The kitchen is a room so rife with ideas and innovations, it’s a world unto itself. In the past, the conversation has centered on the room’s functional demands, but the baseline of performance is higher today than even 10 years ago—most of us have kitchens that suit our basic needs. What we seek today isn’t just optimized utility but blithe beauty, too. Dream kitchens don’t just make room for cooking and entertaining (and homework and bill-paying, too), they lift the spirits. As we blast toward a beguiling new way of kitchen thinking, we checked in with the pros to ask what’s exciting them for the busiest room in the house.