Sydneysiders visited the Grand Designs Live home show last weekend and Fisher & Paykel were there as part of the team, providing information on the latest kitchen design trends.
Experts at the show cited the room with the potential for the biggest return on investment is the kitchen, saying a good kitchen renovation can cost up to 10 per cent of the value of a home.
Fisher & Paykel’s Head of Industrial Design, Mark Elmore, said he believes kitchens have moved beyond their utilitarian role and are now an integral part of the living area.
“Kitchen cabinets are now more like furniture and designers need to ensure appliances integrate seamlessly. This means kitchen appliance designers need to ensure the appearance of their products is equal to standards set in other parts of the house,” he said.
“The kitchen will continue to be one of the most lived-in rooms of the house and appliance design will accommodate that – by becoming increasingly integrated, and crafted from premium materials that reflect
quality of the rest of the house”, he added.
Darren Genner from Minosa (award-winning kitchen designers) agreed that kitchen aesthetics are increasingly important: “Everybody wants open-plan kitchens that resemble furniture; and everyone wants drawers
and more drawers,” he said.
Fisher & Paykel have recognised the need to design appliances with drawers for some time – it was the first appliance manufacturer to use drawers in refrigerators and dishwashers. According to Elmore, the
company has always designed its kitchen appliances to match and integrate, “. to allow people to create a seamless, cohesive look in their kitchen.”
“Our new ‘mix and match’ cooktops have won international Red Dot awards, which means we were in the top 1.5 per cent of almost 5,000 entries for these prestigious awards. These induction and gas-on-glass cooktops can be mixed and matched with each other in whatever configuration people desire. They are offered in ‘dominos’ with one, two, three or four cooking zones/burners – and a stainless steel strip that lines up perfectly across each appliance aesthetically ties the combination together,” he said.
At the show, Fisher & Paykel gave one lucky visitor an $80,000 RRP kitchen makeover. The prize included design consultation and management, trade work, kitchen cabinetry, bench tops and installation of state-of-the-art appliances from Fisher & Paykel. Another three entrants won $2,000 RRP in Fisher & Paykel appliances.
