Functional Spaces: Kitchens for Living
Everything you need to know about how the homeowner feels about their current kitchen along with their aspirations and priorities for their next kitchen purchase.
Using the responses of the 2,009 homeowners across the UK we questioned, we have been able to paint a picture of their current homes and kitchens, and how they feel about them:
- One in five people don’t like their current kitchen
- 31% of homeowners said they need to upgrade their kitchen but are worried about getting the design wrong
- 52% would like lighting built into their kitchen cabinets
- 27% say their kitchens are too small
- 25% would like Wi-Fi enabled appliances in their kitchens
Executive summary
The way we use our kitchens is continually evolving. Once a small add-on to a home 
used purely for cooking, kitchens are now a central hub packed with appliances, technology and features to help households achieve multiple purposes within the space.
Since March 2020 in particular, the way we use and behave in our homes has transformed, but are today’s kitchen designs helping customers achieve their ambitions when it comes to functionality?
Earlier this year, Häfele undertook research with more than 2,000 homeowners to explore kitchens of today – what they’re used for, the biggest pain points, the most desired or useful features, and how they impact us day-to-day.
What we discovered is that functional kitchen design is integral to the way we live. However, if kitchens are delivered badly, they can affect our wellbeing and mental health and negatively impact how we engage with our homes. For example, while homeowners use their kitchens for everything including socialising (26%), playrooms (11%) or makeshift offices (10%), one in five people don’t like their current kitchen, with badly designed storage, limited space and poor layout cited as the top three bugbears.
As a result, 21% of respondents said that next time they purchase a kitchen, they will shop around to get the best functionality for their budget - offering the industry a huge opportunity to improve their bottom line.
In this report, Häfele has teamed with architect and designer Laura Jane Clark to delve into the typical make up of a UK home in 2022.
We explore how customers interact with their kitchens and what drives their buying decisions, and provide advice on everything kitchen studios, designers and installers might need to take their designs to the next level, so you can gain a competitive advantage in the industry.
