Caesarstone’s Award-Winning Booth at KBIS 2024

Romancing The Stone

Written By Martha Uniacke Breen • Photos By Architectural Photographer Michael Tessler

Quartz countertop pioneer and leading solid surface manufacturer Caesarstone brings it all home with an award-winning booth at KBIS 2024, North America’s largest annual kitchen and bath trade show.

Premium solid-surface maker Caesarstone introduced the first quartz countertop over 30 years ago. So you can bet they know a thing or two about kitchen style.

The manufacturer unveiled no fewer than seven new quartz patterns, seven new porcelains and two new textures, collectively named the One of A Kind Collection, at the 60th annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS), North America’s largest trade show of its kind, held in Las Vegas in February.

Caesarstone’s stylish 3200-sq.ft. booth, entitled “Beyond The Surface,” took the form of a home, with the underlying theme that porcelain, quartz and natural stone surfaces can be installed not just in the kitchen and bath – although they are a stunning and practical choice there – but all through your house, inside and out.

“Beyond the Surface” is also the name of a major research report that Caesarstone commissioned last year, which goes beyond trends to explore the ways that design is influenced by cultural and social movements. Launched at the show, the report features insights by an advisory panel made up of designers, content creators and lifestyle experts from across North America. (Read the complete report at Caesarstone.ca.)

Caesarstone’s KBIS exhibit began with an arched front portico designed to represent a welcoming front door, complete with hand-painted street address and coachlights. (In fact, arches and rounded edges were a recurring visual motif throughout.) The interior was finished in a tasteful combination of light woods and creamy white and emerald green accents, a perfect setting for the new introductions: almost all feature warm white and cream backgrounds, and finely detailed veining in warm grey, gold and copper tones.

“We feel grey has really had its moment,” said Lori Shapiro, Caesarstone’s PR and corporate communications manager for North America, “so these warmer colours are coming back.”

Though there were a few more high-contrast patterns on view – such as Scoria, featuring dramatic black splotches on a cream background – most were more subtle: the bubbly delicacy of Goldfinch, or Celestial Sky, which Shapiro said reminded her of the Milky Way. New finishes include a silk finish which really does feel like soft fabric, and a rougher, almost cement-like finish, ideal for a more rustic or industrial-chic setting.

The demo kitchen took up both the physical and psychological centre of the booth. It was used as a stage for cooking demonstrations by Chef Kev D, and featured an oversized island/ prep area topped with a Lucillia porcelain counter (side islands were in Rossa Nova quartz), fronted by stools for the lucky few guests who managed to grab a seat. The wall behind, clad in delicately veined Isobellia porcelain with Solenna quartz counters, featured a built-in BlueStar range and steel-clad range hood, both in vibrant garden green.

The central island surface also featured an Invisacook induction cooktop, which allowed the chef to cook foods right on top of the counter. Invisacook has been a frequent companion product at Caesarstone show exhibits in recent years, and a nifty way to show off the counter’s durability. Just before happy hour each day of the show, Chef Kev D entertained attendees with a mixology demonstration at the bar a few steps over, sharing cocktails invented specifically for the occasion.

The living room featured a pair of graciously curved green sofas, framing a coffee table made of porcelain circles. Sitters warmed themselves by a glass-panelled fireplace under an arched overhang, its hearth clad in smoky-grey Ocean Blue natural quartzite stone. The fireplace itself was framed in Locura porcelain, with a backdrop of Libretta porcelain panels on either side. The fireplace was a perfect focal point from which to display the new colours and textures, which fanned out in tablet-shaped panels on either side.

On the other side, the ensuite showcased some new ways to use these materials: a Mirabel porcelain inset “bathmat” between sink and tub, with other styles used as wall cladding. Perhaps the most popular area of the exhibit, apart from the demo kitchen itself, was the outdoor patio, under a pergola in the “backyard” of the booth. (Patio counters here were a specialized product called Midday Outdoor Quartz.) Free food samples were dispensed to passersby from a fully fitted outdoor kitchen, while patio seating offered a spot to enjoy the sound of a water feature made of die-cut porcelain mosaic tiles. The waterfall, according to Shapiro, is designed to show that these surfaces are water-, mildew- and mould- resistant, and completely suitable for use outdoors – even in Canada.

The Caesarstone booth turned out to be one of the most popular exhibits at KBIS, earning an honourable mention in the booth awards at the show’s conclusion. It was a fitting way to demonstrate the company’s message: that the beauty and durability of these products really do go beyond the surface.