K/BIS 2007 Leads Sector With High-end Kitchen Remodeling Items and Green Bathroom Ware

Renowned as one of the world's leading trade fairs involving kitchen and bathroom hardware and remodeling items in the U.S., the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show (K/BIS), held at the Las Vegas Convention Center May 8-10, 2007, perhaps set the tone for the industry by showcasing high-end kitchen-remodeling accessories and innovative bathroom fittings, realizing huge business opportunities for a wide range of professionals in the sector.

Celebrating its 26th anniversary in 2007, the annual K/BIS set a new attendance record-registering 1,100-plus exhibitors who occupied all available 900 booths. Also, the show, featuring a full slate of educational seminars, events, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities, attracted around 44,000 visitors, including a significant number of kitchen and bathroom accessory and equipment designers, dealers in the U.S. and abroad.

The latest K/BIS took up some 60,000 square feet of exhibition space, with three thematic halls, including the New Product Pavilion, the NKBA Industry Trends Marketplace and the NKBA Center Stage, which all offered interested parties, observers, and design professionals a wide range of product innovations and trends.

An amazing variety of kitchen and bathroom equipment and accessories were exhibited at the show, such as cabinets, cupboards, ovens, kitchen-remodeling items and hardware, household electronics, baths, faucets, SPA equipment, bathroom fittings, toilets, basins, ceramics, tiles and related products.

Besides, the K/BIS 2007 was also punctuated by the increasingly intense awareness for environmental protection in the sector, with a number of big-name manufacturers, including Kohler, Geber, Elkay, Moen, Eldorado Stone, Hansgrohe and TWC, exhibiting a series of the newest kitchen and bathroom wares with green design, energy efficiency and water conservation, which proved to be highly popular with visitors at the show.

Eco-Consciousness Shown

Most buyers and industry professionals would have been impressed by the degree of eco-protection awareness shown at the show, with the exhibitors not merely paying lip service but actually making commendable attempts to build products, including flooring, countertops and surfacing, with sustainable or recycled materials such as bamboo and cork. The green theme carried over into the appliances, including induction cooktops and water-saving dishwashers. There were also toilets designed to reduce water wastage, using "low-flow" that likely adopts some sort of mechanism to control the opening duration of the flapper. Other noteworthy products included water-saving showerheads and light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs.

In addition, health and wellness appliances were also hot subjects at the show, while many exhibitors displayed their newly developed indoor air filters, ventilation systems and relevant products that promoted healthy living, such as air purification systems, water filtration and purification systems; built-in refrigerators with integrated water and air filters; stainless steel appliances that promise to be hygienic; sinks and faucets; countertops with eco-friendly and hygienic sealants.

To meet the explosive demand for high-end appliances expected from future generations and Baby Boomers, a couple of companies concentrated on showing well-designed, premium products. For instance, La Cornue, a large-sized French oven manufacturer, was showcasing its top product lineup at the show, which were highlighted by eye-catching colors and exterior-starting at US$38,000 per unit.

Educational Opportunities

The seminars of the show were also focused on aforementioned product trends and topics about exterior design and technologies and eco-friendly issues, including Green Remodeling: Changing the World One Room at a Time and Sweet Dreams & Rude Awakenings: Lighting Details for Kitchens and Baths.

In the meantime, CENS (China Economic News Service), a leading export media in Taiwan, was the only export media from the island, who circulated its popular, practical range of magazines, including Hardware and Bathroom Fittings. CENS's booth at the show attracted numerous foreign buyers who were quite interested in Taiwanese hardware and bathroom fitting makers' strong production and R&D capability. Undoubtedly, CENS succeeded in making Taiwanese suppliers even more accessible than before, with its sound promotion channels all around the world.

The next K/BIS is scheduled for April 11-13, 2008 at McCormick Place, Chicago, U.S.A., which is expected to attract a total of 900 companies and likely more than 40,000 buyers and visitors from all over the world. The popularity of the trade show is due to its widely known dedication to a wide-ranging line of kitchen and bathroom hardware, as well as kitchen remodeling parts and accessories.