Top Stories » Special Features » Kitchenware

Click here if you would like to view a pdf of Pantone's Home Furnishings Color Forecast 2006.

The online quiz for this story is available in PDF format. Click here to download.

---

Culinary trends, fashion runways, and high-tech introductions will come together to shape the kitchens of tomorrow. As we've just wrapped up the first quarter of trade shows, designers and consumer gurus are predicting what shoppers will be reaching for in the coming months. Palettes have been established, orders have been placed, and contracts have been signed.
So what's going to catch the eye of the frugal gourmet for the next 12 months? What is the next big trend to push the lucky retailer who stocks it into early retirement? Your guess is as good as ours, but here's what the experts are predicting.
Exciting New Color Palettes
Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, unveiled her Home Furnishings Color Forecast 2006 during the International Home & Housewares Show in Chicago last month. Manufacturers of kitchen and tabletop products view Eiseman's predictions as one of the core market predictors for design trends. Her palettes show some interesting new directions, especially in combinations of colors.
Her palettes provide what she calls a "road map" for future design and color directions, with three major color pathways in eight separate palettes that encompass "a sophisticated uptown look, a fun and stylishly funky downtown look, and several other palettes that are heading 'out-of-town' -- some of which are closer to home in bucolic settings, while others lead to more exotic destinations."
"The first two palettes are all about the luxury market," Eiseman began. "And the luxury market is not based on price point anymore. It may mean a high-end look, not necessarily the high-end price point. That's a continuing phenomenon."
The first palette, Stiletto, points to a decidedly uptown destination where high fashion inspires poised and polished urbane surroundings. This palette calls for glamorous combinations of emerald or peridot greens, amethyst purples, and Brazilian reds underscored by sleek blacks and rich browns. Metallic tones include champagne beige, as well as muted golds and silvers, both shiny and delustered.
"This is very fashionable, sleek, and stylish -- what we would call minimal but curvalinear," Eiseman explained. "The movie 'The Aviator' is keeping the look of glamour and luxury around. It was a trend last year and because the movie is a big hit, we've got another year of juice coming out of that look. It's something that has captured the attention of so many people. People don't want to give it up. The difference is the colors that are being used. The newest look that is enhancing the palette is the continuation of brown, but brown as glamour color, not brown as an earth color. Emerald is also a very hot color for 2006."
"Renaissance is also about elegance, but with a more traditional touch. This grouping demonstrates the tendency to eclectic mixes of Old World and New Age -- an updated take on tradition. Color combinations include wild ginger and mellow mauve, frosted almond and blackberry wine, peachy beige and flint gray," Eiseman said. "Just like the name implies, it is a luxurious palette, a mix of traditional with modern looks. The minute I think of this palette, I see the Jenn-Air mixer -- a high-end look that is traditional in styling with a contemporary feel."
The third palette is a more 'funky' one with a touch of fun. Titled Romantic Notions, its message is, "Don't take your surroundings too seriously." Color combinations are all about romance -- reds and warm pinks take the lead with orchids, apricots, and mimosa yellow adding voluptuous accents. Eiseman sees shades like Rouge Red, Mimosa, and Dewberry making a great transition into the kitchen.
"The next palette, Pique-Nique, is very casual, and outdoorsy. Still it's not limited to the outdoors, but brings it inside. There is Melon and Pecan, Baked Apple Red and Porcelain Green," Eiseman continued. "It's very inviting and homey, but it's not the old concept of rustic casual. It's more stylized and there is some humor in there, too -- like polka dot plates. You bring fun into this atmosphere and the colors help create that."
Another palette that connects to nature while engendering a feeling of security and reality is called, appropriately, Grounded. But these are not the typical earth tones; they are described as organic and genuine as they are suggestive of minerals, ores, stones, and striated rock formations in subtle blends of uncontrived simplicity. The grouping includes: Atmospheric grays, mineral blues, misted lavenders, rose browns, golden olives, and dusted periwinkles.
The sixth palette, Paradiso, is the dream vacation that can easily be expressed in home décor. Think of the colors evocative of sun-drenched skies and soothing sea foams. Think cruise-ship white, blue lagoons, palm-tree greens, festive fuchsias, and sunset corals reflected over seemingly endless and undulating patterns of warmed beach sand.
"This is pure escapism," Eiseman said. "It's a new take on using the blues and the blue green and the green together. Consumers have a love affair with this color palette, but you have to bring something new into the picture to make this look fresh and inviting. In this new combination, you are taking a bright color and putting it together with traditional colors."
The seventh palette, Primitif, also speaks of faraway places. It is tribal in nature, filled with handicrafts and artifacts, symbols and statuary. Some are highly embellished, while others are deceptively simple. There are intriguing images and fascinating imagery, a bit mysterious and dramatic; it's a theme that calls for strong shadings and complex combinations, such as red purples and earthy browns, Chinese yellows and Pompeian reds, the ever-present ebony and ivory.
"This is really an exotic palette," Eiseman said. "It's an artesian look but rich in depth."
The final palette, called Pastille, is a soft, comforting, and nurturing group of tints that speaks to many people of "coming home," providing a niche and fulfilling the need for a comfort level of quiet understatement.
"This is the very relaxed, quiet place, the continuation of the 'Zen' feeling," Eiseman explained, "but this palette goes beyond the old blues and grays of the prior 'Zen' experience. There are soft pastels in here that are lily green and dusted coral, sunshine and silver gray. These new pastels demonstrate a new level of stylishness as they are juxtaposed against unexpected neutral tones or happy hues that are a bit more vibrant."
Eiseman explained that these palettes are what consumers will desire in the coming year as they seek to create a new freshness in their homes.
"You don't reinvent the home every year with a whole new look. But what you do is create new color combinations. That's what trends are all about," she explained.

