Material whirl

Let’s just drop the rustic French-Tuscan farmhouse thing and do something different with stainless steel while we’re at it. Still proud of those cherry cabinets? Try carbon fiber for a Jetsons-age kitchen. Make your home a test laboratory for out-there forms and materials designers are bringing to everyday household furniture and fixtures. Yes, they’re showy and indulgent — but we didn’t buy black granite and stainless steel for their practicality, either. So get your friends chattering about your new, um, stuff.
--JAMES McCOWN

Faraone Imperiale glass spiral staircase

‘‘All rising to a great place is by a winding stair,’’ said the English author Francis Bacon. This airy staircase seems almost to float and can be custom built with a variety of fixtures and configurations, from classically spiral to irregularly shaped. Customers can also substitute other materials, wood or stone for example. But the glass version will put you in league with the ultra-hip, glass-staired Apple stores that are popping up in cities everywhere, and soon on Boylston Street. Price: About $25,000, but varies with configuration; faraone.it

Vetrazzo countertop surfaces

Goodbye black granite. This line of kitchen surfaces is similar to the terrazzo flooring so beloved by mid-century architects. The key difference is that the jewellike glass of Vetrazzo includes recycled glass bottles — everything from the iconic Coca-Cola green to Swedish vodka blue. These shards are mixed with concrete and sealed to a food-safe smoothness. The most stunning of all is the line called Millefiori, a rainbow of effusive, jewel-like glass. Surely this is the countertop Julia Child has in heaven. Price: $55-$75 per square foot (shipping and installation extra); vetrazzo.com

Not for food

This is Lamborghini meets Martha Stewart. Berloni of Italy is currently marketing this gonzo bit of kitchen furnishing that defies easy characterization. The usual elements of sink, oven, and dishwasher are melded with furniture into a sensuous and curvaceous whole. This high-concept combo is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass. ‘‘I think of it as a piazza for domestic life,’’ says designer Enzo Eusebi of Nothing Studio, which designed the unit for Berloni. Because of its complicated and fluid forms, the unit was developed with software called CATIA, which originally was used to design airplane components and was adapted by architect Frank Gehry — of MIT Stata Center fame — for use in architectural and home furnishings applications. Price: custom; berloni.it

Vitraform free-standing basin with Vola fixtures

There are glass basins and there are glass basins. But this one is so elegant and reductive that it takes on an ecclesiastical look -- as if Mies van der Rohe had designed a baptistery. The chrome fixtures, cool and machinelike, are Vola by renowned Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. Price: basin, $1,485; Vola fixtures, $1,250; vitraform.com

Snake towel warmer by Scirocco

Legend has it that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis stayed at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston for its heated towel bars. Perhaps a little too edgy for Jackie O, this jauntily angular fixture could serve as a dramatic foil to the round glass Vitraform basin. Within the chrome-plated square tube are heating elements that both warm towels and the surrounding bathroom. Mount it against a dark wall for an especially dramatic effect. Price: chrome, around $1,025; stainless steel, around $1,250; sciroccoh.it

ThermaSol Pro Series steam shower generator

This will start a long line outside the bathroom. This kit includes electrical and plumbing connections that allow you to convert your shower into a steam generator, turning the bathroom into your own home spa. It's remote controlled and can be customized with music, mood lighting, and seating. La Vita é bella! Price $2,995 to $5,745; thermasol.com

Thermador CharGlo outdoor barbecue

Yes, brushed stainless steel is everywhere, but here it wraps a unit that will make you the envy of every backyard burger flipper in the neighborhood -- this is the Airstream of outdoor cookery. Gas powered, it has a smoke chamber to give meat that western taste, even if it's the western suburbs. A 12,000 BTU capacity and six cast-iron grill gates mean you can feed your kid's little league team. Price: $4,399 for the 48-inch Ddrop- in; thermador.com