Forget cotton—according to this year’s Kitchen/Bath Industry Show, customization is king. If the Before & After Special Section in our June issue inspired you to start some renovations of your own, keep these hot new products in mind to make your beach home cutting edge—in style and technology.
Color—any color—is the new stainless. This year marks the dawn of a new era for the colorful kitchen and bath. Major appliance companies are ramping up their efforts to offer more products in more colors than ever before.
At this show, Viking Range Corp. unveiled 10 new hues (in addition to the 14 already in production), ranging from the fixture-finish-inspired Oil Rubbed Bronze to the fashion-inspired Muscadine. These powder-coated cold-rolled steel finishes also come in several seaworthy shades, and are available in both the professional and designer series of refrigerators, ranges, and dishwashers. The company’s St. Charles cabinetry line also comes in all 24 finishes, so you can create a completely coastal kitchen; vikingrange.com.
In the bath, Kohler has stepped up its color profile with the introduction of the Vapour color series, which ranges from sunset oranges to Caribbean blues. Available in sculptural cast-iron lavatories, soaking tubs, and more, these colors will add sophisticated beach appeal to even the most urban abode; us.kohler.com.
Media is the message. Once upon a time, families shared three square meals a day around the dining table, and television sets were restricted to the den. Appliance manufacturers are moving beyond that fairy tale, providing household-wide access to music, movies, and the Internet in ways only the Jetsons could have foreseen.
In previous years, LG introduced a 15-inch in-fridge LCD TV, but this year they upped the ante with the world’s first HDTV refrigerator. This high-tech icebox features a high-definition screen, personalized weather forecasts, a DVD player hook-up, and a USB port. The refrigerator also has a built-in recipe bank from the Culinary Institute of America. Oh, and it also keeps food cold; us.lge.com/index.jhtml.
Siemens is following suit in the kitchen TV-viewing arena, installing a 17-inch LCD television in its new multiMedia Hood. In addition to quietly venting your kitchen, this range hood offers a cable-ready television complete with a CD/DVD drive. Now you can cook side by side with your favorite TV celebrity chefs without missing a beat; siemens-homeappliances.com.
Kohler is taking bathing to a new level. Why adjust the water temperature manually every time you hop in the shower when you can program your preferences with the DTV II system? In addition to controlling water temperature and intensity, this pioneering shower design incorporates steam, music, and lighting controls into one wall-mounted digital interface. Simply access your preset preferences and choose the musical playlist, as well as a soothing light show from the WaterTile AmbientRain showering panel overhead; us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/newproducts_detail.jsp?section=2&aid=1176778006065.
Put them together and what have you got? The Dacor Discovery Wall Oven. This innovative conventional oven is available in two sea glass–like shades (as well as more traditional colors) and features the Discovery Controller, a control panel that is invisible when not in use but reappears at the faintest touch. Dacor’s wall oven doesn’t just look smart though—its new technology shortens preheat times and it comes programmed with 99 recipes, plus online space to store 100 more of your favorites. And if that doesn’t sell you on it, the control panel is a veritable mood ring, with an infinite number of color choices to accent your kitchen decor; dacor.com/products/producttype_index.asp?ptype=WOVN.
