2011 Kitchen Trends

Filed under: Kitchen, Your Home, Design, etc, News & Trends

Every year the members of the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) get together to discuss up and coming trends in the marketplace -- More than 100 designers who worked on a kitchen or bathroom during the last three months of 2010 participate in a survey and reveal the hottest styles for 2011. Here, Stephanie Pritchard, a kitchen and bath designer at Middleburg Design Company in Middleburg, Virginia, weighs in on the biggest kitchen trends of 2011. And don't miss our report on NKBA's 2011 Bathroom Trends.

2011 Kitchen Trend #1: Dark Finishes
According to the NKBA, dark finishes overtook medium, natural, glazed and white-painted finishes to become the most specified type of finish toward the end of 2010. "The slow switch to incorporating espresso or ebony stains into kitchen cabinets is definitely on the rise," Pritchard says. The trend, which she says is a reflection of the movement from traditional styles to transitional styles (not quite contemporary, but not traditional), also translates to countertops. "Granite classics like honed Absolute Black, Impala Black and some of the new quartz countertops and leather finishes are gaining momentum," she says. "Incorporating black into your kitchen gives the space a bit of an edge."

2011 Kitchen Trend #2: LED Lighting
While the use of halogen lighting is down from 46 to 40 percent over the past year, LED (light-emitting diode) lighting has increased from 47 to 54 percent. "There will be a complete phase out of incandescent lighting within the next 8 to 10 years," Pritchard predicts. "Hopefully they will come up with a better looking energy efficient bulb for the consumer and designers to use that does not look like a corkscrew!"

2011 Kitchen Trend #3: Smart Trash Location
Some 89 percent of kitchens designed by NKBA members in the final quarter of 2010 included a trash or recycling pull-out. Trash compactors have also become more common. Entering 2010, they were used by 11 percent of designers, but a year later that figure had climbed to 18 percent. "I'm now incorporating recycling bins and multiple built-in trash bins in one kitchen," Pritchard says. "I can't remember the last time that I didn't use a built-in trash unit of some kind in the kitchen."

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For more kitchen makeover ideas, don't miss:
Kitchen Remodel Ideas for Every Budget
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My Birthday Wish: A Kitchen Makeover

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