Every industry has its big event. In the world of kitchens, it’s the annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS). Each year, seven hundred companies, representing virtually every segment of the kitchen and bath industry, set up 4,000 booths, to unveil new technology and showcase the latest products and styles. Here are some highlights from previous shows:

Good things come in small packages, KitchenAid offers the Briva in-sink dishwasher, an interesting small-load alternative to Fisher and Paykel’s dishwasher drawers. This nifty appliance not only functions as both a sink and a dishwasher, it’s also twice as fast as its full-size siblings.

Tired of cans and bottles stacked on the counter until someone gets around to hauling them out to the recycling bin? Finally, some enterprising soul has solved the sticky problem of what to do with recyclables.

Recyclit introduced a simple chute with a door that’s installed through the kitchen wall. Open the chute, toss in your cans or what-have-you and they slide down the chute into the cart or bin on the other side. It’s so simple, I can’t imagine why no one thought of it before.

The award for Most Problem-Solving Ideas (if there was one) would have togo to Maytag. For years, I’ve watched clients agonize over refrigerators. Many people find the top-and mount freezers to be inconvenient, and the side-by-sides freezers too narrow. Enter the Wide-By-Side, a side-by-side with a zig-zag partition that provides for a wide bottom in the freezer bottom-section and a wide top in the fresh food section. It’s the best of both worlds.

A simple, but long overdue, idea is Maytag’s three-rack dishwasher, adding just enough room to accommodate the needs of the average family. Maytag also introduced two new ranges. The Gemini provides two ovens in a standard size (30”-wide) range, allowing standard range users to switch to a double oven without having to remodel the entire kitchen. The Accellis offers speed cooking (in half the time of conventional ovens) in a full size range. The problem with many of the speed cooking appliances up until now has been their small, microwave-like capacity. After all, what good is it to be able to cook fast if you can only cook small foods?

Another simple idea who’s time has come is the new line of drawer inserts from Blum. Now you can retrofit your base cabinets to hold dishes, among other things. This is perfect for open kitchen designs with few upper cabinets, as well as households with children, or petite or physically-challenged adults.

Equator offers a combination washer and dryer. Yes, you read that correctly. Dirty laundry goes in and clean, dry laundry comes out. Although this type of appliance has been available in Europe for some time now, it’s still relatively unknown here in the States. The only drawback? Again, the capacity is somewhat limited, making it less than ideal for large families but perfect for empty-nesters.

Whirlpool’s new Polara range solves another common dilemma, by providing refrigerated storage of food (right in the range) for up to twenty-hours before beginning a preprogrammed cooking cycle. Just think of the convenience. In the evening, you can prepare a stuffed chicken for roasting, place it in the oven where it will remain safely refrigerated and program it to begin cooking the next afternoon. When you arrive home from work the next evening, dinner will be ready to serve. Another interesting idea from Whirlpool is the Personal Valet Clothes Revitalizing System. This wall-mounted appliance, about the size of a bookcase, will silently remove wrinkles and odors from up to three items of clothing at a time. While not intended as an alternative to the dry cleaner, it will freshen up your garments between regular cleanings.

Amana debuted a new refrigerator that doubles as a message center, allowing family members to leave messages on a recorder built into the appliance door. Given that the kitchen has become the center of family life and the fridge is, arguably, the center of the kitchen, this idea seems like a natural.

Some product introductions had more to do with style than technology. Elmira, known for it’s old-fashioned stoves, showed a beautiful line of 50’s-style refrigerators, available in a rainbow of colors. While the styling is retro, the features and function are strictly up to current standards.

SubZero, always at the forefront in fashionable refrigeration, debuted two additions to their product line. The 601RG is a 36”-wide, built-in refrigerator with a glass door, providing residential users with the type of look previously available only in a commercial unit, such as a Traulsen. The 424FS wine cooler offers the same features, style and capacity as it’s sibling, the 424 undercounter wine cooler, but with a fully-wrapped stainless steel exterior that allows it to be free-standing, providing for greater design flexibility.

Although fewer cabinet makers have exhibited at KBIS in recent years, two new products of note were shown. La Cornue, the French manufacturer, debuted a line of cabinets to match their fabulous old-fashioned ranges, allowing the appliance’s fans to carry the look throughout the kitchen. And, for the increasingly popular outdoor kitchen, Danver introduced a line of stainless steel cabinets built to stand up to year-round outdoor use.

	Continuing trends, we saw an increase in the number of concrete counter tops and sinks shown, of which Sonoma Cast Stone was particularly noteworthy. They featured an interesting wave sink, a traditional vessel sink and a unique chef’s sink.

Front-loading washing machines continue to gain in popularity. Although several companies introduced new washers, our favorite is still the Frigidaire model that’s designed to fit under a countertop, increasing the amount of available folding space. Kitchen sinks continue to become ever more varied, designed to meet the needs of all types of users. Of these, the Blanco Modus M600, with it’s sliding cutting board, soaking channel and built-in drainboard remains one of our favorites.

In short, if I had to summarize everything that I have seen at KBIS into one overall theme, I’d have to say that products for the kitchen, like those for the rest of the home, have continued to become more responsive to the varied needs and tastes of the individual homeowner. These are the best years for designing a new kitchen. Of course, the way things are going, the years to come may be even better. •