Gaggenau

Why appliance planning comes early

Appliances shape the kitchen, not the other way round.

The decisions that look like appliance decisions are usually layout decisions. Where the ovens sit affects the height and run of the tall cabinetry. The cooktop and its extraction govern the worktop, the ceiling and the services that have to reach them. A wine cabinet, a fridge freezer and a coffee machine each ask for cabinetry around them that holds the elevation together. None of that can be fixed at the end of a project; all of it has to be planned in early, before the cabinetry is committed and before the services are run.

On a piqu project the appliance plan is drafted alongside the layout. We think about who cooks, how often, for how many, and where the hand-offs happen between the cook, the room and the rest of the home. From that we plan the cooking zone, the cooling zone, the extraction route, the wine and drinks storage and the cooking flow — and the cabinetry follows.

Why Gaggenau

Built for the way considered kitchens are actually used.

Gaggenau suits projects where the appliances need to be planned with the same care as the cabinetry. The combi steam ovens, the warming drawers, the 400-Series cooktops, the wine cabinets and the cooling cabinets are engineered for daily use over many years; the finishes are restrained enough to sit inside cabinetry as part of it rather than on top of it; and the range is wide enough that a project can find what it actually needs without compromising on either the cooking or the look of the room.

That matters more on a long-term kitchen project than it does on a fit-out. Gaggenau appliances are often specified for kitchens intended to work for many years, so they need to be planned with the same care as the cabinetry, worktops and ventilation. The kitchen has to keep feeling like one room rather than a set of appliances with cabinets around them. Gaggenau supports that.

How piqu specifies Gaggenau

What suits the cook, the room and the way the home is used.

The right Gaggenau line-up for one project is rarely the right line-up for another. Adrian walks each client through the choices in the showroom — combi steam versus steam-only, induction versus gas versus Tepan, the question of whether a wine cabinet earns its space and the difference between cooling that has to be quiet and cooling that has to hold ten cases — and the schedule is built around the way the kitchen will actually be used.

It is a design conversation, not a product walk-through. The studio is not interested in selling more appliances than the project needs; the conversation is about what genuinely fits.

Relevant projects

Where Gaggenau sits inside a piqu kitchen.

Four featured case studies show different ways Gaggenau has been specified inside a complete piqu kitchen project. Each was planned around how the family or the cook would use the room, not around the appliance schedule.

Keston Dark Timber & Gaggenau Kitchen — a family kitchen built around a full Gaggenau line-up: two wide ovens, combi microwave, combi steam, three 400-Series hobs (induction and Tepan) and two wide fridge freezers.

Eltham Dark Gaggenau Kitchen — a dark social kitchen with a dedicated drinks area, designed for serious cooking and entertaining.

Hammersmith Stainless Steel Island Kitchen — a compact London terrace kitchen with mostly Gaggenau, set against matt black Fenix cabinetry and a handmade stainless steel island.

Clapham Quartzite & Timber Kitchen — a new-build apartment kitchen specified with Gaggenau alongside Siemens, around Cosmopolitan Quartzite and oak.