Take a look at the backsplash behind this stove. Very nice, right? Luxe, even. All that marble. Wow. But this backsplash goes one more — take a look...
Yes, the side panels of the backsplash slide away to reveal shelves built in at the back of the countertop. And yes, those panels and the backsplash must have been custom-fabricated out of a single slab of marble; the veins run across when closed and make an almost perfect facade.
Very beautiful, very expensive, and very smart — a good way to both hide and protect ingredients from the heat of the stove while keeping them close at hand. I can imagine this recreated much less expensively with other kinds of materials, like stainless steel or glass.
• See more at the designer's website: Mick de Giulio Kitchen Design
Related: Help! Do We Need a Backsplash?
(Images: via Life in a Venti Cup)
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That's the sexiest backsplash I've ever seen.
nice!
O.M.G. I think you just fixed my "appliance garage" problem. That's gorgeous.
While I might not go with granite, this is an idea that I so have to adapt!
Wow, that is really cool. I hope this catches on in less expensive materials, like you said.
what kind of person spends good money on wine and then stores it next to the stove, when they clearly have other, cooler, options?
Great idea! Those aren't wine bottles...
Nice! I saw something like this in Interior Design Magazine a few issues back but the doors were the push open type in white lacquer.
SURFERTK where's the wine you speak of- i dont think thats wine on the shelves.
cool idea.
Super cool idea.
seems to be designed for the purpose of being expensive. It honestly strikes me as poorly designed as a result--made to seem like a bonus when it is actually more ostentation than practical and robust design
@surfertk Am I missing something? Where is the wine kept?
Filing the idea away in my future kitchen remodel ideas-of-possibilities folder. You could do this as a faux finish if you have the painting skills.
Such an expensive kitchen, and yet I so dislike it. It's just too much flash, and too much fake vintage mixed with the shiny new. The idea of a sliding backsplash is adaptable to more practical kitchens...for spices, salts, tea bags, but the marble is cumbersome and couldn't be whipped open quickly while you are cooking. Those cubbies also imply wasted space behind the stove backsplash. I am much more impressed by the extension of the hood across the whoe cooking area. That was a sophisticated and practical design choice.
I like the sliding backsplash, but I agree with R&R's second point: the HOOD is the really amazing thing no one is looking at!
Interesting that a designer would sell as his design something produced by a famous German kitchen manufacturer company like Siematic http://www.siematic.com/SieMatic_BeauxArts_EN.htm?ActiveID=1740
Siematic Beauxarts collection
Do those things above the stove look like uteruses to anyone else???
It's not very practical, IMO. I can barely reach to wipe off the backsplash behind my regular-sized stove/oven.
You'd constantly need a stool or pull-out shelves to make this idea functional.
And then there's what to store. It doesn't look like wine, but does look like some spices and probably other cooking ingreds., another item I don't want that close to heat.
There's so much cluttery detail in this huge kitchen...I think the designer just got a little carried away with their idea of cool, rather than coming up with a cohesive design aesthetic.
Thinking about trying to clean grease off it, the potential for staining, and the other concerns add up to a 'no, thanks' vote for me.
@Vanitaly -- Good eye, and thanks for the link.
@Rural and Rueful -- I agree completely. Lots of money on display here, and the result is so stern, chilly, and inhuman. Thank God for the stove knobs, or my joy detectors would have withered away by the time I got done looking at these photos.
Stern and chilly indeed...
As for the marble sliding backsplash, one of the most beautiful marble backsplashes I've ever seen was backlit. The marble was so thin, that the light was able to glow through. Ethereal. I haven't seen it anywhere else but the condo of a Canadian designer (now developer) in Toronto.