Demand High for Vanities with Furniture Style & Clean Lines
The desire to create simplified, organized retreats continues to drive trends in vanities, with furniture styling, custom interiors and clean lines among the hottest items. That's according to manufacturers and designers recently interviewed by Kitchen & Bath Design News. Many of them also see a variety of trends carrying over from kitchen cabinetry into the bath, including open shelving, darker finishes and contemporary styling.
Some of the more specific product trends they identified for this category include the following:
- Furniture-style vanities continue to be hot picks, and some manufacturers and designers believe the demand for them is here to stay. However, more contemporary-style vanities are making inroads, especially in metropolitan areas with more apartments and condominiums.
- Furniture style doesn't necessarily mean ornate design. It could also include vanities with an Asian design theme, as well as those sporting a Mission or Arts and Crafts style.
- Features like decorative finishes, inset doors, select veneer treatments and hand-detailed finishes are important to furniture-style vanities. These details also allow for personalization.
- Additionally, there's a strong move toward "casual contemporary" and "casual traditional" styles. Casual contemporary designs are cabinets with cleaner lines, but mellowed by a slightly distressed finish and with less overall sheen. Casual traditional cabinets have a design familiar to the traditional marketplace, but have been updated with a softer finish and casual hardware accents.
- For vanities and cabinets the materials and finishes continue to be predominantly wood and metal. The area where there's some change is countertops, with concrete being used more, especially in contemporary baths. Some note increased demand for Fireslate, which is a combination of cement, sand and recycled paper. Others are seeing tempered glass, stainless steel, solid surfacing, terrazzo and properly sealed wood.
- Painted and solid-tone finishes are popular over closed-grain woods.
- Requests for exotic wood species are on the rise due to an increased awareness of them via the world market. Species that evoke a feeling of nature or demonstrate eco-responsibility are especially in demand.
- Darker finishes are currently more popular because they provide a complement to polished chrome or brushed-nickel fixtures.
- Natural colors – along with gray and blue tones such as a silver glaze over darker finishes – are hot picks, too.
- Vanities and storage cabinets that pack a visual punch are a staple in powder rooms, while demand is great for vanities with dressing tables in the master bath.
- Open storage solutions are seen more in powder rooms, while closed or internal storage solutions are more in demand in master baths, where the need to conceal the clutter increases. In master baths open storage is usually reserved for items such as family photos and entertainment items like small coffee bars and audio/visual systems.
- While internal organization solutions are very much in demand, there's definitely been a shift from functional medicine cabinets to simplified framed mirrors, with more demand for open storage, even in medicine cabinets. If done right with the majority of the clutter concealed with smart organizational tools, then open storage can lend a feeling of spaciousness and help people feel they have life under control, say manufacturers and designers.
- Customization plays a huge role in vanities today, particularly when it comes to vanity interiors. From a special hole to hold a hair dryer to drawers sized to fit tall bottles and more, it's all about keeping organized. That's why the appliance garage from the kitchen is also making its way into the bath. Here, behind a door that flips up, items such as electric toothbrushes, hot rollers, electric razors and the like are concealed.
- Increased interest in pedestal sinks has also given way to more creative bath storage ideas.
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| Sagehill Designs |
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Cole & Co. |
The Bungalow Collection of bath vanities from Sagehill Designs features an antique finish. Its interchangeable door inserts allow either a wood panel or textured art glass panel to be inserted into the door frames. |
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Cole & Co.'s Bathroom in a Box collection will include two vanities – the metropolitan Manhattan Sink Chest and the compact Barcelona Vanity. The Barcelona Vanity (shown) features Mediterranean style, with hand-painted styling and fluted legs. |
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| Danze |
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Deca |
The Orrington Collection from Danze carries the oval shape through each piece of the suite. The furniture-grade vanity, available in 24" or 30" widths, offers soft-close doors and storage options such as inner side pocket shelves and removable interior storage trays. The vanity is offered in the Antique Cherry finish. |
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Deca's Advanced collection of bath furniture features pieces made of solid wood that display a modern, streamlined design. The vanity features a checkered grid on the bottom, towel bar on the side and chrome accents at the foot. The Advanced line is available in a variety of sizes in the Tobacco finish. |
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| NuTone |
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Xylem |
NuTone's Studio V Collection is now available with an Espresso-finish metallic frame. The cabinet is offered in two frame profile options, a variety of finishes and four sizes. The cabinet shown features a traditional frame in Espresso. |
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The Wyncote bath vanity from Xylem features double doors that open at the vanity center and columns at the four corners that support exposed shelves. Finished in Mahogany, the Wyncote is available in 36" and 48" widths. |
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| Afina Corp. |
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American Standard |
The Wilshire Medicine Cabinet from Afina Corp. is a wood medicine cabinet that features 3/8" adjustable glass shelves and top crown molding. Available in two sizes, the cabinet is offered in the white or biscuit finish. |
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The one-piece Generations Washstand from American Standard is crafted from poplar solid woods and birch veneers and features a water-resistant walnut finish. A rattan-paneled storage drawer and the company's Townsend vanity top complete the look. |
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