Kitchen Trends from KBIS and Beyond

This year’s Kitchen and Bath Industry Show saw color, personality, and customization jump to the forefront, responding to consumers’ desires for spaces that feel energetic, genuine, and completely personal. We are craving spaces that really captivate our senses and our imaginations. Here we’re sharing some of our favorite trends to come out of KBIS this year.

Details, quality materials, and heirloom pieces are in vogue again. Our “throw-away society” is starting to see a backlash in the interior design community, and investment-grade cabinetry, furniture, art, and antiques are making a comeback.

We often hear, “they don’t make it like they used to” and we feel a desire now to bring those pieces into our home whether we are refurbishing them and giving them new life or adding them as a vintage accent with patina from generations of use.

We are seeking furnishings that tell a story that connects us to a broader community. This could be through artisanal furniture, fabrics, and decorative items that connect us with the individuals who made them. In our Tudor with a Twist project (above), we collaborated with a local light fixture artisan to craft our custom lighting, fabricated from vintage components.

Our need for connectedness has never been stronger. Again the pandemic taught us that our sense of community is critical to our happiness, and although the lockdown is over, research is finding there has been a significant uptick since 2020 in the amount of time we are spending alone.

In response, we are seeing large glass paneled doors, sliders, or dividers taking the place of solid walls and doors, opening up views into adjacent spaces, but maintaining a bit of sound control.

The lockdown also taught us that if we are to spend 24/7 in our own homes, they need to be physically comfortable,  soothing, and harken back to a time when we felt all of these things. How better to embody them than in a space that feels nurturing and warm like a grandmother – yet sophisticated and modern because we all crave style and design too!

We love seeing the return of copper cookware in the kitchen for both display and use, injecting warm tones into the color scheme as well as handmade character and patina.

Handmade tiles are huge right now, as are organic installations of tile with mixed patterns textures, and color.

We love herringbone kitchen floors for the texture and character they add to both older and newer homes, so we are excited to see them trending again! They conjure up an old-world vibe, in part because of the texture and pattern they add, and partly because of the skill required to lay them properly.

Handwrought sinks of all kinds are making a return to the kitchen! After years of innovation around modern and functionality in sinks, we are finally seeing the return of pretty handmade sinks. They add aesthetic pleasure to the mundane tasks around using the sink, and, if allowed to develop a patina, it can show the marks over time, and use that tell a story of home.

With the increased amount of time we are spending in our homes, we are seeking an individual personalized look like never before. The mixing of old and new, ornate, and clean lines continues to push our creativity in our interiors. Time-worn materials, objects, and furniture are finding a place beside the new and shiny.

Displaying collections in kitchens is back! Vintage collections like copper pots, antique utensils, vintage china and ironstone, and pewter all lend character and individualize your space. We built two separate areas for china display in our Tudor with a Twist project here:

Appliance manufacturers, plumbing fixtures, and hardware brands were just a few to embrace new options this year.

More custom options were seen at KBIS than ever before. Hardware with interchangeable parts and appliances with optional contrasting knobs to name a few were everywhere. Several appliance manufacturers revealed new options for customizing, including new color options and custom finishes for knobs and accessories. We are also seeing more options for customizing and mixing metal finishes on faucets.

KBIS was a whirlwind as usual, but it was so exciting to be out and about and see what everyone has been up to all year! We hope to see YOU there next year!