Swiss kitchen appliance manufacturer Franke commissioned four architects to create concept kitchens for the Milan Furniture Fair this month. Indian designer Satyendra Pakhale designed a compact kitchen in deep red, with an abundance of artificial light, in recognition that many now have limited space for cooking and cannot count on natural light. In it, he included the full-sized Franke My Menu oven, an island with a sink and a stove top all in a 2.5 square metre space. I wanted to kind of create a conception for a future kitchen, which will have a quality space and a very cheerful atmosphere, said Pakhale. I cant think of any culture where the kitchen is not important. It is primal. Frankes new smart phone-controlled oven, My Menu, attracted a great deal of interest. The new concept provides the perfect answer for the busy entertainer. Users can design menus in the smart phone app, which provides a shopping list and recipes to dinner party size. The courses can then be put simultaneously into various levels of the oven, and cooked to order. The user is free to join their guests and relax, receiving a message via their phone as each course is ready. Despite the gloomy economy, the call for space at the enormous Rho Fairgrounds fair venue outside Milan outstripped availability by 19,000 square meters and the event attracted around some 300,000 visitors.