By Donna Heiderstadt
“KBIS is our industry’s Super Bowl,” said Heather Shannon, NKBA’s Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications, as she welcomed attendees on Feb. 27 to the Best Booth Awards that closed out NEXTStage programming at KBIS 2025 in Las Vegas. This year’s show welcomed 150 new exhibitors, she noted, for a total of nearly 700 exhibitors covering approximately 500,000 square feet — making KBIS 2025 the largest show since NKBA began partnering with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Builders’ Show (IBS).
Best Booth Awards Criteria
Shannon was then joined by executives from Emerald, NKBA’s KBIS partner: Jason McGraw, Group Vice President and KBIS Show Director, and Amy Hornby, KBIS Associate Show Director. McGraw noted that among the criteria used by the Best Booth Award judges was a space’s creativity, design, and how well it showcased a brand’s product. He then called over the judges for some insight: Nar Bustamante, President and Principal Designer of Sacramento, CA-based Nar Design Group; Christopher Grubb, President of Beverly Hills, CA-based Arch-Interiors Design Group; and Rachel Hutchens, CMKBD, Principal Designer of Salt Lake City-based Maven Home Interiors.
Responding to McGraw’s question about how the judges narrowed down the field, Bustamante explained that with so many beautiful and interesting booths, the process was difficult. “I would start with how do I feel when I walk into a booth,” he said.
Grubb noted that as designers the usual purpose of attending KBIS is to shop product, but as a judge the mission was to shop and look at booths, taking into consideration if the space made a design statement, did it have great lighting, and did it showcase the brand’s product effectively. “We saw some tremendous talent and lots of surprises,” he said.
Hutchens expressed admiration for the “level of sophistication and design we saw.” Grubb agreed, noting that the color, emotion, and use of light on display felt like Salone del Mobile in Milan.
And the Winners Are…
Which booths at KBIS 2025 met the judges’ criteria? Here is theHonorable Mention and the four winners:
Honorable Mentions
(any size)
GE Appliances–Café | Monogram | Profile
Best Small Booth
(800 square feet and under)
Kember Interiors
Best Medium Booth
(801–3,000 square feet)
Kichler
Best Large Booth
(3,001 square feet and above)
Cosentino
Best of Show
(any size)
Kohler
NEXTStage at KBIS 2025 was sponsored by Ferguson Home.
