A Look at the KBIS 2023 Luxe Kitchen Display

The Kitchen & Bath Industry Show (KBIS) is a trade show I attend regularly.

It is a great place to witness emerging trends and to look for unique details that can take your design projects to the next level.

Last year at KBIS 2022, the appliance manufacturer Monogram wowed us all with their booth and I definitely saw emerging trends and unique details in their displays.

I highlighted their displays in two blog posts: The Influence of Appliance Manufacturers on Kitchen Design Part 1 and Part 2.

Monogram Appliances was on my “must see” list again this year at KBIS 2023 and they did not disappoint.

I’ll give you my take on their kitchen displays over a few blog posts starting with the Luxe Kitchen display.

The Luxe Kitchen by Monogram Appliances

The Luxe Kitchen along with the other Monogram Kitchen displays were designed by Richard Anuszkiewicz, their Creative Director.

The displays were designed to feature appliances but there were some great overall details.

The first thing to catch my eye when I walked into this room was the arched niches that housed the range wall and the sink wall.

The soft curves on these architectural arches was a nice break from all the hardlines we have seen in kitchen design over the past decade.

I predict this will be a trend in kitchen design.

The Range Wall

Looking specifically at the range wall, a slightly tapered brass hood takes center stage.

To highlight the hood even more a set of wall scones accented with brass were placed on either side.

The placement of the wall scones and hood was perfect inside this arch.

A trend we have been seeing for a while is the floating shelf at the top of a traditional backsplash.

I found the use of economical beadboard above the shelf and the more expensive stone below a great idea to steel. It would save a lot but it still looks great.

The Sink Wall

The show stopper on this wall was the faux black framed windows.

I know this would be near impossible to replicate in a real setting, but the look could be achieved with more traditional shapes.

You will notice the floating shelf from the range wall was used here as well producing a deep window sill.

Again a great idea to steal to provide rhythm in your kitchen designs.

I also liked the lit floating shelves in the niches flanking the sink wall. It was a bit reminiscent of the wall scones flanking the range hood.

I’ll look a bit more at this detail in a minute.

The Island

The island was a massive butcherblock topped piece in the center of the room.

This display was said to be farm-to-table inspired and this would have been the feature to produce that vibe.

The original kitchen island evolved from the harvest table and this was a great interpretation of one.

It was a design that featured substantial corner posts that protruded through the butcherblock top for a custom look.

Another custom detail were the floating shelves at one end that were supported by brass rods. A great solution for supporting all the weight of multiple serving dishes.

A great functional detail I notice were shallow drawers build into the apron portion of the island.

I could see these drawers housing everything from napkins to extra cutlery.

Refrigeration

I specifically wanted to look at the paneled refrigeration in this display to see how it was done.

While reviewing pics from KBIS 2022 I had noticed a similar installation and was hoping it would have been repeated this year.

I was glad to see a version in the Luxe Kitchen.

In this case, the refrigerators flanking the range wall were designed to look like pieces of furniture.

As you can see, the middle drawer has a carved panel deeper than the top fridge door and lower freezer drawer.

This produces a great detail I would love to incorporate into a design some day.

Details

There were a lot of great details of note in this kitchen display.

Here are a few I though note worthy.

Cabinet Detail

The detailing on the cabinetry was unique.

It was produced by framing the entire cabinet, be it a drawer bank or a door and then splitting it at the appropriate place to allow it to function.

This provided some detailing to the cabinetry without making it too busy.

Floating Shelves

We have seen floating shelves in kitchens for several years.

What was interesting about this installation was placing them in a niche and tiling the back wall for some texture.

Metal Inserts

The few upper cabinets in the display were accented with metal inserts.

They had a brass undertone that worked well with the other metals in the room.

What I appreciated was that the designer did not choose the exact same insert for each door.

The designs were mixed up adding a very curated custom feel to the room.

Ceiling Treatment

If you follow the VESTA Blog, you know I teach how to incorporate ceiling treatments into kitchen design so I was thrilled to see this installation.

The ceiling beams were accented with brass metal details at each intersection.

This was a small detail with a lot of impact.

And of course the circular chandelier in the middle of the room forced you to look up and appreciate the 5th wall.

Monogram had a few other standout kitchen displays I will post about over the next month or so.

If you attended KBIS 2023, let me know what you thought when you saw this display.

And of course, anyone can leave a comment below.