Catch our full interview with Lori (includes photos of an amazing bathroom makeover that will inspire you – a must see) on June 23rd, 2009.

Kitchens:

• Incorporating flexible recycling into your overall kitchen design.
• Touch lift technology is a trend that is helping to elevate the functionality of the kitchen.
• Unique and customized storage is allowing kitchen’s to become more functional and personalized to the end users needs. Well organized space is very important.
• Quartz countertops are becoming more unique and advanced with their design as well as being constructed with at least 50% pre-consumer glass content.

Bathrooms:

• Typical vanities that are incorporated in bathrooms are being replaced by the furniture elements, whether they are custom designed or purchased and retrofitted.
• Incorporating LCD televisions into the surface of the bathroom mirror.
• The product lines being introduced to the market for green design – sinks, toilets, accent tile, and countertops.

Fu-Tung Cheng shares his thoughts on design, inspiration and Green Design in his interview with us – the interview will publish on June 24th, 2009.

Asked this question each year, I have the same initial response: the trend that trumps trends triumphs over the necessity for trends. “Trends” are a product of fashion and media currents that promulgate turn-over, stimulate change for its own sake, and contribute to our insatiable desires for something different. I would prefer to seek some solace and relief from this paradigm that feeds the notion that we need constant change, condemns our products to rapid turn-over and obsolescence, and has created an unsustainable model for the world. With this mind, I am doing my best to promote simple, appropriate energy saving technologies coupled with high quality, long lasting green materials and simple, elegant, low-cost aesthetics. I would love to be asked this question in intervals of every decade instead of every year.

• I’m seeing warmer and softer “comfort” finishes and lines, contrasted with previous years’ sharp edges and bright, shiny chrome.
• There’s an increasing focus on water and energy savings, as well as an overall acknowledgment of the economy’s impact on the American homeowner with new, value-oriented lines.
• One trend that continues to grow — and will until the next baby boom, I’m sure — is Aging in Place. At this year’s Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, there were more products than ever that acknowledge the graying of society with increased accessibility and convenience. It also plays out in the integration of grab bars into designer bathroom suites, but by no means is limited to that arena.

• Metal finishes like oil rubbed bronze, platinum, and weathered or distressed nickel finishes in fixtures for both the kitchen and the bath.
• Horizontal grains for modern kitchens and baths in woods such as White Oak and Teak. Traditional kitchens are moving more towards rustic clear finishes on woods like Knotty Cherry, paired with interesting toe kicks and furniture style legs and details.
• In general I expect to see more ethnic or vintage materials and techniques revived and used in modern applications, such as mosaics that utilize stained glass in abstract styling or regional textiles from Africa used in poly-resin architectural panels.

In addition to Matthew’s divine kitchen and bath design projects, Matthew has designed an exquisite bathroom collection for MTI Whirlpools which elevates bathroom fixtures to fine art status. Don’t miss our interview with Matthew Quinn on June 27th, 2009 – we promise you’ll love his advice, insight and the amazing (and gorgeous) photos of the Intarcia bathroom suite he designed for MTI Whirlpools at KBIS 2009.

Trends include the resurgence of brass finishes, the mass customization of bath products that will integrate into any décor, and the continuing streamlining of traditional design to something similar to the Art Déco movement.

Mark your calendars for June 28th- you don’t want to miss Susan’s interview. Susan share’s design tips, advice and talks about how she finds inspiration for her projects.

I think there are both behavioral trends to watch for that are significant as well as fashion trends that we enjoy looking for. I do see fashion trends, in general, trending down (so to speak) in significance as confidence in one’s personal aesthetic grows. This confidence is a direct result of the consumers’ access to and interaction in a world of kitchen design online, as blogs and design communities have grown. My top three behavioral trends for 2009 are:

• The Sustainable Kitchen – Green design makes sense on so many levels. Who among us, does not wish to be more healthy if one can simply make certain choices in products, or to be more practical in other green ways? A new back to basics/practical mentality is currently coinciding with a renewed, and enhanced desire to exist in a green home environment. As more green products enter the design mainstream, it is much easier to interpret one’s design vision via a great selection of green products. There are several common threads connecting the green movement and the Aging-In-Place movement, another strong behavioral trend. Both trends include a desire for materials with longevity, for example.
• Comfort/Open Floorplans – I have previously noted that comfort in the kitchen was an emerging trend prior to the financial crisis, and perhaps it was a natural evolution which coincides with consumers’ overall design confidence that I noted above as well as being a result of the fearsome financial crisis. I do feel the kitchen as a viable living area is taking a major step forward this year. More activities are taking place in the kitchen, multi-generations are together more, and I feel the desire for more social connectedness is being felt very strongly at this moment. As a result, the kitchen is being designed in a less obvious utilitarian way than previously, in many (not all) cases. Examples are larger “living room like” windows, fireplaces, larger TVs, less cabinetry in general, more soft furnishings, accent lighting such as sconces, “living room” artwork, neutral colors and a transition to surrounding spaces that is more seamless.
• 2009 Kitchen Design Elements – Clearly, buying a kitchen today is very much about quality and value over the long term which now translates into basics and classics in terms of color and design. Cleaner lines in kitchen design are apparent, even in kitchens with a traditional design. The foundation of the kitchen, flooring, walls, and cabinetry, is a study in neutrals. White is ever classic, and wood finishes are darker, more serious, more transitional to surrounding spaces beyond the kitchen. Engineered stone with its often quiet patterns is on the upswing for countertops. Tile is either natural/earthy textured or more high tech/vibrant colored. In a high design look, countertops often blend in color with wall surfaces. Appliances are ever more built-in with more sizes available for design flexibility and are strong on energy efficiency. Today’s homeowner understands decorative “layers” in the kitchen and are looking more closely at the big picture of the kitchen and how it relates to beyond the kitchen.