As many of you know, the Kitchen and Bath masses gathered in Las Vegas February 4-6 for their annual pilgrimage to KBIS, the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show. This year the event was part of Design & Construction Week, a new concept, merging KBIS with IBS, the International Builder’s Show. As a result, it was bigger and better than ever. Let’s hope that what happened there does NOT stay there ! Maybe I should limit that to kitchen and bath industry products and trends ;)   Uber interior design resource Modenus hosted their latest Blogtour group who covered the event in a big way! You can get the entire scoop here.So what is trending, you may ask? Here’s the latest scoop from Kitchen & Bath Design News and KBIS co-sponsors, the National Kitchen & Bath Association:Let there be light.  Yes we’re used to lights in the refrigerator but now we’re adding LED lighting to cabinetry as well.

Keep it simple.   NKBA President John Petrie, CMKBDT tells us, "while transitional styles are still number one, we see kitchen design trending more contemporary this year, with clean , simple lines: less clutter and little ornamentation".Quartz rocks, especially if it’s patterned!  Homeowners have discovered quartz but they're not willing to give up the pattern and movement found in natural stone products like granite and marble.  New finishes by Cambria let you have the best of both worlds.Cambria's  Waterstone Collection captures the depth and beauty of marble and granite while offering the superior strength and performance of quartz. (Here's something for you "traditionalists", they clearly didn't get the message about contemporary in this kitchen!)Gadgets, gadgets, gadgets, We may like our cabinetry look pared down but gimme the gadgets!  Technology reigns, ie anything  touch operated or digital.The new Temp20 Technology by Delta Faucets boasts a digital temperature display that saves you the shock or injury from water that's not the temperature you were expecting.   When the temperature is less than 80 degrees the LED display will glow blue.  It's magenta from 80-110 and red when it's above that.  You can get this feature on your Delta faucet  this spring.A bath to come home to, trends in the bathroom focus on customization and spa ambiance.  In  the high end markets, free standing tubs are all the rage.  They are functional and sculptural at the same time. We are also understanding the benefits of hydrotherapy as in soaking tubs and steam baths.Additional features you may want to include in your new kitchens and baths include the following:-Induction cooktops (and now ranges too!)-Steam ovens-French-door refrigerators (duh, I think we all know that already!)-Bottom freezer drawers (ditto of above)-Touch activated faucets-Electronic (no touch) faucets-LED lighting-Charging stations-Pet stationsI believe all of the above are here to stay, at least in the foreseeable future, and the technology will only get better.