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Shareen Joel’s forecast for residential design starts with a practical constraint: homes are getting smaller, and kitchens will shrink with them. Her answer to that pressure is not more visible technology or a denser catalogue of options. She expects slimmer interfaces, discreet fittings, multipurpose appliances and layouts that keep people connected. The underlying test is simple: every element should work harder, stay easy to understand for different ages and remove clutter rather than add to it.
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The forecast: smaller rooms, harder-working elements
In an interview published by IndesignLive on 8 October 2018 and by Architecture & Design on 12 October 2018, Melbourne designer Shareen Joel described a near-term direction for residential work. “As our home floorplates keep decreasing, so too will our kitchen spaces,” she said. The consequence is a design problem rather than a style trend: a smaller room must support preparation, storage, cleaning, conversation and, often, dining.
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Joel’s answer is that every component has to justify its space. “This means that all elements of the smaller kitchen – appliances, fittings and fixtures – will not only need to be smaller but also become multipurpose.” A compact footprint therefore cannot be solved by simply shrinking each object. It requires combining functions, reducing visual noise and planning the room so that circulation and social use survive the tighter dimensions.
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No quantitative forecast for average floor area or kitchen size was given in the interview. The point is qualitative and directional: designers should plan for less space and greater demand on each square metre, rather than assume that the next home will provide a larger kitchen to absorb more equipment.
Why slimline interfaces matter
Joel expects “continuing interest in slimline and discrete interfaces that are also very user-friendly for all ages.” The phrase describes more than a thin appliance fascia. It covers the way a person discovers a control, understands its status and operates it without a long explanation.
Discreet does not mean hidden at any cost
A discreet control can sit flush with cabinetry, use restrained hardware or reduce the number of visible switches. But concealment is useful only when the function remains legible. If a handle, indicator or control is difficult to find, the room has traded visual calm for uncertainty. Joel’s standard is a quiet appearance paired with immediate comprehension.
Design for a range of ages
“User-friendly for all ages” places accessibility in ordinary residential planning, not as an afterthought. A control should be reachable, readable and predictable for children learning a routine, adults cooking while distracted and older users who may not want to decode a complicated interface. Clear feedback, sensible sequencing and tactile cues can matter as much as the physical thickness of a panel.
Joel summarizes the confidence required in a domestic product with the statement, “It’s all about trust.” A resident should be able to operate a tap, appliance or fitting without wondering whether a gesture worked, which mode is active or what will happen next.
Multipurpose appliances as clutter management
Joel calls residential kitchen design “all about clutter management.” That observation shifts attention from individual product appeal to the total visual and functional load of the room. A kitchen can feel crowded even when its cabinets are full but orderly if every task introduces another object, cable, control or countertop appliance.
Combine functions before adding capacity
Her preferred direction is a product that performs several useful tasks in one element. In the interview she cites the Zip HydroTap, describing a system that provides boiling, chilled and sparkling water and saying, “I can’t tell you how my Zip HydroTap just makes everything easier.” The relevant lesson is the combination of functions at one point of use, not a claim that one particular system suits every kitchen or market.
When evaluating a multifunctional fixture, ask whether the combined tasks are genuinely used, whether maintenance is understandable and whether the unit removes other equipment. If a product adds a new control panel while leaving all the old appliances in place, it may increase clutter rather than reduce it.
Make design work harder
Joel says, “I think that the future of this is all about making design work harder.” In practical terms, one element might provide storage and seating, a fitting might serve several water needs, or a work surface might support preparation and shared meals. The aim is not maximum feature count. It is a better ratio between the space an element occupies and the number of everyday jobs it performs.
| Forecast | Design response | Question to test it |
|---|---|---|
| Smaller home and kitchen floorplates | Prioritize compact, high-use elements and protect clear circulation. | Does each item earn its footprint? |
| Slimline, discreet interfaces | Reduce visual bulk while keeping controls discoverable and readable. | Can a first-time user operate it without coaching? |
| Multipurpose appliances and fixtures | Combine functions that are used in the same daily workflow. | Does the combination remove another object or step? |
| Greater density of activity | Plan for cooking, dining and conversation in the same room. | Can people move and participate without blocking one another? |
The social kitchen: remove the barrier between host and guest
Joel’s kitchen planning is social as well as compact. She dislikes an island bench that separates the person preparing food from everyone else. “I love bringing the dining table into the middle of the kitchen so that family and friends are a part of the entertaining experience,” she says.
Dining table rather than defensive island
An island can provide storage and a generous work surface, but its position can create a hard boundary. The cook faces the work zone while guests occupy the opposite side, producing a room that is open in plan yet divided in use. Bringing the dining table into the kitchen changes the room’s centre of gravity. People can sit, talk, eat and remain involved while preparation continues.
This is not a universal instruction to remove every island. The useful comparison is the degree of separation a layout creates. A plan should be judged by sightlines, circulation, seating, worktop depth and the ability to join a conversation, not by the presence of a fashionable component.
Compact planning without losing intimacy
A smaller kitchen can become more sociable when the table is treated as an active piece of the working room rather than furniture pushed to its edge. The arrangement still needs safe clearances around doors, appliances and chairs. It also needs a deliberate place for food preparation so that the table does not become a permanent storage surface. Joel’s point is that efficient planning should support the emotional role of the kitchen, not only its equipment schedule.
