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A new study reveals home owners want their kitchen, not the home office
or the game room, to be the digital nerve center of the home, as well
as a social hub.
The finding was discovered after
the Internet Home Alliance commissioned research and consulting firm
Zanthus to determine how home owners wanted to customize their
kitchens.
The pollster put a host of
questions to 602 home owners responsible for making household
purchasing decisions about kitchen appliances and consumer electronics
and the answers surprised the alliance.
"While we expected to learn that
the kitchen continues to serve as the hub of the home, we were
surprised to find that bigger kitchens aren't necessarily a priority
for most U.S. homeowners," said Tim Woods, vice president of the
alliance.
"For example, we thought that a
desk or workstation would be a popular addition but, in fact, most
homeowners told us that a computer on a counter worked just as well.
Eighty-two percent of our respondents told us that they had no interest
in creating a separate space to do work assignments in the kitchen,
though they did suggest that a more innovative kitchen design that
freed up counter space would be useful," he said.
The alliance is a consortium of
Continental Automated Buildings Association members (including Hewlett
Packard, Intel, Microsoft and the National Association of Home
Builders) who comprise a network of companies engaged in advancing the
connected home space. It will release the full study during the 2007
Kitchen/Bath Industry Show & Conference (KBIS) in Las Vegas, May
7-10, where the alliance will display an "Ideal Digital Kitchen" model
created based on the survey results.
Preliminary findings reveal the ideal digital kitchen includes:
A digital
calendar. The primary kitchen user, typically is also the primary
schedule keeper and preferred a digital calendar over 22 other
concepts. The calendar should be on a large screen used to add
appointments and post notes all household members can access in the
kitchen or remotely via the Internet.
A recipe projection system. Lose those food-stained
recipe cards and books. Eighty percent of those surveyed want some sort
of wireless, voice-activated recipe projection system that would
display recipes onto a kitchen surface.
An energy monitor and control. Home owners want to
monitor energy consumption by room and appliance to chart peak energy
usage times, to diagnose areas of wasted energy, and to calculate
energy costs.
A home control station. Perhaps the appointment
screen could also double as a monitor for the HVAC and security
systems. Home owners requested a screen where they can view the
temperature inside and outside of their home, adjust the thermostat on
a touch pad and view live video of both the front and back of their
house.
A universal charging station. What better place than
the social kitchen to juice up cell phones, personal digital
assistants, iPods and the like. One-third of households reported that
they currently keep their cell phones on the kitchen counter and
one-half said they keep their phone chargers there as well.
Wireless Internet access. Twenty-nine percent of all
homeowners and 43 percent of those remodeling their homes want the
Internet served up in the kitchen for Web surfing and email but not for
offline applications.
The survey also revealed what could be a changing trend in how the kitchen is used.
The kitchen is a control center, more than an
entertainment center. The vast majority of home owners, 85 percent,
said they don’t see themselves watching videos or movies in the
kitchen.
"That's likely because those are activities that need time and
attention, two things in short supply when making dinner," the alliance
reported.
Likewise, video games have no place in the kitchen for 93 percent of
those polled. Most say just stick to a television and wireless
broadband.
Most parents, 59 percent, would rather kids not
do home work in the kitchen. However, 48 percent said their kids do
crack the books while the household chef is cracking eggs.
Likewise, 69 percent would prefer their kids not do arts and crafts in
the kitchen, while 43 percent allow their kids to get creative on paper
in the kitchen.
Written by Broderick Perkins
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