The Stainless Steel Kitchen Is Having a Moment

For a lot too lengthy, the stainless-steel kitchen has been seen because the antithesis of the comfortable, heart-of-the-home kind of archetype many search in an inside. Certain, stainless-steel has lengthy been a hard-working hallmark of the kitchen—the skilled kitchen, specifically—beloved for its sturdiness, hygienic properties, and ease of cleansing. The steel alloy, developed simply over a century in the past years in the past and praised within the New York Occasions in 1913 as “non rusting, unstainable, and untarnishable,” tends to, nonetheless, conjure descriptors reminiscent of chilly or sterile. 

However recently designers are rethinking that stereotype. As a vogue for industrial-tinged ’90s minimalism reemerges, many are revisiting the utilitarian steel, deploying it on counters, backsplashes, and even lighting fixtures to create smooth areas that really feel fashionable however by no means chilly. Which implies one factor: The stainless-steel kitchen is making its comeback.

“There’s truly a heat to stainless-steel,” insists AD100 designer Billy Cotton, who used the fabric to an all-over extent in artist Cindy Sherman’s New York kitchen. “I like the way it ages over time. However it’s a dedication—some folks cannot stand the scratches and fingerprints!”