Las Vegas - Today’s home kitchen doesn’t look anything like it did a century ago. But for the most part, it doesn’t look a lot different than 50 years ago.
Appliances are sleeker, materials are better, color palettes are broader. But the room is still the hard-working heart of the home.
So what might the kitchen of the future be like?
At the upcoming Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas and the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York, insiders will get a peek at where we’re headed.
First, that open-plan layout. Here to stay?
Not necessarily, says Sam Cochran, features director for Architectural Digest magazine.
“Kitchens will continue to be gathering spaces, with dining nooks and multipurpose work surfaces where you can both roll your dough or type on your laptop,” he says. “But it’s no longer a universal truth that a dream kitchen must be an open kitchen. We’re seeing more and more people embrace doors and walls as they warm to the idea of the kitchen as a separate sphere, one that you can move in and out of over the course of the day.”
Andrew Shead, marketing manager for the appliance maker True Residential, doesn’t see open-plan kitchens going away. “But many of our high-end clients are adding a second kitchen to serve as a working kitchen,” he says.
Especially popular with those who entertain a lot, the backstage workhorse kitchen keeps messy prep out of sight, allowing the front-of-house kitchen to serve as more of a showy entertaining and gathering space.
Kitchen designers are incorporating fashion-forward features like glass fronts and LED lights on fridges, chic leather and metal hardware on appliances and cabinetry, and backsplashes with unusual finishes like shagreen, metal, raw wood or artful murals.
Tech is also the talk of the kitchen-design crowd. “The future of kitchen appliances is undeniably digital,” says Jon Hall, product and marketing director for JennAir.
“We’re already charging at a fast clip in that direction,” he says, noting that JennAir has developed over 110 new products with what he refers to as “an enhanced digital backbone.” That means dishwashers that respond to voice commands, and ovens that help craft a menu.
Both LG Signature Kitchen Suite and Miele are working on appliances that could communicate with each other to create shopping lists, meal recommendations and cooking instruction. Zach Elkin, general manager of Signature, says they’ve coined a term for the next generation of forward-thinking cooks: “technicureans.”
Las Vegas - Today’s home kitchen doesn’t look anything like it did a century ago. But for the most part, it doesn’t look a lot different than 50 years ago.
Appliances are sleeker, materials are better, color palettes are broader. But the room is still the hard-working heart of the home.
So what might the kitchen of the future be like?
At the upcoming Kitchen and Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas and the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York, insiders will get a peek at where we’re headed.
First, that open-plan layout. Here to stay?
Not necessarily, says Sam Cochran, features director for Architectural Digest magazine.
“Kitchens will continue to be gathering spaces, with dining nooks and multipurpose work surfaces where you can both roll your dough or type on your laptop,” he says. “But it’s no longer a universal truth that a dream kitchen must be an open kitchen. We’re seeing more and more people embrace doors and walls as they warm to the idea of the kitchen as a separate sphere, one that you can move in and out of over the course of the day.”
Andrew Shead, marketing manager for the appliance maker True Residential, doesn’t see open-plan kitchens going away. “But many of our high-end clients are adding a second kitchen to serve as a working kitchen,” he says.
Especially popular with those who entertain a lot, the backstage workhorse kitchen keeps messy prep out of sight, allowing the front-of-house kitchen to serve as more of a showy entertaining and gathering space.
Kitchen designers are incorporating fashion-forward features like glass fronts and LED lights on fridges, chic leather and metal hardware on appliances and cabinetry, and backsplashes with unusual finishes like shagreen, metal, raw wood or artful murals.
Tech is also the talk of the kitchen-design crowd. “The future of kitchen appliances is undeniably digital,” says Jon Hall, product and marketing director for JennAir.
“We’re already charging at a fast clip in that direction,” he says, noting that JennAir has developed over 110 new products with what he refers to as “an enhanced digital backbone.” That means dishwashers that respond to voice commands, and ovens that help craft a menu.
Both LG Signature Kitchen Suite and Miele are working on appliances that could communicate with each other to create shopping lists, meal recommendations and cooking instruction. Zach Elkin, general manager of Signature, says they’ve coined a term for the next generation of forward-thinking cooks: “technicureans.”
