Everything Old Is New Again

In past years, one overriding trend seemed to take over the kitchen market. Remember the short-lived excitement over PVD-coated, shiny brass, the year when everybody, but everybody, had to have a satin nickel faucet?'

Today, a more sophisticated and well-informed consumer market knows about all the available options'and homeowners increasingly want to make an individualized statement.

"The most important trend happening today is choice," declares Chuck Burhans, president of Blanco America, in Lumberton, NJ. "The idea of personal choice in everything from design, configuration, bowl depth, material, custom accessories, matching options for primary and secondary sinks, and more, has really been gaining speed in the last two years. The other trends are great to acknowledge and discuss, but personal choice is really what consumers are after. It's what drives everything else."

In short, a designer may well be planning a starkly industrial/minimalist kitchen for one client while executing a homey, rustic Tuscany space for another. And there'll be plenty of trendy choices in faucets, sinks and water accessories for both, according to the manufacturers recently surveyed by Kitchen & Bath Design News.

Streamlined Options

Today's design landscape may have a myriad of parallel trends from which to choose, but one major theme is "less is more." Even traditional styles these days sport more of a sense of space, with less clutter and more breathing room that showcases the beauty of antique details.'

"I view what's happening as 'modern comfortable,'" says Burhans, who thinks functionality concerns will keep most homeowners away from more extreme minimalist contemporary looks. "While the desire for more modern styles certainly prevails, consumers also want function and convenience." "We've never gone for stark contemporary, even though you see it in a lot of magazines, because it's a cold look," echoes Dick Isaacs, national sales and marketing manager for Harrington Brass Works, in Allendale, NJ. "People tend to want to be warm in their kitchens."

In the metropolitan high end, however, minimalism flourishes, in both sleek European versions and more rugged industrial/loft looks. "This is a smaller market, but a very important one," thinks Steve Sorensen, director of marketing services for Elkay, in Oak Brook, IL.

"The trends are going away from the heavy ornate styles in a kitchen, more to a soft contemporary look," believes Joan Bostic, v.p./sales and marketing, KWC America, Norcross, GA, a subsidiary of KWC Switzerland. She also sees 1920s Art Deco-influenced looks as an up-and-coming niche. "It's an elegant era that people are really starting to enjoy having in their home," she notes.'

Lou Rohl, CEO for Rohl LLC, in Costa Mesa, CA, reports that he is bringing his company's retro Michael Berman bath line'which takes its design cues from vintage modes of upscale transportation such as ocean liners and luxury trains'into the kitchen.

The commercial, pro-look wave that started with appliances is also translating to sinks and faucets. "Homeowners really want to be perceived as experienced cooks and experts in the kitchen," believes Burhans, who sees sinks and faucets following the commercial spirit of the appliance category for a new level of "pro-sumer" products for the serious cook.

Inventive Hybrids

In most cases, the pro/industrial approach to a sink starts with stainless steel. "Consumers are still having a love affair with stainless steel," believes Jim Ray, v.p./sales and marketing for TEKA USA, in Tampa, FL.' "[Steel] offers many advantages: aesthetics, corrosion resistance, easy maintenance, design possibilities for hand-crafted and custom work," adds Celine Marcotte, marketing and communications coordinator for Julien Inc., in Quebec, Canada. The bottom grid is increasingly becoming a standard feature, along with options such as cutting boards and baskets.