Trending in 2023

The New Year Brings Trends That Are Anything But

BY JENNIFER G. WILLIAMS

rends come and go, and usually circle around, but homeowners, designers and manufacturers all keep an eye out for the next big thing.

If the vast variety of products showcased at the recent Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Las Vegas is any indication, the “trends” that are here to stay in the industry are those that give a nod to sustainability, multifunctionality and natural beauty. And several designers at the show agreed that design depends more on your taste, rather than following specific trends — meaning, if you like it, do it!

From sleek designs, handleless opening and closing of cabinets and doors with hidden hardware to new colors and textures to update your space, there’s lots of innovation in the Surface & Panel industry — with no signs of slowing down.

ABOVE: ONE COMMON KITCHEN TREND IS COMBINING SOLID COLOR AND BIOPHILIC WOOD GRAIN CABINETS, AS WITH THESE FINISHES FROM MIRLUX ABOVE RIGHT: THE MOMENTS COLLECTION FROM UNIBOARD OFFERS SEVERAL COLOR OPTIONS, TONES AND GRAINS. HERE, K97 – ZINC AND ITS LINEAR WOOD GRAIN EVOKES THE JAPANDI ATMOSPHERE.

THE NATURAL LOOK, UPDATED

Designers at Uniboard forecast a move away from the gray tones and stained wood that have been popular for the past few years in favor of a more relaxed and organic wood look. A natural wood appearance with a twist, such as that of white oak embellished with rattan or linen textures is a good choice of materials to create the sought-after Japandi atmosphere. And while wood grains have long been used horizontally, Uniboard designers suggest a softer look with vertical applications for a more modern style. The Moments collection from Uniboard offers several color options, tones and grains.

WHAT IS Japandi design?

Japandi essentially is a hybrid of Japanese minimalism & Scandinavian cozy, evoking serenity and calmness in the environment.

MIX IT UP!

Demand for two-toned, split-scheme kitchen cabinets by interior designers and architects is on the rise, according to officials with Cascade Distribution Group. This common kitchen design trend is typically expressed by combining solid color and biophilic wood grain cabinets

“With the latest and greatest technology and equipment, we make high-quality, four-sided edgebanded custom cabinet doors to order,” said Garrett Litalien, Operations and Sales Manager at Cascade Distribution Group. “Partnering with Arauco and Stevenswood, two of the highest quality in-demand TFL panel manufacturers allows our customers to meet schedules and budgets.”

Cascade Distribution Group, the manufacturer of Mirlux Premium Panel products, began offering custom-made solid color high gloss and super matte Mirlux doors through Allmoxy in 2021.

Biophilic interior design

Incorporates nature into our indoor environment, creating calming spaces with visual connection to nature while improving well-being, health, and productivity.

A Calming Influence

Fresh, Mediterranean air Inspired by the depth of the sea, Azul Índigo is an intense blue that infuses spaces with a sense of serenity, calm and unexpected warmth. At once relaxing and strong, subtle and sophisticated, this alluring and versatile color from Richelieu is well-suited for any design scheme — bringing a feeling of stability and groundedness.

State-of-the-art lacquered surfaces offer a range of design possibilities, delivering the most consistent finish and highestlevel of scratch resistance on the market, while Thermo Structured Surfaces (TSS) offer an engaging visual and sensory experience. Up to four layers of decorative and kraft papers are treated with resins under heat and pressure to become part of the panel.

Brought to life using a superior lacquering technology, Richelieu’s Lummia offers stunning, on-trend colours and AGTSeries panels are perfect for creating unique spaces and provide exceptional design versatility, featuring a rich selection of trend-forward colors along with three finishes — high gloss, soft touch and supramat.

Or Color Pop

Rachel Kornhardt, Senior Designer with Schattdecor, Inc., says she expects to see a continued refinement of color palettes with the addition of more subdued and calming pop colors like yellow, rose, and mauve. On the flipside, naturally vibrant jewel and tropical tones will remain a steadily popular way to add a little liveliness to neutral accents while still bringing the outside in. Wood tones will stay warm and natural to combine easily with both earthy and invigorating solids, textiles, and abstracts. Browns running the gamut from dark chocolate to camel, mushroom taupe, and golden tweed will rule woodgrains, leather, and woven textiles.

