A mountain-inspired kitchen

A mountain-inspired kitchen

A house with a breathtaking view of the Kaiser mountains, where Laurent and Susanne Brückner have turned a dream into a reality. The couple, who work in architecture and interior design, have brought a bit of the peak into their kitchen. Its island counter, featuring a BORA Professional 2.0 cooktop system, stands proudly in the space, like solid rock.

Architect: Brückner Architekten GmbH, www.bruecknerarchitekten.com

Interior designer: BRÜCKNERINNEN, www.bruecknerinnen.com

BORA Professional 2.0 with gas and HiLight cooktops

In harmony with nature

The southern Bavarian property offers a stunning view of the Wilder Kaiser mountain range. Little wonder, then, that Susanne and Laurent Brückner drew inspiration from this panorama when building their future home. An interior designer and an architect respectively, Susanne and Laurent used this lovely spot to construct a building that is in harmony with nature and self-sufficient when it comes to energy.

The single-family home has a solid wood structure on a concrete foundation. This concrete continues throughout the interior with exposed elements. The south side of the house facing the mountains looks almost completely open thanks to its large glass windows. The view is stunning, and so too is the changing light as the sun moves. The interior design concept uses colours and styling based on how the panoramic mountain scenery looks when the sun sets.

Susanne, Managing Director of the interior design company BRÜCKNERINNEN, explains the concept: “The cool, calm hues of the various, carefully chosen shades of grey combined with warm orange accents create the perfect synergy between grandeur and elegance on the one hand and warmth and comfort on the other”.

The showstopper: the “kitchen rock”

The entire ground floor is open plan, and the unique kitchen island forms a distinctive focal point in the large living space. Its irregular and angular shape resembles that of a rock, which is no accident, as the interior designer took inspiration from the Wilder Kaiser massif for this, too.

But unlike the mountain range’s rugged rock formations, the polygonal island’s surface is beautifully smooth. Its grey exterior is made from the solid surface material Corian and shimmers like satin in the light, allowing the “kitchen rock” to beautifully balance a powerful appearance with elegant subtlety.

The island’s drawers are almost invisible at first glance. Lots of ingenuity together with bespoke fixtures have helped create practical storage space, and this combined with elegantly integrated, functional kitchen appliances make the sculpture-like island fit for everyday use.

Anything but ordinary

The only features that reveal the island to be a cooking area are the sink with a tap and the BORA Professional 2.0 cooktop extractor system. The extractor sits in the centre between the gas cooktop and the HiLight cooking zones and discreetly blends into the design of the island.

Fitted flush into the worktop, the cooktop ensemble with integrated extractor brings out the monolithic character of the unit. The cooktops are operated using sleek and intuitive knobs with LED displays, which are positioned on the side of the extravagant kitchen island.

“The kitchen’s unique aesthetic shapes the space and blends into the whole concept,” says Susanne. She adds: “The kitchen was designed with attention to detail and a love of materials, function, form and colour”. And that is plain to see in this bespoke kitchen sculpture that has hi-tech features at its core.