Merillat Web Site Updates Help Consumers Find Their Perfect Kitchen

Consumers can narrow their preferences before visiting a showroom or builder

(HIT) - Merillat has updated the What's My Style Quiz and 3-D Design Planner tools on its Web site, www.merillat.com, helping to guide consumers on the search for their perfect kitchen.

"This feature allows consumers to begin planning their kitchen before going into a showroom or visiting a builder," said Ray Pate, Merillat interactive services manager. "It cuts down on the time they have to spend shopping for their kitchen and helps them to be more prepared and knowledgeable."

What's My Style Quiz

This design aid helps homeowners find their style based on their tastes when it comes to lifestyle and decor preferences. The What's My Style Quiz takes Web site users through a fun and engaging series of questions. They are asked to choose from a variety of options in different question categories such as:

• Which of these parties would you throw?
  
• Which artwork would you hang on your wall?
  
• Select a place setting for your table?
  
• Choose a sound that sooths you?

"Once the user has completed the quiz, it determines whether they are partial to formal traditional, country traditional, eclectic or contemporary styles," said Pate. "Consumers can then view various cabinetry door styles and kitchen applications related to their style."

3-D Design Planner

Merillat has also updated their online 3-D Design Planner. The tool, which now has a Web based program, is faster and even easier to use, allowing consumers to see the kitchen in their mind actualized as a 3-D computer model. Consumers are in turn better informed and better prepared to share their vision with their kitchen designer. The 3-D Design Planner offers three ways for consumers to design their kitchens:

The Design Wizard was created for novice designers. It takes users step by step through the creation of a kitchen plan. Once the kitchen is designed, users can modify it using the Advanced Designer.

The Pre-configured Templates allow users to combine their personal taste and design sensibilities with the experience and knowledge of Merillat professionals to create the ideal plan. This option lets consumers modify one of the professionally designed templates. There are templates for the more common kitchen layouts.

The Advanced Designer, for experienced kitchen designers, allows users to create a kitchen plan from scratch.

Each of the tools will allow users to use their own creativity to design their kitchens while they have fun and learn more about best practices of kitchen layouts. Users can choose cabinet styles and finishes as well as appliance colors and surface materials. The tool also allows users to relocate windows and doors and choose lighting schemes so consumers can get a better understanding of what their new kitchen could look like before they purchase.

Once the user has created a design they like, they can save it in their Idea Folio. The Idea Folio allows the user to save designs or images from the Web site that they like and then go back at a later date and review their selections.

The 3-D Design Planner is a tool that helps homeowners create a basic design for their new kitchen, it is not intended for product ordering so Merillat recommends that a professional cabinetry designer review all design layouts to ensure accuracy.

About Merillat

Based in Adrian, Mich., and part of the Masco Builder Cabinet Group (MBCG), the Merillat brand has been providing quality cabinetry since 1946. With nine manufacturing plants located throughout the United States, the company has grown to become one of the nation's largest cabinet manufacturers and the number one builder preferred cabinet. Merillat offers the best selection of stylish, quality products at a variety of price levels, and all Merillat products carry the seal of the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturer Association (KCMA). Merillat is leading the industry in consumer research to better understand what new home shoppers are looking for when purchasing a home. Merillat was recently featured in John Ratzenberger's Made in America television program. The company is also the primary cabinetry sponsor of the 2007 Renewed American Home. Merillat is proud to be a Diamond Sponsor of the National Association of Home Builders, Women's Council, a member of the NAHB National Council of the Housing Industry, Color Marketing Institute and the National Kitchen and Bath Association. A leader in environmental stewardship, MBCG has been certified ISO 14001 and granted an Environmental Stewardship Program certificate by the KCMA.

Courtesy: Home Improvement News and Information Center