Cover At Milan Design Week 2026, Smeg showcased Neo, a humanoid robot by 1X capable of operating kitchen appliances
At Milan Design Week 2026, Smeg showcased Neo, a humanoid robot by 1X capable of operating kitchen appliances
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From invisible induction to AI sous-chefs, Milan Design Week 2026 confirmed what the industry has been quietly arguing for years: the kitchen is no longer a room in the house
The kitchen has been staging its takeover for some time, but Milan Design Week 2026 felt like the moment it completed this feat. At EuroCucina and across the city’s showrooms and studios, brand after brand arrived with the same essential argument: that the boundaries between kitchen, living room, dining room and even wardrobe have not merely blurred but dissolved. Technology disappeared into surfaces. Appliances became architecture. A Swiss brand staged a performance. A New Zealand brand served tea made on an induction hob hidden inside a volcanic stone slab. A furniture brand built a wall that turned out to be a bar. The kitchen, it turns out, is wherever you decide it is.
V-ZUG
Above A performer of Table Rituals by Teatro delle Moire
A performer of Table Rituals by Teatro delle Moire
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Swiss appliance brand V-ZUG made one of the quieter but more considered statements at Milan Design Week, presenting Table Rituals at their Piazza San Marco studio. Conceived by architect and designer Elisa Ossino, the installation centred on a long sculptural table that functioned simultaneously as stage, worktop and gathering point.
Three performers from Teatro delle Moire, dressed in textile sculptures by Matteo Idini, moved through the space transforming ordinary kitchen actions—chopping, pouring, passing—into a choreographed interplay of gesture, movement and sound. The effect was less product demonstration than quiet argument: that the kitchen is not a room for appliances but a room for people.
Read more: Inside a Joan Road sanctuary: how V-ZUG transformed a family kitchen into a culinary haven
Above The Integra invisible induction system at V-ZUG Studio Milano
The Integra invisible induction system at V-ZUG Studio Milano
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At the heart of the table sat Integra, V-ZUG’s new invisible induction system embedded within a continuous mineral surface made from MDi, a material composed of pure natural minerals that withstands heat, cold and heavy use while reading visually as pure architecture.
No visible hob, no interface interruption, just an unbroken surface that responds to touch through a tactile control element and subtle LED guidance. Technology is present but unseen, which is precisely the point.
In case you missed it: Of heart and heritage: two sisters’ Peranakan cooking ritual comes alive in this cosy V-ZUG kitchen
Visionnaire
The Duncan kitchen by Alessandro La Spada for Visionnaire, with its oxidised metal mosaic wall sliding away to reveal a fully equipped bar within
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Visionnaire, better known for upholstery than cooktops, makes a convincing case for the kitchen as an architectural statement. The Basalt island by Alessandro La Spada, a compact metal volume on a recessed base with chamfered edges, has the authority of sculpture rather than cabinetry, paired with the Titan dining table in dark veined Negresco marble. Then there is Duncan: a wall clad in oxidised metal mosaic, deep-toned and almost geological, until a single automated command slides the panel away to reveal a fully equipped bar within. Domestic theatre is at its most considered here.
Liebherr
Liebherr’s under-counter wine chiller and fridge
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Liebherr chose intimacy over spectacle for Milan 2026, presenting its Experience Showroom in the Fontana Meeting Room of Hotel Rosa Grand, just steps from the Duomo, under the theme Moments to Savour. The focus was refrigeration as design object: new XL integrated appliances for 194cm recesses with BioFresh drawers and LightTower illumination, the award-winning French Door range in SmartSteel and the warmer, more domestic TerraSteel finish, and a selection from the Monolith luxury series.
Branded rickshaws ferrying passengers around the Duomo completed the city activation, precision cooling meeting street-level charm.
In case you missed it: Liebherr’s Gian Paolo Glueckler on keeping things fresh and how wellness begins with your refrigerator
Smeg
Smeg’s Musa in a terracotta scheme
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At EuroCucina, Smeg’s headline was Musa, its first new built-in collection in a decade, developed with Milanese studio BorromeodeSilva: ovens, induction hobs and rangehoods united by rounded graphics, etched glass and a deliberate tension between matte and gloss finishes. The Portofino and FAB ranges extend into a new palette of Anthracite, Storm Blue, Emerald Green, Amber Clay and the quietly luminous Moonlight. The stand also featured Neo, a humanoid robot by 1X, operating appliances in what Smeg framed as a practical glimpse of where the intelligent kitchen is heading.
Dada
Above Dada’s Physis by Vincent Van Duysen, the centenary kitchen system of softened volumes and unified construction logic
Dada’s Physis by Vincent Van Duysen, the centenary kitchen system of softened volumes and unified construction logic
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Dada marks its 100th anniversary with Physis, a new kitchen system by Vincent Van Duysen, who celebrates his 10th anniversary of creative directorship at the Molteni Group this year. Rounded edges and half-bullnose workmanship soften every junction, open compartments are finished in fine materials, and thoughtfully placed lighting traces the curved lines and spatial fluidity of the whole. It is an architecture within architecture, as the brand puts it, where nothing interrupts the eye and the kitchen simply becomes the room.
Fisher & Paykel
Fisher & Paykel’s Kitchen as Monolith at EuroCucina, tōtara cabinetry and basalt island framing appliances
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Fisher & Paykel arrived at EuroCucina with one of the most considered stands of the fair. Nature Ritual, conceived by creative director Dean Poole of Alt Group, translated two materials from the New Zealand landscape—tōtara timber and volcanic basalt—into a 450 sq m immersive environment of carved surfaces, birdsong and kawakawa tea served at the threshold. Within it, the brand’s Minimal Style appliances disappeared entirely into the architecture, flush-fitted with perimeter gaps of less than two millimetres; technology is present but invisible, which is precisely the point.
Cesar
Tangram in Jaipur Red anodic lacquer at Cesar’s renovated Milan flagship
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Cesar used Milan Design Week to reopen its flagship on Via Larga as an immersive three-level journey through a brand that has outgrown the kitchen entirely. The story was told most vividly through Tangram—García Cumini’s system of variable-radius curves and Groove-patterned surfaces, now available in columns and wall units as well as islands, shown in Anodic Bronze with Breccia Sarda marble and the new Palmier edge. The kitchen is a compositional device; the rest of the home is simply waiting to follow.
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Jakarta-born, Bandung-raised and Singapore-based, Asih Jenie trained in Visual Communication Design at Bandung Institute of Technology and Architecture at Parahyangan Catholic University. She brings both rigour and heart to design journalism, infused with a distinct Southeast Asian voice.
As a child, she doodled on the edges of her schoolbooks and never outgrew her fascination with all things well-made and well-told. Her 15-year career spans editorial roles and bylines in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Australia, across spatial design titles such as Dwell Asia, Cubes, Design Anthology, Habitus Living, and Home & Decor.
After a brief stint in public relations, she returned to publishing in 2023 to lead Tatler Homes Singapore, where she continues to tell stories about how we shape the spaces that shape us.
