The Art of Kitchen Design: Planning for Comfort and Style

This book is full of the most practical yet beautiful small to large kitchens you can imagine. All the history of kitchens is covered with photo's of old paintings to illustrate them. Tons of colour photos, and for only [money] he will build you your own kitchen! This is the best kitchen book I have found. A good addition to it is, "Dream Kitchens: Recipes And Ideas For Modern Kitchens" ISBN: 1571458492

Nephew of Elizabeth David (the doyenne of English Food writing), and an architect by trade, Grey writes lucidly and cogently about all aspects of kitchen design. The first section of the book is a history of kitchen design through the ages with a good critique of the good and bad aspects of such kitchens. He includes lots of pictures of kitchens he has designed for various types of houses - including those for Elizabeth David (a winter kitchen and a summer kitchen no less) and for these insights alone the book is worth the price. Grey is scathing about built-in kitchens as he feels that, although they help avoid clutter, they are also devoid of humanity and warmth. Grey's kitchen's focus on the Kitchen as the centre of any house - as a place for cooking, entertaining, homework, socialising and generally enjoying your home. Kitchens should for example have lots of places to perch to encourage conversation to develop. The book contains lots of diagrams and pictures as well as some architectural style drawings to illustrate the points made in the text. Most everything you would like to know about kitchens is contained in this book which is well designed and presented. Highly recommended for foodies and home owners everywhere.

I am a professional cabinetmaker and designer. Johnny Grey's book opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about and designing kitchens for the way we use them in our modern lifestyles. It is easily the most inspirational book I have ever seen on the subject. I fully recommend this book to anyone in the trade wanting to take a fresh look at their craft.In general, cabinetry from the big mass manufacturers are inadequate to fulfill Johnn'y ideas, because his whole design philosophy represents a new paradigm not yet integrated into our general culture. Therefore I do not recommend this book to the average homeowner wanting to remodel their kitchen unless they have a reasonable budget and can think creatively. And oh, yes, you are willing to establish a working relationship with an open minded cabinet maker skilled at custom design as well!

Designing a kitchen is an excruciating task for most homeowners. The restrained and often stale design palette of most kitchen designers compounds the difficulty. Far too many "dream kitchens" are nothing more than expensive appliances attached to row upon horizontal row of bland cabinets and continuous work surfaces. Not only is this is esthetically uninteresting, but these modern designs are often not fully functional and detract from the spatial beauty of older homes. John Grey dares to be different. While decidedly modern in material choice and functionality, his kitchens evoke the flavor and visual beauty of older kitchens. The book is superbly illustrated with examples of his work. Mr. Grey's book is a passionate treatise on how to create a stunning yet fully functional kitchen interior. His ideas are provocative, among them a banishment of upper cabinets and a mixing of lower cabinet styles and height. The book is not a "how-to" book, it has scale drawings and colour pictures, but its focus is on the principles and not the particulars of kitchen remodelling. The audience of this book will be those who desire something different and special in a kitchen. It is an essential read for anyone planning a kitchen remodel and is of particular importance to those who have older homes.