Kitchen Designers in Oxford | Technology’s Influence on Kitchen Design

 

 

At Whiteside Kitchens & Bathrooms, we’ve seen first-hand how advances in technology change the face of contemporary design. Some homes in the Oxford area have features that wouldn’t have been out of place in a science fiction movie just a decade or two ago. Back then, Wi-Fi was very much a new thing. Today, it seems as if everything in the home has “smart” capabilities. People can turn on their appliances and control them using a mobile phone even when they aren’t in the home.

 

As we’re sure you can imagine, this has put pressure on kitchen designers to move with the times, and to be more aware not just of changes in technology, but also of changes in the way people live.

 

Your kitchen is more than just a food preparation area. With enough space to stylise, you can watch television, place online orders, settle the bills, work from home or talk to people on video anywhere in the world. Because homeowners in Oxford have such a diverse range of choices, kitchen designers must adapt accordingly to make the best use of space.

 

A larger kitchen with an open-plan design allows for more technological integration. Because of this tech, families now spend more time in the kitchen than in any other social space around the home.

 

Why? Because food isn’t the only reason to be there.

 

This isn’t to say that food isn’t a focus with contemporary kitchen designers. Smart TVs use apps which display recipes from all over the world. Today, people can cook along with their favourite chefs, and be an Oliver, a Lawson or a Ramsay. Even social media gives any property owner in Oxford the unique opportunity to be a “MasterChef” in their own home.

 

The designers at our kitchen showroom in Witney know that all of these advances must feature in their own planning.

 

Evolution and the Modern Kitchen Designer

 

Kitchen designers must consider how technology, and screens in particular, will interact with somebody standing at an appliance or at a worktop. In turn, the final decision on where to position that technology impacts other parts of an installation. This can include where the cabinetry and the drawers need to go, and where to have the power points fitted.

 

And, because technology proliferates so quickly, designers must think ahead to keep homes in Oxford futureproofed. This is important not just for managing data over different platforms to make them synchronised as apps and devices change, but also from a perspective of safety and energy usage.

 

In the same way that modern kitchens are unrecognisable from those of the late 1990s, so it shall be that kitchens 20 years from now will be unrecognisable from those of today. This is why kitchen designers must have excellent adaptability, and why homeowners should always put their trust in companies that have a proven track record for design innovation.

 

Whiteside Kitchens & Bathrooms takes a number of factors into account when planning a modern kitchen. This includes knowing what the customer expects from modern appliances in terms of storage, cooking times, cleaning and food preservation. Kitchen designers might consider smart fridges for Oxford homes which alert the homeowners when foods start to expire, or dishwashers which optimise cleaning cycles, temperatures and water volumes based on the load inside.

 

Smart technology even extends to ovens, which send alerts to handheld devices to tell you when food has finished cooking.

 

Advancement and automation mean we never quite know what the future will bring. What is certain is that what we see as a breakthrough today will be only the start of many new challenges ahead for the kitchen designers here at Whiteside Kitchens & Bathrooms.