Epitome Living’s dream home: the kitchen

The kitchen: the heart of the home. 

For some, it’s a strategically thought out space with workflows considered to the nth degree. For others, the only feature that matters is the microwave.  

We started our blog series on our dream living spaces with our dream living room. This time, we turn our attention to the kitchen. 

What matters to us when we’re designing a technology plan for a kitchen is how the space is used and how it can be zoned to create the best possible experiences in each area, for each time of day. 

With the right technology in place, breakfast, lunch, and dinner can match the natural flow of the day to promote wakefulness in the morning or help you slow down and unwind in the evening. 

Considering use cases as the priority, our dream kitchen project would look like the below, regardless of its textures, tones, fixtures, or fittings (we’d leave those up to an interior designer).

Kitchen vs kitchen diner

There are different things to consider for a home with a separate kitchen and dining room and a home with an open plan kitchen diner. These relate primarily to lighting and audio.

A kitchen contains multiple zones that demand different lighting structures. Food prep areas require brighter lights, whilst softer accent lighting is used over islands or breakfast bars. 

A kitchen diner contains even more zones. Alongside food prep areas and islands, a kitchen diner extends to the dining zone where there are often people relaxing at a table whilst a host prepares food - or where kids are inhaling cereal whilst parents pack lunch boxes. 

In the latter case, noise, smells, and atmosphere need to be kept apart from each other to some degree. This is especially important in apartments or open plan spaces where the kitchen, dining room, and living room are in the same room. 

Kitchens are naturally high-traffic zones in homes. Our dream home technology configuration understands that, using lighting and audio to map out spaces that take the attention away from the to and fro to whatever the task is at hand. 

Zoned lighting

Our dream kitchen (regardless of whether it’s separate or not) would have LED strip lighting installed under upper cupboards to remove shadows on worktops. This is perfect for food preparation, and means that the rest of the lighting in the room can be focused on creating atmosphere. When we’re done cooking dinner, we’d dim the LED strips to soften the atmosphere of the room, signalling that the work is done and it’s time to relax. 

We’d use Wever & Ducré fittings for our island accent lighting, similar to what you’ll see in our Building a View project. Islands aren’t built to recline at, so having enough lighting to see your coffee or the paperwork you need to finish is key in this detailing. 

Kitchen accent lighting in our Building a View project

The lighting in our dream kitchen would be automated based on circadian rhythms (you can read more about circadian lighting here). Motion sensors activate the lighting to come on at the right temperature levels for the time of day, with the lights staying off if the light level is high enough, as with every room in our dream home.

MyHome notes that clever storage and back kitchens are ever popular in 2026. Our satellite showroom at Alwood in Lurgan demonstrates this well if you want to see how presence censored lighting illuminates these areas as you enter through discreet doorways. Our dream project would implement this same design principle to simplify everyday tasks and make even the most practical of rooms feel considered. 

Zoned audio

As with lighting, we’d zone audio based on what’s going on in each area of the space. We want low-level background music in the dining area with the potential to have quicker tempo music in the kitchen to help a host get through prep. 

Our host, however, might be busy in the kitchen yet still want to hear the ongoing conversion and feel part of the room. Zoning audio means the voices won’t be drowned out by sound, as volume and playlists can be controlled on a room-by-room basis.

Our dream speakers are a design choice. We like Gallo (these can be colour matched to Farrow & Ball paint), Artcoustic wall mounted options, Klipsch for in ceiling, and Amina invisible speakers. Our speaker choice will depend on what textures and tones we’re feeling for our kitchen. 

The finer details

We’d also integrate shading in our dream project to mark the shift in mood from daytime to evening. The day’s bright and opening; the evening is cosy and intimate. 

To control the smart system in our dream kitchen project, we’d install a Loxone Touch Surface switch under the countertop in a food prep area. This switch works the same as any other Loxone switch product, with six touch points for operating all the technology around your smart home. 

The Loxone Touch Surface is mounted under a non-conductive surface like stone, wood, or ceramic. With this switch installed, it doesn’t matter if you’ve got hands covered in meatball mixture or they’re wet from washing up. You simply use the switch as you would the switch on a wall, then give it a wipe as surfaces are cleaned. 

A Loxone Touch Surface in our Building 30b project

An even finer detail would see our dream dining room project have a wireless Loxone presence sensor under the table to automatically mix in mood lighting related to sitting at the table. Lights are off when no one’s at the table, then come on gently as guests are seated. It’s an extra touch of design that adds seamless elegance and luxury to a space. 

Connected living

Having an integrated smart system in a home is all about living in a more connected manner. Connecting appliances to the system not only helps with energy management, but pretty much everything in the space is operated through one system. 

Simplification features in all our dream projects, and where there are more ways to do that - like adding dishwasher, washing machine, and oven control to the same system that controls lighting - it’s a no-brainer for us.

As always, we’re less about following the kitchen design trends for 2026 and more about creating spaces with robust, reliable technology systems that last for many years to come. 

Interested? Share your dream home plans with us at info@epitomeliving.com.