by Jan Rutgers
When I attend the Kitchen & Bath Industry Show, I love seeking out new and innovative products.
These products can be seen at large and small exhibitors and I try to get by as many of the booths as possible.
The size of the show though, doesn’t always allow me to get to every booth and see everything.
So, my strategy is to walk the outer edges of the show floor looking for those smaller exhibitors that cannot afford a prime spot.
This is where a lot of innovative, cool stuff can be found.
In this VESTA Blog I will present some those unique products I found at KBIS 2023.
I will start with a product from my hood.
RAINSTICK is a shower system developed by Sean and Alisha McFetridge from Kelowna, Canada.
It is a water recirculating shower system developed to save you 80% water usage and 80% energy usage with 2 times the flow rate of a standard system.
And it looks great!
With water conservation top of mind for many consumers and designers, stylish products like this are a great find.
At KBIS 2022 they won the “Best of KBIS” Impact Award and were the Kickstarter winner.
I’m sure they are on the forefront of changing how we think about shower systems.
Another Canadian manufacturer I saw on my perimeter search of the show was Hovr Solutions.
They developed and were displaying a floating shelf bracket system that can support up to 300 lbs.
A product like this provides designers with the confidence to specify floating shelves in many situations.
Clients could place stacks of plates on these floating shelves with no worry.
The “snap in place” installation system also makes it a breeze to install.
Keeping with the Canadian theme, I came across an intriguing product at Level Aid Appliance Group Inc.
This Quebec inventor was presenting a compact elevation system for dishwashers.
It allows the dishwasher to be elevated for easy loading and unloading.
It reminded me of the raised dishwasher I installed in my own home several years ago.
The genius behind this system was it’s flexibility to provide continuous countertop when it was in the down position.
I could see this product as a great addition to “Living in Place” kitchen design.
Another great “Living in Place” product was the Blend grab bar series by NuWhirl Systems out of California.
They offered a stylish solution to institutional looking grab bars.
The system allows the designer to specify tile to insert into the front of the bar to match or contrast the shower design in a bathroom.
A product like this helps to make Universal Design sexy.
I grabbed a screen shot from their website showing a traditional set of grab bars and the same space with the “Blend” grab bars with the tiled inserts.
I hope to see more design like this in the future.
After doing my perimeter sweep of the show floor, I moved into the middle isles to look for more innovation.
I almost missed this corner accessory.
I saw it in one of the European cabinet manufacturer’s displays.
It was an innovative solution for the void space that can occur in the corner of a kitchen design.
It consisted of a lift mechanism that would bring a heavy stand mixer from the “void” corner up to counter level.
Often the cabinet layout in a kitchen makes more sense to void a corner and this product brings back function to that corner.
I’m going to check out some of my local suppliers to see if they have a lift system that could be adapted to this type of corner solution.
While participating in a tour at the Delta Booth the rep presented to us the Glass Rinser, a new product they just introduced.
I loved it and could see specifying it for a variety of clients.
This video demonstrates how it works.
It would be ideal to include in a wet bar or at the clean-up sink.
I think it might be something I specify into my planned kitchen renovation!
A booth that I always check out at KBIS is Rev-A-Shelf.
Last year at KBIS 2022 they introduced some cool products for kitchen accessories but this year what caught my eye was this laundry room accessory.
It is a drying rack that folds up and fits inside a drawer.
Often a laundry room can be tight on space and this accessory would be great in that situation.
I know I didn’t see every new product on the KBIS 2023 show floor so if there was something you saw that I missed, let me know about it in comments below.
Also, if you are a new reader of the VESTA Blog and would like to receive it in your inbox, subscribe below.
Jan Rutgers has been designing for over 25 years. Developing functional layouts for every area of the home is her passion. She has designed more than 1000 kitchens in her career, learning valuable skills with each one!
Her experience in Kitchen Design, Millwork Manufacturing and Product Development has led her to create VESTABUL SCHOOL OF DESIGN where she educates and mentors people passionate about the Kitchen Design Industry.