Kitchens & Design
U.S. consumers spent $62.2 billion on housewares in 2003 according to the International Housewares Association's 2004 State of the Industry Report, an increase of 7.4 percent over the previous year. The $62.2 billion those consumers spent in 2003 translates to an average of $578 per household.
A.J. Riedel, president of Riedel Marketing Group, has divided her kitchen design demographics into groups. Her Home Trend Influentials group, or HIPsters, set or follow closely the trends for kitchen design. Their focus continues to be on the professional kitchen look with granite counters and stainless steel appliances. But there are some changes trickling in.
"Those who do not have granite now want it and will replace their current countertops when they remodel their kitchens. We are also beginning to see a mix of granite and butcher block/hardwood. For example, the counters may be granite and the island is hardwood," Riedel began. "Stainless steel and black continue to be the most popular in major kitchen appliances, although white is by no means totally out of the picture. In the Home Trend Influential houses I have visited, probably 40 percent have stainless, 40 percent have black, 10 percent have white, and 10 percent have custom paneled fridges."
While stainless steel has reached mainstream status in the kitchen, it won't be heading out of fashion soon. Rather, this once elite fashion statement is now one of the basic colors along with black and white. Riedel sees more custom looks coming into fashion at the mid to high-end market with paneled refrigerators matching cabinetry.
"We may start to see the emergence of bold colors similar to what Kenmore has done with the Elite washer and dryer, but it will take a number of years for that trend to catch on," she explained. "People still cringe at the thought of the harvest gold and avocado of the 70's. Colors will probably emerge along the lines of the new automobile colors, possibly copper or gold. I've heard some talk about glass-front fridges in very high-end houses, but I have not seen any in the HIPster homes that I have visited."
Professional-quality gas stovetops continue to be the central focus of kitchen remodels. And these new kitchens are outfitted with only the best in cookware, small electrics, and tools.
Riedel commented, "Bold colors for small electrics, especially red and blue, have become popular for appliances that don't sit on the counter all the time. The appliances that sit on the counter all the time tend to be the same color as the major appliances. If someone has stainless steel major appliances, they will tend to buy stainless steel/brushed chrome small kitchen electrics when they replace the appliance. Most consumers will not run out and replace a perfectly good toaster or coffee maker just because it does not match their new fridge. They will wait until it dies and then will replace it with one that matches the fridge."
And despite manufacturers continuing to improve the look and design of small electrics, Riedel found that only one or two appliances -- typically a toaster, a toaster oven, or a coffee maker or teakettle -- are kept on the kitchen counter. All the others are kept in a cabinet when not in use.

Selling the Story
With an eye toward the kitchen, home goods manufacturers launched a bounty of new small electrics, kitchen tools, and cookware at the 2005 International Home & Housewares Show last month. From cool new gel grips on kitchen tools to several newly launched copper cookware brands, the industry continues to reach toward the high-end market. Still, the high-end market does not relate to price tag alone. Luxury goods are defined by their appearance and styling.
When marketing and merchandising to your kitchen consumers over the next 12 months, keep the luxury image in mind. Displays should speak to the trendy color palettes released by Pantone, while also creating a story of luxury, playfulness, or relaxation.
Mix color into your product selection this year, while still maintaining the level of color commitment your customers are willing to make. Consumers may not want to change over their entire kitchens to a bold new color, but adding a touch of color can bring a new emotion to a room. Bright greens, blues, and yellow accent colors add zip to a wide range of items from storage to tabletop to kitchen tools. Look for items that have a modern, contemporary feel with clean lines and soft, curving shapes.
Consumers will always find shelf space for new products that offer a solution to unanswered problems in the kitchen. Whether it's responding to space demands through the creation of multipurpose equipment or designing decorative storage elements to create more space, manufacturers are constantly introducing products they believe serve a need. Discover your customers' needs by surveying them about their kitchen issues -- ask in your newsletter or online what the most challenging aspect of their kitchen is and look for a common theme in the responses. Or offer a kitchen consultation to loyal customers, helping them to better organize their kitchens, create better workspaces and kitchen flow, and then offering them time-saving and space-saving solutions from your store.
As you continue to work with your own customers on their kitchen designs and desires, you'll form an outline of what your customer base needs to discover in product introductions. The next time you find yourself walking show aisles or perusing the pages of a trade publication, you'll be better equipped to pinpoint products designed to satiate your customers' appetites.