ADRIAN, Mich., June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Merillat recently completed the third phase of their ongoing research study aimed at understanding new homebuyers and homeowners. The first two phases, Model Behavior I and Model Behavior II, took an in-depth look at how people act, think and shop in a model home. Merillat's third phase of research, Kitchen 4mula, examined how people live in their kitchens, the role the kitchen plays in their lives and ultimately revealed the secrets of four segments of homeowners.

"The purpose behind Kitchen 4mula is to help builders and kitchen and bath dealers better understand what consumers are looking for in their kitchens so they can create better living spaces," said Karen Strauss, president of Merillat. "The research uncovered helpful insights into how builders and dealers can improve their sales and consumer satisfaction ratings with design solutions tailored to each of the four consumer segments."

How They Did It

To conduct the study, a total of 1,252 interviews were done nationwide in a comprehensive online survey with recent new home purchasers. Homes had to have been purchased within five years or less for participants to take the survey. Respondents averaged about 18 minutes to complete the survey. They gave their opinions on 63 attitudinal statements covering a wide range of topics such as: how the homeowner relates to their kitchen, how they live in their kitchen and the role the kitchen played in their home purchase decision. Respondents rated each statement on a scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is strongly agree and 1 is strongly disagree.

Respondents were also asked about 32 cabinet features. First they were asked if they had the feature, if they did, they were asked how they felt about the feature choosing from one of these responses: love it, like it, just OK.

All the responses were compiled and then analyzed with the help of a state-of-the-art statistical clustering program. From this algorithm analysis, the following four distinct segments emerged:

   -- Luxury Leaders consider the kitchen the "star" of their home.  Social      status is important to Luxury Leaders, and they use their kitchen for      entertaining and consider it a showplace.  They want the best of the      best and they are considered early adopters of trends, fashion and new      products.    -- Domestic Dwellers see the kitchen as a place to care for and nurture      their family.  They use their kitchen the most of any segment and      consider the space the center of their home.  This segment had the most      homemakers and they consider themselves more conventional than      experimental.    -- Busy Bees are very busy; however, they spend a great deal of time in      their kitchens.  Because of their hectic lives, their kitchen is often      disorganized and cluttered.  They use their kitchen for crafts,      hobbies, house chores, homework, but they rarely use it for      entertaining.  This group is constantly trying to fit more activities      in their day just to stay caught up, so in essence they desperately      need products that improve efficiencies.    -- Career Builders don't have an emotional connection to the kitchen and      don't see it as an important room.  They don't spend a lot of time in      their kitchen, but when they do, they can be found surfing the Web or      doing work for their job.  Their primary decision to purchase their      home was for investment and future resale value.  They considered      location and curb appeal to be more important that the kitchen.    How to Use It  

Different lifestyles call for a unique and individualized approach to design and selling. Understanding in which segment a prospective customer fits, and knowing how people in the various segments spend their time will provide an added advantage when designing and selling homes to meet their needs.

Merillat has developed a Segment ID tool that can be used to determine in which segment a prospective customer fits, further aiding the sales process. This tool will help a builder or dealer create a kitchen that appeals to the prospective customer's specific segment by: quickly identifying distinct segment groups, better packaging options and upgrades that appeal to specific segments, strengthening satisfaction ratings and improving personal selling.

To learn more about the research or to get a Kitchen 4mula executive summary brochure, visit the Merillat business Web site http://www.merillatbusiness.com/.

Based in Adrian, Mich., Merillat Industries, LLC, has been providing quality cabinetry since 1946. With nine manufacturing plants located throughout the United States, Merillat 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. Merillat is leading the industry in consumer research to better understand what new home shoppers are looking for when purchasing a home. Merillat is proud to be a Platinum Sponsor of the National Association of Home Builders, Women's Council, member of the Color Marketing Institute and National Kitchen and Bath Association.

Merillat Industries, LLC

CONTACT: Marlaina Quintana, +1-414-225-9592, mquintana@hyc.com, or RobynGrossman, +1-414-225-9520, rgrossman@hyc.com, both of Hoffman York forMerillat

Web site: http://www.merillatbusiness.com/