As seen last month at KBIS in Vegas- several trends emerging from Kitchen and Bath arena that should be on your radar screen whether you do K+B or not. The trends are expressed here in NKBA’s Design Competition’s award winning kitchen and baths.
NATURAL ELEMENTS
Design by: Lori W. Carroll
Lori Carroll & Associates
Tucson, AZ
Photo: Jon Mancuso
This refined rustic southwestern powder room is the perfect example of the use of natural elements in design. An agate slab became the foundation for this bathroom space that’s as unique and distinct as the elusively elegant stone itself. Translucent crystal formations within the rock are highlighted by backlighting that sets off the smoky grays, brown, and icy white. Polished stone combined with leather-wrapped cabinetry is at the core of this opulent space. When the beauty of nature can be brought inside a home, the impact is unmatched.
TACTILE APPEAL
Design by: Aimee Nemeckay
Susan Fredman Design Group
Chicago, IL
Photo: Nick Novelli, Novelli Photodesign
The use of actual and implied texture offers a tactile and visual feast. Lines, colors, and patterns can act as either a point of interest in a given space or a mellow background to a more prominent component. The textured touch is apparent through an oversized glass mosaic tiled rug inset into the limestone floor, creating the effect of an actual textured and patterned area rug. A quilted effect, also seen in fashion trends, was created using custom-made glass keystone tiles, adding a shimmering surface to the wall of the shower.
COMMITING TO COLOR
Design by: Jennifer Gilmer, CKD
Jennifer Gilmer Kitchen & Bath, Ltd.
Chevy Chase, MD
Photo: Bob Narod Photographer, LLC
Clients and designers alike are making strong commitments to color. The relationship with vibrant color is introduced into the room through a backsplash of back-painted glass in a strong carrot orange, representing a color that’s smooth and fresh, and also refined enough to pair with the contemporary exotic wood cabinetry. This is a sleek kitchen deserving of a color that makes a statement. The tangerine, mango, and carrot family of colors is being incorporated into the palette of stylishly appropriated residential spaces across the country.
Spotted: The carrot color family popping up in glass tiles. Tapestry by Nathan Allan Glass Studios to be introduced at NeoCon.
Speaking of consumers and designers alike making a strong commitment to color:
Pantone's New Colors
For the first time in eight years, color specialist and source Pantone LLC has amped up its Pantone Fashion + Home color system by adding 175 new colors, bringing the total to 2,100 shades.
Not since 2003 has Pantone added new hues to its color system.
“People have been clamoring for new color,” says Laurie Pressman, Pantone’s vp of fashion, home and interiors.
Its latest additions “reflect today’s global color influences across fashion, home furnishings and interior design and enrich the current palette and focus on areas of significant market importance and color trend movement.
The 175 new colors are permanent additions to the Pantone Fashion + Home Color System, and all color families were expanded to include: a broader range of nuanced neutrals and mid-tones; an increased number of vibrant brights; many complex hues with greater depth and intensity; more subdued and smoky variations of popular colors.
