Every semester, Chone de la Sotilla and Lluïsa Deulonder have a date in Milan at The Salone del Mobile, global benchmark for the Home Furnishing Sector.

An invaluable tool for the industry as well as an on-going, extraordinary promotional vehicle. And we all know that Italians know their designs.

This year one of the outstanding novelties in kitchen accessories was the Miele line of Brilliant White Appliances with handle options allowing you to coordinate the colour of your oven handle, for example, with the tone of the kitchen, letting you play with your colours.

Another interesting place to check out was the new cold line from Sub-Zero refrigerators. Internal dispenser models provide ice and chilled water inside the refrigerator, instead of from the front door, where they are obviously visible.

These refrigerators are energy efficient models and consume noticeably less electricity.

Gutmann and Gaggenau have come up with a great idea too; a downdraught extractor fitted adjacent to the hob to pull odours downwards into the island, either venting out under the floorboards or re-circulating. The extractor itself electronically glides out of sight when not in use. These designs don’t protrude into the room and are especially popular, not least because there’s no danger of a bump on the head, since hobs are frequently installed in island units.

Do you want us to tell you about even more features? Such as these new chairs with a basic traditional design modified to include more organic aesthetics and updated materials (these chairs will be available on line at the Deulander studio website), or the elegant showcase cabinet with glass shelves or the outdoor stainless steel serving cart?

Alessi had a really cute doll shaped corkscrew at their stand’s entrance and elsewhere in the fair, Chefs took centre stage as the aroma of their dishes enticed the visitors further in.