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Customised Vs Modular Kitchen
January 07, 2025
Remona Divekar
The choice between going modular or opting for a customised kitchen is like swinging between embracing modernity and preferring a bit of personal touch. Remona Divekar finds out some practical considerations for making the choice between modular and customised kitchens.
The culinary culture of a region is the DNA of the home kitchen. This is a subtle moulding force to the design and construction of a kitchen. Culture and climate silently but indisputably influence the functional aspect, the outcome, and workability in the kitchen. Over time it has transformed into a technologically advanced space capable to run efficiently by a single person. It could also relate to a space for a nuclear family in urban settings evolving to adjust to the socio-cultural change from a joint family tradition to the contemporary small or nuclear family unit of the city.
The changing epoch
The Indian cooking system vastly differs from every other land not only in its method but also in its composition and beliefs. In today’s context, the nuclear family structure with working couples means time and help both are in shortage, necessitating preservation of food, fast cooking, and mechanised help to fill in for helping hands. This led to the advent of the kitchen turning to technology and hence sought the path of 'Modular' in India. So in this cultural trait, mechanisation and modularisation of the kitchen was the only solution and industrial progress refined the process and enriched the outcome by equipping the kitchen with accessories and gadgets.
Although the modular kitchen concept does not easily fit into the Indian culinary mould, it brings added conveniences that were never seen before and are too valuable to let go of. So even at the cost of others inconveniences, arising out of cultural conditioning, the Indian kitchens changed their course towards the modular. And since then it is becoming an easy and trendy way to maximise storage area with a minimal footprint. Its aesthetical importance begins to co-exist with its functional significance.
Though technically suitable, modular kitchens have not been able to be regionalised completely to the Indian cultural traditions and beliefs that have always surrounded the Indian kitchen. For example, a wastebasket was never kept inside the Indian kitchen and was relegated to the outside of the kitchen. A modular kitchen allows this as a convenience, storing garbage within the kitchen in a closed basket, in a closed cabinet, below the sink. Also, Indian cooking is a ‘fry and smoke’ affair, requiring a larger chimney hopper area with a greater suction. The modular kitchen chimneys provide for this kind of area or suction draft. Though the carpenter-made kitchen seems like a reasonable solution, in the beginning, it ends up being an expensive affair.
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Innovate to enliven
Designing a kitchen is not an easy task particularly when the given storage space is not enough for cooking as well as the electronic appliances which are indispensable. Speaking on the evolution of modular kitchens, Dhruva Samal, Principal Interior Designer of Dhruva Samal & Associates states, “The first modular kitchens can be traced to many decades ago in Europe and only introduced to India in this century. Since then, we have witnessed an exponential growth in demand for them. Every year brings with it new features, finishes, and materials. I am amazed to see a modular kitchen with its entire cabinetry and shutters fabricated in stainless steel and offering a lifetime warranty against defects. This speaks volumes of the world of endless possibilities that lie ahead of us.”
According to him while determining the advantages and disadvantages of modular and custom-designed kitchens is when the time limitation for the completion of a project is considered, modular kitchens is the preferred option as they deliver precision on the finishing since they are prepared in factories with a very low tolerance for errors.
I am amazed to see a modular kitchen with its entire cabinetry and shutters fabricated in stainless steel and offering a lifetime warranty against defects. This speaks volumes of the world of endless possibilities that lie ahead of us.
Dhruva Samal
Principal Interior Designer
Dhruva Samal & Associates
Bindi Saolapurkar, Architect and Interior Designer opines, “The modular kitchen technology providing for convenience has made the kitchens very user friendly, efficient in terms of utility and effort and seemingly more hygienic. New materials, hardware, and energy-efficient gadgetry have ushered the kitchen into a clean swanky look. The modular kitchen then looks attractive, given the possibility of a variety of finishes, and this attraction for the aesthetics overrides the real need. This is a central paradox about the Indian kitchen which has been smoothly smothered by the glitz of technology and the relentless hard sell commercial advertising and marketing brigade.”
She further says, “This has even led the modular kitchen to adorn a status symbol and western manufacturing houses bringing in their innovations and new products into India have kept the modular kitchen ‘superiority’ myth alive! Creativity often blossoms in customisation but again, customisation is more often a prerogative of the smaller kitchen.”
What to opt?
Modular industry, with its strengths derived from mechanisation and constant innovation, is able to provide built-in gadgets like hobs, ovens, coffee machines, and water purifiers, microwave ovens, which seamlessly fit into the carcass modules bringing out a look of a very well-coordinated and controlled space. But in the Indian scenario, it can thereby more often give room for leakages, as Indian cooking relies on water heavily for its cooking and cleaning.
The limitations exist as far as the designs of the shutters/ panels are concerned as they are restricted to mostly having them flushed but otherwise custom-designed kitchens allow the freedom to explore a number of possibilities as per the designer’s specific needs. The custom-designed kitchens gain an advantage in their ability to have any width of the shutters/ drawers as the design demands.
“Preference of modular or custom-designed kitchens varies on a case-to-case basis. However, in recent times with the advancement in the design options for modular kitchens, I tend to veer towards using them in my project. Also, there is a notable growing demand among clients who insist on breaking away from the traditional kitchen methods. Modular kitchens do work out to be fairly more expensive when compared to their custom-designed counterparts. In my opinion, there is nothing as valuable as the gift of time which modular offers,” informs Samal.
Standardisation is the key concept in modular kitchens as it ensures 85% of the kitchen is built outside the site in the factory thereby avoiding modifications / last-minute changes, apart from the dust and all the mess associated with an onsite job. It allows for easy replacement and creates a new pleasing appearance, in tune with the times.
While Ashok Shah & Associates Group Architects, Engineers, and Interior Designers believe, “Modular kitchens are evolved by the need of modular furniture which enables fast and perfect execution, high level of finishing and its state-of-the-art technology. A customised kitchen can get expensive since labour component is higher, requiring more effort to finish, and attain aesthetics close to a factory finish modular kitchen.”
The final verdict
With the ever-increasing Indian population nesting themselves in modern houses, the need for modular kitchens is on the rise. The market is growing and so is the confusion and doubts. It is important to understand that custom design and factory-made modular kitchen design are not really clashing with each other in the ultimate analysis.
The reasons for having either are specific and based on needs and specifications. Therefore, neither actually can eat into the other’s base but that needs some understanding of the differences. The market itself is growing and no longer restricted to the upper-middle-class alone.
On the other hand, the open-plan modular kitchen is an urban hit, integrating itself with dining/living areas particularly in apartments making it convenient for nuclear families and thereby allowing a close bonding in the family. Further, with the emergence of nuclear families, an increasing number of housing projects, growth in organised retail, and a changing view on home aesthetics, the modular kitchen market is anticipated to witness growth in the coming years also.
While the popularity of the modular kitchen is on the rise, customised kitchens will not fade away. The choice finally boils down to individual preference, lifestyle, and need for a technology-driven kitchen.
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