#HTE

Obsessive Swiss Design: Peka’s Kitchen and Closet Built-Ins

The Holz-Handwerk show demonstrates that there really are designers around the world working on every problem you can think of, both big and small. For instance, a Swiss company called Peka has been “developing and producing waste bin and sorting systems for over 30 years.” None of us think of the kitchen garbage can as a design object, but as they point out,

The waste bin is the most frequently-used piece of kitchen equipment. A well-designed bin that is tailored to your needs makes it much easier to work and clean in the kitchen.

To be sure, the central display in their booth was unpromising: Just a bare countertop and cabinets.

But that’s kind of the point. Peka has designed everything to be hidden away, organized and unobtrusive, behind closed doors.

So what’re we looking at here? Peka’s system is meant to utilize the under-sink space, which is often tricky to utilize efficiently given the modern trend of buying ever-deeper sinks. At the risk of fetishizing Swiss precision, I found the demo video highly entertaining, perhaps for the wrong reasons:

Details that might not be obvious from the video: The height of the rig that holds the garbage can and compost bin in place are height-adjustable (during installation) in order to clear the sink basin; unseen dividers prevent the bins from sliding around; the plastic clamping mechanism can hold plastic bags of different sizes, allowing you to use whatever you’ve got on hand to use as a garbage bag; the inside of the compost bin has radiused edges to ensure no food gets stuck in the corners; and just above the top of the bins is a metal tray that can hold a dustpan and broom.

Here is the Peka take on what to do with cabinet and closet space:

After getting over the shocking fact that the Swiss can transmit speech without moving their mouths, I found myself admiring the attention to detail of the products. I know you weren’t at the show, but I touched the stuff in person and unsurprisingly, the mechanisms all worked flawlessly and the fit and finish were unparalleled. Leave it to the Swiss to make the act of stowing garbage, sexy.

More from Core77’s coverage of this year’s Holz-Handwerk Show!