Showroom

Boffi

Two floors in SoHo carrying kitchen systems, bathrooms, and wardrobes, with De Padova and MA/U Studio furniture.

Boffi is an Italian kitchen and bathroom maker, and its New York flagship sits on the corner of Madison Avenue and 29th Street in the Madison Square design district. The two Soho showrooms on Greene Street, Boffi and De Padova, were closed into this one address, so a designer who knew the old rooms is looking for a different building now.

Three brands share the floors. Boffi is the kitchens and bathrooms, De Padova the furniture and lighting, and ADL the partitioning and door systems. Boffi puts the showroom at 19,694 square feet over three levels with a mezzanine and a lower level, which is what allows full kitchen and bathroom settings rather than fragments of them. Chiara Tombari developed the space with the company's in-house team.

The reason to see a Boffi kitchen rather than specify it is the tolerance. The cabinetry is built to joints tighter than site carpentry produces, and the effect depends on the wall and floor being true. That is a survey question before it is a specification, and standing in front of an installed run makes the argument faster than a drawing does.

Having De Padova and ADL in the same building is the practical gain. A glazed partition, a door system and a kitchen specified as one package come from one supplier with one delivery rather than three trades arriving in sequence.

The showroom is at street level on the corner and is open to the public, Monday to Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 11 to 5. No appointment is needed.

Take the survey to the first meeting. Boffi's fit depends on tolerances an old New York apartment rarely has, and the point to discover an out of true wall is while the kitchen is still being drawn, not when the run is on site and the scribe has run out.