Here are international kitchen design trends, as presented by Sarah Fishburne from Home Depot's upscale sister, Home Expo, who, along with her colleagues, researches lifestyle media, travels around Europe's design fairs, analyzes market trends, and more. Here's what is being seen right now, and design concepts that are emerging fast! I'm sitting in the conference right now...
All-in-one islands, sink, cooktop, island/table "kitchens". For European purposes, oftentimes the homeowner will take their cabinetry with them when they move, so this concept is logical for parts of Europe;
Hydrolic, telescoping devices creating or changing counter space...swings on and off the countertop to uncover perhaps a small trash opening;
Thinner refrigerators 24" or 30", they are taller, using vertical space, great for customizations, (2) 24" units, etc. etc. See this in Thermador, Liebbher;
Seeing many more refrigerator drawers of different sizes;
Morning kitchens...small kitchenettes in other rooms;
Fully lit pre wired appliance center/cabinet/spot in the kitchen;
Scullery...seeing this come back now...separate rooms for active prep space for entertaining and heavy prep and/or clean up. All is hidden; (I have a project now with a separate scullery in the plan)
UK, French have similarities in traditional styling as is U.S;
Hoods - in Europe they are art, much more than ventilation;
Innovative ways to use corners in base cabinetry;
Rails used in backsplash for easy access storage-I've seen this for many years, but it is becoming more popular;
Dish drying cabinet, seen in Europe for a long time - open cabinet set over the sink, drip dries behind closed doors. if you live alone, wash few dishes at a time, can be functional;
Counters and sinks getting bigger and thicker;
All in one sinks, cut out of one piece of stone;
Trough sinks, super wide, maybe shallow sink;
Seeing single, large sinks;
127 million people over four small islands! Land is hard to come by and live in tiny apartments;
Corners on upper cabinets telescope out;
All-in-one island as the Europeans do;
Appliances are very small in scale;
Tiny dishwashers;
Big on conservation in Japan;
Drying rack for dishes over a sink with fan;
Shelving across windows;
Japanese has 20% of population over 60, U.S. has 12%...universal design is important;
Sensory touch faucets;
Motorized shelves
White is hot! Modern, traditional, old world, across the board....all different shades of white, including glazes, antiques, etc.
Blue is one of the most popular colors in the kitchen, any shade of blue;
Black...almost as standard a white. All over black kitchens, distressed, or as accents as in an island;
Black is also being seen in paint. People are no longer afraid of black...seen as a traditional color.
Red...Seeing it in cabintry, appliances;
Butter, yellow, willow shades of cabinetry;
Wood finishes - more natural woods...alder, knotty pine, hickory, pecan, mahogany. It's more about the wood than the stain finish;
Much darker woods as well;
Appliance colors...reds, teals, Aga, Viking, Dacor, many are adding color;
Metal finishes changing, graphite, oil rubbed bronze, not all about stainless;
Stainless blue tints, green tints, warm tints;
Small appliances are becoming much more colorful;
Heather and Purples are very hot now or are coming on FAST! It's the softer purple, the brown, mocha purple, purple undertones that are what is popular.
more soon......break time!