Top 10 Kitchen Trends
 One of the overarching design directions for kitchens this year is toward “personalized luxury.” This conclusion is based on responses from 450 designers to the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s 2016 Design Trends Survey. Personalized luxury is defined as homeowners wanting unique designs. They no longer want a “trophy” kitchen, but rather they want to make it their own. Their emphasis is on good functional design, quality materials, and finishes that provide lasting value. At the same time, homeowners are more comfortable with bolder choices in colors as well as mixing and matching colors, textures, and finishing.
Top 10 Kitchen Trends for 2016
1. Transitional style, with clean lines, and less ornamentation.
2. Two or more cabinet colors/finishes in the same kitchen, often in a light/dark combo.
3. Pull-outs, tilt-outs, and tilt-ins for easy of storage, trash and recycling.
4. The look of wood flooring dominates, be it actual wood or wood-look ceramic tile.
5. Different countertops for islands and the perimeter, varying in both color and material.
6. Outdoor kitchens, most popular in the Southeast.
7. Built-in coffee stations and wet bars, as well as built-in wine refrigerators.
8. Pocket doors
9. Pet spaces, including built-in feeding stations, food storage, and crates.
10. Docking and charging stations.
In addition to the four most common kitchen styles—Transitional, Traditional, Contemporary, and Shaker—designers also pointed to the emerging styles of Industrial and Mid-Century Modern that are expected to be more prevalent in 2016.
 Gray, white/off-white, and beiges/bones are the most common kitchen color schemes, but blues are predicted to increase in 2016. Painted cabinets, along with natural wood finishes in dark to medium tones, are the top cabinet finishes. Wood cabinets dominate, with maple and cherry still the preferred choices. Glass doors and furniture-look pieces are very popular. Quartz is the primary material used for countertops, while granite is showing signs of decline. Mixing different surfacing materials, such as a wood top combined with a stone top, is the third most popular treatment.
 Sleek appearance and increased functionality are in-demand, as built-ins and under counter appliances have widespread appeal. Items such as microwave drawers, induction cooktops, convection ovens, and gas cooktops are on the upswing, as are separate built-in cabinet depth refrigerators and freezers. When the refrigerator and freezer are together in one unit, the most popular configuration is with the freezer on the bottom. Having two dishwashers in the kitchen is currently in favor, with a smaller 18-inch wide dishwasher used for the secondary dishwasher. Drawer-type dishwashers are less in demand.
Stainless steel is the most popular type of kitchen sink, with the single-bowl configuration most widely used and expected to increase. Farmhouse sinks are particularly favored. Pulldown faucets are emerging as the kitchen faucet of choice, over the pull-out type. Touch-activation is increasingly important. Electric radiant floor heating for the kitchen was specified by almost half of designers in 2015, with the expectation of an increase in 2016.
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