COUTURE COOKING

The kitchen can be much more than merely a room for dishing.

- Julie Lasky

Daniele Busca tells of a client who went hunting for rugs to match the artwork in his new kitchen. The New York City-based creative director of Scavolini USA, the Italian design company, was impressed that the painting hanging near the client's island was a mustard yellow Picasso. "A Picasso in the kitchen," he marveled. "That's glamorous."

Long ago, the kitchen was the embodiment of domestic servitude-plain, functional, and unobtrusive. Now it's evolved into the centerpiece of home life, taking on the coloring, materials, and textures of the room into which it flows. Today's kitchen may be arrayed along a living room wall or suddenly pop up when you turn a corner of the family room. Either way, it's expected to put its best face forward. This means out with naked appliances, in with statement lighting, rugs, and furnishings.