Functional Spaces: Kitchens for Living | Key Findings

From entertaining to exercising: Research reveals the need for multi-functional kitchens

What do working from home, entertaining, and even exercising have in common? The answer; all three are among the most popular activities that Brits use their kitchen space for.

As part of our new Functional Spaces: Kitchens for Living campaign, we questioned 2,009 homeowners across the UK to gain a deeper understanding into how consumers use their kitchens and their biggest pain points. The research also looked into the features, fittings and fixtures that could improve homeowners’ living space and also enhance their wellbeing and quality of life.

The Functional Spaces: Kitchens for Living whitepaper, summarising the in-depth study, will provide manufacturers, designers, retailers and installers with unique insights to help them support their own customers with creating.

One area that the whitepaper will explore in depth is the need for living spaces to facilitate multi-functional living. With an estimated 4.55 million homeowners (26%) using their kitchens for socialising and entertaining, it’s clear that the function of the kitchen goes far beyond food preparation.

In fact, 15% of homeowners wanted to have the flexibility to change the use of a space. The research explores this consumer need further, looking it what exactly it is that homeowners would like to be able to change or control in their kitchen to change the purpose and atmosphere of their kitchen.

Commenting on the initial findings, architect and designer Laura Jane Clark, who has partnered with us on the research, said: “Not only do we have more appliances, technology and features we want to squeeze into the space, but the way we live and interact in our homes continues to evolve. As Häfele’s research shows, we need our kitchens to be flexible enough for multiple purposes and suitable for everyone in the household. As part of this, we need to think about how to create physical and visual connections in the space, as well as carving out specific areas for designated purposes”.

The research also reveals the depth of the impact of a kitchen design on its users with 86% saying the room impacts their emotional wellbeing and mental health. Among the negative connotations, people said they felt dissatisfied, sad, stressed, depressed and anxious.

It’s therefore no surprise that 31% of people questioned said they need a kitchen upgrade but are worried about getting the design wrong. With the kitchen clearly needing to serve so many different purposes and with a lot of factors involved, it’s understandable that this is a daunting prospect for some homeowners. That’s why we’ve commissioned this research, partnering with Laura Jane Clark, to gain a true understanding of consumer needs and how the industry can support consumers in balancing function, style and budget to achieve the right design.

We’ll be sharing the full  Functional Spaces: Kitchens for Living whitepaper soon

If you would like more information on this topic as and when it is released, please sign up here