Students compete in kitchen design contest

The National Kitchen & Bath Association and General Electric announced the winners of the 2010 NKBA/GE Charette Competition, which awards students more than $20,000 in scholarships. The competition recognizes students who each demonstrate kitchen design skill by planning a safe, functional kitchen within a three-hour period.

More than 500 students from 31 colleges participated in the challenge, which tests students' abilities to apply their knowledge of kitchen design by producing a floorplan with specifications, a design statement, and a perspective or elevation of a kitchen featuring GE appliances. Each of the 31 colleges chose up to three local winners to award $50 each.

"The challenge builds students' confidence and their skills for success, which not only helps them when taking NKBA certification exams, but also ensures that the kitchen and bath industry will continue to offer a number of very qualified professionals in the future," says Sherylin Doyle, NKBA manager of academic relations.

More than 90 local winners advanced to the national competition. The top student designers integrated GE Monogram series appliances, which offer commercial-grade features, into the design for their clients who were a young professional newlywed couple that just purchased their first home. Their main focus was for the kitchen remodel to be favorable to future buyers since they're planning to move within five years as they start a family.

The designers had to provide seating for four, a beverage center and storage for barware. All designs had to adhere to the NKBA planning guidelines, as well as to NKBA graphic and presentation standards.

The student winners were:

1st place ($5,000 scholarship): Hillaree Harris, Brigham Young University.

2nd place ($4,000 scholarship): Sanchali Srivastava, West Valley (Calif.) College

3rd place ($3,000 scholarship): Brittany McPheters, Brigham Young University

4th place ($2,500 scholarship): Miriam Frost, Cañada (Calif.) College

5th place ($2,000 scholarship): Leah Henley, Alexandria (Minn.) Technical College

To view the winning designs, visit http://www.nkba.org/students_scholarships_2010ge.aspx