With the renewed interest in natural, sustainable, handcrafted, and timeless interior looks, we’ll also continue to see a modern revival of the Arts and Crafts Movement. This is especially noticeable in the surging demand for simple, clean, rift-sawn white oak and quarter-sawn white oak decors that portray a new rusticity, celebrating features like medullary rays and flecks over hyper rustic characteristics like large knots and cracks. Stone and tile are also reflecting this desire for handcrafted quality while making a statement with the continuing rise of bold, solid color zellige tiled walls and patterned mosaic floors for kitchen and bath.

TOP: INSPIRED BY THE DEPTH OF THE SEA, AZUL ÍNDIGO IS AN INTENSE BLUE THAT INFUSES SPACES WITH A SENSE OF SERENITY, CALM AND UNEXPECTED WARMTH. AT ONCE RELAXING AND STRONG, SUBTLE AND SOPHISTICATED, THIS ALLURING AND VERSATILE COLOR IS WELL-SUITED FOR ANY DESIGN SCHEME – BRINGING A FEELING OF STABILITY AND GROUNDEDNESS IN RICHELIEU’S BRILLANTE COLLECTION OF STATE-OFTHE-ART LACQUERED SURFACES.

ABOVE: SCHATTDECOR’S DIGITAL VISIONS SELECTION PRESENTS A MEANINGFUL CROSS-SECTION THROUGH THE DIVERSITY OF THEIR NEW DIGITAL PRINTING TECHNOLOGY—FROM PHOTO-REALISTIC, LARGEFORMAT LAYOUTS TO PLAYFUL, GRAPHIC DESIGNS TO FREEHANDDRAWN DESIGNS.

Digital Printing And Scanning

Hymmen says that digital printing in the surface & panel market will pick up speed going into 2023. “In the future there won´t be any decorative surfaces without digital printing anymore,” predicts Dr. René Pankoke, CEO and owner of Hymmen.

Decorative surface customers are not only interested in the optics and haptics of a surface, but also take the surface’s resilience, durability, abrasion and moisture resistance, hygienic cleaning, and maintenance effort into account.

This is where digital printing of surfaces and structures comes into play. It ensures reliable high quality, is cost efficient, flexible, and usable on numerous substrates, e.g., on real wood as well as engineered wood and modular multilayer materials / LVT.

Lighting Is Key

To accent all these new colors, the demand for new and innovative ways to use specialty lighting is stronger than ever. Hettich showcased their innovative solution to cabinet lighting at KBIS with their AvanTech YOU Illumination, which basically is a battery-run, clip-on design profile lighting system that easily attaches to the top edges of the Hettich AvanTech YOU drawer box system. It can be optionally retrofitted and switches on automatically when the drawer is opened and off after 30 seconds or upon closing the drawer. It is a simple addition to the overall feel of the kitchen which can be added by the homeowner themselves in no time. This feature can be used anywhere in the home, from the kitchen and bath to closets and even home entertainment centers.

STRONG, SUSTAINABLE DESIGNS

“Sustainability is more than a trend, and it’s a topic that will remain important to the surfacing and design industries in 2023 and beyond,” says Amy Gath, VP of Marketing with Formica Corporation. “As we work through the challenges of a post-COVID world of economic uncertainty and supply chain disruptions, our customers are asking us to solve problems in a more sustainable manner.”

“But our focus as an industry must go beyond just meeting the requirements of our customers,” she adds. “Instead, we need to take a proactive approach to reduce the impact we have on the environment. This is an opportunity for manufacturers to expand their focus, from sustainable products to sustainable practices. At Formica, we’ve been fortunate during the past few years to work with Nemho (the center of excellence for innovation and technology for all Broadview Holding material companies) to make significant progress towards our goal of net carbon neutrality by 2030.”

Gath quotes the company’s sustainability policy, saying it begins with “do no harm,” but continues to look for ways to proactively “do good” and in the long-term, “do better.”

The push to deliver products with a more environmentally responsible footprint is driving companies including IFS to look at performance powder coating to ensure their product offers gorgeous aesthetics, the desired performance level (e.g. exterior durability or moisture resistance) while being more sustainable.

