An Opportunity to Learn: the SEN Semi-Annual Conference
/How does the team at Lang’s Kitchen & Bath earn our position as leaders in the kitchen and bath design industry? We view every day as an opportunity to learn and to keep our approach to design projects fresh. One way we accomplish this goal is through our membership in SEN, the industry’s first and largest kitchen and bathroom buying group. SEN provides opportunities for education to industry members, and most recently we participated in the SEN Semi-Annual Kitchen and Bathroom Design Conference in Minneapolis, MN from September 25-28, 2013.
John and Mary Ann represented the Lang’s team at the conference and found it an excellent chance to connect with other kitchen and bathroom professionals and to learn about some of the latest trends in kitchen and bath design.
So what did we learn at this year’s SEN conference?
There is always value in finding new ways to understand the needs of our customers. SEN members reached an agreement at the conference with Houzz, the leading online platform for home remodeling and design. This partnership will give SEN kitchen and bath dealers access to the most searched kitchen and bath phrases used on Houzz, allowing us a unique insight into the kitchen remodeling and bathroom renovation requirements of today’s customers. We also learned about the importance of customer surveys to ensure complete client satisfaction. We are always looking for ways to be sure we target our service to the latest requirements of our customers, and these insights will certainly help.
Exciting new trends and manufacturers in kitchen design provide us innovative ideas and inspiration for kitchen remodeling projects. Some of the highlights we learned at the conference include:
Cambridge Steel Works is a great new European-manufactured sink vendor.
Pitt by Reginox offers a new gas burner that can be installed directly into a granite countertop.
Danver provides a new option in kitchen cabinets for outdoor kitchens, with painted stainless steel in 12 fashion colors.
Color schemes set the tone for your newly renovated space, and this year’s trends are both classic and bold. Although kitchen cabinets and bathroom fixtures are important, a renovation project also allows you to breathe new life into your home by picking out a new color scheme. We were delighted to learn about the latest color trends at the conference:
The most popular main colors for kitchen and bath design do not stray very far from the classic color palette of grey and white, though current trends see some variations such as splotches of black in a grey or white background.
Today’s hot accent colors are yellow, emerald and tangerine.
The newest design direction incorporates both texture and color with white and grey patterns or a combination of textures to provide another layer of depth to your kitchen and bath design. This can be done using reclaimed or raw wood, stones used in a small area to provide texture in your tile design, or a textured tile pattern on a backsplash or shower wall.
We are looking forward to putting everything we learned at the SEN conference into practice for our customers this year.
