KBIS NeXT Session: Integrating the Integrators

Key Takeaways:

• Bring the integrator into the project very early;
• Customizable lighting plays a major role in creating and balancing the home environment;
• Design and technology shouldn’t compete; They should work in harmony.

By Dianne M. Pogoda

For kitchen, bath and interior designers, working with a technology integrator should be as natural as working with a plumber or a carpenter.

This was a key message in “Tech Point: The Possibilities for Total Tech Integration,” a KBIS Next Stage session sponsored by Control4. Experts discussed the rapid changes in home technology and how designers and integrators can work together.

Nicholas Rosado, Florida South area sales manager for Control4 and Snap One, introduced the panel. He noted that in the past two years, 30 percent of U.S. households have added at least one smart device, and said the key to the future of smart home integration and using these different technologies is ultimately how well they work with each other and form a smart-home platform. “That’s the difference between the professional integrator community and the DIY community — how everything works together,” he said.

Session host Arlen Schweiger, executive editor of CE Pro magazine, began with a nugget from NKBA’s 2022 Design Trends research: Integrated kitchen technology solutions are used about one-third of the time, but utilization and satisfaction with integrators is marginal. “Only about 30 percent of designers use integrators regularly, with about 70 percent using them rarely or never. We try to encourage that connection between the design aesthetic and the technology. Customers don’t want to see the technology; that’s meant to disappear.” 

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He said many people – homeowners and designers alike — are often unsure of exactly what integrators do.

Integrator Melanie Niemerg, owner of Integral Systems, a Control4-certified showroom dealer in Clearwater, Fla., said, “We want the design and the tech to complement one another. A professional integrator will help you streamline and consolidate your apps, and ensure that you have a Wi-Fi network that’s strong enough, with enough bandwidth, to support all the different brands and platforms for your needs.”

Josh Christian, CEO of the Home Technology Association, concurred, noting the integrator profession grew up in the Eighties, emerging from audio-video, but it has blossomed into so many things now. “We don’t like the term AV anymore,” he pointed out. “Yes, the integrator installs audio-video systems — that’s a given — but they’re also installing lighting controls, circadian rhythm and wellness systems, whole-home networking, motorized shades, security systems, Wi-Fi — so an ‘integrator’ is the one person to call to handle all of these systems and have them work together as well as to look good.”

Heather Sidorowicz, owner/president of integrator specialist Southtown Audio Video in Buffalo, N.Y., was adamant about not adding technology indiscriminately. “The kitchen, especially, has become such a central part of the home, with so many of us working and schooling from home. But our goal is not tech for tech’s sake, but tech that improves your life,” she said.

Among the key ways technology has improved in terms of aesthetics is that now a lot of it blends into the design. Sidorowicz cited several developments: TV monitors that have become very sleek and look like artwork with a selection of paintings cycling on the screen; smart locks that provide keyless entry (no more key clutter); charging drawers with plenty of ports that are hidden in a kitchen so there are no wires and devices all over countertops; a nightlight function on a touch-screen interface that turns lights on or off throughout the house with the touch of a button, and lighting that’s programmed to come on at designated times and at varying illuminations.

Human-centric lighting is a growing area of smart-home technology, said Christian. “If you notice the arc of the sun as it goes through the sky, the color of the light coming from the sun changes to our perception,” he noted. “At midday, it’s brighter, blue-white, and at night, it’s a warmer tone. Color-changing lights mimic what the sun is doing in your Zip code to help with your circadian rhythm. Brighter, white light helps you stay alert during the day, and warmer, amber tones help you relax at night.”

The panel closed with a selection of top tech products and services they had discovered at KBIS. Among them:

• Kohler’s DTV+ Digital Showering System, voice-activated control over sprays, temperature, steam and lighting;
• LG’s rollable TV, that rolls up and down like a window shade;
• Acuva’s whole-home water purification system;
• Cooksy’s cooking assistant with a thermal sensor and a camera that “views” stovetop activity below and provides instructions via app, tells the exact temperature of the pan, records and shares videos and more.
• Nasoni’s Access H2O sensor-assisted fountain faucets that help with oral hygiene for the physically challenged;
• Beko’s HarvestFresh produce lighting system that extends the shelf life of fruits and vegetables;
• Ryan Herd’s Caregiver Smart Solutions packages that include motion and activity sensors, panic buttons send alerts to loved ones when something could be wrong, all battery-operated so there’s no hardwire installation.

To watch the full session, click here. For more KBIS NeXT Stage sessions, click here.