Yesterday we attended the UK’s largest kitchen, bedroom and bathroom trade show, KBB. With hundreds of brands launching their new collections and latest technologies it is a great place to find the next up and coming trends and KBB did not disappoint. The trends we noticed spanned across both kitchens and bathrooms in equal measure, highlighting their influence across the entire industry. Below we discuss the three overriding trends:
BLUSH PINK
With Pantone and Dulux’s colour of the year for 2018 being Ultra Violet and Heart Wood, both warm, pink/purple tones it was clear to see why at KBB. Blush pink was prominent across both kitchen and bathroom cabinetry, a very bold change from previous years but a change that looks surprisingly stunning. Paired with warm coppers and brass, this colour sits perfectly.
In recent years we have seen people become braver with their kitchen colour palette going for navy and forest green and blush pink takes another step into the direction of making the open-plan kitchen another room to make unique. It is not only reserved for contemporary kitchens such as this from Brigitte Kuchen either, Masterclass Kitchens showed their shaker door island in a beautiful blush pink, accented with a brass handle.
However bathroom trends for many years have stuck to monochrome, black whites and greys for many years so blush pink or colour in itself is a very bold step up in bathroom design. However, again with the rise of copper and gold brassware in bathrooms, this colour goes hand in hand as you can see on this Vlaze rose enamelled vanity unit with gold trim and handles and the Dansani gold taps paired with this beautiful gloss pink unit.
INDUSTRIAL
Last year black came into its own within bathroom design in particular with black baths and tiles in abundance. Naturally this paired well with white sanitaryware, you can read more on our blog ‘Black & White Bathrooms’. This has now ultimately led to a more stripped back, industrial look which we have seen prominently across both kitchens and bathrooms this year.
In bathrooms, the industrial edge comes across in the details. Contemporary shower screens, inspired by industrial partitioning were seen from Impey and Fiora, among others. Crosswater also launched their Union range of brassware taking influence from traditional levers and wheels with knurled detailing for a contemporary edge.
On cabinetry, steel or mottled effect finishes emulate the industrial feel alongside details such as edging on corners, shown on this unit from Diesel Living with Scavolini.
On the Diesel Living kitchen, modular structures and different textures such as steel tubes, ribbed glass and feet and corner elements epitomised the contemporary industrial style. Brushed steel cabinets and open shelving was also prominent, with Franke launching their stainless steel worktops at KBB.
COPPER
Last year we saw lots of copper accessories and an introduction to copper or ‘rose gold’ brassware. This trend has now evolved into the main components of kitchens and bathrooms, from cabinetry to sanitaryware itself.
In kitchens, copper was used a lot as an accent within contemporary cabinetry, shown above in this Rotpunkt kitchen.
Surprisingly this also extended to copper accents and trims on appliances, from Kuppersbusch and De Dietrich to Smeg with Smeg co-ordinating this with a copper sink.
In bathrooms, Hurlingham went all out with copper showers, shower trays and accessories. Elsewhere copper was ever more prevalent as a brassware option, including the Serenitie range from Abode.
