5 Strong Design Trends

Some of the strongest trends seen at Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) and other recent shows include more gray tones, lots of texture, greater use of patterns, designs that feature horizontal lines and an increase i technology, particularly in the areas of touch-control and induction products.

Kitchen and bath design trends don't change overnight, but they seem to grow in importance. In the very recent past current trends were the forecast and demonstrated by experts within the home design world.

From recent shows it was evident that certain trends were repetitious and reinforced from one venue to the next including Milan, KBIS and the Architectural Digest Home Show. Here are a few of the strongest trends being seen at the shows.

COLOR:
The color gray is everywhere: in cabinet finishes, tiles, wall and floor coverings - and even fixtures.While it has been around for some time now, it seems stronger than ever. Reclaimed wood finishes are a grayed out version, which is softer than the intense stains of the past. Tiles include porcelain that looks like the gray flannel suit and stone from earthy basalt to Carrara marble.

The beauty of all of these grays is the soft neutral backdrop and balance they offer to pops of more intense color...and in many cases, the color is orange. Like that gray flannel suit, the grays also make a good juxtaposition to our once and always favorite: white. While white never goes away, it was stronger than ever at the KBIS, across all products and materials.

TEXTURE:Texture dominated the spaces I visited, in tile, in wood and in fabrics. Maybe it's due to our reverence for things crafted, but texture is clearly a very hot trend.

In tiles, the surfaces were often deeply etched or grooved, or otherwise patterned within the tile, offering so much movement. In addition, they were set in patterns that created texture, such as shaped mosaics set in a basket weave pattern with continued strong linear direction.

Rough clay tiles, reminiscent of the Mexican tiles of the past are part of this in the form of French reclaimed tiles that have a waxed appearance. In wood, the texture ran deep in the unedited finishes and the return of boulder grained woods.

Counters were often matte or sueded, with front edges or apron panels that were deep or think and carved or deeply etched. To add to the sense of texture, the counters were layered with one section overlapping the next.

Patterns on patterns seemed to be everywhere, graphic and with tone-on-tone combinations of various patterns on the same wall, in the same space.

Wallpaper continues to grow as well, both in the places it's appearing and the in the size of the pattern. The interesting twist to this is that sometimes it's not wallpaper, but tile imitating wallpaper- and water jet cutting technology is making this a beautiful and seamless execution. Counter surface materials are being introduced with greater pattern and larger particulates in the mix as well.


HORIZONTAL LINES
The continued emphasis on a strong horizontal line in design is prevalent in shows and showrooms, accomplished in some of the same ways as in the past, but also in some new ways. Heavy use of drawers continues to endure, of course for the functionality of aspect, but also to draw the eye horizontally. Wall cabinets and open shelves that are shorter and higher than in the past- certainly influenced by European design- do the same.

While brick and subway tile designs are still present, there is a growing use of vertically stacked tiles and panels that seem to reinforce the sense of line, particularly horizontal. In the bath or shower, these stacked tiles are often broken up by an inset of tiles in the same finish but a different size and turned vertical which seems to draw the eye horizontally as if the inset is wrapped by the rest of wall.

These installations seem to create that monochromatic pattern mentioned earlier. The use of wire in lighting and furnishing designs seems to contribute to this high contrast line as well.

Technology is everywhere particularly relating to touch control, from faucets to refrigerators from lighting to cabinetry....and it's marching ahead fast! There is greater variety in touch faucets, more with LED indicators as to hot and cold and we can hope that as is always the case, increased availability will bring the costs down. I even saw a water flow control mounted at the front of the sink that operated by touch and twist glowing in a color to indicate the water temperature.

Not only can we operate faucets by touch, we can now operate many aspects of cabinetry and storage via tou7ch, with base cabinets that open via a motorized system that responds to a bump from a hip and backsplash storage that disappears behind the wall or base cabinet with the touch of a button, which seems to be a perfect place to store the flat screen television when not in use. Wall cabinet doors are on the move via touch controlled and there are more options as to where they move: up, down, or sliding sideways.

Last year saw a prototype induction cooktop that adjusted burner size and shape with the touch of a finger, and this year it has basically come to life in a cooktop that recognizes the size and the shape of a pan and activates heat in just that area.

This discussion could go on and on, but these are just a few of the trends!