Minimalist kitchen with wine storage for young architect in Valencia

The client lives alone and doesn't cook daily, but when he does, he commits fully: slow braises, bread baking, Asian cuisine experiments. His wine collection is modest—fifteen bottles—but growing; he needed a proper wine cooler for 20 to 24 bottles without sacrificing the work zone or making the cabinet an intrusive element in the living space. Architectural constraints were significant: one wall measuring just 3.6 meters, another 1.7 meters, with perfect 90-degree angles (rare in new construction). The 2.4-meter ceiling height allowed cabinets to reach the top, but utilities—a ventilation duct and gas pipe—ran along the long wall at 2.2 meters, consuming valuable 20 centimeters. The client insisted on warm tones paired with rigorous minimalism free of decorative excess—a stylistic contradiction, since minimalism typically reads as cold. The budget was moderate for Valencia, around 8,000 euros for the kitchen with appliances, which ruled out premium solutions like veneer or solid wood but demanded visual quality well above standard furniture stores. The timeline was tight: five weeks from measurement to installation, as the client was already renting the apartment and wanted to move in before the start of the academic year where he teaches. One subtle complication: the client flatly rejected top-mounted handles ("they collect dust and visually fracture the plane"), but equally disliked standard push-to-open systems ("they open accidentally when you lean against them"). We had to find a middle ground in the hardware.

We started with the facade material. Paintable MDF was ruled out immediately—slow, expensive, impossible in five weeks. Standard LDSP with PVC edge banding looks cheap in minimalism, where there's no decor to distract. We chose 18 mm LDSP with PET coating (polyethylene terephthalate)—a super-matte surface that doesn't reflect light and feels pleasant to the touch, plus laser edge technology: the front is routed to contour, the PET edge is laser-sealed flush with no visible seams. Color: Egger Dusty Grey super-matte—not cold graphite, but with a subtle beige undertone that reads warm under artificial light. Countertop and backsplash in Silestone Eternal Calacatta Gold, 20 mm thick—a quartz composite with marble-look veining in warm, light tones: creamy background with fine grey-beige veins. The corner seam: an invisible weld, polishing the joint to perfection took an extra production day, but the result was worth it. The wine cooler was built into a tall column left of the main work zone—2.2 meters high, 60 cm wide, with Blum LEGRABOX pure pull-out drawers, 20 cm tall, for pots at the base, then the Liebherr UWKes 1752 wine cabinet for 24 bottles (built-in, black glass, LED lighting) above it, and another hinged cabinet up to the ceiling for rarely used items. The wine cabinet face: a frame in the same PET LDSP with a tinted Lakobel glass insert in grey so the bottles are visible but not harsh. The glass was ordered with a 5 mm bevel around the perimeter—a detail that elevates the visual weight of the front. Hardware: a compromise between push-to-open and handles. Lower drawers got Blum SERVO-DRIVE electromechanical opening: light pressure activates the drawer, but casual contact doesn't (intentional pressure required). LEGRABOX systems with full extension, BLUMOTION guides with soft-close. Upper cabinets: Blum AVENTOS HS lifters (horizontal door lift), also with electric drive and BLUMOTION, controlled by a button on the inside. Hinges on swing doors: Hettich Sensys 110 degrees with integrated soft-close for silent final 10 centimeters. Work zone lighting with LED profile, hidden mounting under upper cabinets—aluminum profile with diffuser, warm white 3000K, dimmable by remote. Inside the display case (right section of upper cabinets, Lakobel glass)—a separate cool-white LED strip at 4000K, also dimmable, to highlight the glassware and ceramics collection. Built-in appliances: Electrolux EIV63440BS induction cooktop (four zones, black glass), Bosch Serie 6 oven with pyrolysis (black glass, touch controls), Faber downdraft hood integrated into the countertop. All black glass on the appliances echoes the wine cooler's black glass—a unified visual thread.

Delivered 33 days after final project approval—installation took two days, another day for appliance hookup and final hardware adjustment. The kitchen fit into the space without a millimeter of gap: the corner was assembled on-site with precision, the countertop settled as if cast. The client moved in a week after installation and immediately hosted a dinner for eight—afterward he mentioned guests spent half an hour studying how the drawers open without handles. The wine cooler became his favorite feature: he turns on the display lighting at night, pours a glass, watches shows—a small ritual after work. Two months post-delivery, the client sent photos: breadmaker and cutting board on the countertop, not a single chip on the cabinet edges (despite his self-described lack of care). Warranty on fronts and hardware: five years; on Silestone: fifteen. No warranty claims to date. The kitchen runs quiet, moves smooth, looks like it costs more than eight thousand euros.