10 Bathroom Trends From the Kitchen and Bathroom Industry Show

For some people, a winter vacation means relaxing on a beach in Florida. For me, a winter trip to Orlando means one thing: a visit to the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. My design team and I recently attended the show and spotted a number of beautiful home trends, many of which you can expect to last well beyond 2018. Here are some of my favorite bathroom design ideas from KBIS that you can apply to your home for fresh style.
Transitional Bathroom by TNHometour.com
TNHometour.com
1. Contemporary and transitional style. This isn’t a new flash in the pan as much as a style trend that continues to grow. Contemporary and transitional (halfway between contemporary and traditional) bathrooms tend to have a neat and tidy built-in appearance, in contrast to fussier traditional styles. All the clean lines and simple surfaces are easy to keep looking crisp and clean.

This leads many people to go a bit more contemporary in their bathroom design choices than in other rooms of the home, even if the rest of the space is quite traditional.

Transitional Bathroom by Marissa Cramer Interiors
Marissa Cramer Interiors
Transitional style is especially popular, as it mixes the rich character of elements such as paneled cabinet doors and traditional lights with elegantly simple finishes such as stone slabs and subway tiles. It’s the perfect choice for those who refuse to stick to just one style period. If you feel like dabbling in a new style, the bathroom is a great place to start.
Transitional Powder Room by Studio McGee
Studio McGee
2. Wood vanities. More and more designers and homeowners are opting for wooden furniture-style vanities (those that look like freestanding furniture pieces). These vanities take a crisp, clean bathroom and give it a welcoming touch, especially in a mid- to light-tone stain that shows plenty of the wood’s natural character.

Contemporary Bathroom by Kelly Scanlon Interior Design
Kelly Scanlon Interior Design
3. Engineered quartz countertops. Love the look of marble but don’t want to commit to a porous material in the bathroom? Just as in kitchens, the big trend for bathroom counters is quartz, a manufactured, natural-material-based surface that can mimic the appearance of other stones (or sleek solid surfaces) while being durable and highly stain resistant.

It’s a big trend, but it’s also a no-brainer choice for style and strength.

Transitional Bathroom by Innovative Construction Inc.
Innovative Construction Inc.
4. Shades of gray. Expect to see many bathrooms in the coming years skipping brighter colors and instead focusing on shades of gray, with fresh white and hints of black all coming together to achieve a peaceful, mature palette. These tones work well with dashes of wood and other natural materials, or on their own to create a monochromatic masterpiece.
Transitional Bathroom by Nicholson Builders
Nicholson Builders
Mixing shades of gray is an easy way to add interest to a space while keeping it looking airy. For example, you might use a darker shade for a cabinet and a paler tone for the walls. For those who don’t like stark white walls, a soft gray is an excellent choice that still allows a room to look a little bigger.

Scandinavian Bathroom by smarterBATHROOMS+
smarterBATHROOMS+
5. Porcelain and stone floor tiles.What could be a better anchor to a minimalist color palette than a dark gray floor tile? While there are many wild and wonderful tiles to choose from, a huge trend is to use classic porcelain in a simple shape, especially in a charcoal shade to give the room a weighty look.

The fact that this treatment can also help hide the occasional stray hair is a great bonus.

Transitional Bathroom by Blissful Abode Interiors
Blissful Abode Interiors
In second place to porcelain floors is stone, which can create a similarly weighty and mature feel but with a greater sense of texture and luxury.

The floor is a great place to include a controlled dose of stone if you don’t want to use too much. The floor surface in a bathroom is often smaller than many of the walls, so it makes an impact without overwhelming.

Contemporary Bathroom by Ben Herzog
Ben Herzog
6. Nickel faucets. While the trend of warm brass in bathrooms is certainly not over, the most popular choice for faucets looks to be warm nickel and classic polished chrome.

Brushed nickel especially is a safe-bet choice that has a hint of warmth, minimizes water spotting and goes with virtually any other palette of materials and finishes. It can even be mixed with brass, bronze or black accents if you want to try out other finishes in more changeable elements but keep the fixtures trend-proof.

Transitional Powder Room Kitchen & Bath Remodel
7. Undermount sinks. It wasn’t that long ago that vessel sinks were the big bathroom must-have, and while there are still many beautiful options, designers are now overwhelmingly choosing a simple white undermount porcelain sink.

Why? Probably because with beautiful vanities, faucets and countertops around it, the sink doesn’t really need to fight for attention. Plus, an undermount sink is easy to keep clean and doesn’t eat up counter space.

Contemporary Bathroom by Hungerford Interior Design
Hungerford Interior Design
8. Freestanding tubs. Perhaps the years-long popularity of the walk-in shower have left people craving a relaxing soak in a tub, or maybe people just love the sculptural shapes, but either way, freestanding tubs are definitely having a moment.
Transitional Bathroom by Bridget Cooper Interiors
Bridget Cooper Interiors
It’s important to note that freestanding tubs aren’t just for impossibly vast bathrooms, nor do they have to be the thin claw-foot style of decades ago.

Choose a well-made freestanding tub that retains heat and makes a statement in your bathroom.

by Дмитрий Кашемиров
Дмитрий Кашемиров
9. LED lighting. Lighting is always essential to the design of a space, and that’s especially true in a bathroom where brightness is important for virtually every task.

LED lights, with their ability to create bright, glowing light that seemingly emanates from the walls, are a huge trend not just for their looks, but also for their sustainability. These lights use less energy and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs, and the crisp light gives a fresh, clean look. It’s a win-win.

Contemporary Bathroom by Phil Kean Designs
Phil Kean Designs
10. Integrated technology.Lighting isn’t the only part of the bathroom racing toward the future. Technology integration has gone from being only for the hardcore tech-heads to being a part of many homes, with a variety of benefits. For example, smart controls outside the shower allow you to press a button and turn on the water to a preset temperature. Ironically, that might just give you a reason to put down your phone for a while longer and linger in perfect comfort.
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