color combination – very much on trend. Do interior trends play a role for you?
Yes, definitely. We tried to design the entire house in one style. But we also received very good advice from our kitchen studio. There we were able to view various options on-site, and our favorites could be visualized via a 3D drawing. Furthermore, our kitchen studio also presented us with the latest trends, tailored to our overall planned interior concept.