Project Background

The average area of Chinese family kitchens is only 5-9 ㎡. When the door is closed, hot dishes are fried and lampblack gathers, which is no different from sauna rooms. Especially in summer, it is very cool outside the kitchen, and the kitchen is full of sweat. TOALL convex design hopes to create a more beautiful and practical kitchen air conditioning needs to be simple, practical, suitable for most Chinese families, but also more conducive to the feasibility of the renovation of old houses.

Meier Kate, who focuses on the top solution of kitchen and bathroom space, also hopes to realize the functional integration and aesthetic upgrade of the kitchen top space. TOALL convex and concave design cooperates with Meier Kate, hoping not only to provide a better kitchen environment for customers who decorate new houses, but also to have products that are easier to install, to provide a quick renovation plan for users of old houses, and to bring a more comfortable kitchen environment for families who work hard in the kitchen every day.

Based on the UMDT research system, the convex and concave design team proposed the need to conduct interviews and research with relevant partners and users, which is conducive to the improvement of user experience and transformation implementation.

Market Insights

Through field research in the Yangtze River Delta and key southern cities across the country, and in-depth interviews with dealers, users, and home improvement designers, the convex and concave design team reached the following conclusions:

1. Core customer group: middle class aged 30-60, especially the demand for second-hand housing renovation

2. Spatial characteristics: the kitchen area is concentrated in 3-6 ㎡, and the renovation of old houses accounts for 65% of the market share.

3. Consumer preference: small plate is more popular (72%) and price sensitivity is medium.

4. Design pain points: Existing products have problems such as low recognition of control panel (87% user feedback), light source interference (63%), functional redundancy (less than 5% heating demand), etc.

User requirement analysis

Basic requirements: fast cooling (cooling speed requirements <3 minutes), low noise (≤ 40dB)
Advanced requirements: easy to clean (removable filter screen design), space adaptation (minimum installation area 2.8 ㎡)
Emotional needs: invisible presence (92% of users prefer hidden design), intelligent interaction (voice control needs 78%)

In terms of market competition, the kitchen dedicated air conditioning has been continuously entered by brands, and even the entry of big brands, the competition is fierce. Professional air-conditioning brands are mostly cross-category home appliance brands, focusing on the whole house intelligent solutions, smart home integration as the development direction of home appliances, to provide a more healthy and convenient way of life. Midea, Gree, Haier, Westinghouse, Panasonic to build a whole house of things, relying on the Internet of things, cloud computing and artificial intelligence and other new technologies of smart home.

However, the existing kitchen air conditioning products lack the innovative integration form combined with the overall ceiling, the installation method and installation technology process need to be improved, and the product experience and function homogeneity are serious. Meier Kate needs to differentiate from the product function or experience mode, upgrade the technical barriers and experience of its own brand, and create the professional value of the product.
innovative design strategy

Taking professional kitchen air conditioning as the starting point, TOALL convex concave design team has chosen the direction of "intelligent integrated ceiling with intelligent interactive control of professional kitchen air conditioning" to meet the kitchen needs of most families and really improve the family kitchen environment.

TOALL convex and concave design adopts the methodology of "scene-driven design" and puts forward a variety of concepts to organically combine ceiling and kitchen air conditioner, which is not only convenient to install, but also has an overall aesthetic feeling:

Designed a variety of panel forms that combine home aesthetics and practicality:

Simple design rounded features embedded

Stainless steel texture minimalist design rotating air curtain

Artistic design, decorative, simple and elegant

In the end, the convex and concave team made a breakthrough and innovative design for Meierkaite's skywing products:

Spatial integration:
Development of sliding cover type hidden structure, closed state thickness of only 12cm, to achieve "roof lamp oil integration"
Modular combination system, supporting 300 × 600mm to 300 × 900mm multi-size adaptation
· Optimized length, acrylic panel, enhanced lighting and sense of ceremony
The first linear air curtain technology to avoid direct blowing discomfort and improve refrigeration efficiency by 30%

human computer interaction optimization:

Ice blue backlight touch panel is adopted, and the recognition degree in strong light environment is improved by 60%

· Development of magnetic remote control to solve the problem of panel occlusion

· Reduced function keys to 3 core operations (switch/temperature/wind speed)

Anti-oil system:

Five-layer filter system, hydrophobic aluminum foil mesh (removable and washable) + Teflon coating (anti-oil adhesion) + nano antifouling panel

Innovative 45 ° inclination air outlet design, reducing fume deposition by 75%

Technical Breakthrough Highlights

1. Mute technology: Through the optimization of the volute air duct, the operating noise is controlled to 38dB (industry average 45dB)

2. Intelligent linkage: connect to Mercure APP to realize linkage start and stop with range hood (response speed <0.5 seconds)

3. Energy efficiency upgrade: using R32 environmental protection refrigerant, APF energy efficiency ratio reaches 4.21 (12% above the national first-class standard)

Program landing effectiveness

This design not only promotes the unit price of customers to increase by 40% (ceiling + air conditioning combined sales account for 85%), but also optimizes the installation efficiency (the time for a single project is shortened from 6 hours to 4.2 hours), and also enables the net recommend value (NPS) of users to reach 72 points, 34 percentage points higher than the industry average.

Industry Enlightenment

TOALL Convex and Concave Design Through the UMDT research system, we have carried out a comprehensive design innovation for the air conditioner in the kitchen of Merkat. Starting from the needs of users, combined with market trends, a practical design strategy is formulated, and a number of highlights are integrated into the design to enhance the aesthetics, intelligence, spatial adaptability and user experience of the product. Through supply chain management and program landing, to ensure the realization of the design and product quality. This design case not only reflects the professional ability of TOALL convex and concave design in the field of product design, but also provides new development ideas and innovative directions for the kitchen air conditioning market.