As we continue our love affair with open floor plans and sleek lines, the home chef relies on clever conveniences to make kitchen space function well.
A shared openness relies on built-ins to blend appliances seamlessly into the cabinetry or to tuck away in hidden storage. Each year manufacturers scramble to introduce new products to keep residential consumers well equipped.
The annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show which took place this January in Orlando, Florida boasted the best of these new kitchen and bath products all pushing the boundaries of design, technology, and innovation.
Modern Design in the Home
Kitchens are Getting Sexier
We saw “affordable terrazzo-look porcelain tiles to high-octane hues on professional ranges, we can’t help but be bowled away by the eye-popping designs on display” reported Interior Design. Referring to the Italian manufacturer, Bertazzoni’s, new Professional series of ranges.
Its stylish yet functional temperature gauge inspired by chronograph watch dials and automobile-grade finishes in vibrant hues of orange, red, and yellow and classic favs of white and black, will make any sleek kitchen sizzle.
Grays and whites still flourish but we are seeing a strong trend toward blues and black in cooking spaces. The two-tone will quickly become a must-have in color and in mixing of material palettes.
In love with metals? KBIS didn’t disappoint there either. We saw a variety of metals but dominating the field were flat black, copper, and brushed golds in plumbing fixtures as well as cabinet hardware.
Laura Eagen, Estrella Cabinetry, and Showroom, recently returned from KBIS. She said one of the first things she noticed was that encaustic tiles are huge.
Encaustic tile patterns are based typically on Moroccan patchwork designs and they have seen a popularity over the past year. What has changed is that the color is settling down from what we have been seeing and the focus is on the pattern. Traditional encaustic tiles consist of pressed clay on a concrete base and are quite expensive. Luckily there are many less expensive encaustic effect tiles on the market to make this an affordable addition to many homes.
Probably attributable to the waterfall edge craze on islands, edges on all surfaces are generally thickening. Although not featured much at KBIS, Laura is seeing a surge in the specification of this type of edge. “Instead of a 1.5-inch edge on the countertop, the norm is quickly becoming 2.5 inches.” If looking for such an edge on your future countertop, she states to “Look for a mitered edge so the pattern flows seamlessly and appears as one beautiful thick 2.5 slab.” Steering away from a laminated edge as the pattern will not flow properly.
Kitchens are Getting Smarter
Over the past several years we have seen products with compelling new features popping up such as refrigerators with interior cameras to help with grocery shopping lists and motion activated faucets. Manufacturers are always on the hunt for new technologies to improve the quality of the home when catering to busy lifestyles.
Samsung Win Best of KBIS 2018 Awards across two categories for its QuickDrive™ and FlexWash™ + FlexDry™ systems at KBIS this year. A major step forward in laundry innovation. Equipped with enhanced smart capabilities, the new washer takes the guesswork out of doing laundry from your mobile device. Simplifying the washing cycle with intuitive features and smart features keeping both you and your washer operating at optimal performance.
According to Laura, although cell charger stations have been out for a while, clean-lined simple varieties were featured and were a bit hit with KBIS-goers
And who just doesn’t love more gadgets to deal with those unsightly wires.
Nothing is probably as unsightly as a shower drain. But happy to report they are working on other options to streamline the look to complement curbless showers and large format tiles.
Anything that keeps me from shuffling through stacks of pots and pans rises to the top of my fav list; carousel inserts for cabinets guaranteed to make you happy and entertain your kids for hours.
As well as using interior organizers to stash and hide clutter. Richelieu’s Straightline modular unit in birch and walnut includes a combination of wood trays, utensil dividers, knife blocks, plate holders, spice racks and boxes in every drawer or pullout shelf. You can easily rearrange the layout as often as needed.
Windowless kitchens rejoice! ATI Decorative Laminates’ LumiSplash combines art with lighting in a durable and ultra-thin laminate. The material is suitable for most vertical and horizontal applications, such as backsplashes, countertops, tabletops, walls, and casework. Can think of so many applications for this!
Resiliency of Materials
Thanks to the layer of the company’s LuxCore FRP surface, this product is not only fabulous but it has impact-, scratch-, chemical- and abrasion-resistant properties.
Other notable surfaces were Cosentino’s modified Silestone product. N-BOOST improves the water resistance and liquid repellency properties of Silestone at a molecular level.
Also entering the easy-care surface category is Bosch with its introduction of the new Black Stainless Steel Kitchen suite to simplify life in the kitchen. Its “Invented for Life” surface helps guard against scratches and fingerprints. The line of resilient appliances includes cooktops, dishwashers, refrigeration units, and ventilators.
All designed to give you more time to enjoy your beautiful, organized, clean kitchen or to spend more time keeping the kids away from the pot carousel.
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