Hooray for ending the last chapter of 2020 and starting a new in a few weeks! Staying home so much this year – I’m sure made you wonder and start to think about what you would like to change and improve to make your life better.
As a designer, I want to design bathrooms and kitchens with staying power. Trends come and go but here are some kitchen and bathroom trends we saw in 2020 that I predict will go to the next level and dominate the coming 2021 year and beyond:
Voice control: Smart faucets that were operated from a touch or a wave will now be moving to Voice. Your voice will ask your faucet to turn on and off – making your life even easier! Totally hands free when you are multi-tasking in the kitchen…also a bonus in your bathroom for young children or aging in place! In the kitchen, Moen introduced U where your smart faucet dispenses water in a desired temperature and volume on voice command. For those bakers, this is uh-mazing. This will be helpful when you will need a precise measurement while prepping and cooking.
In the bathroom, smart toilets and bidets have been controlled by panels on the wall – to heat your seat and to provide a customized experience. I have experienced Toto’s Neorest, ummm there is no explanation except wow. For 2021, I bet we will start to see more luxury electronic toilets voice controlled. Toto, there’s no place like home.
Integrated appliances with an organic look: Kitchen cabinetry is moving more towards looking like furniture. We will be moving away from the white kitchen and moving towards organic and natural wood kitchens. I guess its our way of wanting to be more connected to nature.
By disguising your refrigerator or dishwasher with custom paneling or just flushing your appliances into the face of cabinetry- offers a more stream-lined effect and luxurious aesthetic.
Kitchen to Table: Home chefs are loving the idea of growing their own garden in their own kitchens. Natufia kitchen garden was introduced at KBIS (Kitchen and Bath Industry show) 2020 as the first hydroponic garden where edible plants are grown inside our homes. I think we will start to see more technology in 2021 where we can experience fresh food all year round from our kitchen to table.
Outdoor kitchens: Our outdoor spaces became very important during COVID. With the importance of outdoor versus indoor entertaining, more outdoor cooking/grilling was happening. And more smores… Tecno is Brown Jordan’s outdoor euro-inspired kitchen, crafted from stainless steel with a powder coated maintenance free finish. It accommodates a variety of appliances and configurations. We will see a popular rise in outdoor kitchens like Brown Jordan’s in 2021 due to its versatility.
Neuro Design 2021 prediction: The future of design is moving towards understanding how our nervous system and design are connected. Our senses ignite how we feel in our spaces and each person’s individualized nervous system responds differently. In our bathrooms and kitchens spaces for example, sounds, smells, textures, and visual light and pattern all create different responses where one person may be calm and another person may be irritated.
Here at Michele Alfano Design LLC, we believe that spaces should make you think, feel and want to touch. To do so, we apply poiesis (poetic modernism®) our formula to reveal how our multi-sensory system underpins our well-being. We design with a deeper sense of how spaces work, what makes people tick and its connection to feeling good and living well at home.
About the kitchen above: Studying how function meets beauty, this Westchester home found the right poetic language. Driven by shapes and pattern, we mixed stone, concrete, wood and metal materials with smart technology, giving you goosies inside the kitchen, dining and family room…just enough to tickle the senses.