Consumer Reports’ Top Trends for the Home

Consumer Reports’ Top Trends for the Home

Hey, y’all! The Claus Team wants to keep all you homebuyers and sellers abreast of what’s in for home design this year. Thousands of professionals met at this year’s largest industry trade show held at the Las Vegas Convention Center for Design and Construction Week. Here, Consumer Reports’ team of video producers, editors, and market analysts were able to view all the hottest products and coolest home trends of the year. Here are the highlights:

Hands-free kitchens: these are hot this year. Companies are eliminating handles, pulls, and knobs in favor of automatic, sensory-activated appliances and fixtures or sleek, handle-less, cabinets.  Miele’s Generation 6000 just came out with a line of hands-free dishwashers, for instance. Elmwood Fine Custom Cabinetry has a line of motorized touch-to-open doors. Bauformat also has a hands-free Climber glass cabinet, which opens with motion. We love all of these items since they promote convenient living while disallowing the ever-present kitchen and bathroom evil: cross-contamination.

(Photo Credit: IndoStyle.biz)

Commercial kitchen features: the commercial restaurant and hospitality industry has always led the way in quality in terms of appliances, fixtures, space and functionality. An example of what’s coming out to mimic the commercial side is the induction cooktop. The Sous Vide, a vacuum-bag French cooking appliance, is another adaptation from the commercial side. The double oven is also coming out as better and faster than traditional home-kitchen ovens.

(Photo Credit: RedRock SLC.com)

Customization and personalization: these were supposedly the key terms of the show. Many companies are allowing more customization and personalization of appliances and features, such as Frigidaire’s Gallery top freezer, that lets you organize 100 different ways, has stainless steel, and features LED lighting. For bathrooms, Kohler’s DTV+ system is a prime example of the typical shower going high-tech, offering multiple water temperature and pressure variances, steam options, audio, and lighting.

(Photo Credit: Kohler's DTV shower system)

Outdoor living becoming très chic: So, the demand for features that allow for high-end outdoor entertaining is rising. Outdoor pizza ovens are popular right now, like the Artisan Fire Pizzan Oven by Kalamazoo.  Also, fire pits and fireplaces are hot, bringing outdoor entertaining to a whole new level.  Outdoor GreatRoom Company features the Wave Fire Pit, which has a very interesting, curvy design.

(Photo Credit: LandscapingNetwork.com)

Neat stuff: The PureFresh toilet from Kohler has a built-in carbon filter to neutralize odors and a fan that re-directs air up and out. Cool! LG Hausys’ TechTop countertop is a wireless charger within a countertop to eliminate tangled wires on your kitchen space. Big Ass Fans has come out with the Haiku with SenseME Technology, the first smart ceiling fan that helps you save energy! It turns off and on when you enter or leave a room, and adjusts to the room’s temperature.

(Photo Credit: Oddity.com, the Haiku smartfan by Big Ass Fans)

Aren’t these trends neat? We especially like the touch-free kitchen items because nobody likes constantly cleaning food fingerprints off of their cabinets and appliances on a weekly if not daily basis. We hope you had a fine time perusing today’s most a-la-mode home trends. Stop by again whenever you’d like—we enjoy your company, your readership, and your feedback in our little blog corner! J