Changing Kitchen Trends in Kolkata

Rupande Shah, Founder & Principal Architect, Rupande Shah & Associates talks about the influence of changing lifestyles on kitchen design trends in Kolkata

Like all other cities, Post Covid, the desire for a larger kitchen has increased manifold. Kitchens are now being celebrated. People have started enjoying the entire experience of cooking as well as eating.

Influence of Changing Lifestyle

Talking about how lifestyle changes have impacted kitchen design in Kolkata, Rupande Shah, Founder & Principal Architect, Rupande Shah & Associates shares, “Now all the kitchens I design have an Island. This is common in 90% of the kitchens.”

She further adds, “I don’t think there is a large difference between a German Kitchen versus a regular Indian kitchen if you are following a certain international lifestyle. Eating within the kitchen – making a space to sit and have a discussion is quite normal in most of our projects. And, this is the case for apartments.”

Multiple Kitchens in Bungalows

Highlighting the trend of having multiple kitchens in independent houses and bungalows, Rupande shares, “When we design houses which are much larger, the culture part comes in. There comes the concept of open wash, secondary wet kitchens.”

She further adds, “There, we need to have three kitchens in our plan – the wet kitchen is the messier and service part of the kitchen, then you have the actual cooking kitchen and then you have the dry kitchen where the family members are using it – with baking as the main function. So, it’s about the journey of three kitchens tied together. And, this is only possible because you have the luxury of space.”

[Edited Excerpts from a Round Table Discussion held on November 4, 2022, at ITC Royal Bengal, Kolkata as part of Crompton presents Kitchens Unplugged powered by Kitchen Ideas]