Renowned Hawai'i chefs are adding a little flavor to the state's sizzling luxury home development market, lending their names and design suggestions to kitchens in million-dollar residences.

Alan Wong and Roy Yama-guchi recently partnered with separate homebuilders to produce "signature kitchens" as an extension of the growing market for more common chef-branded culinary products like knives and bottled sauces.

Wong was tapped by local developer Will Beaton, who heads development of 20 duplexes selling for between $3 million and $5 million each at Ke Kailani, a recently started project by former HBO chief executive Michael Fuchs at Mauna Lani Resort on the Big Island.

Yamaguchi collaborated on the Beach Villas at Ko Olina, a planned 247-unit condominium with average prices over $2 million by Texas-based Centex Destination Properties at Ko Olina Resort & Marina on O'ahu.

Gloria Garvey, a principal with Kailua-based consulting firm The Brand Strategy Group, said the kitchens are a crafty branding arrangement similar to what basketball star Michael Jordan did with Nike when he helped design a signature shoe.

Other examples of celebrity-branded design include Martha Stewart accessories at Kmart, the Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer and the Vera Wang suite at the Halekulani hotel.

"It's the wow factor," said Shelley Tanner, a kitchen designer with Honolulu-based John Cook Kitchens.

Home developers said it is doubtful that star chef-inspired kitchens add a premium to the selling price of the multimillion-dollar home projects, especially because of the overall quality in the homes and how lofty Hawai'i real estate values have become.

But the concept is certainly a creative touch that also acts as dual promotion for the residential projects and the chefs.

"Because it's in Hawai'i, it may add a certain amount of panache to the sale of the homes, but I don't think it will make that much of a difference for people who have a ton of money," Garvey said.

Still, Brook Gramann, another principal with The Brand Strategy Group, said using a well-known chef's input in designing a kitchen is a good selling point. "It makes a lot of sense, because they know how a kitchen should function," she said.

Yamaguchi, who operates 30 restaurants including six in Hawai'i, said he had never previously designed a noncommercial kitchen, but had always mused about what he'd like in a home kitchen. So he accepted the invitation from Michael Kosmin, Centex sales and marketing vice president.

"It felt natural to get involved," Yamaguchi said. "I felt like I could utilize my professional background to help people enjoy themselves in their everyday life. It's a fun project."

Most home kitchens are designed for aesthetics in Yama-guchi's view. "They're not built to be functional for people to cook in," he said. "You have to take 10 steps to get this, 10 steps to get that ... open this to open that."

Yamaguchi said his suggestions were mainly about how to create efficient work space — like a deep sink to wash pots as opposed to just picking expensive commercial-grade appliances — and make the kitchen engaging for other people in the home.

Kosmin said Yamaguchi encouraged the project's interior designer and architect to give the kitchen an open-air quality by putting it just inside the lanai. He said the chef also lobbied for clutter-free countertops that resulted in a coffee maker built into the wall.

"It's amazing — the improvements he made in efficiency of space," Kosmin said. "I don't think it puts a premium on (the sales) price, but it's a positive for the end user. I think that's invaluable."

Wong's signature kitchen also was positioned to make a seamless transition with the outdoors and enhance gathering-place qualities of the cooking area.

Other Ke Kailani kitchen elements include 30-inch countertops for commercial-size trays, and "work triangles" where two cooks can access their own refrigerator, range and sink without bumping into each other.

Ke Kailani developer Beaton said the kitchen, which comes with a copper plaque with Wong's name on it, probably isn't the difference in someone buying or not buying a duplex villa (five of which have already sold), but it conveys a sense of character and uniqueness.

"It's a real honor to have him endorse our project in a sense, and apply his creative talent," Beaton said, adding that he thought Wong would laugh and politely decline the request to work together.

Wong was unavailable for comment, according to his company's project manager, Leigh Ito.

Neither developer would discuss their financial arrangement with the chefs. Beaton said only that Wong was paid a fee. Yama-guchi and Kosmin also would not disclose compensation.

According to Gourmet Retailer, the market for chef-branded products has grown over the past decade. But it was not easily ascertainable how many star chefs have involved themselves in home kitchen design with developers.

Yamaguchi has been active in product design and branding since coming out with a line of pots and pans called Roy's Fusion Cookware for sale exclusively on Home Shopping Network last year.

More recently, Yamaguchi released a set of knives, which should be followed by a line of electrical appliances next month and a "pretty awesome" pressure cooker.

Kosmin said Centex Destination Properties, a resort home subsidiary of $10 billion Centex Corp., may do more kitchen design with Yamaguchi.

"This is kind of a first-test case," Kosmin said. "What we hope to do is use this throughout our resort communities."

Reach Andrew Gomes at agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.