Japanese kitchen manufacturer unveils minimalist units for the city dweller

By Harrison Kaminsky September 24, 2016

sanwa designs minimal kitchen units — Dezeen

For city dwellers, living space can be limited, and cramped at times. But why should you sacrifice comfort just to keep the morning commute a bit shorter?

With a new set of kitchen units from Japanese kitchen manufacturer Sanwa, you’ll never have to compromise again. The collection offers a combination of usability, flexibility, and style, designed specifically for those with small living spaces.

The company’s four models provide those in cramped apartments varying benefits, starting with the Affilato Hide unit. This model’s value lies in the name, with affilato translating to “razor-sharp,” with the unit’s concealed sink and cooking area (behind two steel folding doors) giving a hidden kitchen look. And when you’re not using the kitchen, you can easily close it up and keep it out of sight.

The Ceragino kitchen is freestanding and offers the same benefit of the Affilato Hide, taking up minimal space. But the primary benefit of the Ceragino is its fit in open-plan areas, where the unit fulfills multiple uses, whether it be an island, wall unit, or kitchen.

A Sanwa spokesperson told Dezeen architecture and design magazine that this unit is “the answer to the need for creating a comfortable space according to a veritable minimalist philosophy: doing away with all that is not strictly necessary.”

The third unit from Sanwa, Kanade, it much larger, but also offers further functionality, including standing and overhead units.

“It pairs worktops covered in thin ceramic panels with cupboard doors coated in synthetic leather — which has been processed with antibacterial and antifungal treatments,” Dezeen wrote.

Sanwa’s fourth and last unit of the minimalist kitchen collection, Zan, offers a stainless steel look covered by thin aluminum panels. A streaked finish inspired by handmade Japanese Washi paper — typically made from fibers of the gampi tree, mitsumata shrub, or the paper mulberry — tops off the design.

Sanwa told Dezeen that “Zan combines technological details with the cultural traditions of Japan.”

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