The award-winning kitchen designed by Toronto’s XTC Design Inc. for a new luxury home in Port Credit incorporates walnut perimeter cabinets, ceiling, floor and back wall detail. The walnut wood adds warmth, in contrast to the lava stone floor and high gloss lacquer island with marble countertop. The range hood is custom-made of stainless steel and Corian.
Clean and contemporary are the emerging trends for kitchen and bath design in 2014.
According to the annual Design Trends Survey released by the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA), contemporary design is the most favoured for bathrooms. While transitional kitchen design still ranks high with consumers, contemporary will be the most rapidly growing style this year.
On the way out are Provincial, Tuscan and country/rustic styles and distressed cabinet finishes, along with bronze, terracotta and red colour schemes.
Here are some details on the hottest trends in kitchen and bath design from the survey, and some insight from Tim Scott of XTC Design Inc. of Toronto. XTC brought home five honours from the recent NKBA Kitchen & Bath Industry Show in Las Vegas, including for Overall Best Kitchen, Best Medium Kitchen, Best Small Bathroom, third place for Best Small Kitchen, third place for Best Powder Room.
The dramatic penthouse kitchen designed by Claire Reimann, AKBD, Jason Good Custom Cabinets in Victoria, B.C. is sleek and contemporary, incorporating high –gloss white cabinetry and textured contrasting floating china buffet cabinet with custom grain and oiled Rose veneer. The tall cabinetry wall incorporates walk-in pantry, refrigerator, freezer, breakfast pantry and television. (PHOTO: Joshua Lawrence)
SHADES OF GREY
The Trends Survey has forecast grey to be the fastest growing colour scheme for kitchens and bathrooms. Last year, grey slightly fell behind whites/off-whites in kitchens while for baths, grey was the third most popular colour scheme, behind beige/bone tones and white/off white.
"Grey in general is probably the most popular colour, and beige is vanishing. It's about time. We don't do beige," says Mr. Scott.
POPULAR KITCHEN PRODUCTS
Kitchen products expected to grow in popularity in 2014 include induction cooktops, quartz counters, glass backsplashes, wood floors, walnut cabinets, polished chrome faucets and granite composite sinks.
Many of these design features can be found in the Best Overall Kitchen/Best Medium Kitchen winner that Mr. Scott's firm designed for a luxury 5,000-square-foot home in Port Credit.
It incorporates quarter-sawn, horizontal grain walnut cabinets around the perimeter of the kitchen, and is also founds in the floor, back wall and floating ceiling detail. In contrast, the island is a high-gloss lacquer with Equator marble countertop while the perimeter countertops are white quartz.
"It's a big space and the homeowners were looking for something contemporary yet warm that suited the architecture of the house," says Mr. Scott. "It has almost a '70s retro feel. Traditional design, that has been around for about 20 years, is fading for kitchens and what traditional there is has simpler, cleaner lines and is less ornate."
While granite countertops are still popular, quartz is catching on in a big way, says Mr. Scott.
Bathrooms will continue to be retreats where homeowners can unwind and de-stress. This National Kitchen and Bath Association award-winning bathroom (left) was designed by Shawn McCune of Kitchen Design Gallery in Lenexa, Kansas City. (PHOTO: Bob Greenspan)
"It's solid without the wild pattern," he explains. "White and grey quartz countertops are simple and nondescript and you want countertops to be a secondary, rather than a main feature."
While countertops may be getting more subtle in appearance, range hoods and backsplashes are gaining new prominence with range hoods becoming more sculptural and serving as focal points. The one in the XTC award-winning kitchen is custom designed and made of stainless steel and Corian.
Glass is popular for backsplashes and for the award-winning kitchen Mr. Scott's firm used white glass tile in a 3D wave pattern.
Granite composite sinks may be a hot product according to the trends survey, but Mr. Scott uses stainless steel undermount sinks in almost all his kitchen projects. "They have clean, simple lines and a sink is not a feature piece. And it's neutral and goes well with stainess steel applilances." That said, he did use a five-foot trough sink in the middle of the kitchen island, but he points out that serves a functional purpose. "You can fill it with ice and put drinks in it. Or you can use it as a seafood bar."
Stainless is also his faucet materials of choice for the kitchen and chrome for the bathroom. While there are some beautiful new appliance lines in black and white, stainless steel is still the hands-down favourite finish, he says. "It's been the norm now for 30 years and I don't think it's going anywhere."
STYLE TRENDS |
1. Contemporary 2. Transitional 3. Traditional 4. Shaker 5. Cottage 6. Country/Rustic 7. Arts & Crafts and Retro/ Mid-Century Modern (tied) 8. Asian Fusion 9. Provincial 10. Tuscan
Growing in 2014 1. Contemporary 2. Transitional 3. Shaker
Declining in 2014 1. Country/Rustic 2. Tuscan 3. Provincial |
IN THE BATHROOM
The Trends Survey lists quartz vanity tops, wall-hung vanities, open shelving, polished chrome faucets, under-mount sinks, and ceramic or porcelain floors as bathroom products on the upswing.
"We do almost every (bathroom) floor in porcelain. It's more durable," says Mr. Scott.
Bathrooms continue to be spa-like retreats, where homeowners can go to unwind and relax. In step with some of the features listed in the survey, Mr. Scott is installing heated floors and digitally programmed steam showers.
Whirlpools are declining in popularity, but soaker tubs are becoming must-have features in luxury master ensuites.
"We doing very few whirlpools and airtubs and a lot of soaker tubs," notes Mr. Scott. "One of the coolest pieces of technology I've seen is the Kohler VibrAcoustic."
The technology allows users to plug in their smartphone, tablet or MP3 player to play music and sends the acoustic vibrations through the water to provide a relaxing massage.
The Moxie Rainhead from Kohler (below) brings sound and water to the shower as it plays music from mp3 players, tablets or smartphones. (PHOTO: Supplied)
UNIVERSAL DESIGN
With homeowners aware that they will get older but will still wish to stay in their homes, consumers are demanding more universal design features. NKBA designers found that clients are requesting bathroom features including shower benches and comfort-height toilets and vanities, while in the kitchen, they see an uptick in demand for microwave drawers and touch-activated or touchless kitchen faucets.
THE SURVEY
The Design Trends Survey was based on feedback from 420 kitchen and bathroom professionals in the United States and Canada.
The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) is a non-profit trade association that has NKBA has educated and led the kitchen and bath industry since its founding in 1963.