- Kitchens have more and more become a place to spend leisure time; cooking together with friends is a popular social activity today. The increasing importance of this originally rather functional room is reflected in its architecture and design as it means that creative solutions need to be found to smoothly integrate the kitchen with the dining and living areas, and at the same time its appearance needs to aesthetically match the style of ones home. The volume Eat! Best of Kitchen Design presents 40 projects that follow first of all the classical dictum: form follows function. A very noticeable aspect is the focus on the choice and the combination of the materials used, ranging from stainless steel and wood to glass and concrete and beyond. Kitchens today can be trendy, puristic or cosy but as they must be always functional it is assured that architects and designers are striving for intelligent and sometimes also surprising concepts.