America’s kitchen are typically a reflection of the times, a mix of tried and true classics and the new and trendy. This year, as it does every three years, The NPD Group, a leading global information company, asked U.S. consumers to report on what appliances, cookware, and utensils they own, food ingredients they have on hand, usage and sources of recipes. The result is what NPD calls the Kitchen Audit, which is used by food companies and appliance and housewares manufacturers for product and recipe development and marketing.
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Findings from the recently released Kitchen Audit include:
• Twenty-three percent of households own a coffee pod machine and 80 percent used their pod machine in the last month. Of these households, 55 percent also own an electric drip coffeemaker.
• Sriracha, the Asian hot (figuratively and literally) sauce that is relatively new to America’s kitchen, is a condiment staple in 16 percent of households with a homemaker under age 35 and in 9 percent of total households.
• 53 percent of cooks who consider their cooking skills excellent use a recipe once or more a week; whereas only 14 percent of those who consider their cooking skills fair do.
• 4 percent of total households currently own a soda maker, but that increases to 10 percent in households with any children under 6.