Chef’s Table

Restaurant and kitchen: two spaces that are functionally indisputably linked but spatially often separated. The Chef’s Table of restaurant Vermeer is an exception: a dining room has been created in the kitchen. Chef Chris Naylor wants to receive his guests in a special way and give them the feeling that they are dining in his laboratory.

The dining area is designed around a fixed table that is already suspended from the ceiling. Translucent industrial curtains create a filter between the table for six persons and the noise, visual hectic and smells from the kitchen. Mirrored ceiling panels have been added to the dining area, in order to make it appear higher. In a subtle way, the contrast is further enhanced between the candlelit ‘Chef’s Table’ and the fluorescent lit kitchen.

A transparent window is created in each of the four translucent walls that frames the view from the table to the kitchen. One window frames the view to the chef’s office with the cookbooks, a large horizontal window gives a wide view of the cooks in the kitchen, a vertical window gives a glimpse into the storage of canning jars and a low horizontal window shows the continuation of the tiled floor and thus the continuation of the space.

Due to the delicate detailing the material transcends its industrial character and gets an appearance that suits the Michelin restaurant. In this way the architecture aligns with the creative process of the chef who is known for transforming everyday ingredients into complex dishes with pure and powerful flavors.