AI Kitchen Planner
AI Kitchen Planner
MID Student Develops AI Kitchen Planner at Hinterland Hack 2026
From October 16–18, 2026, MID student Amr Emara participated in Hinterland Hack 2026 at the Founders Foundation in Bielefeld. Bringing together 60 selected participants from different disciplines, the 48-hour hackathon challenged teams to develop innovative solutions to real industry problems.
With a background in architecture and interior design and a focus on computational design in his master’s studies at TH OWL, Amr joined a team of five to tackle a challenge presented by nobilia, one of Europe’s leading kitchen manufacturers.
The Challenge: Talk Your Way Through Kitchen Planning
Kitchen planning can be a complex process. Customers often struggle to communicate their ideas, explore available options, and translate their preferences into a realistic design.
nobilia challenged participants to rethink this experience: How can AI guide customers through kitchen planning using natural conversation while supporting professional kitchen studios?
The goal was to develop a proof of concept that could turn customer preferences, room information, and design requirements into structured planning information, bridging the gap between an initial idea and professional kitchen planning.
The Solution: Kitchen Compass
Within 48 hours, Amr and his teammates Kevin, Luca, Valeria and Daniel developed Kitchen Compass, a conversational AI prototype that runs inside ChatGPT. It is built as an MCP app (Model Context Protocol), which connects the AI directly to nobilia’s real product catalogue.
The concept connects four key steps:
- Describe your kitchen: Upload a room photo and explain your ideas through a natural conversation with AI.
- Explore design options: Discover kitchen styles, colours, materials, and product preferences based on nobilia’s range.
- Visualize the concept: Generate an AI-powered visualization of the proposed kitchen within the customer’s space.
- Connect with professionals: Receive a digital Kitchen Pass summarizing the design preferences, suggested products, and a QR code that can be taken to a kitchen studio for further planning.
Amr contributed to the product concept, user experience, and overall customer journey, focusing on how complex design decisions could be translated into an intuitive interaction. Luca led the technical build with support from Daniel, Valeria worked on marketing and the customer interface, Kevin refined pitch slides and presented along with Amr on the Stage
Behind the scenes, Kitchen Compass also gives nobilia a dashboard. Every Kitchen Pass carries an ID, so when a kitchen studio scans the QR code, nobilia can see which studio received the lead, which kitchen the customer chose, and whether it turned into an order. For the first time, nobilia can track where it wins or loses a buyer.
On Stage
On the final day, Kevin presented Kitchen Compass to the jury and nobilia representatives, while Amr played the kitchen planner on stage, scanning the customer’s QR code live
Connecting Computational Design with Real-World Challenges
For Amr, the experience demonstrated the importance of combining design thinking, emerging technologies, and a user-centred approach.
“The AI was not the hard part. The hard part was designing the conversation, so that someone with no planning experience ends up with something a real kitchen planner can work with.”The project reflects a central principle of Integrated Design: using technology not simply to automate processes, but to make complex systems more accessible and meaningful for people.
With participants from different professional backgrounds working together for the first time, the hackathon also highlighted the value of interdisciplinary teamwork, rapid prototyping, and collaborative problem-solving.
Beyond the Hackathon
Although Kitchen Compass did not win the competition, the prototype attracted interest from nobilia’s team, leading to an invitation for a follow-up discussion about the concept and its potential development.
For Amr, participating in his first hackathon was also an opportunity to explore how interior design knowledge and computational design skills can contribute to innovation beyond traditional architecture.
Further information: https://hinterlandofthings.com/hack/
Photo credits: Stage photo of Amr and Kevin by 29ZEHN ( linkedin.com/company/29zehn).
Presenting Kitchen Compass to the jury and audience during the final pitches at Hinterland Hack 2026 in Bielefeld. Live demonstration of the Kitchen Compass Customer Brief, connecting AI-assisted kitchen planning with professional kitchen studios. 
Amr and Kevin presenting Kitchen Compass to the jury at Hinterland Hack 2026. Photo: 29ZEHN / Founders Foundation Following the final presentation of Kitchen Compass at Hinterland Hack 2026. 
The Kitchen Compass team : Amr Emara, Kevin, Luca, Valeria and Daniel. 
Luca (technical lead) and Valeria (marketing and customer interface) at work. 
Kitchen Compass live in ChatGPT: nobilia’s kitchen options appear right inside the conversation. 
The Kitchen Pass: after the chat in ChatGPT, the customer receives a PDF of their kitchen concept and an appointment with a nearby kitchen planner who sells nobilia. 
The last page of the Kitchen Pass: clear next steps and a QR code the kitchen planner scans to open the customer’s full brief. 
The nobilia KPI dashboard follows each customer journey, from the first chat in ChatGPT to the kitchen order. The Kitchen Compass final stage presentation at Founders Foundation in Bielefeld.
