All opinions are 100% mine.
NeoCon is a huge annual show for the commercial interiors industry held at The Merchandise Mart, here in Chicago. I attended the show last week for the debut of the new wireless Corian® Charging Surface, and you guys. We are living in the future.
You probably already know Corian®. It’s a solid-surface material that comes in 110 colors and patterns that can be custom-cut and fabricated with near seamless installation. It’s durable, stain-resistant, and easy to clean, so while most people are familiar with as a countertop for the kitchen or bathroom, it’s often used for commercial and hospitality applications too.
The Corian® Charging Surface is a transmitter that can be installed below the surface of a counter to wirelessly charge smart devices, stopping automatically when the battery is full. Zodiaq® quartz counters work with the technology too and there’s no difference in appearance with it installed (unless you want to add an identifying mark), so you get this secret little charging spot that doesn’t change the design of your room! We usually have a phone or tablet (or both) charging in our kitchen, and the tangle of cords drives me nuts. I’m forever gathering everything up to squirrel it all away in a drawer, so to be able to charge everything without wires would be awesome.
Samsung is already offering phones that can be charged wirelessly, but you can adapt other phones with a special case or Powermat® wireless charging ring. Powermat® is also making the technology work for commercial spaces (coffee shops, restaurants, airports, etc.) with multiple charging spots and remote cloud-based management. Both the residential and commercial transmitters’ firmware can be updated and are PMA and Qi compatible to support upcoming technology.
I liked the new Corian® design at the show that looked like marble (without marble’s tendency to stain and etch), and it would work in almost any kitchen or bath. I was into some of the darker options though — almost black, but with enough interest to keep them from looking flat. A dark counter with painted cabinetry in a beautiful color and an integrated Corian® Charging Surface would be fantastic. Adding one to a piece of furniture in an entryway or mudroom would be smart too. And wouldn’t it be amazing for the technology to take off on a large enough scale so that you could head out with your phone, sans-cords and cables, confident that there would be a spot where you could set your phone down to charge wirelessly? Hello, future.
You can follow Corian® on Facebook and Corian® Twitter to keep up with them and their latest innovations.
Karen
June 22, 2015 at 8:08 pmThe future, indeed! Sounds cool. But, one word of caution… when my parents built their house the chose black marble counters with painted cabinets. It was horrible. Dark counters show every drop of water, every piece of dust, every finger print. They never look clean. It’s exhausting. They switch back to white marble counters with painted cabinets and it’s much less stressful. Sounds silly but it’s worth mentioning. Plus… the white is clean and bright. So nice.
Making it Lovely
June 22, 2015 at 9:02 pmWe put dark quartz counters in the kitchen of our first house, and I felt like they were almost too good at hiding things! Sometimes we’d noticed that we missed a spot and wonder how long it had been there. Ours weren’t just a flat black — the quartz had some variation to it. Maybe that makes a difference?
Trish
June 23, 2015 at 11:10 pmi have the marble look Corian and love it. Would have never chosen it as my first choice (came with house) but it’s by my favorite counter surface of the many I’ve had. Clean up is a breeze, it’s softer, less things chip. The big question … Can I install one of these chargers in an existing Corian designer series top?