Trend Alert: Kitchens with Fluted Detailing

Architectural columns ornamented with fluting—those vertical channels that create an elegant interplay of light and shadow—have been around since Egyptian times. Fluting next made its way inside as high-style detailing on paneling and furniture: picture the tapered legs on a Louis XVI table. But it wasn’t on our radar as a design option until we started noticing decorative grooves cropping up all over the house. We particularly admire the use of fluting in the kitchen as a textural and skinnifying element. Yes, a bit of extra dusting might be required; we’d be willing. Here, a look at some favorite fluted projects in wood, stone, and plaster.

Above: In an artist’s Paris apartment, Hélène Pinaud and Julien Schwartzmann of Heju Studio designed a kitchen island “dressed in relief tiles.” See more of the architects’ kitchen remodels here and here. Above: UK kitchen design company deVol offers this classic ceramic Fluted Sink made in England by Shaws of Darwen. Also available from deVol: a Fluted Tuscan Farmhouse Double Sink of Carrara marble. Above: American in London Ferren Gipson spotted curved 3D tiles on Pinterest and went on a “mad hunt” to source them for her kitchen remodel. (They’re Sebastian Herkner’s matte-glazed Soap design from Kaufmann Keramik of Germany.) See more in Kitchen of the Week: An American In London Creates Her Dream Ikea Hack Kitchen. Photography by Ferren Gipson (@ferrengipson). Above: Avenue Design Studio, a two-woman interior design firm in the Hague, introduced fluted paneling in the kitchen of their Rotterdam Terrace project “to balance out the warmth of the oak cabinets and the sheer visual impact of the natural stone countertop.” Above: The ripple effect in walnut and marble at the Television Centre penthouse in London. Piercy & Co. architects oversaw the renovation, and fashion designer Bella Freud and interior designer Maria Speake of Retrouvious collaborated on the interiors. To see the full project, go to Retro Maximalism. Above: Fluted oak cabinets meet terrazzo in a compact London kitchen by Surman Weston architects. The counter and backsplash are Foresso, a composite sheet material made from, among other things, scrap wood, waste from sawmills, and waste lime plaster. Above: Henrybuilt’s Harvest 3-Bay is a kitchen island that incorporates knife blocks, spice fittings, PaperStone drawer dividers, stainless steel utensil trays—and, as Henrybuilt puts it, “refined elegance, a quality too often absent in such a workpiece.” To see another standout island from collection, go to Primary Objects. Above: Wide and narrow fluting runs up the walls of the in-house café at tech company NCR’s splashy headquarters in Sydney designed by Gray Puksand. Above: At Svinkløv Badehotel, a reinvented resort on the North Sea in Denmark, the reception desk is fluted. See our post, The Reincarnation of a Beloved Danish Seaside Hotel. Photograph by Jens Lindhe, courtesy of Praksis. Above: Interior designer/chef Athena Calderone is especially at home in the kitchen: her Amagansett house features this marble-topped island detailed with custom plaster fluting by Kamp Studios (see below). Check out Calderone’s website, EyeSwoon, and her book, Live Beautiful. Photograph by Nicole Franzen via Live Beautiful. Above: Kate Fitzgerald of “staunchly feminist architecture firm” Whispering Smith created a fluted focal point in the kitchen of a project known as House B in Scarborough Australia. Above: In his Bermondsey kitchen, London restaurateur Mark Hix created an island out of salvaged cast concrete columns sourced from Remodelista favorite Retrouvius. Hix worked with “fit-out contractors” Tekne.  Photograph via The Modern House. Above: Kamp Studios of Brooklyn is a two-woman workshop specializing in architectural finishes. Shown here, their fluted tile samples. Photograph via @kampstudios.

More finishes to consider:

• Remodeling 101: The Ultimate Guide to Shiplap, Beadboard, and V-Groove Paneling
• Expert Advice: How to Use Wood Paneling to Add Loftiness to a Room
• Rehab Diaries: DIY Beadboard Ceilings, Before and After

N.B.: This story originally ran on April 16, 2020 and has been updated with new information.