Spa-like features, soft shapes and gunmetal finishes stood out at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair
Kitchen and bath exhibitors were just one of many categories of home furnishings companies showing off their latest and best products at the recent International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York, but they had a big presence thanks to their products’ high functionality and style.
Some of the kitchen and bath products on display echoed broader furnishings trends, such as warmer tones and organic shapes, while others were category-specific, such as spa-like features. (The soaking tubs looked particularly inviting after several laps around the Javits Center floor.) Below, check out these and other continuing and emerging trends that caught our attention. Most products are already available to purchase at major retailers or through a remodeling pro.
Rocky Mountain Hardware
2. Organic Forms and Feels
Earthy, rounded shapes and textures have also dominated home furnishings in recent seasons. In bathrooms and kitchens, those shapes were prevalent from the tiniest drawer pulls to the largest soaking tubs.
Rocky Mountain Hardware’s organic, pleasing-to-the-touch Oasis collection, which launched a couple of years ago, still looked right on trend. And speaking of textures that are pleasing to the touch, knurling (a tiny geometric surface pattern) created an attractive textural and sensory contrast on many of this season’s bath and kitchen fixtures.
Wetstyle
3. Green Materials
Most of the representatives to whom we spoke were quick to share how their brands were making responsible environmental choices. Although the lengths the companies were going to varied, it was clear that being eco-friendly was at least a goal for most, if not all, of them.
Graff, for example, says its manufacturing has a zero-discharge system that recycles 100% of brass and paper products. And this soaking tub from Wetstyle’s popular Be collection is made from a soy and mineral composite that the company describes as eco-friendly.
While we’re on the topic of this tub, note that its asymmetrical shape (inspired by a hollowed-out tropical fruit) allows for a seated position on one side or a more reclined position on the other. And its wooden deck and bridge are just begging for some bathscaping.
Brizo
4. Edgy Metal
We saw a wide variety of metal finishes at the fair, but among the newly introduced ones for 2023, gray-black or gunmetal was a fresh-looking standout. The new Brilliance Black Onyx finish on this Levoir widespread faucet with cross handles by Brizo is a handsome example.
Mila International
5. Golden Moments
Mila International received an ICFF Editors Awards in the Kitchen & Bath category for this everything-and-the-kitchen-sink Infinity workstation, which features a colander, a cutting board, a salad-mixing station and other bells and whistles designed to keep all of one’s meal prep essentials in one spot.
While workstations have indeed become increasingly popular, what we’d like to point out here is the gold finish of the faucets and this sink (which also comes in stainless steel and graphite). The sink’s bain-marie serving tray-prep bowl accessory comes in rose gold too. These brass, gold, rose gold and sometimes actual 24-karat gold-plated finishes glittered all over the kitchen and bath displays.
Emtek
6. Concrete and Terrazzo
Many of the most forward-looking designs at the fair incorporated old-school concrete (or concrete-look material) and terrazzo. Emtek’s latest additions to its mix-and-match Select collection, for example, include the terrazzo lever grip and knob pictured here.
Balux
7. Pinky Promises
Canadian company Balux had a fun selection of high-performance concrete products for bathrooms and kitchens, including a round black concrete (empty) tub, which attendees couldn’t help but test out, and this Volto vessel sink, which has a raw concrete exterior and smooth finish on the inside. It’s shown here in pink; another of the sinks was pink ombre. Industry West presented a new bath line that also included pink terrazzo sinks.
Popular in bathrooms in the 1950s and this year on many of the contemporary furnishings at the fair, pink seems to be finding its way back into the bathroom once again.
Nemo Tile + Stone
8. Magic Fluting
Fluting and ribbing textures abounded on bath vanities, vessel sinks and apron-front kitchen sinks, and the texture extended to the tile on bathroom walls. Perhaps the texture is a little harder to clean than a solid, flat surface, but it adds unique and beautiful character to a material, as you can see in this photo of Luce Di Carrara stone from Nemo Tile + Stone.
Graff
1. At-Home Wellness
For the past few years, wellness-focused homeowners have been transforming their bathrooms into home spas, “bathscaping” (i.e., styling) around their deep soaking tubs and installing steam showers equipped with aromatherapy, chromotherapy, hydrotherapy and audiotherapy functions. This year, two of the talks we attended at ICFF emphasized the continued strength of this trend.
It’s not surprising, then, that many of the bathroom fixtures and fittings on display — both new releases and returning favorites — were designed with the demand for home sanctuaries in mind. Among the latter was this Ametis Ring from Graff, which has six-color LED chromotherapy lighting built in.