A separate Habitus profile reports Joel’s objection to open-plan living when it loses warmth and intimacy. Read alongside her dining-table preference, that view suggests a distinction between connection and exposure: a kitchen can remain part of family life without becoming an undifferentiated, overextended space.
Essentialism: subtraction as a design method
Joel’s wider practice gives the kitchen forecast a consistent philosophy. Her studio describes work across interior design, interior architecture, architectural design, product and furniture design, and creative brand management. The stated values include longevity, honest materials, classic proportions, craftsmanship and fine detailing.
A Sussex Residence feature dated 18 July 2026 characterizes her approach as “essentialism, and subtraction—human-centered design achieved through simplicity.” That phrase explains why she is cautious about excessive choice. “Sometimes I think some brands go too far and offer too many choices for the specifier and consumer to navigate.” More options can look like flexibility, but they also increase decisions, coordination and the chance of an incoherent room.
What subtraction looks like in a kitchen
- Specify the functions the household actually performs instead of collecting every available mode.
- Coordinate hardware, controls and appliance fronts so that the room reads as one composition.
- Keep materials honest, allowing their texture and aging to contribute rather than covering every surface with decorative layers.
- Use classic proportions and careful detailing so a compact room does not depend on a short-lived visual gimmick.
- Reserve visible space for the objects and activities that make the room feel inhabited.
Joel also states the principle directly: “Good design is not about what you add in but what you leave out.” In a small kitchen, omission is measurable in fewer competing controls, fewer duplicate appliances and fewer visual interruptions. It is not an excuse for under-provisioning storage or making essential tasks awkward.
Materials, durability and the value of time
Longevity and craftsmanship matter because a compact, heavily used kitchen exposes weak decisions quickly. A fitting that fails, a finish that ages poorly or a mechanism that users cannot maintain becomes a source of replacement work and additional clutter. Joel’s emphasis on honest materials and fine detailing treats durability as part of the room’s experience, not merely a technical specification.
Classic proportions can also make a kitchen adaptable. When the visual structure is calm, a future appliance or repaired component is less likely to force a complete redesign. This is a different idea from making a room timeless through generic neutrality: the character comes from proportion, material quality, light and texture, while the layout remains practical.
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Why her multidisciplinary background informs the forecast
Joel’s training spans industrial, automotive, interior and architectural design. Earlier background interviews establish that she founded her studio in 2003 and worked in Ford design. That path connects the object-scale questions of controls, mechanisms and manufacture with the room-scale questions of circulation, atmosphere and construction.
It also clarifies why her forecast links appliances, fittings, interfaces and social planning. A kitchen is not a display of isolated products. It is an environment in which a person handles an object, moves through a room, communicates with others and lives with the result for years. Industrial design can clarify how a product works; architecture can clarify how it occupies space; residential design must make both feel natural together.
A practical framework for applying Joel’s ideas
For a new kitchen or renovation, Joel’s principles can be turned into a sequence of decisions rather than a shopping list.
- Map the real activities. List cooking, cleaning, water use, storage, eating, homework and entertaining. Note which activities happen simultaneously.
- Protect the movement path. Draw door swings, appliance clearances and the route between refrigerator, preparation area, cooktop and table before choosing cabinets or an island.
- Remove duplicate functions. Identify appliances and fittings that can be combined without sacrificing reliability, maintenance access or the way the household actually works.
- Test the interface. Check whether controls can be found, read and understood by different users. A slim profile is not a success if operation depends on a hidden sequence.
- Decide where social contact happens. Compare an island, peninsula and dining table by sightline and conversation, not only by storage volume.
- Specify materials for use and repair. Consider touch points, moisture, heat, cleaning and replacement of individual components. Favor details that can be maintained rather than sealed away.
- Subtract at the end. Remove a visible element, option or finish that does not improve function, comfort or the room’s character.
Common misreadings of the future-kitchen idea
“Smaller” does not mean merely miniaturized
Reducing dimensions without reducing tasks produces frustration. The forecast calls for coordinated multifunctionality and better planning, not a smaller version of an over-equipped kitchen.
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Controls that disappear completely can undermine trust. The interface still needs clear feedback and an operation that a visitor can understand.
“Open” does not automatically mean social
An open-plan room can separate a host from guests through an island, level change or work zone. Social success depends on how people occupy the room together.
“More choice” does not automatically mean better design
Joel’s warning about choice overload is a reminder to define the household’s priorities before browsing finishes, hardware and appliance variants. Selection should follow the plan, not substitute for one.
What the forecast means for residential design
Joel’s 2018 comments remain a coherent brief for designers working with constrained floor area: reduce the physical and visual burden of each element, combine useful functions, keep operation intuitive and make the kitchen a place where people can participate rather than queue behind a barrier. Her broader commitment to subtraction, durable materials and human-centered simplicity supplies the discipline behind those choices.
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The result is not a futuristic room crowded with smart features. It is a residential interior in which a smaller footprint feels capable because the design is selective, legible and socially aware. The measure of progress is whether the room supports more of daily life with fewer things competing for attention.
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