Current Kitchen Focus: It’s About Us

The days of considering a major kitchen remodel to enhance a home’s resale value has been supplanted, at least for the short-term, by renovation that enhances “live-in” value for the family that’s already there.

People are staying in their homes longer and are choosing to update important rooms like the kitchen to suit their current needs, industry research confirms. Perhaps not surprising, households that are spending the most and are more likely to have remodeled in the past year using a designer or architect are families with children.

It’s also no surprise that designers are finding the amenities homeowners want most vary by demographic and household reality.

This is a great kitchen for those serious cooks/entertainers who need a compact and efficient layout. 

While islands may be a great kitchen gathering place for kids of all ages, you are less likely to find island cooktops in kitchens with toddlers or pre-schoolers. Safety is a primary component of kitchen design for these families. Induction cooktops are popular because the cooking surface stays cool to the touch and heats up when in contact with magnetic material, such as an iron skillet.

Built-in desks and work surfaces are popular kitchen additions in homes with school age children. And those work/play areas are frequently outfitted with outlets for laptops and task lights, as well as small mobile device charging stations.

Homes with teens or older children may require additional prep areas in their kitchens, combined with a layout that easily accommodates shared cooking and baking activities.

What about households with adults only? You’re likely to find generational differences in the definition of a dream kitchen.

Younger couples or singles 18 to 34 have grown up with technology defining their lives, and their ideal kitchens are no exception. They are intrigued by such new kitchen technologies as a multimedia ventilation hood with LCD screen for watching television and DVDs, or a microwave that cooks food to exact directions after you swipe a barcode on the package.

For Boomers, it is less about technology for technology’s sake and more about the result. People in the 45 to 64-year-old group are interested in appliance upgrades that facilitate entertaining. Boomer home chefs are looking for cooktops with “extras” like built-in grills or rotisseries. They favor professional-grade appliances and even built-in coffeemakers (connected directly to water sources).

There’s no question our kitchens have long been a center of home life. How that space is being defined and designed these days is as varied and unique as the people who use it.