Photography courtesy of Metropol
In the kitchen and bath, traditional style gains new sophistication with handcrafted details in the year’s hottest neutral color, glamorous polished finishes, smart and sleek cabinets, and low-maintenance surfaces. Commercial design is influencing residential design decisions like open shelving and contemporary clean lines. And design details are more easily customizable and interchangeable, from hardware to countertops, giving your home a luxurious, personalized style.
Beauty in the Bathroom
Expect to see turn-of-the-19th-century styles with such clean, contemporary twists (lots of shine!) as free-standing tubs, enamel cast-iron sinks, and polished metal fixtures saturate the marketplace.
“The classics are coming back,” says Erin Sweeney, showroom consultant and interior designer at Crescent Plumbing Supply, a luxury bath and kitchen supplier that has been in business for more than 100 years. “People are buying 19th-century homes and furnishing them in that style,” she says. “They’re looking for quality fixtures that are not hard-looking and choosing polished nickel and chrome finishes for extra shine. Even brass, bronze, and gold are popular.”
Homeowners can further customize their fixtures by picking handles and spouts independently. Comfort-height toilets, which are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, have gained popularity as more people apply universal design features in their homes.
The desire to create a spa-like bathroom with a health-conscious sensibility is also driving design choices. Air baths—bubble massage tubs that use air bubbles rather than jets of water—are the hottest new trend to replace traditional whirlpool baths.
Push and Pull
When it comes to hardware, anything goes. “Matching is definitely out,” says Susie Wiegand, sales associate at Locks & Pulls Design Elements. “People are using different finishes and different collections all over the place. They’re using one collection on the island and another on the wall. They’re not matching door hardware to cabinet hardware.”
Brushed finishes and forged hardware are being replaced by the glamorous look of polished metal. “We have a company, Water Street Brass—it’s a newer company—and their hardware is extremely popular,” she says. “People are choosing a traditional style in a polished nickel.” Bright, glossy hardware gives the feeling of a hotel-style bathroom at home, a look that’s in high demand.
Illuminate It
Lighting is all about seamlessness and functionality while also being eco-friendly. “The new criteria is energy-efficient,” says Ken McKelvie, owner of McKelvie Lighting Design. “We’re using all LEDs—that’s a major change.” There are several perks to using LEDs, such as a longer life span, less energy usage, and less heat. LEDs can be used anywhere from under kitchen cabinets to sconces and pendants. There has been a shift in lighting design techniques as well. Accent lighting has replaced directional and down lighting. For example, a long hallway will have pendant chandeliers instead of recessed cans, collections or pieces of art will have specific accent lighting, and an eye-catching stone wall in a two-story living room might have lighting of its own.
“We’re ‘wall-washing,’ which means the lights are further away, and it’s a soft, even light on the wall,” McKelvie says. “In a master bath we worked on, there was a white stone wall with a little sparkle in it, and we wall-washed it. It was stunning.”
Behind Closed Doors
The trend of modernizing your kitchen is apparent in the technological improvements and innovative surfaces on the market. Kitchen cabinets (and their contents) have never been more exposed than now. “What I’m seeing a lot more of are solid-glass-front requests with no framework,” says Mike Beck, owner of Beck/Allen Cabinetry. “That’s the driving force, and if that’s the look someone is going for, you can’t go traditional.”
Glass-front cabinets are a step toward the bold commercial look of open shelving. And they work in many spaces, making small kitchens feel larger and large kitchens more streamlined. The German company Poggenpohl has mastered the all-glass cabinet style with beautiful, made-to-order cabinetry. Beck recommends the company because it is the front-runner in creating high-end quality craftsmanship along with impressive storage features like wider cabinets and drawers (up to 4 feet). Cabinet drawer stacks are popular and more functional than doors.
Regardless of style, new innovations in technology are making storage and organization within your kitchen more enjoyable to use. Beefed-up hinge systems, drawer guides, finger-touch openings, and soft closes are readily available now. These advances allow you to shut a cabinet door and walk away while it softly closes or lift a flip-up cabinet to any height without having it swing up or snap down.
Go Faux or Go Home
“Gray is the new beige,” says Daniela Cottingham at ProSource Wholesale Floorcoverings. “We’re using a lot of gray and taupes in flooring.”
Porcelain tiles in simple, neutral applications are being requested for kitchens and bathrooms. “Faux wood porcelain tiles are really trending,” says Kevin Lind, manager at The Tile Shop. “You’re going to spend a little bit more than wood, but you’ll never have to replace them, and they won’t scratch or fade. They look exactly like wood.”
Lean on Me
As for countertops, “We have been using a lot of the quartz materials,” says Chris Berry of brooksBerry & Associates. “We use those in a neutral color and then mix in a focal point stone that might be a quartzite, marble, granite, slate, or something else for the kitchen island.”
Designs for the island have shifted to a single flat surface, which offers a larger workspace. Here, people want the look of marble but the durability of granite. This is where quartzite steps in.
Sean Raithel, who works in sales at Global Granite & Marble, also sings the praises of quartzite in the kitchen. “What’s really popular is this Brazilian Arabescato quartzite,” Raithel says. “It’s very hard and durable, like using granite, but it’s a white stone.” And white is always in fashion.
