The Center for Real Life Kitchen Design, on the Virginia Tech campus, opened in the fall of 1998 as a collaborative effort by the university and the kitchen industry. It recently reopened after undergoing extensive renovations and upgrades.
The Center provides a hands-on learning experience, and was created to foster educational opportunities related to the demonstration and application of products, materials, and technologies used in residential kitchen design. It is used not only by university students but also by consumers and industry professionals for training and continuing education.
The Center consists of six fully operational kitchens in a 1,500-square-foot space that also incorporates a laundry, a home office, and a flexible classroom with multimedia capabilities. The six kitchens represent various price levels and spatial configurations, and they reflect the diversity of the family unit today.
Each provides examples of how to accommodate the needs of different users: a family with young children, elderly homeowners, and the disabled. For information about the two-day professional workshops at the facility, visit go to www.cpe.vt.edu/dreamkit/.
