Electrolux, a gobal leader in home appliances, announced the nine finalists to compete for the first place in Electrolux Design Lab ’08 finals. This is an annual design competition addresses to students from all over the world who are challenged to use their creativity in order to develop the perfect strategy for a brighter future. These nine finalists will participate in the final event October 0 in Zurich, Switzerland, where an international jury and experts will review the finalist entries and select a winner.

“We received daring ideas and solutions”, affirmed Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design at Electrolux. Those ideas had to target the upper-age segment of the Internet Generation (between 25 and 35) comprising brand-conscious, busy young professionals whose fundamental purpose in life consists of independence, the concern about the environment and the strong connection with technology and online social networks.




Well now, let me introduce you to the Kitchen Drawer, one of the top entrants in this year’s Electrolux design contest, a concept developed by Nojae Park (from Chiba University, Japan). Designed for the internet generation – always on run, always connected to the virtual world, and mostly living in urban areas where space is an acute necessity, almost a luxury – the Kitchen Drawer is a desk-drawer hotplate and fridge.

The product has four main parts: a stainless plate for meal, an electric stove, a dish drawer and a refrigerator, where the user can store a proper amount of food and dishes. It looks like a regular drawer, concerning the shape and the scale, and has the advantage that it can be placed near the desk. Therefore, a person who doesn’t have a second to waste on cooking dinner can use the Kitchen Drawer in order to make and eat the food while using the computer.




The product is addressed to young people who live in small places and who don’t care about self-made-eating; their only concern is to have a simple and small machine for simple eating. On the other hand, “they are always connected to the network. They are doing websurfing, blogging, chatting through messenger programs. That’s the reason why they don’t want to move. But at the same time they are hungry. So, they want to solve their hunger near the computer desk”, explains Nojae Park, the inventor of the Kitchen Drawer.




This is ingenious, alright! I don’t know what our parents’ generation would think of such a device, but I could imagine the relief and the excitement of present and future generations, who’d consider the Kitchen Desire a well deserved blessing.

(Source Yanko Design)