Designing the PLATE kitchen was an especially personal project for studio founder and creative director David Thulstrup because it stemmed from wanting a new kitchen for himself in his new home in Copenhagen. Reform, which uses IKEA cabinets and joinery as the base, wanted a combination of materials and color that were true to Thulstrup’s signature aesthetic.

Thulstrup achieved this by using metal with a handcrafted look – raw or painted aluminum for the cabinet fronts and hand-brushed steel or stone for the counter tops. The name PLATE is inspired by the cabinet fronts in which two plates of aluminum are sandwiched around a core of black Valchromat.

To keep the clean lines, the grip is a recess where the materials meet and it reads as a continuation of the door. The cabinet fronts come in three finishes. These can be combined with one of three counter tops – hand brushed steel, the blue Belgian stone Carrières du Hainaut Ecuré and Baltic brown honed granite from Norway. For his own home the interior architect chose all metal with the hand brushed steel top and raw hand brushed aluminum cabinet fronts.

Innovation
The Plate kitchen combines deep, dark shades, shiny surfaces and innovative craftsmanship. Using materiality—the combination of aluminium and valchromat—as a starting point allowed for integrated functionality as the end-result. The outcome: PLATE is designed with an innovative, integrated grip. That is, the design is 'handleless' with shifts in the plate design as the handle itself.

Creativity
The Plate kitchen explores modern simplicity in a minimalist rethinking of traditional cuisine that lets David Thulstrup's talent for exposing the essence of the materials shine through its solid design.

Functionality
Plate kitchen is sophisticated and elegant in a raw, honest and unfiltered way. It resembles what the core of a kitchen stands for.

Sustainability
The Plate kitchen uses materials that are inherently sustainable. For example, aluminium is recycled and recyclable; valchromat is based on wood fibres from forest waste and is less toxic than MDF.

Inclusivity
The matte, industrial look is at once classic, modern, and makes a virtue out of being skinny honest around the aesthetics and properties of the materials. Its minimal design language is calming yet inviting at the same time. Besides, it is based on Democratic Design (the frame is IKEA)