*HUBBUB 26 People’s Choice Award Winners: Most unique or creative project solution and tied for most promising climate impact.*

Audience Quote: “I’d buy PrepMate for my mom”

What is PrepMate? 

Our project aims to tackle the issue faced by many renters in greater Vancouver- limited kitchen space in small apartments. Additionally, we are designing for our persona (target user)- Sarah, a busy single mother to a 5 year old child. So, our design includes considerations with a focus on efficiency, portability, and child safety. Our solution is a multifunctional induction stove cover. The design includes a main body, a stove container, and a removable silicone tray, which work together to support several functions. It can serve as a cover, a prep surface, a carrying tray, and even a drying rack over the sink. We chose this idea because it responds directly to Sarah’s lifestyle and gives her more usable space without requiring major changes to her apartment. It also supports quick transitions between cooking, cleaning, and storage, which is important for a busy parent managing a small home.

This project has the potential to improve safety, reduce clutter, and make everyday kitchen routines more efficient for people living in small urban homes. In the future, the design could be adapted to fit different stove sizes and household needs, which makes it a flexible and scalable concept. By focusing on compact living and multifunctional use, the project supports a more practical, inclusive, and enjoyable home environment. Through this project, we learned that our design decisions should keep our personas needs in mind, and that even small details can impact their experience. Which reflect the recommendations we received, such as improving portability, for if the user wants to move the PrepMate in or out or storage, or repositioned on the counter. As PrepMate involves sliding drawer-like parts, accounting for one-handed usage would improve accessibility.

Next Steps

As of now, we have no plans to continue working on the project, but to simply share it with CityStudio in this showcase. As our model is medium-fidelity, and given the feedback we recieved previously, there is plenty room for improvement. There is a possible future to continue in a directed studies course, which would involve making a more accurate model with the assigned wood and silicone materials, reworking the sliding mechanisms to improve accessibility, and real user testing.