High-tech meets low maintenance
Neatness counts as kitchens, bathrooms get smarter and more personalized
If you’ve visited the exhibition of Julia Child’s kitchen at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, you may have been shocked at the colourful clutter of one of America’s most famous chefs. Today’s home cooks prefer to create their favourite meals in sleek and serene spaces of white and grey, with gleaming stainless-steel appliances.
Changes in bathroom and kitchen designs are driven by innovations in technology and the desire for low-maintenance living, says Dan DiClerico, smart-home strategist and home expert for HomeAdvisor, a website and app that provides home improvement resources.
“Homeowners like flexibility and personalization,” says Elle H-Millard, industry relations manager for the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA).
FIVE BATHROOM TRENDS
A renovated master bathroom is among the most important features for home buyers. As with kitchens, white and grey are the most popular colours for bathrooms.
Here are a few innovations in bathrooms:
Smart toilets: Technology has improved one of the most basic fixtures in the house. New models have built-in bidets, cleaning functions and night lights for safety.
“Smart toilets have features to minimize maintenance with selfcleaning features, including one that mists the bowl before and after each use to cut cleaning time in half,” DiClerico said. “Wall-hung toilets also make it easier to clean under and around the toilet.”
Consumers can replace their entire toilet and plumbing or choose to retrofit their existing toilet with an LED night light, an automated sensor to open and close the lid, and a cleanser that iodizes the bowl to reduce the need for cleaning, H-Millard said.
You can even buy toilets with seat warmers, plus some with adjustable heights, said Nino Sitchinava, principal economist with Houzz, an online platform for home decorating and remodelling. Barn doors: Barn doors have been part of the rustic and industrialchic design style for a few years. Now they’ve become a highly functional element of bathroom designs, H-Millard said.
“Barn doors are efficient and provide easy access to the room and, since they don’t swing out or in, they use less space and don’t trap anyone behind the door,” HMillard said.
Free-standing bathtubs: Big master bathrooms with yards of floor space, a soaking tub or whirlpool tub set on a platform, separate vanities and a separate shower have faded in popularity in favour of larger showers. But in master bathrooms with enough space, large bathtubs are making a comeback. This time, they are free-standing tubs, often in sculptural shapes.
Mixed materials: Even though most homeowners stick to a gray-andwhite colour scheme in the master bathroom, there’s plenty of space for creativity.
“There are so many tile options, including porcelain, natural stone and ceramic tile, so we’re seeing a lot of people mix and match the size of the stones or tiles,” Sitchinava said. “Some people are using large slabs of stone or tile for the flooring and walls, and using a variety of tiles in the shower. Even if they are using all white tiles, they can add interest with different textures.”
Voice-controlled technology: In addition to the high-tech toilets, “smart mirrors” and other tech features are increasingly used in bathrooms, Sitchinava said, including mood lighting and music in the shower.
LED lighting has increased the availability of lighting options in bathrooms, including in the shower.
FIVE KITCHEN TRENDS
Although colourful appliances and high-tech gadgets were on display at the 2018 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in January, not all items demonstrated on the showroom floor will make it into people’s homes. Here are some exceptions:
Columns for refrigerators and more: “One of the most surprising things to me is how quickly column refrigerator units have been adopted,” H-Millard said. “It usually takes years for trends to be embraced, but these were introduced just a couple of years ago, and their popularity has boomeranged.”
Separate refrigerator and freezer units allow homeowners to reconfigure and customize their kitchens with more or less freezer space or special units for different food groups. Also, homeowners want separate wine refrigerators. Connected kitchens: Technology can be used to improve safety in kitchens, such as appliances with an automatic shut-off or an alert system, which DiClerico says will become increasingly important for elderly people adjusting their homes to better meet their physical needs, or aging in place.
Among the options for smart appliances are refrigerators with a camera and an app so you can look at the contents when you’re at the grocery store, and a refrigerator with an LCD panel with a menu of apps that can function as a command control for family messages.
Voice-activated controls to adjust lights or play music or look for a recipe are the most popular tech trends in the kitchen, said Sitchinava.
New ways to declutter: Neatness counts in today ’s kitchens, perhaps because most newer kitchens have an open floor plan that makes them more visible to guests.
“The biggest motivation behind a kitchen remodel is reorganizing and increasing storage,” Sitchinava said.
“Homeowners are updating their cabinets with things like pullout recycling baskets, cookie sheet organizers, revolving corner trays, and pullout trays and shelves,” Sitchinava said.
Low maintenance materials: Quartz is the most popular material for kitchen counters, identified as trendy by 94 per cent of kitchen designers in the NKBA study. Quartz is easy to clean, durable and available in a lot of colour palettes, Sitchinava said.
“Consumers today, especially millennials, have less tolerance for high-maintenance materials,” DiClerico said.
The Houzz survey found consumers prefer simple Shaker cabinets (57 per cent), or flat-panel cabinets (18 per cent).
A little colour and darkness: Although white and grey are still ontrend for kitchens, colourful appliances and new metallic finishes could be found in abundance at the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show.
“This is more of an emerging trend, but our survey of designers found that people are starting to integrate a little more colour into their kitchens,” H-Millard said. “Appliances and fixtures in brass, copper and gold finishes look elegant and not outdated. We’re even seeing some bold appliance colours like cobalt blue or orange. The good thing about those is that they have a simple panel to exchange the front for a different colour in the future.”
Black stainless-steel with a matte finish was a major trend at KBIS this year, said DiClerico, who thinks it’s a true challenge to the popularity of traditional stainless steel.