A rundown of the most popular highlights of NKBA’s 2024 Kitchen and Bath Trend reports.
NKBA’s recently released its two annual trend reports, the 2024 Kitchen Trends report and the 2024 Bath Trends report. Both highlight top trends over the next three years, and below are the top takeaways from each report.
TOP KITCHEN TRENDS
1. The hard-working island. An expanded focus will be placed on kitchen islands that serve as everything from a gathering place and storage to a cooking, prepping and entertaining space. According to designers surveyed, more than half of clients prefer an eat-in kitchen area instead of a formal dining room, and some said clients saw large islands as a top priority for serving and dining.
2. Kitchens will be whisper quiet, with designers eliminating noisy appliances and banging cabinet doors so that the spaces are suitable for everything from entertaining and eating to work and learning. Ultra-quiet dishwashers will be popular, and some clients will be ditching noisy trash compactors in favor of standard pull-out receptacles.
3. The kitchen will be a place for wellness and nutrition. Designs will be focused on nutrition and healthy eating, and they will feature more refrigeration space with better flexibility (e.g., columns, drawers, convertible) to accommodate healthy lifestyles, as well as appliances with integrated cooking functions like air frying and steam cooking.
4. Sustainability in the kitchen will continue to be top-of-mind for homeowners and designers alike. Kitchens will have a focus on reducing (selecting long-lasting products to reduce the need for replacement), reusing (donating old kitchen cabinets and/or appliances) and recycling or composting through the allocation of storage for waste management systems.
TOP BATH TRENDS
1. Tubs and vanities are main focal points. Soaking and freestanding tubs will be the most popular bathtub types, and oval shapes will be the most prominent. As for vanities, they will trend toward marble and marble-like surfaces and extend into backsplashes, so they will be easy to clean. Vanities will also be more organized and practical than ever, including integrated power outlets and personalized solutions like individual storage units that contain partitions or drawer dividers.
2. Personalized, integrated technology will be big in the bath. Popular solutions will include app/keypad controls for water, individualized vanities with integrated outlets, floor temperatures and smart mirrors, toilets and showers. Customization will also take the form of living in place solutions like easy to use faucets, zero transition showers and grab bars.
3. The bath will be a relaxing oasis, with organic and natural design themes that connect to the outdoors and layered colors including wood tones, earthy greens and warmer whites. Bath spaces will also be more spa-like, featuring natural wood textures and blues and greens. Additionally, they will feature touch pad controls, body sprays and jets, wet rooms with steam and large showers.
4. Well-curated lighting in the bath. Trends will include 100 percent LED lighting as the standard, lighting in medicine cabinets and mirrors, statement and decorative lighting in primary baths, customizable presets for mood lighting that vary by time of day, floor/path nighttime lighting for aesthetics and safety and more. Lighting controls will also be popular in the bath, like mobile device-connected lighting, locally placed dimmers and switches, motion-sensor lighting and programmable settings.
