Cooking is becoming the largest megatrend in the world. Food is not just for consumption but its an experience we share together; it’s something we pass down from generation to generation; it’s something we document on social media as a work of art. Eating is no longer simply for survival but serves as a platform for interaction, entertainment and leisure. As a result, kitchens are growing as families congregate to work, play, study and cook, and we’re putting more thought into their design.

Introducing the new Caesarstone kitchen trends book, Form Follows Food—an avant-guard approach to forecasting the future of kitchen design. It breaks down how food and materials inspire one another to become a multi-sensorial form of creative expression. Design oracle, trend forecaster and colorist Lidewij Edelkoort, who worked closely with Caesarstone to create the book, thinks the direction of kitchen design is rather radical. “It’s like the countertop is creating the narration. We are in for a wild ride with material.”

As chefs become architects of food, designers draw inspiration from their culinary masterpieces to create cookware, countertops and kitchen decorations that reflect their surroundings. In Form Follows Food, we introduce three concepts in three different stories: Conceptual Concrete, Marbling Mood and Dark Rituals.

Conceptual Concrete

“The first story we called Conceptual Concrete because the whole use of concrete is in itself a concept which we have not seen before so much in kitchens, which is sort of a heavy, industrial, brutalist vision of the kitchen. You are crafting the food and you are mashing the food by hand, and it’s all very heavy duty, right?” said Edelkoort about Conceptual Concrete.

The concept of cementing materials together is reflected in food trends such as smearing almond butter on earthy bread and pulverizing ingredients into compressed cheese and paste. Here, the consumer becomes an artisan at work as foods are spread, chiseled and pummeled either by hand or with modern kitchen tools. See the inherent beauty found in rawness and sturdy materials as chunks of Rugged Concrete and Excava layer with thick slices of buckwheat bread, cheese wheels and chocolate blocks; and how the neutrals of crispy bread complement the warmth of Topus Concrete.

Marbling Mood

“Then, there is the marbling of food, where you have two, three tones in food preparations—in bread and in patisserie and so on—so it’s more refined, more sophisticated. The little veins in the marble-like material are for a more luxurious environment. It’s a bit more traditional but there is a big revival of marble —marbling paper, marbling patterns, textiles, marbling food, marbling kitchens,” said Edelkoort about Marbling Mood.

As we incorporate history and nature into our interiors through marbling patterns, we see the connection of food’s influence on this design aesthetic. Visit page 31 for a visual of how the rich depth of White Attica complements the scattering of organic veins as in pear chips and Roquefort. See how the dramatic wide veins of Statuario Maximus contrast beautifully with slices of heirloom carrots and spoonfuls of marbled dips; and how baked meringue can look slightly rusted like the oxidized effects in Excava.

Dark Rituals

The most recent trends in cooking return to the beginning, like the authenticity found in foraged foods, in hunted and gathered ingredients. As we reimagine ancient recipes, the aesthetic of black is newly revealed and rediscovered, impacting design directions. Kitchens are shifting to black quartz surfaces, cast iron, black clay, and scorched black ingredients. Dark materials are combined. — Dark Rituals as described in Form Follows Food

We evoke the primitive on our table through roasted, fired and drying treatments that cast a dark shadow over all ingredients and introduce an intriguing new chapter in the designing, preparing and presentation of food. See how food parallels this idea of the dark ritual, where caviar and black chickpeas match the drama of Vanilla Noir; blackened walnuts with clove powder are layered upon smoky Piatra Grey; black bread made from vegetable carbon shown on Raven.

Take the intellectual and beautiful visual journey of our newest kitchen trends book, Form Follows Food, and gain extra insight from three contemporary designers whose work is connected to food.