TEMPLE, Texas – Wilsonart International, a leading innovator in designing and creating beautiful kitchens for more than 50 years, announced it is launching “The Wilsonart® HD® Kitchen,” a commitment to chronicle and celebrate the kitchen as the epicenter of modern family life and contemporary culture.

“Long viewed as the ‘heart of the home,’ the kitchen has traditionally provided us with a place to gather and enjoy meals,” noted Alison Pulver DeMartino, director of marketing communications at Wilsonart. “With the explosion of technology, the changing patterns of work and the new configurations of family, the kitchen has morphed and now plays a new and richer role as the ‘heart of home activities.’ The Wilsonart HD Kitchen initiative is designed to explore and learn from these changes. It will inform our new product development and allow us to be in touch with how contemporary families are using their kitchens and living life in HD.”

Beyond being a room designed primarily for cooking and entertaining, today’s kitchens have evolved to become an all-around living space that adapts to the modern family’s needs. There are hidden appliances and furniture-like cabinetry. And, as the home’s footprint shrinks, the kitchen has become even more central to the family. Today’s homeowners are savvier when it comes to remodeling. They are well-educated, know the trends and are putting more emphasis on cost savings, many choosing to do “room lifts” and small upgrades rather than major remodeling to create an HD Kitchen.

“As we look at contemporary families, a major trend is being mindful of dollars and cents,” noted DeMartino. “At the same time families are living in their kitchens more, they are also returning to frugality in terms of money, time and resources. This has created a mindset where consumers are interested in conserving, not squandering.”

The HD Kitchen is as unique as the family that lives in it. It might include:

• A work space created for mom, who is building a career as a blogger. For her to successfully write at home, the ideal kitchen has wireless and might also require a homework hub or activity nook, so kids can be safely monitored and entertained nearby.

• Renovations of kitchen countertops for multigenerational families to accommodate the needs of an elderly parent. Here the HD Kitchen requires adaptable countertops and cabinets that provide ease and accessibility for the old and the young sharing the space.

• A technology-driven kitchen for the 76 million members of Gen Y. A Millennial’s HD Kitchen might feature a microwave that swipes a bar code to access cooking directions, TV screens built into the backsplash or appliances programmed to defrost, pre-heat and cook.

• And for Boomers, turning 65 at the rate of 1 every 10 seconds from now until 2030, the HD Kitchen might be smartly redesigned and retrofitted as the ultimate empty nest so that they can age in place.

The Wilsonart HD Kitchen is launching at the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, April 24-26 with a presentation of “HD Kitchen Encounters,” a series of refreshingly candid vignettes performed by Chicago’s most famous comedy improv troupe. The skits, which will be performed in the Wilsonart booth, will bring the HD Kitchen concept to life, showcasing the dynamics of modern family encounters and how some of life’s most important moments unfold right in the kitchen.

In addition to HD Kitchen Encounters, the Wilsonart HD Kitchen will involve research, webinars, videos, spokespeople, social and traditional media and consumer and trade events.

“When we envision the Wilsonart HD Kitchen, one larger-than-life individual comes to mind - Julia Child,” remarked DeMartino. “She was the first to showcase how the kitchen is the center of the home. She is known not only for her unabashed love of cooking, but for living life to its fullest. In Julia’s own words, ‘Life itself is the proper binge.’ That sentiment, that sense of limitless possibilities, is at the heart of the Wilsonart HD Kitchen. It’s an exciting time.”

Wilsonart HD is available from kitchen and bath dealers, remodelers, home centers and local fabricators nationwide.

Source: Wilsonart