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NKBA 2027 Kitchen Trends Report: 10 Shifts and What They Mean · USA Cabinet Store Remodeling Podcast

• 0:05
  Welcome back to the Remodel Report by USA Cabinet
• 0:08
  Store. I am Chris. Two days ago, the National
• 0:12
  Kitchen and Bath Association, NKBA, released
• 0:14
  its 2027 Kitchen Trends Report. And Jessica has
• 0:18
  been through every number. Hi, everyone. And
• 0:22
  the headline surprised me. For years, the story
• 0:25
  was bigger kitchens. This year, the 830 industry
• 0:28
  professionals NKBA surveyed pulled back hard.
• 0:32
  The new direction is smarter kitchens. Not bigger
• 0:35
  ones. Give me the number that proves it. Last
• 0:39
  year, 76 % expected kitchen footprints to grow.
• 0:43
  This year, it is 52%. That is the biggest swing
• 0:46
  in the whole report. NKBA's own CEO said the
• 0:51
  kitchen has been expanding for years, and now
• 0:53
  it is spreading into the rest of the house instead.
• 0:56
  And we have to be honest here. In January, our
• 0:59
  own article led with that 76%. We did. And the
• 1:04
  2027 data reverses it. So if your plan is knock
• 1:07
  out a wall and add square feet, that is no longer
• 1:10
  what the profession recommends first. So what
• 1:13
  does it recommend? Walk me through the shifts.
• 1:16
  NKBA names 10 of them, but they boil down to
• 1:20
  one rule. Stop adding square feet and make every
• 1:23
  decision count. The first one is the big one.
• 1:26
  Walls are coming back. Walls after 20 years of
• 1:30
  tearing them down. 81 % say intentional zoning
• 1:33
  is here to stay. 46 % call semi -enclosed layouts
• 1:37
  up and coming, and 41 % say the same for partially
• 1:41
  concealed kitchens. Nobody wants the closed 1970s
• 1:45
  kitchen back. They want the cooking zone open
• 1:48
  to the family room and the mess somewhere else.
• 1:51
  Somewhere else being the back kitchen? Exactly.
• 1:54
  A back kitchen or scullery is a smaller room
• 1:57
  behind the main kitchen where cleanup, the coffee
• 1:59
  station, and the small appliances live out of
• 2:01
  sight. 47 % of professionals call it up and coming.
• 2:06
  Homeowners seem to agree. I saw one Reddit comment
• 2:09
  that summed it up. Sound and smells all carry,
• 2:12
  and the kitchen table becomes a catch -all. That
• 2:15
  is the zoning number in one sentence. And before
• 2:17
  anyone pays to remove a wall, I ask what problem
• 2:20
  the wall is causing. Half the time, a peninsula
• 2:23
  or an appliance garage fixes it for a fraction
• 2:26
  of the cost. Appliance garages? That sounds like
• 2:29
  the next trend. It is the one that changes your
• 2:31
  cabinet order. 85 % say cabinetry is being designed
• 2:35
  to hide appliances. 64 % say open shelving is
• 2:39
  declining. And 73 % expect dedicated small appliance
• 2:42
  stations. So the toaster finally gets its own
• 2:45
  room. Its own cabinet, at least. But here is
• 2:49
  the catch. An appliance garage without outlets
• 2:52
  inside it is just a cabinet. The most upvoted
• 2:55
  advice in one Reddit thread was simple. When
• 2:58
  you think you have enough outlets, double it.
• 3:00
  Let us talk colors because everyone asks. Quiet
• 3:03
  still wins. Neutrals lead at 96%, same as last
• 3:07
  year. Greens dipped to 83, blues to 75. White
• 3:12
  oak is still the top wood at 49%. and 54 % expect
• 3:17
  the island to be a different color from the rest
• 3:19
  of the cabinets. That sounds like the safe way
• 3:22
  to try a trend. It is the cheapest way. Put the
• 3:25
  color on the island or the pantry doors, keep
• 3:28
  the perimeter neutral, and if you change your
• 3:30
  mind in five years, you repaint one island, not
• 3:33
  a whole kitchen. Countertops? New leader. Quartz
• 3:37
  site at 78%. Ahead of quartz at 74. Quartz site
• 3:43
  is natural stone. So you pick your slab in person
• 3:45
  and ask about sealing. Quartz is engineered and
• 3:49
  easier to live with. Both are strong. What about
• 3:52
  the features people actually use every day? Beverage
• 3:55
  areas jumped to 90%, up from 85. 94 % expect
• 4:00
  attached mud rooms to be popular. 88 % say pantries
• 4:05
  are turning into working extensions of the kitchen.
• 4:08
  That is where the square footage went. Next door.
• 4:11
  Lighting seemed like a big section this year.
• 4:14
  84 % expect layered lighting, and the top two
• 4:17
  fixtures live inside the cabinets. Under cabinet
• 4:19
  lighting at 87%, interior cabinet lighting at
• 4:23
  76%. Pendants dropped from 63 to 46. Which means
• 4:28
  the lighting gets ordered with the cabinets.
• 4:31
  Right. The wiring channels are part of the cabinet
• 4:34
  order. Adding them later is possible, but it
• 4:36
  is rarely as clean. There was something new this
• 4:39
  year about resilience. Yes. 65 % point to leak
• 4:44
  detection with automatic shutoff valves. 62 %
• 4:47
  site backup power. 53 % point to ventilation
• 4:51
  and air filtration. I would add leak detection
• 4:54
  to almost every remodel. A small sensor under
• 4:58
  the sink protects brand new cabinets from slow
• 5:00
  water damage nobody sees. And AI? Everyone is
• 5:03
  talking about smart kitchens. Designers are cautious.
• 5:07
  Only 27 % expect ovens with food recognition
• 5:11
  AI to be in demand. Air fryers at 57 % outrank
• 5:16
  convection ovens at 46, which again is a cabinet
• 5:20
  decision. That air fryer needs a home and an
• 5:23
  outlet. Last one. If someone has a budget, where
• 5:26
  does it go first? Designers ranked cabinet upgrades
• 5:30
  as the best return at 54 % and layout changes
• 5:33
  second at 49. For reference, our cost guide puts
• 5:37
  a basic remodel of a medium kitchen at roughly
• 5:40
  $18 ,000 to $35 ,000 nationally. Moving walls
• 5:44
  or plumbing is the fastest way past that. Give
• 5:47
  me three things to remember. One, zone before
• 5:50
  you demolish. Two, put trends where they are
• 5:54
  cheap to change, like the island, and keep the
• 5:57
  perimeter neutral. Three, spend on what photos
• 6:01
  never show. Hidden storage, the right outlets,
• 6:04
  and leak detection stay useful no matter what
• 6:06
  next year's report says. The full breakdown,
• 6:09
  with every number from the report and what changed
• 6:12
  since last year, is at usacabinettestore .com
• 6:16
  in our NKBA 2027 Kitchen Trends report. And if
• 6:20
  you want to see these trends in real cabinets,
• 6:23
  book a free design consultation in any of our
• 6:26
  14 -plus showrooms. Thanks for listening to the
• 6:29
  Remodel Report.