Kitchen Consumer Insights

Trend - Appliance companies are releasing countertop composters designed for the kitchen. These composters accept food waste and paper-based products, which they then transform into usable fertilizers. These feature tight seals to keep scents trapped, and removable components for easy maintenance.

Insight - Environmentally-conscious consumers are acutely aware of the amount of food waste they produce. Often, these consumers will opt for products with both eco-friendly ingredients and packaging. However, discarding such packaging and producing food waste are still inevitable in the kitchen. For consumers who would like to further reduce their environmental footprint in the kitchen, brands are creating countertop composters that enable these consumers to see their eco-friendly impact in real-time.

Trend - New AI tools are designed to reduce and optimize food consumption habits in the home. These tools analyze food waste patterns, grocery lists, and cooked meals, and create recommendations on how to optimize these habits. This involves purchasing different amounts of foods, altering recipes, and more.

Insight - While AI tools are continually gaining popularity in professional creative fields, such as editing photos, documents, and films, many consumers are looking to see how AI could improve and optimize their daily personal lives instead. Combining this with rising environmental concerns and increasing costs of living, consumers are turning to AI tools that optimize home management. These tools help reduce energy consumption by turning off unused appliances and minimize food waste via planning.

Trend - Kitchen appliance brands are releasing compact range hoods designed to sit on a countertop. These hoods are not permanent fixtures, as per the norm, and are instead portable, meaning they can be stored away when not in use. These hoods are designed for homes that are more strict on space.

Insight - As the cost of living continues to rise to crisis levels, consumers are tasked with saving money wherever possible. For homeowners, this often means investing in smaller, more affordable alternatives to full-size appliances or tools. Simple everyday devices, such as ovens or refrigerators, can be expensive and cumbersome to fit in more modest homes. As a result of this, brands in the kitchen appliance space are releasing lower-cost, more portable solutions.

Trend - Appliance companies are creating consumer-grade dishwashers with artificial intelligence (AI) and smart features. These features include remote control, automatic door operation, and automatic soap optimization, to name a few. These appliances focus on energy and time efficiency.

Insight - As younger millennials and older Gen Z consumers enter the renters and home-buyers markets, these consumers look to ensure that their homes are equipped for the modern age. These consumers prioritize fast wireless network connections, safe electrical wiring, and convenient features in their homes. Despite the rising costs of home ownership, many are willing to pay premiums for homes, and appliances in the home, that meet these desires, in order to make daily life more comfortable.

Trend - Brands are creating towels woven with a waffle-like pattern. These towels dry faster, are more absorbent, and are naturally antibiotic when compared to traditional towels. Towels styled like this are also less prone to mold or unwanted scents due to the aerated design.

Insight - With rising water and energy costs in many regions, consumers are becoming more conscious of how often each textile must be cleaned to remain sanitary. These consumers are drawn to products that stay fresher for longer, effectively saving time and money on cleaning. One such area of concern is the bathroom, where people often leave the same towel for hand-drying for long periods. These consumers are investing in waffle-woven towels for their antibacterial and fast-drying traits.

Trend - Just a few years after AI-powered chefs debuted in numerous restaurant pilots, brands are now adapting this technology to the home kitchen. These cooking devices help ensure consistency in cooking while making the process more efficient due to their advanced AI.

Insight - Luxury consumers favor convenience and automation in the home as time-saving measures, rather than cost-saving ones. These consumers have extra money they are willing to spend to make their busy lives easier, leading to fully-equipped smart homes or appliances on timers. One area these strive for more automation in is the kitchen. Previously, these consumers would hire personal human chefs if they did not enjoy cooking themselves. Brands are filling this luxe gap through the use of AI.

Trend - Brands in the home appliance space are launching smart fridges with UV light-controlled crispers that mimic the sun cycle. These fridges extend the shelf life of fruits and vegetables and ensure the foods retain as many vitamins as possible. This technology saves consumers money and time.

Insight - As North American consumers become more interested in personal health and wellness, these consumers incorporate this lifestyle into their daily routines. This includes healthy eating, exercise, and other wellness products. However, as natural, organic foods often retail for more than the regular alternatives, these consumers aim to reduce costs and preserve their foods for longer. This created a space in the industry for smart storage appliances that extend the life of foods.

Trend - Brands in the kitchenware and appliance industries are creating compact, low-power alternatives to large utilities such as dishwashers and microwaves. These are designed to be portable cost-saving measures, requiring less resources to operate while also being suitable for multi-homes.

Insight - Many consumers choose not to use large, power-hungry appliances in the home, for example, choosing to do dishes by hand rather than with a dishwasher due to rising hydro bills. Each additional appliance takes more space out of the kitchen, with ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, and more, taking up the majority of the floor and counter space. This creates a demand not only for smaller, more compact appliances, but also for those that are more energy-efficient and portable.

Trend - The kitchen appliances that make food prep more convenient for consumers often require significant maintenance, including proper cleaning. Now, some appliance brands are creating products with self-cleaning functions that reduce time spent on maintaining the quality of these items.

Insight - With so many North American families being dual-income, household maintenance and cleaning is a necessity that some people can't prioritize amid their busy schedules. These consumers turn to brands that help them maintain the cleanliness of their living spaces with minimal effort--and investing in automated cleaning tech is an effective way to accomplish this.

Trend - Brands are using transparent materials in kitchen appliances. These appliances have a clean, modern aesthetic and make food preparation easier as they allow users to monitor food while it cooks. These products use innovative transparent materials with comparable safety to regular appliances.

Insight - The interior design industry continues to evolve with new design trends and materials, such as natural wood grain or modern glass dining ware. Some of these trends are to the detriment of function, while others enhance it. Customers are increasingly drawn to the latter, favoring products that enhance the convenience of the home, particularly in the kitchen. While most new functions focused on smart features, there also arose a space for new functional materials in the home.