Designer's Block

The adorable Minikitchen, one of Colombo’s first designs to experiement with multiple funtions contained within a single unit, debuted at the Milan Triennale in 1964 and was produced by Boffi in limited numbers before fading into obscurity.

Originally constructed out of wood, the Minikitchen now features sleek Corian surfaces and a solid teak chopping board.

 A total of nine separate storage spaces (drawers, cupboards, compartments) are contained within the Minikitchen.

The unit contains a refigerator with 1.7 cubic feet of storage (you’ll have to provide the miniature bottles of booze). While this may prove impractical for the Costco shopper, it might encourage greater use of fresh ingredients.

A ceramic glass induction hotplate with touch controls beats the lame electric coils of the original issue. The unit also contains two electrical outlets (for a panini press and espresso maker, obviously).

The Minikitchen is perhaps the world’s only kitchen that can come to you—it’s set on four rotating casters (two of which have brakes, just in case your shanty is slanty).