If there was ever a match made in heaven for builders using technology to sell homes, it's the increasingly complex relationship between home systems integration and the kitchen. The kitchen has been the center of homes going back thousands of years. The arrival of the home theater and media room may have temporarily shifted that focus, but the kitchen is again taking its rightful place as not just a node on a system but as a full-blown technology center.

"The kitchen is becoming the key interface point for home automation, especially since in modern home design it's increasingly common to see the kitchen connected to the house's great room," observes Ray Lepper, president of Home Media Richmond, an integrator in that Virginia city. "Making the kitchen the systems control center of the home sets up that combined space nicely for entertaining."

Shawn Hansson, owner of Logic Integration in Englewood, Colo., says he will typically install a 12-inch flat panel display in the kitchen as an interface for the home's automated systems. He'll then program software widgets, such as real-time weather and stock updates, and he'll link the panel to programs like Microsoft Outlook or other e-mail program via Ethernet to the home's router. "Outlook on the touchscreen is replacing the note and refrigerator magnet," he says. "It also keeps the family computer free for other tasks." Hansson's screens can also call up a security camera, or even multiple cameras if a video multiplexer is integrated into the system.

Jason Hanley, owner of Acme Integration in Spokane, Wash., uses ELAN's Via! Valet touchpanel in kitchens and programs them in order to eliminate the need for what he calls "wall warts," which are anything from light switches to whole-house audio volume controls.

"Centralization of functionality is the trend these days, and the kitchen is the most central space in the house," says Hanley. "If you can incorporate a group of technologies into a single, simple control surface in the kitchen, the builder can accomplish several things, not least of which is reducing or removing the technology intimidation factor with the wife and making her interior decorator happy not to have to work around the warts."

Smart Appliances

The fabled refrigerator that can sense when you're low on milk has yet to become a reality. But builders and integrators are preparing the runways for something like it. Shawn Hansson says he has several builder clients who have requested cabled LAN connections for appliances in anticipation of the time when they can be accessed on a network. (And now several smart appliances are network-addressable.)

"We're already seeing that capability from high-end appliance makers, allowing remote users to do things like preheat an oven or get a ping when the washing machine is done," he says.

Jason Hanley sells LG refrigerators with built-in 15-inch LCD screens that come with component video inputs. Using an ELAN S12 multiroom AV controller and an M800 remote, he can send various video sources to the refrigerator screen.