New Kitchen Trends to Accommodate Work from Home
/As we come upon the four year mark of Covid-related “work from home”, it’s fascinating to see how our new work reality has changed the way we live in our homes. According to Forbes Advisor, as of 2023 12.7% of the workforce worked full-time from home while 28.2% worked a hybrid model. And according to Upwork, it’s estimated that by the end. of 2025, 22% of the workforce or 32.6 million will work from home full-time! Our homes have become the heartland of our existence and our kitchens have become the heartland of our homes, a place where we have learned not only to bake bread, but to break bread. This has sparked a major change in kitchen trends to accommodate more people at home during the day.
Today I am highlighting one of my favorite architectural firms, Stephen Mueller Architects in Greenwich, CT. whose work I love.
Make your home your sanctuary and surround yourself with the things you love. When we satisfy our five senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch and taste, our minds are in a better place, uncluttered and unencumbered. Kitchens are the epicentre of that sanctuary, a command central with many functions we don’t consciously think about…It’s a place from which familiar and comforting aromas (smell) emerge and bellow through the house conjuring up childhood memories. It feeds us food. (taste) It feeds our soul. It may give us a blazing fireplace to warm us up with an early morning coffee or late-night glass of wine. It's a place where we begin and end our waking hours, and most importantly, a place where our daily emotions begin and end...
The Emotional Benefits Of Cooking Nowadays
“Happiness in a home can be found in many ways. And cooking or collaborating in the preparation of the menus is one of them. Psychologists and humanist therapists talk about the emotional benefits of cooking and consider their domestic space as an ideal environment to put the stress of frantic life at bay, foster positive feelings and much more.”
The Kitchen is the room in our homes with the arms that wrap around us, providing us with warmth, relaxation and the universal sign of love, food. Eating all meals at home for that year was a challenge. With children home from school and college, young adults fleeing the cities, grandparents moving in….our families had grown in size! More food to cook! More people to feed! It forced us to pay attention to creatively infused quality as well as increased quantity of our ever-changing needs in our homes.
I have always loved making my homes (all 12 of them!) feel special by paying attention to the smallest details. There is always a bouquet of flowers in different places each week. They may come from the supermarket or the florist. Candles are lit for dinner every night just because, and the table is always beautifully set for dinner (sight). Why not pretend we are at a lovely restaurant every night? It makes cooking and serving a delight and definitely creates a more positive and happy environment for teamwork. Collaborative cooking always makes the dining experience more fun!
New Trends In Kitchens Are Helping Us To Coalesce
Our New And Suddenly Growing Needs With Form And Function.
Hygiene, a priority trend emerging from necessity is giving way to the evolution and convenience of hands - free or touch tap faucets, and the much needed built-in dispensers for hand-sanitizer and hand cream. (touch)
Kitchens with large dual-purpose islands to accommodate the NEW family size, and to serve as another work space for your work-from-home selves, young adults staying at home longer and home-schooled children are on the rise. The original kitchen desk is expanding with a renewed sense of importance. Rather than it being a spot to drop your keys or toss your mail onto, it has become an enlarged, more elaborately defined and constructed workspace, complete with more storage and dedicated areas for charging the multiple devices that run our lives. The convenience of multiple charging stations throughout the house has been in urgent demand. Phones, watches iPads, computers X number of users = high demand!
Cooking at home is now easier and faster with the advent of multiple not-so-small appliances like the Instant Pot and the Air Fryer! Time-saving cooking and delicious food served in a nano second (taste). These appliances take up counter space, valuable kitchen real estate, you may not have or may not want to give up. It is optimum to have these appliances easily accessible, but neatly tucked away in their own cabinets or on their own shelving.
Self-Sustaining Practices became a cruel reality, the result of experiencing empty shelves in markets across the US. Self-sustaining measures grew out of necessity, teaching us to how to rely on ourselves to provide for our families. We’ve learned to bake bread, to share our sour dough starter and to store loaves in the newly discovered built-in “bread box”, something old that has become new again. The practices of canning and freezing have given way to the need for more basement storage and shelving, and larger freezing capabilities.
Live Greenery of all Kinds we know has many therapeutic benefits that go beyond the oxygen it provides in our home. Plants are known to increase productivity levels, reduce stress and increase our concentration levels. Kitchen gardens have emerged to grow our own vegetables and fruits. Kitchen herb gardens are the newest actors on center stage, providing us with fresh, robust aromatics in window herb boxes or directly outside our kitchen doors, perhaps creating the need for new kitchen access to the outside. (sight & smell)
Organization is the Key that Unlocks Frenzy and puts our minds at ease. Closet organization or the addition of closets, cubbies and cabinets may be necessary for ever-changing needs. Now may be the time for the custom closets you’ve always dreamed about, or the easy glide, self-closing drawers. Organization boosts productivity.
“A Clean Working Area Is A More Productive Working Area”
State-of-the-Art Built-in Music Systems & Speakers for both interior and exterior enjoyment fuels your spirit. It provides a mood-changing calm which keeps creative juices flowing or keeps everyone dancing in the kitchen (hearing)! Quiet can be daunting, and even noisy. Find music that you can draw upon to reflect or create a mood. It can be peaceful and calming or upbeat and uplifting! This is the best investment you will make.
Music Makes The World Go Round!
And Last, but Certainly not Least is Touch, so important to our psyche and well-being and the one sense that was very much challenged during Covid and even now with some. In the meantime, besides gleaning comfort from the hug of your furry pets, envelop yourself in a soft cashmere throw, sip a drink from a beautiful stemmed cut-crystal glass. Bring out your finest linens and commune with the earth in your new garden. But most importantly, hug those you hold near and dear and hold them tight (touch)!
Always Feed Your Soul With The
~ Beauty Of Your Home ~
This blog article originally appeared on Steven Mueller Architects website as a guest blog.
About Steven Mueller Architects
Steven Mueller Architects, LLC is a principal-based architectural firm located in the heart of Greenwich, Connecticut. The firm’s work exemplifies a personal commitment to achieving the finest architectural expression through a cooperative relationship with the client. Each project is designed to enhance the lives of the occupants by developing practical, dynamic, and creative solutions.
SMA is a full-service enterprise dedicated to design excellence specializing in Architecture, Planning, Interior Design, Construction and Building. There is a sincere commitment to work creatively and administratively with maximum efficiency on each project.