Home shows: Black stainless, oven cameras and more

Yahoo

11-03-2025

With half a million square feet of exhibits, the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show held each February in Las Vegas is a Disneyland for design watchers. KBIS is where manufacturers, contractors and other insiders come together to see what's new in fixtures and faucets, sinks and solid surfacing, and the ways modern ingenuity can improve our homes' hardest working rooms.
It's also where the major appliance brands pull out all the stops. This year, refined finishes, sophisticated colours and new methods of meal prep dominated, even among moderately priced brands. Last year's standout colour — green — has morphed into a subtler version, at least at one manufacturer's booth; and AI is proving itself central to smart kitchens. Here's a glimpse at what's coming to an appliance showroom near you.
Black stainless and a new take on green
Not that long ago, the only colour consumers wanted was stainless steel. (Before that, it was white, notwithstanding a brief foray in the seventies to earth tones like avocado, harvest gold and brown.) But stainless steel, which came out of professional kitchens, soon proved its limitations in consumer kitchens with its tendency to scratch, attract grease and fingerprints, and finally because of its very ubiquity. The major brands have been introducing variations on stainless for several years now, with varying levels of success. But some of the newest shades really are beautiful.
The current favourite, at least from the manufacturers' standpoint, is black stainless steel. Known variously as Graphite (Dacor), Black Ore (KitchenAid), Midnight Steel (Maytag) and similarly atmospheric names, it's a newer, sleeker take on stainless. Some companies are presenting it in a matte finish for an extra level of glamour, along with improvements such as easy-clean surfaces that require only a swipe with a damp cloth to maintain.
Last year, designers were bullish on green with everything, from surfacing to tile to appliances. KitchenAid is introducing a rich, subtle green this year called Juniper that, like a sharkskin suit, shifts depending on the viewing angle from milky mid-green to near-black.
Appliance design continues to favour clean lines. Knobs and handles — what the industry calls jewellery — are being offered in new metals from warm bronze and brushed gold to cool matte stainless or black. KitchenAid's handles are actually interchangeable by the user, should you get tired of them and want a different colour.
Pet laundry, add-a-freezer
In their zeal to update products with new features, some manufacturers have been known to offer solutions that don't really have a corresponding problem. But a number of the innovations seen at KBIS this year appear to be genuinely useful.
Pet parents will appreciate Maytag's Pet Pro laundry pair, displayed at the show in a booth lined with deep-pile shag walls. The washer/dryer is specially designed to tackle hirsute laundry loads: the washer has an extra water/agitation cycle, while the dryer uses steam and extra tumbling to get out any remaining fur.
Several companies offered modified French-door fridges with an independently temperature-controlled middle drawer that can be used as either a fridge or freezer. In other models, such as GE Profile's version, the fridge is divided into four compartments with independent doors, with the lower right a convertible fridge or freezer.
Several companies modified the hinges on their appliances so that doors would take up less room when open or stay flush with the counter depth for a more streamlined look.
One standout that addresses a small but long-standing consumer pain point is Whirlpool's front-loading washer with a built-in drying fan and antimicrobial coating, which allows users to close the door immediately after removing laundry instead of having to leave it open for an hour or two till the inside is dry.
AI Gets Personal
Artificial intelligence has been making itself at home in major appliances for several years now, and the range of productivity it can add to everyday appliance use is getting more and more impressive. Some modern AI-equipped refrigerators contain cameras in their interiors that, through an app, can tell you what's in there, what you are running out of, whether you remembered to buy milk, what's getting furry at the back of the fridge and make suggestions for recipes based on what you have on hand. Samsung's Bespoke fridge line features several sizes of in-door screens that catalogue the contents of the fridge, act as a 'smart' hub for connected devices, and can also be programmed to play a TV while a homeowner cooks.
AI-controlled cameras are gaining in popularity inside ovens as well. At least one model, from LG's Studio line, can recognize individual foods, calculate the temperature, weight and size, and how long it will take to cook it to perfect doneness. In-oven cameras have other futuristic uses: cooks can get a visual on the progress of cookies or a turkey by sending a picture to an app, so there's no need to open the oven door or even get up off the sofa. It also allows the user to take a picture or a video of the food as it cooks and put it on Instagram.
One job, done better
Some of the most impressive new models take one good idea and make it better. The latest incarnation of Jenn-Air's downdraft ventilation unit, first introduced about 10 years ago, is a good example. The newest models are as powerful as any full-size standard range hood and whisper-quiet. One version comes built into the centre of a standard 36' induction cooktop, with optional ductless venting; in other styles, the works are shallow enough that you can use the cabinet underneath for extra storage.
Getting inducted
Induction cooking is becoming the new normal in home kitchens, and experts predict it will replace gas cooking altogether within the next decade or so. Safer, faster, more precise and vastly more energy-efficient than either gas or electric, it's even winning over diehard gas-range users, including professional chefs.
As its appeal spreads, appliance designers are coming up with innovative improvements. Most notable: new ranges such as Dacor's that use smooth-operating knobs instead of the more common touchscreen or sliding controls to set temperature; and a super-durable induction cooktop, also from Dacor, that's so scratch-resistant it rates 8 on the Mohs hardness scale. Induction units with convertible burners that will heat either two separate pots or one rectangular pan simultaneously are also popular. Some of SKS's induction ranges offer 'free zone' capability, allowing you to place one or multiple pots anywhere on the cooking surface. And some built-in configurations are designed to transfer heat directly through the countertop, removing the need for a cooktop altogether.