In theory, the kitchen is a purely utilitarian space in one's home, but the February 2018 kitchen trends show that it's much more than that. The playful utensils, furnishings, and appliances from this month are indicative of the social function that the kitchen serves; people are hard-wired to gravitate toward food with evolutionary certainty, making the kitchen as much of a gathering place as it is a room for preparing dishes.
Considering its communal nature, the kitchen has recently become the target of smart home technologies. The refrigerator was the first kitchen appliance to get the smart home treatment, but the tech has since metastasized. Samsung, for example, offers a connected range hood with a screen that can display recipes and any other media while simultaneously serving as a vacuum for steam and fumes during cooking.
- Gen Z
- Gen Alpha
- Millennial (primary audience)
- Gen X (primary audience)
