The Kitchen and Bath Industry Show 2010 has come and gone this past April, and with it arrives many cutting edge design and technology announcements from several prominent designers and manufacturers. Hansgrohe, Moen, Rohl and many others debuted much of their upcoming products for 2010 and beyond, so head down after the jump to see what’s in store for us.
Moen is up first with their Water Sense approved products. Having won their yearly award twice, Moen is set to lead the way in water saving fixtures. Their new announcement is that all current lavatory faucets are now flowing at a reduced gallons per minute (gpm) rate. They promise that if you upgrade an entire bathroom’s worth of fixtures (faucet, toilet, showerhead) that you’ll be saving over 7,000 gallons a year.
While offering an amazing array of products, Moen hasn’t let greening their designs compromise the aesthetics of their fixtures. Every single line they have to offer still looks great, and any comparison between Water Sense and non-Water Sense approved appliances proves that hardly any difference can be seen.
The 100 year old Hansgrohe has given a futuristic edge to their award winning designs. After Claus Grohe saw an Apple Store for the first time, he was inspired to incorporate the stark white and chrome highlights of Apple’s signature products. By using what Claus calls “comprehensive design” (meaning it includes mirror, fixtures and accessories), Hansgrohe can completely outfit a bathroom in a unified look. The latest products to be released with this new build aesthetic is their PuraVida line. A Costa Rican greeting meaning “pure life”, this line has a purifying effect of transforming your bathroom into sleek, clean looking living space. These have been in high demand since being rolled out, so keep that in mind if you want some for your bathroom.
Not just limited to design revolutions, Hansgrohe is also introducing technology improvements- by injecting air into individual water jets in their PuraVida showerhead, which uses 2.2 gpm but feels like 3.5. This difference in pressure and coverage is essential in making low-flow showerheads feel just as luxurious as older, less efficient models.
Rohl focused on new designs, like their Vincent line from Italy, with its angular lines and defined shapes. In addition to having a full matching set of shower, faucets and accessories like towel bars it also conforms to a transitional style, so as to fit in several different design styles. It’s comfortable in the hand, and far from minimalistic.
Rohl’s poorly named Integrated Faucet Filtration fixture (shown at left)-Having introduced pull out kitchen faucets to the US market, they have stepped up their game again. It integrates filtered water in a two hole design. The left handle is for filtered water while the other is a thermostat lever for unfiltered water. A pull out sprayer rounds out the design.
Watch all of these announcements and more snippets from the show here at KBIS’s site.