Fusion Kitchens: Troy Adams

By Karin Edwards

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Fusion menus delight with a blend of Eastern flavors and Continental cuisine. It takes more than a few far-reaching ingredients, however, to create a fusion kitchen in the mind of designer Troy Adams. Yes, his kitchens juxtapose exotic natural materials including basalt, lava stone, bamboo and cork with machined stainless steel. But the nature of the fusion in his designs is centered on blending Eastern values with American functionality. Add to that a penchant for European minimalism, and the result is distinct.

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Organic shapes and exotic materials add Eastern flavor to this kitchen by Los Angeles designer Troy Adams. More important to his mind, however, is its orientation outward.

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Nature-inspired design is at the core of fusion kitchens by Troy Adams, allowing workspaces to blend seamlessly with the outdoors no matter how sleek and modern.

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Without recourse to an exterior wall, Adams likes to create the feeling of windows with these luminous shoji-screen inspired pantry doors of his own design.

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Take those natural building elements, for instance. Whenever possible, they help to create a seamless integration of indoor and outdoor environments. “So many kitchens wrap cabinets around four walls with a window above the sink being the only view out,” he says. ”I like to bring the sink in and and open up that exterior wall so that views beyond form a natural extension of the kitchen.”

“This way, with materials indoors echoing those outside, the two spaces create the feeling of one cooking and gathering room.”

There’s no need for an outdoor kitchen at the home of designer Troy Adams where disappearing sliding doors allow indoor workspaces to function as an extension of outdoor living.

Slate garden pavers cross the threshold of this kitchen’s sliding doors, helping to fuse design elements indoors and out.

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The designer’s own kitchen is one such example featuring a disappearing sliding door that runs the full length of the room. Slate tiles form the range wall’s backsplash as well as outdoor flooring leading to a landscaped water feature. Outdoors, a teppanyaki grill table offers a special opportunity for cooking and gathering.

An outdoor table available through Troy Adams features a downdraft teppanyaki grill at its center.

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“I’ve always found huge outdoor kitchens where typical indoor appliances are adapted to the elements a bit unbelievable,” says Adams. This downdraft grill, ideal for authentic hibachi cuisine, expands the kitchen’s capabilities rather than duplicating them. “It’s a fun way to cook and interact with people at the same time.” Guests can choose from traditional seating or floor cushions. (Ample legroom exists underneath the table, where the ground is recessed).

TROY’S DECORATI FAVORITES
Chaise by Moura Starr	Partition by Antoine Proulx	Lantern by Gulassa	Mirror by Antoine Proulx

Other clever ways of expanding on a kitchen’s utility via the outdoors include such specialty cooking features as fire pits, woodburning ovens, and smokers.

“Look for something with an aesthetic value versus another big hunk of stainless. Even if it’s a basic grill, the experience is so much different when that appliance looks like it belongs there.”

Indoor version of the teppanaki grill (shown above)

In a client’s kitchen, Adams used disappearing sliding doors to connect the kitchen with an outdoor firepit, used for ambience as well as cooking.

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Teak panels on the outdoor grill in the above kitchen, for instance, help transition the industrial quality of stainless steel to the outdoors. Adams also likes the idea of bamboo as an option in outdoor cabinets.

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Whether you grow experimental with food or simply the way you cook it (Adams’s family loves a good burger on their TepanGrill table), the point is to explore what the outdoors can add to a kitchen’s design. “Maybe it’s not even cooking,” Adams says, “just a view beyond and the feelings of connection that invites.”

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WANT THE LOOK? Keep reading to learn how to create your own Fusion Kitchen.

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Honed stone is great for sinks, and ceramic barbecues can look as artful as the recipes they accommodate. A traditional part of cooking from Japan to Indonesia these are known as kamados, and are often egg-shaped with surfaces ranging from leaf greens to colorful mosaics.

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Mosaics decorate charcoal-burning ceramic cookers by KomodoKamado, whose precision airflow and excellent insulation allows temperatures up to 800 degrees.

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An outdoor cooking station by Atlantis with bamboo doors and drawer heads combines outdoor durability with a natural aesthetic.

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Stone hearths are an ancient cooking tool that can look right at home in contemporary installations.

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STAY TUNED FOR DECORATI’S NEW KITCHEN AND BATH SECTION LAUNCHING SOON!

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