WHAT’S COOKING?
Kitchen design trends emerge during COVID-19
The most important ingredient in a family dinner recipe is the family itself, although few family members have really dined together in recent years. Nightly meals and Sunday dinners sort of went the way of 8-track tapes, flip phones, mom jeans, mullets, and formal dining rooms.
If there can be a silver lining to a pandemic that has wroughtmedical heartache and economic hardship on so many, perhaps it is that the months-long forced lockdown has people nesting by necessity. The result of that is a reconnection with the immediate family. Parents and children are again spending quality time together. And for those many months when restaurants were closed completely or only open for takeout, many people also reacquainted themselves with their kitchens. Familymembers are not only sharingmeals together — often they are even preparing meals together.
Confined to their own homes for so long, people began finding pleasure in simple things again, such as making sourdough bread, baking pies, and cooking meals— something some people had really never done and others hadn’t done in a very long time. “People are reassessing their priorities,” said Gardner Stevens, manager of Kohler, Signature Store by Plimpton & Hills in Westport, which carries a wide range of highend bathroom and kitchen products. “People are taking a look at their homes in a way that they hadn’t before because they need to raise their level of comfort … within their square footage and acreage,” he said.
This has also led to an examination of the kitchen layout and function and has given homeowners an opportunity to maximize the use of their culinary space. Industry experts say there is a marked increase in demand for kitchen renovations, new high-end appliances, and the most technologically advanced features.
“From the pandemic, people are spendingmore time cooking and enjoying their food. They’re putting a little more attention into what they’re (preparing) because they havemore time. They’re home more. In general, people are more excited about food again,” saidMelissaHefferon Adinolfi, owner of Lifestyle Kitchen& Bath Design, LLC in Fairfield. Adinolfi is a designer and contractor who has more than 25 years of experience in design, as an estimator in remodeling and residential construction, and in project management. Sheworks with her husband and partner, Jim Adinolfi, a master carpenter with experience in residential and commercial carpentry.
“I listen to their budget and wish list,” said
Adinolfi, who walks through a projectwith her clients to determine the most important elements, whether it’s functionality, form, or potential resale value.
Still trending, she said, are large center islands with a lot of seating to replace the formal dining room. So are pantries with shelving 18-inches deep to accommodate a growing number of kitchen accessories and small appliances, including countertop ovens and air fryers.
Stevens said people aremaking improvements to both indoor and outdoor kitchens. Inside, there was heightened interest in touch-less technology even before the coronavirus struck. “Kohler has intelligent faucets, called KOHLER Konnect, that actually connect toWi-Fi and the smart devices in your home that allow you to speak to your faucets,” Gardner said. Think Alexa and Siri. “It allows you to run your faucets while your hands are full and ask the faucet for a specific amount ofwater,” he explained.
Using the voice-activation technology, Stevens said a home cook could continue the meal preparation while asking the faucet to pour out eight ounces of water. “It also learns, so you can teach it the amount ofwater that goes in grandma’s pot. Put the pot in the sink and tell it to fill grandma’s pot, or fill the dog bowl, or fill the coffee pot. You don’t have to worry about measuring or underfilling or overfilling,” he said. “It’s definitely water-saving, whether it’s for financial reasons or just being conscious about the environment.”
Another trending Kohler kitchen feature is the Prolific Sink — a preparation sink with different tiers of accessories within the basin of the sink including a colander, drying rack and a cutting board. They can be pushed asidewhen not in use. “Peoplewho cook love these features,” he said. Also popular now are quartz countertops— replacing marble and granite, and water filtration systems. “Everybody wants clean drinking water, and because of the technology it’s become a lot easier to have that filtered water come right out of your faucet,” Stevens said.