You’ve been asking yourself what the latest kitchen and bath style trends are, right? Well, the National Kitchen and Bath Association has polled its designers and compared the data with the results from last year’s poll. Here’s how 2011 will be different:
Kitchens
- The practice of mixing woods and finishes is growing, with Maple outpacing Cherry as the most popular wood used in cabinetry.
- Darker finishes are edging out medium natural finishes, glazed finishes and white. Designers are also seeing fewer requests for distressed finishes.
- The Shaker door style has edged out more contemporary looks, although a more traditional door style still leads.
- Wine storage is a common need, although fewer clients are opting for wine refrigerators and moving towards unchilled wine storage.
- Solid surface choices like Corian are gaining on granite and quartz, which are still #1 and 2.
- French door refrigerators are specified most often, with side-by-side models still popular
- The use of Induction Cooktops is on the rise, although gas models are still in the lead
- LED lighting options are being chosen more often in preparation for the phasing out of incandescents and also as an energy-saving measure.
- Less color! This was kind of surprising. The only colors on the increase were beige and grey with all others remaining flat or declining. Sign of the times, or have people not gotten the memo about pink being the latest “in” color?
Baths
- Quartz countertops are giving granite a run for its money
- Green bathrooms- literally. While whites, off whites, and browns are still the most popular, there’s a surge of green bathrooms.
- Vessel sinks are also edging up, while undermount sinks are still #1
- Satin Nickel finishes in both the kitchen and bath have edged out brushed nickel.
So now that you have the skinny on the latest style trends for your kitchen and bath- what do you think? Are any of these appealing to you or giving you food for thought for your next project?