Concept Kitchens for the Environmentally Conscious

Modern kitchens hold a wealth of instruments that weren’t heard of, much less conceived, as little as a century ago. But our microwaves and convection ovens, as well as our dishwashers and our ice machines are staples of today’s kitchen atmosphere.

But as the world “goes green” the kitchen begins to look more like a vampire of energy use and chemical runoff than a place for us to prepare our sustenance. Thanks to our constantly running appliances as well as our questionable cleaners and soaps, the kitchen is coming under scrutiny as one of the least energy efficient places in the home. Yet there is hope for the modern kitchen in the form of the Brandt Aion, perhaps the cleanest, “greenest,” and most futuristic kitchen concept ever.

The Aion, designed by French industrial designer Antoine Lebrun, is a kitchen component like none in use today. It combines the features of a sink, dishwasher, stove and hood all in one. The sleek design resembles a command post on the Star Trek Voyager, but underneath the layers of functionality are even more surprises. The hood, a white cover that extends the length of the Aion, is used to grow plants. But unlike a normal window-box or potted geranium, these plants are specially bred for their air-cleansing qualities. Originally designed by the aerospace industry, the plants not only filter and cleanse cooking fumes that are taken into the hood, they also provide the sink with a renewable supply of fresh water and vegetable-produced soap.

But the best is yet to come. When dinner is over simply stack the dishes in the sink and close the hood. The Aion washes the dishes as well as the cooking surface using both the fresh water supply and all natural soap provided from the plants.

Originally designed during a small space study requested by the company Fagor Brandt, the Aion would be ideal for small apartments and condominiums, especially in older urban buildings where space is limited and energy expensive.

At this point the Aion is still at concept stage, but hopefully it bodes well for the future of kitchen electronics.

Photo Courtosey of Yanko Design.

AceFisch | My Bio & Articles

I am an junior English major/ Philosophy minor at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Currently I am spending the spring of 2009 studying at the University College Cork in Cork, Ireland.