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By Donna Heiderstadt

There’s no better way to kick off KBIS 2024 in Las Vegas than by celebrating the industry’s most influential design stars at the NKBA | KBIS Design + Industry Awards on Monday, Feb. 26, 2024 in the Lafite Ballroom at Wynn Las Vegas. This year’s Professional Design Awards will spotlight 24 finalists vying for first, second and third place in eight kitchen-and-bath categories with cash prizes totaling $100,000.

The finalists were judged by a panel of NKBA-certified designers and both the awards ceremony, and the KBIS Opening Party gala that follows will be a dynamic celebration of our industry’s top kitchen-and-bath design talent.

With its move to the larger Lafite Ballroom at Wynn, which is nearly double the size of last year’s venue, the awards and after party will feature guaranteed seating for all attendees and an all-new format that’s designed to dazzle.

The awards and after party will feature guaranteed seating for all attendees and an all-new format that’s designed to dazzle.

In the kitchen field, awards will be given for Large Kitchen (over 300 square feet), Small Kitchen (under 300 square feet) and Specialty Kitchen (spaces such as outdoor kitchens, Kosher kitchens or guest-house kitchens).

The awards for bath design will also be given in three categories: Primary Bath, Secondary Bath and Powder Room.

First-place winners in each of these six categories will receive $5,000, second-place winners will receive $3,000 and third-place winners will get $2,000.

The final two awards — Best Overall Kitchen and Best Overall Bath — will be selected from among the six individual category winners. The two designers who win Best Overall will each walk away with $20,000.

At 2023’s Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Awards that kicked off KBIS this past January, the top winning projects showcased a range of materials and finishes. 

Sarah Robertson, AKBD, Principal of Mamaroneck, NY-based Studio Dearborn, took home both Best Small Kitchen and Best Overall Kitchen for her “Creek Lane” design, which the judges called “a case study in how to mix materials.” Robertson said that the inspiration was “for a client who loved the outdoors and wanted to bring that indoors, but also with a little bit of glam…so there was a lot of playing with finishes and surfaces.” 

The Best Overall Bath winner was the top Primary Bath, “Serene Luxury,” by Mary Maney, CKBD, Designer at Crystal Kitchen + Bath in Crystal, MN. The judges liked that Maney’s clients “wanted elegance and luxury, and this design delivered.” According to Maney, the homeowner wanted lots of different patterns and tiles mixed together. “The design was made up of really pretty leafy patterns and the light fixtures were all glittery,” she said.

Who will win this year? To be among the first to find out, reserve your tickets, priced at $150 per person. Wynn Las Vegas will provide a glamorous setting for this semi-formal kick-off event, which will take place from 6:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. As always, the party that follows the awards ceremony will feature a lavish buffet with an open bar and live musical entertainment. 

Stay tuned in the coming weeks for details about the three finalists in each of the six Professional Design Awards categories. At the event itself, you’ll also get a chance to salute the industry’s talented next-generation winners of the Student Design Competition as well as applaud the industry’s most innovative showrooms.

To buy tickets for NKBA | KBIS Design Awards, you must first register for KBIS here.