February 17, 2014

KBIS 2014: Product Trends & Highlights

Despite daunting travel conditions—at least for winter-weary East Coast attendees—the 2014 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) counted about 65,000 visitors to the Las Vegas Convention Center during its February 4-6 run. That’s roughly double the traffic from the 2013 exposition. It’s certainly an encouraging statistic, no doubt in part attributable to the fact that it was co-located with the International Builders Show.

While still dominated by major K&B hardware manufacturers—Brizo, Delta, Kohler, Moen, Toto—a few appliance and cabinet lines made a welcome return to the exhibit floor, among them Bosch/Thermador, Broan/NuTone, Electrolux, Viking, and KraftMaid and Merillat. Sharing booth space was a popular strategy: pairing sinks and surfacing (Blanco and Cosentino) or cabinets with hardware sources (Plain & Fancy and Häfele) boosted both brand exposure and the bottom line. Noteworthy KBIS first-timers included Goldreif, Laufen, and Schrock.

In another sign of guarded optimism, product releases had a distinctly up-market—but not ostentatious—tenor. Polished finishes, cabinets and surfaces with hand-crafted effects, appliances with contemporary styling: All contributed to a positive outlook for the future of the kitchen and bath sector.

Recent DesignWire