What Do Consumers Want In Their Connected Kitchen?

Whole-home integration means just that -- whole-home.

From the entertainment room to the gym to the bathroom, you need to understand what consumers what in every nook and cranny of their house.

The kitchen is increasingly becoming one of the most connected rooms in the house -- from lighting and security control to LCD TVs in the refrigerator.

As it is one of the most-used rooms in any house, do you know what your clients want in their digital kitchen?

The Internet Home Alliance's Digital Kitchen Study (pdf link) has found that consumers want six major innovations:
- a home control station
- an energy usage monitoring and control system
- wireless Internet access
- a recipe projection system
- a digital calendar
- a universal charging station.

The study found that homeowners don't want their kitchen to be an entertainment center -- 85% of respondents said they're unlikely to watch movies or videos, especially while cooking -- but rather as a control center.

From the kitchen, homeowners want to easily manage their security and HVAC systems while keeping track of energy usage throughtout the house.

"Specifically, they requested a screen where they can view the temperature inside and outside of their home, adjust the thermostat on a touchpad and view live video of both the front and back of their house," the report finds.

But while they're not interested in watching movies, you might need to install a small projector: respondents expressed interest in a projection system that would display recipes they've looked up online. They're looking for a small, cabinet-mounted device that will show them recipes on a kitchen surface.

Wireless Internet access is also a must in the kitchen -- consumers "don't want to use a PC in the kitchen for offline applications," according to the report. They want to surf the Web and send e-mail, and only five percent say they want a wired connection.

The research also found that a digital calendar -- for keeping track of appointments, notes, etc. -- is wanted, as the primary kitchen user often keeps schedules, too. Finally, a universal charging station for cell phones and PDAs would allow multiple devices to recharge their batteries.

The digital kitchen is the control center for the connected home, providing access to security, HVAC, lighting and the Internet.