CHALLENGE
As a company that has success in reusing timeless features for over 70 years, KitchenAid needs a timer that highlights their brand elements while including the same elements as the popular grand wall phone.
SOLUTION
This project aims to create a redesigned kitchen timer by integrating the iconic mid-1950s grand wall phone with the contemporary brand KitchenAid.
HOW I HELPED
Design Researcher
Sketch Artist
Concept Development
Prototyping
Rendering/Visualization
Grand Kitchen Timer
PROCESS
Can we merge a timeless shape with a well known brand?
The grand wall phone was used for communication and connection. It was made of good quality materials that withstood a busy kitchen environment. Make sure to check out the grand wall phone tear down that inspired this project!
70 years after its original introduction and in a society that has long surpassed the need for a wall phone, the grand wall phone is still a statement product due to its organic shapes and bulbous form giving the viewer joy.
Bell Telephone Magazine Ad
Bell Telephone Magazine Ad
KitchenAid Blender
KitchenAid Measuring Cups
KitchenAid Mixer
KitchenAid Mixer
While the need for a wall phone has slipped away, the grand wall phone left a style that people love. Many companies use these features, like KitchenAid.
KitchenAid started in 1919 with a simple mixer. After the great depression and World War II, Americans wanted their houses to feel like home. The economy was booming, women were back in the household, and cooking at home became about expressing personal tastes.
Marketers of the 1950’s saw the benefit of selling appliances with some flair, recognizing that consumers would invest more in a kitchen that allowed them to express some sense of style. Here entered the colorful grand wall phones at the same time kitchenaid introduced their iconic stand mixer.
The kitchen timer, a necessity of the kitchen, is also found in the KitchenAid product line.
Current iterations of the kitchen timer use some, but not all, of the features of the 1950’s flair. KitchenAid needs a timer that highlights their brand elements. These are the same elements as the grand wall phone:
Bright colors
High-gloss finish
Bulbous form
Metal accents
Kitchen Aid Timer
Kitchen Aid Timer
Kitchen Aid Timer
Current products on the market hold secrets.
Examining their manufacturing processes and materials helps highlight features the grand kitchen timer should have.
I found current products with various housing, battery, and buttons that inspired my design.
The grand kitchen timer needs:
Housing
Battery compartment
Bell
PCB
Button pads
Buttons
Protective screen
Chrome cover
Its form is driven by the existing grand wall phone.
Kitchen timer ideation. Form driven by the grand wall phone.
Bell Box Assembly
Section view of bell box assembly
Electromagnetic Field
Bell Box Assembly
Induction coil holder flat pattern
Induction coil holder measurements
A crucial element to include in the new timer is the grand wall phone ringer box.
A ringer box is a telephone signaling device, similar to a bell box. It usually contains an electromechanical gong. The ringer box contains an induction coil, magnets, and an agitator pin. When a signal is passed through wires that connect to the induction coil, an electromagnetic field is generated. This field moves the agitator pin.
A pulse in signals through the wire, or a specific part called an interrupter, interrupts the flow of current into a changing flow, making the agitator pin move back and forth. The pin striking the bronze bell created the iconic ringing sound.
Using SolidWorks I created the entire housing assembly including the housing, battery compartment, buttons, screen, and PCB.
Kitchen Timer Assembly
Kitchen Timer Housing
Kitchen timer section view SW
Housing SW Drawing
Kitchen Timer Faceplate
Kitchen Timer Faceplate
Kitchen Timer Buttons
Timer PCB
Timer Faceplate Assembly
Resin curing prototype 1
Small version of timer to test paint
Testing painting and colors
Testing painting and colors
Testing primer versus no primer
Testing post painting techniques.
I created a small version of the kitchen timer to test different paint and finishing techniques.
While waiting for a larger version to finish, I began programming a small screen with an Arduino to simulate what a timer with buttons could look like.
Programing the screen
Testing font sizes on screen
Adjusting the screen size
Large timer being removed from resin
First coat of paint on housing
Automotive paint used for chrome finish
First coat of paint on back housing
Tolerance for buttons must be bigger
Unexpected cracking paint
Shape of screen housing may need to change
Interior Arduino
The larger version showed many issues that were not apparent on the smaller version. This led to small redesigns of various pieces. It also prompted different explorations of painting and finishing.
This is an ongoing and always improving project.
KitchenAid Chrome Accents
Battery info injection molded into part
Chamfered edge inspired from other timers
Bulbous form from wall phone
KitchenAid Timers
KitchenAid Timers
KitchenAid Expressive color series
KitchenAid Expressive Color Series from their 2022 Color of the Year.
