SPOUTING GOOD DESIGN THEORIES
Gold or white faucets, black handles and even white appliances take kitchens into the future
The same way shoes and handbags can make or break an outfit, getting it right with home decor accessories, like faucets, in kitchens and bathrooms will help achieve a desired look.
“When we’re doing kitchens, I would say, besides the layout and functionality of the millwork design, the faucets and the handles are key to bringing the whole space together,” says Vancouver interior designer Anna Dhillon.
Keeping functionality in mind is important, says Dhillon, noting requests from her older clientele for big levers, which goes against the current trend of clean, minimalist, lever-less faucets (with round or square knobs or having the on/off function integrated into the faucet spout).
“It makes sense because you lose your fine motor skills as you get older, so you want to have something to grab onto,” she says.
Gold faucets have been huge, she says, both in kitchens and bathrooms. Black metal handles, she says, are replacing chrome and nickel in popularity when it comes to faucet design.
“You see that classic look with the black faucet, with the white subway tiles and the grey grout,” she says. “Very Brooklyn chic.”
We will also be seeing more white faucets, she says.
“Last year, or the year before, most of the appliance companies started doing white appliances — most of the European ones,” she says. “White kitchens became very popular, whereas I think in North America we might be a little bit delayed for that. People still like the black, or the stainless, but in Europe they’re shifting to white refrigerators, white stoves, so it kind of makes sense that the faucets follow suit.
“Dornbracht is really the leader,” she says. “They started the trend in faucets and then everyone else kind of copies them.”
Dornbracht recently showcased Lisse, a “new collection of streamlined fittings designed by Sieger Design” for the entry-level price point; pairing it with the Twice basin, by Dornbracht’s newly debuted sister brand Alape. Twice is also designed by Seiger and will be available this fall.
Signature of Dornbracht, the Lisse collection, does offer a water-saving option for the singlelever basin mixer, which reduces water flow from 5.6 quarts (5.3 litres) to 4 quarts (3.8 litres) per minute.
Playing with the different ways water can flow from faucets and how beautiful it looks while doing so is something luxury bathroom brand Axor explores annually, at the Milan Furniture Fair (Salone del Mobile), through their WaterDream project, inviting five leading architects and designers to “Create your own spout.”
This year GamFratesi, FRONT, David Adjaye, Werner Aisslinger and Jean-Marie Massaud presented incredible spout creations made from ceramic, bamboo, granite, metal and marble, all suggesting different possibilities for possible “bathrooms of the future.”
Kitchens of the future might look a lot like those found in restaurants if the current commercial-inspired home kitchens trend continues, with Moen just releasing the Align “one-handle pre-rinse spring pulldown kitchen faucet.”
“It’s an industrial-looking, pre-rinse faucet, something like you might see in a commercial kitchen,” says Garry Scott, vicepresident of wholesale marketing and brand development for Moen Canada.
At Moen they’ve found that consumers are really wanting this professional-grade style, adapted for residential, says Scott, naming it “prosumer.”
When people think of these spray wands, they often think of how messy they can be to use, says Scott, so at Moen they’ve developed Power Clean spray technology, promising 50-per-cent more spray, with less splash.
Good faucet design is rewarded, says Scott, with Moen’s Arris freestanding tub filler receiving a 2014 Good Design award and an Adex Design award for 2016.
“Free-standing tubs are becoming increasingly popular,” he says.
“(The Arris tub filler), has a wobble-free installation.
“You won’t have to worry about it coming out of the ground and it has installation brackets for concrete as well.”