Indian kitchens are evolving, but there’s a dearth of designers. Contemporary Indian kitchens are moving beyond utility to become design-led spaces shaped by changing lifestyles, smaller homes and post-pandemic habits.
These shifts were discussed during the second webinar in an ongoing knowledge series organised jointly by the Association of Designers of India (ADI) and India Kitchen Congress (IKC). Titled ‘The Indian Kitchen Is Changing’, the session featured Gopal Dwivedi, Chief Design Head – Global at Livspace, and Amit Sharma, Principal Architect and Designer at Axiom India, and was moderated by design consultant, educator and ADI Delhi NCR Vice President Aditi Vitasta Dhar.
Sharma’s observations framed the discussion from an architect’s perspective, touching on
how Indian kitchens are being reimagined as social, cultural and lifestyle spaces, while Dwivedi brought an industry lens to the talent and systems required to support this shift at
scale.
“The kitchen is going to become more compact, sophisticated and better finished and, as
time passes, I think we’ll end up with something which will be very elite,” said Sharma,
reflecting on how expectations around kitchens are evolving.
He also pointed to an emerging pattern in larger homes: the rise of two kitchens—a ‘show
kitchen’ used for socialising and an everyday prep kitchen that handles intensive cooking.
Dearth of Designers
Despite this gradual transformation—and the growing demand for design-led kitchens—the
industry is facing a shortage of designers with specialised kitchen design expertise. Dwivedi
noted that while aspirational show kitchens are gaining traction, shrinking home sizes,
particularly in apartments and pre-designed housing, make efficient space planning and
functional clarity even more critical.
Dwivedi is a two-time recipient of the Kitchen Professional of the Year Award at the India
Kitchen Congress, having won the honour in 2014 and 2019.
A poorly designed room elsewhere in a home can often be adjusted to, he said, but a poorly designed kitchen is far harder to live with, given it is used multiple times daily.
Dwivedi argued that many designers entering the workforce lack exposure to kitchen-
specific requirements such as modularity, hardware systems, joinery logic and material
behaviour.
“They need to first understand the catalogue, the materials, modularity and the science of
kitchen design. Most freshers are not aware of these aspects, and no institute really teaches how to design a kitchen,” he said.
According to him, kitchen design sits at the intersection of ergonomics, workflow efficiency,
storage science, safety and materials, and is also the space with the highest concentration of gadgets and appliances in a home.
From Carpentry to Systems
Dwivedi highlighted a structural shift underway in Indian kitchens—from traditional
carpentry to system-led, factory-finished modular kitchens, supported by precision
installation and organised after-sales service. He added that this cabinetry-driven approach
is also extending beyond kitchens into wardrobes, TV units and other storage-intensive
areas of the home.
On the consumer side, demand is becoming more informed and specific. Storage is
increasingly being planned as logic-based storage, with dedicated zones for cutlery, grains,
utensils, thalis and draining units—driven by exposure to global formats and social media
inspiration.
A visible design shift, he added, is the growing acceptance of white kitchens, once
considered impractical for Indian cooking. Citing Livspace data, Dwivedi said around 35
percent of cabinetry doors installed by the company are now in white, particularly wall
cabinets.
Industry Perspective: Training Gaps and Readiness
While Sharma underlined the growing complexity of kitchen design as a specialisation,
Dwivedi pointed to the industry-side challenge of finding designers equipped to handle this
complexity from day one.
He said organised players invest heavily in training designers before they become
productive, often spending several months on onboarding and capability-building before
designers contribute to sales. Companies also invest in internal systems such as design
software that links layouts to budgets, materials and manufacturing-ready outputs.
Livspace, he said, has built an internal pipeline through Livspace Academy, where designers
are trained on kitchen and wardrobe design, catalogues, materials and proprietary software
before entering customer-facing roles.
Dwivedi has also documented this gap from an industry practitioner’s perspective. He is the
author of The Interior Designer’s Sales Blueprint: Mastering Sales for Interior Designers,
which addresses the consultative skills designers need to translate design thinking into client decisions. The book was launched at India Kitchen Congress 2025.
He added that if academic institutions were to offer specialised kitchen design programmes,
the industry would readily absorb trained talent, reducing onboarding time and cost.
Kitchens are Modern—but Still Indian
The discussion also highlighted how modern kitchens must still accommodate traditional
Indian habits. Sharma illustrated this gap with an everyday example: the sil-batta (stone
grinder), which in many modern homes ends up stored under the sink due to lack of
dedicated space—underscoring how contemporary layouts often overlook legacy tools still
in daily use.
Dwivedi suggested that even small design interventions—such as a designated stone or raw-finish counter patch—could help integrate traditional practices into modern kitchen
workflows.
The Larger Picture
As Sharma noted, kitchens in Indian homes are no longer peripheral spaces but central to
daily life, culture and interaction. Translating this shift into well-designed, functional
kitchens, the panellists agreed, will depend on how effectively the industry and the design
education ecosystem work together to build specialised capability at scale.
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