Patricia Urquiola’s kitchens

After years of creating quirky-cool furnishings for brands like Moroso, Louis Vuitton, and Kartell, Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has partnered with Italian brand Boffi to reimagine what is arguably the most social room in the home: the kitchen.

“I wanted to approach the kitchen with a playful attitude,” she says. “Everyone uses it in a different way.”

For the kitchen system, Urquiola crafted a modular design that feels at once contemporary and warm. Built with a core of tubular steel—rather than the traditional, quite stationary wood—the design allows for endless customization. When it comes to surfaces, the options are numerous: Aluminum-frame cabinets can be covered in wood, stone, concrete, or lacquer, with countertops of ceramic, lava, or marble. Cleverly concealed storage emerges from just under the backsplash. And an integrated wood tabletop can function as a chopping block or, when pulled out, as an eating surface.

In an effort to keep things green, Urquiola used only eco-sustainable materials. Doors can be sheathed in recyclable PaperStone. LED lights are incorporated into shelving. And planters integrated into the design have drainage systems connected to the sink, allowing homegrown herbs to flourish at arm’s reach.

The collection, called Salinas, was named for the seaside Spanish town where Urquiola’s grandfather kept a house on the water.

“All of us children would help in the kitchen,” she remembers. “Sometime a fish would arrive, or you’d help with the eggs. It was always a place I could help and I could play.”