Kitchen Hybrid

What do you get when you cross a stove top with a dining table? That was the question—and challenge—Dieter Zimmer presented to his design students at the Muthesius College of Art, in Kiel, Germany, in 2005. The assignment grew out of Zimmer’s desire to re-create his childhood kitchen, where the domestic action centered around a cast-iron stove and the nearby kitchen table. He hoped that by combining the two elements (think of a Europeanized hibachi) he could reposition the hearth as the heart of the modern-day home.

The concepts attracted the notice of the kitchen manufacturer Alno (www.alno.com), which offered two students semester-long internships to produce their ideas. One of the resulting projects, Long Island, by Andi Kern, features a cooking station and sliding prep surface that extends to become a table for five. “It allows people to prepare food, eat meals, and spend time together all in the same place,” Kern says. “That is something I think is missing in our daily lives.” Here he describes the particulars of his design.

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The tabletop is available in laminate (white/mango) and wood veneer bamboo/oak or walnut/zebrano).

Each leg has a leveler to allow for uneven floors.

I used one piece of stainless steel for the table and legs. I always envisioned that material because it’s easy to clean and withstands daily wear and tear.

The power cord is in one of the legs so you can move the table anywhere in the room.

The fixed cooking unit includes a four-burner stove, which is flush-mounted, and a stainless-steel surface for setting things down while cooking. The entire unit can be used as a serving station when the cooktop is not in use.

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TABLE
Length = 87 in.
Width = 33.1 in.
Height = 29.1 in.

COOKING BLOCK
Length = 39.4 in.
Width = 24.4 in.
Height = 32.1 in.