Showroom

Bulthaup

German engineered kitchens and living systems at Wooster and Houston, built to order for residential and commercial projects.

bulthaup New York holds the ground floor at the corner of Wooster and Houston, and bulthaup's own site lists it as a partner showroom rather than a company store, which means the people who sell the kitchen are also the people who plan and install it.

What is on the floor is b3 and b Solitaire. b3 is the system worth the visit, because it decides something about the room before any finish is chosen. Its multi function wall carries the water point, the storage and the services, and every element either hangs from that wall or stands on the floor. Islands come floor standing with full storage below, or on feet. Finishes run from through dyed laminate to multi layer lacquer to bog oak, and bulthaup finishes each kitchen by hand rather than from stock. b Solitaire is the free standing work, tables, benches and shelf units, shown alongside.

The showroom is open Monday to Friday from 10 to 6 and Saturday from 11 to 5, at street level with windows, so a first look needs no appointment. A planning consultation does, and the site books it by form against two proposed times.

What a designer goes there for is the wall. Choosing between the hung and the floor standing version is a survey question about what the demising wall will carry and where the services can run, and it is settled faster standing in front of both than from a drawing.

The system resolves a kitchen into very few visible lines, and it does that by pushing the compromises into the wall behind it. So the useful time to bring bulthaup in is while that wall is still a line on a plan, not after it has been built and the services are set.