The gallery was launched on the KK Times Square in Kota Kinabalu and features a ‘live’ kitchen for cooking or product demonstrations with the company’s latest award winning product, Aino Paradiso. The product had won five awards including the Best Product, Design Excellence and New Innovation Design from the Kitchen and Bathroom Recognition Awards by Kitchen+Bathroom Magazine, iProperty.com Malaysia and Catcha Media Group in September 2009.
Philip Chee, managing director of AinoKitchen, stated that most of the designs featured at the new gallery focused on Malaysian families. He also said that their focus was on creating dry kitchens, as for the Malaysian families the kitchen has emerged as a central focus of the home not just as a place to cook, but also as a place for get-togethers.
The concept of open kitchens has become popular. The contemporary kitchen styles is also followed by most of the newly developed homes, stated the director. Modern houses now have dry and wet kitchens. The dry kitchen is normally next to the living room, which is a change from the traditional ways of designing homes and kitchens, he added. Chee said that the new gallery aimed at producing such kitchens in a hassle-free process for their customers.
The decision to open their first showroom in Kota Kinabalu had been taken as the city as there has been considerable amount of economic growth in the city, which has had its effects on the spending capacities of the individuals.
