How might the next generation of smart kitchens better serve Millennial & Gen Z households?
The Challenge
The first generation of smart kitchen solutions focused on functionality for the organized home – tools, services and digital solutions that promised to help keep the home and family running efficiently. A leading global appliance manufacturer partnered with us to identify how they might go beyond the functional to serve the emerging domestic ideals of Millennial & Gen Z households.
Our Approach
To arrive at a vision for serving the emerging domestic ideals of Millennials households, we built a framework for what makes up domestic life in and around the kitchen before diving into their ideals around each component.
This involved examining people’s relationships with family, homemaking, and cooking across life stages before identifying barriers to achievement & points of intervention.
The Key Insight
We learned that Millennials are approaching life in general and domesticity in particular from the perspective that there is no set standard for success. Their ideals of domestic life promote discovery, experimentation, and play so that they can (re)create the version of home most meaningful to them. The next generation of smart kitchens can best support this approach to domestic life by presenting growth opportunities & guidance to users along their journey.
The Outcome
We identified & prioritized a clear set of opportunity spaces for developing the next generation of smart kitchen solutions