With the push to reduce embodied carbon, the architectural community is embracing performance powders such as IFS 500FP as a more sustainable alternative to liquid paints for exterior applications such as curtain wall, windows, doors and more.

Heat sensitive substrates such as wood and MDF are also now able to capture the performance and improved sustainability footprint powders deliver by adding PureClad powder to the finishing operation. Extremely efficient production, a safer more pleasant working environment, and cost competitiveness mean applications from custom coaters to large OEMs in the cabinet industry and beyond are looking to utilize the power of powder primers that perform with a liquid or powder topcoat and single coat powder top-coats.

And as the panel industry further expands efforts to reduce emissions of volatile organic compounds from decorative panel products, the use of non-formaldehyde polymeric dispersion systems to produce decorative and industrial overlays on existing paper saturation lines is becoming more common and accepted.

An added benefit of these new decorative overlays is improved UV and weathering stability, upgraded panel haptics and sound insulation, which is particularly useful for laminate flooring. But this new technology, produces new processing challenges — particularly with adequate paper saturation, wetting and levelling of the polymeric dispersion. Foam production during impregnation and panel release after hot pressing is also problematic.

MÜNZING offers an additive package under its trusted Fentak brand of products to enable and optimize the production of polymeric dispersion overlays on existing paper saturation lines — as well as customizing and hands-on application technology support in the field.

Customize Everything

Robotization, production line and customization is the trend of today’s woodworking machinery, according to experts with Castaly Machinery, which has been creating, building and modifying their line of machines based on the engineering knowledge of 38 years in the industry.

In recent years, Castaly has focused on the development of robotization equipment, with robotic loading, stacking and storage system that can maximize the utilization of your plant space and reduce wasted moving, improved safety and increased productivity. In addition, Castaly experts predict that reducing the cost of wood consumption and studying the utilization rate of raw materials will be one of the keys to success in the future.

And customization does not only apply to products and machinery, according to Steve Hollinshead, Director of Sales and Marketing with Aetna Building Solutions."Value-based selling will be key to increasing customer loyalty and business success as the interior building materials industry continues its post-pandemic evolution,” he says. “The focus on relevant benefits or outcome design based on customer expectations for success delivered through personalized social selling will deliver more opportunity for effective customer engagement.”

“Increased trust will allow sellers to create new and relatable narratives that will contribute to sustainable product and service sales considering the trend for uncertain and volatile market dynamics,” continues Hollinshead. “Mass personalization of products and services for interior applications will continue to be a customer priority and challenged by the need to create and coordinate multiple channels of communication to increase effective customer touch points."

HOSPITALITY IS BACK!

The hospitality industry, which sat stagnant during the pandemic, is investing, remodeling, and welcoming customers back to their establishments, continuing to see upward and steady growth, according to David Palange, General Manager of DVUV wood powder coating. DVUV is specifically seeing the upward trend in the hotel industry, with product applications including desktops, work surfaces, end tables, and valances, he adds. DVUV supplies powder coated MDF components not only for the hospitality industry but also retail, education, healthcare, contract furniture, and other industries.

Color palettes are still mainly neutral, but Palange notes DVUV’s solid surface finishes for MDF are gaining popularity and being used more frequently. This multi-component finish gives the customer the look of real solid surface materials but without the cost. Perfect for high traffic environments, the solid surface finishes give an added depth and dimension to the finished products.

Uv Curing

UV curing continues to grow in popularity, says Miltec CEO Bob Blandford. “Purchasing a UV curing system is an investment,” he says. “It’s a critical part of the production finishing line needed to ensure consistent product quality and reducing scrap for many surface and panel manufacturers.”

And while sales of UV curing equipment have increased over this past year, both for new lines and to replace older inefficient systems, supply chain issues remain and growing interest rates may lead to delays in new system sales in 2023, he adds. “Signals from our panel customers are mixed with some planning to monitor and maintain their existing systems and others taking a wait and see approach to replacing old or obsolete systems.”

While some industry trends focus more on colors, textures and styles, others such as those centered on sustainability, are fast becoming the norm. Overall, designers from all areas agree that no one look is “in,” but rather, the vast array of choices available allow each consumer to customize their spaces just as they like, and with what makes them happy. S P