Every year the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) puts together the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) to present the world's biggest and best products and services that the kitchen and bath industry has to offer. This year's event was held in Las Vegas, Nevada from February 19-21. We were fortunate enough to attend and were able to pin down some of the top trending items specific to the faucet industry.
Finishes
As we've said time and time again, the finish of your faucet is one of the most important aspects to really pull your room together. So, naturally, we had to see which finishes were set to be top picks for this coming year. The 5 most popular options seemed to be a common theme among the market:
Polished Chrome 60-75%
Brushed Nickel 20%
Polished Nickel & Oil-Rubbed Bronze 10%
Matte Black 2-5%
Other consistently seen finishes included: Rose Gold, Stain Copper (Brushed Gold), and Two-Toned options. A few select brands also included their own unique twist on finishes. Kohler, for instance, came out with an Ombre finish specific to their line.
Technology
In today's day-and-age, having the most advanced technology in the industry will always keep you ahead of the game. For a long while, having motion-sensor or touch-start faucets seemed to be the furthest to be accomplished for the kitchen and bath audience, however, with the rise of Smart Homes came the development of the Smart Shower.
Moen, for instance, has developed "U by Moen" where you can control your shower via voice, phone, or controller. You can now customize your ideal shower before even stepping foot in the water. This systems allows you to perform three functions: 1) start, stop and pause your shower, 2) create a preset within the "U by Moen" app and start it with Alexa, and 3) can start your shower to a specific temperature.
Another rising star would be the push-to-start options, such as Grohe's "SmartControl" technology. This type of system allows you to start, pause, or stop the shower with a push of a button. You use the knurled dial around the button to adjust water temperature and volume within a fraction of a second.
While the technological advancements are still in development, we think that these types of moves are a very smart play by their companies.
There were also a few new designs that didn't quite make our top choice list but were still fun enough to be mentioned.
This clear and top-less build is definitely built for a designer room. It pulls a more artistic perspective when examining a faucet, although we assume that the cons might outweigh the pros in this scenario. It would be difficult to keep the water sanitary with this build and it seems like it would be a hassle to keep clean.
We saw a few brands with this type of hidden pull-down nozzle head, as well. It seemed like a fun and unique option at first, but the more we played with it, the more of a hassle it became. It can be difficult to lock and unlock the nozzle head and your hand will get wet with each attempt. We think it was a solid effort, but not our favorite new idea.
Shapes and Sizes
Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. The same goes with appliances.
During our tour around the event we saw a variety of fun designs and shapes that were trying to make their grand entry in to the world of kitchen and bath. The most common best sellers, though, had to be distinction between two specific shapes: Round or Square.
While they may be the more basic of concepts, these two shapes were definitely the most prominent and most popular. A faucet doesn't necessarily need to be shaped like a dragon or have crazy paisley designs sketched in to it in order for it sell (believe me, we saw it all!).
A faucet's functionality should be first and fore-most during your buying decision. The finish color should be next, as that's what's going to bring the room together. The design can be entirely up to the user, though.
We noticed that the round faucets seemed to focus on the more traditionally designed rooms. They can easily blend in with just about any theme but can also be a stand out item, depending on your finish choice. It's truly a time-less design that won't ever go out of style.
The square faucets seemed to be focused towards the more modern designed rooms. They present a sense of elegance while not being too harsh on the eye. This design is definitely more of a stand-out item than the round design, but sometimes that can work out much better in room.
We would love to hear from you! What did you think of this year's show? Is there a new trend out there that you think we should know about?