The Most Innovative Kitchen & Bath Products at Milan Design Week
From a curvaceous fluted kitchen system by Cesar to SKS’s under-counter wine cellars inspired by Italian Radical designers
At this year’s Milan Design Week, which heralded the return of the biennial EuroCucine fair at Salone del Mobile, kitchen and bath debuts sharpened their focus on material expression and architectural clarity. Below are the most innovative new products that caught our eyes, from a curvaceous fluted kitchen system by Cesar to wine cellars inspired by Italian Radical designers.
1. Kohler: Copper Shroud Bath
Beyond a wildflower garden and inside a Brutalist-inspired bathhouse designed by Flamingo Estate founder Richard Christiansen awaited Kohler’s new Reverie enameled cast iron bath tub. The gleaming showpiece draws its palette from weathered metals and elemental surfaces, embodying the plumbing giant’s 153 years of top craftsmanship and putting its mastery of forming, welding, and finishing on vivid display.
2. Boffi: XPL Kitchen by Piero Lissoni
Evolving the original 1972 Xila system conceived by Luigi Massoni, the XPL distills the kitchen to a pure, rigorous volume that appears to hover. A 90-millimeter chamfered side panel with a 32-millimeter radius edge introduces a softened contour that defines the structure, which reads as a continuous surface with construction details reduced to their essential expressions.
3. Cesar: Tangram
Cesar’s Tangram system assembles five curved elements with linear modules to produce islands, wall compositions, and corner-spanning configurations marked by fluid continuity. Optional Groove doors introduce a three-dimensional pattern of vertical incisions that conceal joints and unify the composition. The newly refreshed Milan showroom presented Rovere Cortado cabinetry with an Anodyc Bronze island topped in Breccia Sarda, extending into a snack counter anchored by a natural stone column.
4. Dornbracht: Coya
Created in collaboration with Sieger Design, the new Coya series of sink fittings adhere to the “squircle” shape—a portmanteau for square and circle. Intended for the bath, Coya is available in five metallic shades including Champagne and Brushed Bronze.
5. Duravit: Balcoon by Patricia Urquiola
Patricia Urquiola has been all over the design world of late, and it’s no wonder why. Example: her Balcon range for Duravit. Elevated on a pedestal, the thoughtfully realized ceramic shapes, asymmetries, and neutral tones will improve any modern bathscape.
6. Gaggenau: Vario Cooling/Expressive Series
The pristine kitchen accessories in Gaggenau’s “Presence” installation at Villa Necchi Campiglio resembled a future design museum installation, but their functionality equals their beauty. The Vario Cooling Expressive Series of refrigerators and Expressive Series of cooking appliances utilize top-grade materials such as solid oak and brushed steel in the wind cabinet, and the oven’s self-cleaning cycle is a wonder of practicality.
7. Grohe: Allure Gravity
Gleaming, classically Brutalist metal shapes immediately catch the eye in the Grohe Allure Gravity line of faucets, which can be paired with interchangeable shiny cover plates in stone, metal, or glass variations.
8. Officine Gullo: Wine Rooms
The Wine Collection by Officine Gullo goes beyond storage to create an atmosphere conducive to tasting, conversation, and ritual. Building on that ethos, the Florentine maison’s Wine Rooms are designed with warm woods, striking marble, and the brand’s iconic metal to create some of the most coveted spaces in the home.
9. Scavolini: Flair
Through soft shapes and balanced proportions, Flair by Scavolini is meant to fit into all of life’s elements in an elegant yet functional moment, from the kitchen to the living room and beyond. The customizable finishes and curved elements allow for seamless transition within open plans.
10. Kallista: Voussoir Stone Sinks
Carved from a single block of stone and designed by Richard T. Anuszkiewicz, the Voussoir Stone Sink features front-facing carved detail with architectural panache.
11. SKS: Tracce
The new capsule collection developed with Abet Laminati reinterprets the works of Italian Radical luminaries Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, and Superstudio to transform the SKS Undercounter Wine Cellar and Undercounter Convertible Refrigerator into bold moments.