Digital Kitchen

With consumers depending on the Internet and digital communications in ever increasing numbers, kitchen designers are being called upon to make those new technologies available in the hub of the home. POCO Labs supported industry leader, Whirlpool Corporation, with the development and management of a cross-industry collaboration involving Bell Canada, Cisco Systems, Direct Energy, Hewlett Packard, HomeCrest Cabinetry, Intel, Microsoft, The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), and the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA). With keen oversight of primary research, display property development and a public relations blitz, POCO Labs worked closely with this stellar group of companies and industry organizations to learn more about how designers and manufacturers should respond to consumer demands by re-thinking the ways that contemporary kitchens need to be configured, constructed and connected to deliver state of the technology digital living solutions in the center of today’s home.

Via a formal research plan, intended to determine the consumer electronics and appliances already in use in American kitchens and which new products or services homeowners would like to add to their kitchens in the future, POCO Labs helped the collaborative team evaluate the study’s results that were used to create the ‘ideal digital kitchen’, which was unveiled at the 2007 Kitchen/Bath Industry Show (K/BIS) at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Spring, 2007. Owned by NKBA, KBIS is the world’s largest international trade event dedicated to the kitchen and bath industry. POCO Labs represented the entire team and presented the results, center stage at the show along with famed kitchen designer, Blue Arnold. POCO Labs also represented the team of companies and organizations as official spokesperson including numerous print and broadcast interviews with such outlets as CNN, ABC News Radio, Martha Stewart Living, Bon Appetite, Consumer Reports, Dwell, This Old House, Reuters, Robb Report and many others including a special television show taping for HGTV.