Transitional Kitchen and Bath Design Tops Trends for 2012

Bath Design, Kitchen Design

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While these broad kitchen and bath design trends will not be evident in every local market the following are highlights from the NKBA’s 2012 Kitchen & Bath Style Report.

National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) Reveals Top Kitchen & Bath Trends for 2012

More than 350 National Kitchen and Bath Association member designers from across the USA and Canada took part in the 2012 NKBA Design Trend Survey to list the materials, product types and styles that were incorporated into their kitchen and bath designs in the final months of 2011.  While these broad trends will not be evident in every local market the following are the highlights of the NKBA’s 2012 Kitchen & Bath Style Report:

Transitional kitchen design as featured in our transitional kitchen portfolio (click on photo for more)

Transitional over Traditional:

NKBA’s survey found that – for the first time since it began tracking annual design trends – ‘traditional’ no longer comes out as the most popular type of design. The survey found that, in kitchens and bathrooms, ‘transitional’ is now the most common style.

Cherry woods continue to decline in popularity: The NKBA survey shows designers moving away from cherry wood. In the report released in 2010, 80% of NKBA member kitchen designers had recently specified cherry cabinetry. That fell to 72% in 2011 and fell to 69% in the 2012 report.

Solid surfaces, otherwise known as engineered stone, continue to grow in popularity: Granite and quartz surfaces continue to be the clear No. 1 and No. 2 choices, but NKBA reports their popularity has waned slightly.

The Return of Polished Chrome and Nickel:  In bathrooms, polished chrome use was us from 46% in 2011 to 65% in 2012. Polished nickel is up in kitchens, from 17% in 2011 to 25% in 2012. In bathrooms, polished nickel is up from 28% to 32%. As polished finishes grow, brushed finishes are losing ground.

The NKBA says natural kitchen cabinetry is continuing to move to darker finishes. Dark natural finishes were at 58%, up from 43% of just two years ago. Painted cabinetry continues to be dominated by white. White cabinets were recently specified by 59% of kitchen designers, other colors only by 38% of designers.

Shades of Gray are gaining favor for cabinetry colors: As recently as 2010 gray was used as the overall color scheme by only 9% of designers in kitchens, but increased to 17% in 2011 and the number nearly doubled, to 33%, in 2012.

NKBA reported that glass is still only a niche material for kitchen countertops, as featured in the above kitchen, but is growing in backsplashes – especially with glass tiles. The material was specified by 52% of designers, up strongly from 41% in the 2011 report.

‘I have been seeing this trend as quite a few of my clients are leaning toward transitional styling for kitchens (clean lines, neutral tones, natural materials).  Some of our master bath projects are going one step further, as of late, and are incorporating more and more contemporary design features and materials at the client’s request.  In particular, easy to clean surfaces such as quartz counter tops and clean glass shower walls, along with cool colors and simple tile designs are more and more prevalent.’  Survey participant and Drury Design.