We identify top trends from Kbb Birmingham 2024, which will be a focus for kitchen and bathroom retail over the next two years

1. One-stop shop

It may be a sign of the challenging economic climate, but Kbb Birmingham saw suppliers expand their portfolios into new product areas.

Enabling retailers to simplify product sourcing, it also allows suppliers to gain more business from their showroom network.

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Hafele entered new partnerships with kitchen tap manufacturer Bibury & Co, Zuma, which offers LED lights with integrated sound, and Samsung to distribute its appliances.

While Aqualla expanded its existing brassware offer with flush plates, WC frames and cisterns, plus mirrors.

Vado also added to  its shower and tap portfolio, with the introduction of its Cameo collection, a first for the company, as it introduced furniture, basins and mirrors.

Vado showcased its Cameo collection of furniture and basins

2. Room for improvement

Not satisfied with entering new product areas, suppliers at Kbb Birmingham also expanded their reach throughout the home.

Kitchens were showcased as part of homogenous, ground floor living space, alongside hidden utilities and dressing rooms, encouraging retailers to explore beyond traditional room confines.

Under the theme Welcome Home Rotpunkt showcased a walk-in dressing room, dividing interior wall solutions with integrated smart lighting, a custom media unit, and a hidden utility room with discreet access door.

Schuller offered utility room solutions, with laundry appliances positioned at waist height and pull-out hanging storage to eliminate freestanding clothes dryers.

While, alongside its Handmade collection of furniture LochAnna Kitchens showcased a cocktail dresser, utility and boot room.

The Rotpunkt stand featured walk-in dressing room, custom media unit and utility, alongside kitchens

3. Got a handle on it

The interior trend for personalisation has captured the kitchen and bathroom industry, and arguably could best be reflected by handle manufacturers at Kbb Birmingham.

In fact, such was the emphasis of handles on furniture design, Formed won the Best Component Stand at the show.

Among its launches, the company added seven collections to its Hendel & Hendel brand, including Brokk.

While Armac Martin introduced its Cocktail collection of Art Deco inspired handle ranges.

Rotpunkt also revealed its exclusive Buster + Punch collaboration with a 20-strong handle collection available in the UK.

Formed expanded its Hendel & Hendel brand with seven new collections including Brokk

4. Dopamine brights and pretty pastels

Whether in the kitchen or bathroom, colour was splashed across appliances, furniture, sanitaryware, showering and bathing.

Whether dopamine bright hues or pretty pastels, colour was a key story of the show.

It formed a theme on the Bocchi stand, a newcomer to the KBB retail show, which saw judicious splashes of colour, including a nod to the Pantone Colour of the Year Peach Fuzz.

Sonas Bathrooms showcased colour across its stand, from furniture and baths through to matching shower profile and trays, and Scudo also looked to the importance of colour matching across its entire brassware collection.

Whereas pastel shades were big news for Rangemaster on its range cookers and CDA on its freestanding refrigeration.

Bocchi debuts at UK Kbb Birmingham with colourful sanitary ware

5. Eco-aware design

Perhaps not such an obvious trend as colour, but at Kbb Birmingham there seemed to be a move towards greater eco-awareness.

Suppliers showcased understanding of resousce use and materiality to ensure business longevity.

VitrA used the opportunity to showcase its 100% recycled ceramic basin, claimed to be a world’s first.

While for worktops, debut exhibitor Hanex introduced a partnership with Smile Plastics to distribute its 100% recycled and 100% recyclable plastic sheets, alongside 10 new solid surface colours, and Quartzform unveiled its Ecotone slabs with crystalline silica content of less than 5%.

Quooker was also keen to promote its environmental credentials with its Combi+ tank, which can save up to 4,200 litres of water a year, and in the way it sells and services its product, with refurbished Quookers, and communicating through live video guidance to reduce travelling.

Quartzforms unveiled its Ecotone slabs with crystalline silica content of less than 5%

6. Appliance innovation

Undoubtedly home appliances were a star of the show for Kbb Birmingham, providing an array of technology for kitchen retailers. Optimised food preservation, through to enhanced extraction and connectivity were some of the themes featured at the show.

Bora showed its range of cooling appliances, including built-in QVAC vaccum sealer, while among its launches Caple unveiled an invisible induction hob and PlasmaMade extraction technology.

Whereas connectivity was the story of Kbb Birmingham for Haier with its ID series of ovens featuring Bionicook camera recognition technology, to automatically select cooking parameters, and Samsung was seeking to educate retailers on the advantages of AI.

Caple showcased a large range of appliances, including PlasmaMade extraction and an invisible induction hob which forms part of the worktop