Houzz Survey Reveals Emergence
of the Super Kitchen
Kitchens open up to living spaces and
outdoors, serve as the hub of the home.
Homeowners are renovating their
kitchens to create a “super kitchen” that
not only serves multiple purposes but
also incorporates features, functions
and decorations traditionally associated
with other rooms, dramatically blurring
the lines between the kitchen and other
living spaces, according to the 2016 UK
Houzz Kitchen Trends Survey.
The survey of UK homeowners using
Houzz who are in the midst of, are
planning, or recently completed a
kitchen renovation project, found that
these kitchens go far beyond cooking
and baking, with 69% using the space
for eating and dining, and nearly half
for entertaining (48%) and socialising
(44%). As the hub of the home, nearly
two-thirds of homeowners spend more
than three hours a day in their kitchens
(60%). As many as 32% said they use
their spaces for working in or doing
homework.
Further blurring the lines between the
functional and living areas of their
homes, the majority of renovating
homeowners are making their kitchens
more open to other living spaces (54%),
with 35% of kitchens completely open
to other interior spaces post-renovation.
Nearly half of updated kitchens are also
more open to the outdoors following
upgrades (49%).
“The modern ‘super kitchen’ supports
family, friends and work and does it in
style,” said Nino Sitchinava, principal
economist at Houzz. “Our findings
show that homeowners expect kitchen
renovations to go far beyond improving
flow, storage or aesthetics. The ‘super
kitchen’ has literally become a living
room, family room and dining room,
with finishes, layouts and décor that
challenge us to define where the kitchen
ends and the rest of the home begins.”
When it comes to functional priorities,
creating a kitchen that’s easy to store
and find things in tops the list (58%).
To accomplish this, homeowners are
adding new built-ins including islands
(42%), pantry cabinets (40%) and walkin pantries (12%). Meanwhile, a kitchen
that’s stylish and beautiful is the top
design priority for 66% of homeowners,
followed by one that is filled with natural
light (51 percent) and integrates with the
rest of the house (39%).
64
The top trigger for kitchen projects is to
customise a recently purchased home
(42%). Other top motivations include
not being able to stand the old kitchen
and finally having the means to improve
it (both 30%). Nearly three quarters of
upgraded kitchens were last updated
more than 10 years ago (72%).
Given the considerable longevity,
homeowners are making choices to
ensure they can live with their kitchens
for many years to come, from products
that last, to designs that stand the test of
time. Homeowners are sticking to the
classics with finishes like white cabinets
(33%) in flat-panel (50%) or Shaker
(37%) styles. They are also investing
in stainless steel appliances (54%) and
engineered quartz or granite worktops
(both 23%).
The “UK Houzz Kitchen Trends Study”
is an online survey of UK Houzz users
conducted in October-December 2015.
n=1,674. 64% of respondents completed
or worked on their kitchen project in
2015 and the rest planned to start in early
2016.
www.houzz.co.uk