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The Champion, Thursday, March 10-16, 2016 LIFESTYLE
by Melissa Rayworth
(AP) American kitchens have
always served as more than
cooking and eating spaces.
Generations of kids have done
homework at kitchen tables.
Parents claim counter space to
organize family miscellany, tap out
work emails on laptops or install a
television.
But now those work and
entertainment uses are part of
kitchen design from the get-go.
The era of the “super kitchen”
has arrived.
“Our findings show that
homeowners expect kitchen
renovations to go far beyond
improving flow, storage or
aesthetics,” said Nino Sitchinava,
principal economist at Houzz.
com, in announcing the site’s 2016
Kitchen Trends Survey. “The ‘super
kitchen’ has literally become a living
room, family room and office, with
finishes, layouts and decor that
challenge us to define where the
kitchen ends and the rest of the
home begins.”
Interior designer Mikel Welch
calls the kitchen “the new epicenter
of the house.”
“Everybody’s working from
home,” and they often prefer doing
that in an open kitchen rather than
a sequestered home office.
What are the features of a true
“super kitchen”?
HIGH-TECH STATIONS
: Stove, sink,
Designer Tiffany Brooks, host
of HGTV’s Most Embarrassing
Rooms in America, said
homeowners want technology
within easy reach, but protected
from food and drink spills. Some
add a built-in iPad docking area or
laptop station on a counter, while
others choose the less expensive
option of adding a tablet dock
mounted under a cabinet, with an
arm that swings out.
People also want power. Pop
up outlets are being installed
directly into countertops, said
Sarah Fishburne, director of trend
and design for the Home Depot.
Wireless “charging countertops”
are also available, including LG’s
Tech Top and Dupont Corian. And
homeowners are adding extra
power outlets throughout the
kitchen, and designing dedicated
charging areas with power strips.
The goal, said Fishburne, is to
have “many outlets readily available
for anything you might need to plug
in, from computer to glue gun.”
Another tech choice:
Dishwashers that run almost
silently, so they won’t distract you
while you’re working in the kitchen.
And full-size televisions are being
added to the main cooking area so
you can do your binge-watching in
the same place where you try to
avoid binge-eating.
The traditional focus of kitchen
planning—a stove-sink-refrigerator
triangle—has become a square,
Welch said, with the TV added as a
core necessity.
Occasionally, new kitchen
technology does involve food:
“Warming drawers are huge,”
Brooks said. Because many
people work nontraditional hours,
“somebody is cooking at 2,” she
said, “but then somebody is eating
at 5, and somebody is coming
home at 9.”
And some people, Welch added,
“want to essentially bring Starbucks
to them.” Restaurant-quality drink
facilities are being added to home
kitchens, including elaborate
built-in tea and coffee stations,
built-in soda systems, faucets
with a sparkling water spigot
and temperature-controlled wine
refrigerators.
MORE SURFACES, MORE
SEATING, MORE STORAGE
“An emerging trend is two
islands being incorporated into
a kitchen, if there is space,”
said Fishburne. “This allows
for a prep island and an island
to accommodate other family
functions like work or homework
while you are preparing dinner.”
Several of Welch’s design
clients have requested oversize
countertops that “allow six to eight
people to comfortably sit with
barstools,” he said.
Lounging-friendly seating is a
priority, whether or not guests will
be eating. If a kitchen doesn’t have
space for a sectional sofa or other
large seating, some homeowners
are knocking down walls to merge
the kitchen with other rooms. Houzz
said half of its survey respondents
reported making their kitchens
more open to other indoor spaces.
And along with opening up the
kitchen to the rest of the house,
many homeowners are decorating
the kitchen to match other rooms.
“The kitchen is becoming a lot
prettier,” Brooks said. “It is what the
living room was” years ago.
The kitchen backsplash area
can be a creative showcase, the
designers say, using custom-made
tiles or even antique mirrored glass.
Kitchen storage, too, is
becoming more stylish and more
organized. Closet-design systems
originally conceived for bedroom
closets are now being used to
organize kitchen cabinets and
pantries, Brooks said.
And rather than cramming work
papers or family files into a cabinet
designed for dishes, designers are
building office and crafts storage
into the kitchen. Many kitchens
now have desks or computer
workstations, and the days of
bringing in “horrible, chunky rolling
cabinets” to store files is over,
said Welch. Non-kitchen items are
stored in “built-ins that match the
rest of the kitchen.”
Whether they’re asking for the
most flattering lighting or details like
high-end brass cabinet pulls, clients
want everything to be beautiful,
Welch said. More than ever, they
want “that visual ‘wow’ factor.”