Winners Announced For Design Jim’s Kitchen

Architizer News

Winners Announced For Design Jim’s Kitchen

July 16, 2012

The results are in! We received over 115 entries that (re)designed Jim’s Kitchen, all of which opened up Jim’s cramped galley kitchen and activated the space’s potential as the apartment’s social center. Parsing through the enormous pile of proposals, a few prevalent themes and features soon revealed themselves–namely, the series of fold-able and extendable shelves, collapsible tables, and sliding counter-tops that all lent the kitchen a compact, gizmo-like operability. The best of the bunch combined this adaptability with subtle, but still lush material palettes, using wood to imbue the space with a vibrant warmth or stainless steel to reflect light and visually expand the kitchen’s narrow dimensions.

The jury consisted of Architizer CEO Marc Kushner and the Jim Richardson, who throughout the process revealed himself to be quite the budding architectural critic and whose commentary is provided below alongside each project. The latter devised a rigorous set of criteria that judged the design on its smart applications and functionality, its ability to be realized without necessitating any major structure changes to the space, and, lastly, its “overall design, materials used and aesthetic.” And with that, here are the winners!

Winner: Rasmus Moller MAST-Studio

This design really stood out among all of the entries, both for a very subjective design aesthetic as well as an inspired functionality. I like the clean wood cabinets and the thin countertop which makes the space feel much lighter. I also like the incorporation of the lights with the beams in the ceiling, tying in the awkward beams and extending across the front door to complete the space creating a mini foyer without taking up floor space.

The built-in table, with the beautiful metal inlay folding leg is a piece of art in itself. And the clincher? The cabinet door that conceals the coat closet in the kitchen. Until I saw this design, I didn’t realize how much I hated the closet door and the visual challenges it creates. The inset door is both functional and beautiful at the same time and makes the space feel bigger and well thought out. Overall, not just great design, it’s brilliant.

First Runner Up: to|wn design — Tracy Ong | William Ngo.

These very talented architects used a common Swiss Army knife as the inspiration for this very inspired design. And it works very hard, just like the knife. I like the clean lines, with the sleek white/gray cabinets. I also really liked the movable counter/table that also creates storage above and a mini foyer area, while not taking up too much space from the wall. I also really like the ample storage and the folding table that can accommodate four.

Second Runner Up: Mt. Sundbeck Studio Project and Lisa Sundbeck Kim

As with some of the other designs, I really like how the refrigerator creates a small foyer area for the front door. I also like the idea of putting in a dark tile in the kitchen area to separate it from the rest of the apartment, while using light wood cabinets to tie into the light wood floor in the rest of the apartment. The idea of a combining the microwave and convection oven to save space is great. Overall, very clean, sleek and beautiful.

From Jim:

“My sincere thanks again to everyone who submitted a design. I hoped you enjoyed my kitchen challenge as much as I did. For me, this has been such a great project. To be able to tap into so many incredibly talented people with such inspiration has been an incredible experience. I would also like to thank Architizer for giving me the opportunity to be the chosen challenge. It has been such a pleasure to work with everyone. Daisy and I are looking forward to our new kitchen!”

Thanks

And a big thanks to Design Jim’s Kitchen sponsor GD Cucine! Make sure to check out all the sleek kitchen designs on their products page.