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NKBA | KBIS revealed the winners of its 2024 Innovative Showroom Awards at KBIS. Here’s a closer look at this year’s honorees.

By Dianne M. Pogoda

 

The NKBA | KBIS Innovative Showroom Awards honor the companies that excel across the entire showroom sales spectrum, which work with trade pros from designers to developers and builders to remodelers, and directly with consumers to provide an outstanding showroom experience. These winners create inspiring and informative environments that showcase innovation in design, technology and materials, provide outstanding customer service and represent the integrity of the industry.

This year, 10 showrooms earned top honors in 5 categories. Judges included showroom experts Janine Flamer, Marketing Director for Poggenpohl North America; Agha Mo, Pro Services Manager at Floor & Decor Design Studio, and Taylor Walker, Kitchen and Bath Designer at Greenbrook Design & Walker Woodworking.

Kitchen & Bath Design Center

These centers offer expert design and project management teams ready to work from concept to completion, from fixture or appliance updates to full K&B remodels. 

Winner: Small (under 2,500 square feet): KSI Kitchen & Bath, Rochester Hills, MI

Showroom Designer: Lauren Tolles

Don’t let KSI Kitchen & Bath’s boutique size fool you: It packs a lot of inspiration into just 1,000 square feet. KSI provides an elevated collection of diverse materials, textures and finishes in three kitchen and three bath displays, capturing key trends and ideas for an affluent clientele. Showroom designer Lauren Tolles says its elegant, immersive displays offer unique twists on traditional, transitional and contemporary styles with thoughtful presentations and storage solutions, and material combinations that allow homeowners, builders and remodelers to gather inspiration while exploring style and function.

Winner: Medium (2,500 to 5,000 square feet): Granite State Cabinetry, Bedford, NH

Showroom Designer: Frank Morris

Granite State Cabinetry maximizes space and inspires clients with its constantly evolving vignettes. Displays change frequently to reflect the latest finishes, doors, workstations, countertops, appliances and cabinet accessories on the market. The showroom layout brings visitors through the entire space that includes the full range of styles before functional kitchens and appliances, allowing clients to envision what their future spaces will look like. “We showcase not only what our current customer likes, but also what our more avant-garde customer wants to see,” says designer Frank Morris. “We’ve found a way to incorporate cutting-edge design without being unrelatable.”

Winner: Large (5,000+ square feet): Rocpal Custom Cabinets Ltd, Oshawa, ON

Showroom Designer: Fernando Rocchetta

Rocpal Custom Cabinets streamlines the selection process for clients with keen attention to customer service and comprehensive, immersive displays of cabinetry, millwork, hardware, countertops, lighting, flooring and tiles for indoor and outdoor kitchens. Meticulously engineered, highly detailed vignettes include 5 kitchens, 9 vanities and 4 fireplace surrounds. Founder Fernando Rocchetta says one key focal point is a presentation room where clients and designers embark on a personalized design journey using smart boards to showcase designs and renderings, allowing clients to see their dream spaces come to life.

Brand-Specific Non-Selling Experience Center

Non-selling centers allow builders, designers and their clients to immerse themselves in the latest products and technologies of a specific brand in a hands-on environment. 

Winner: Riggs Distributing, San Francisco, CA

Showroom Designer: Cheryl Hamilton-Gray

Riggs Distributing, in the heart of the San Francisco Design Center, juxtaposes a lofty, industrial warehouse vibe with luxury products and elegant galleries, according to designer Cheryl Hamilton-Gray. Visitors may view and test products in categorized areas to make comparisons more efficient. The space offers workstations, conference and consulting rooms on a mezzanine level to keep the focus of the main floor on product, imagination provoking displays and live demos. Additionally, the space hosts events like supper clubs and meetings to further engage the community.

Traditional Independent Multi-brand/Product Showroom

These showrooms are independent and sell/display various products and brands. 

Winner: Small (under 2,500 square feet): Amiano & Son Design Build, Southampton Township, NJ

Showroom Designer: Sophia Amiano

Designed as a haven for creativity and innovation, Amiano & Son allows clients to explore design options to curate selections from multiple brands and visualize layout, spacing and customized cabinetry in a comprehensive, holistic experience. Showroom designer Sophia Amiano says the center integrates technology with an advanced 3D rendering system to showcase smart solutions and customized options so clients can see their selections take shape, from core elements like counters and cabinets to smaller details like grout color.

Winner: Medium (2,500 to 5,000 square feet): Greenberg Design Gallery, Palo Alto, CA

Showroom Designer: Jennifer Federico

Showcasing more than 65 premium brands, Greenberg Design Gallery demonstrates creative ways to maximize space. In addition to private consultation and design rooms, the showroom features fully integrated kitchen, bath, indoor and outdoor living and dining vignettes in an array of design styles, from classic to contemporary, transitional to rustic. By offering one-stop design and architectural services in a collaborative environment, designer Jennifer Federico says Greenberg saves the client time and coordinates with multiple vendors and trade pros.

Winner: Large (5,000+ square feet): Bluebell Fine Cabinetry & Design, Wayne, PA

Showroom Designer: Peter Cardamone

Six immersive displays executed with the same craftsmanship used in customers’ homes and an array of exotic materials in real applications are a few of the elements that make Bluebell Fine Cabinetry and Design stand out. Designer Peter Cardamone redefined the new, expanded space with integrated (often hidden) technology, luxuries like built-in coffee systems, workstations and wine dispensers, two state-of-the-art conference areas including AI-integrated video conferencing for client meetings, and a design library/meeting space that features adjustable lighting to show clients how materials look under various light temperatures. 

Multi-Location, Multi-Product Showroom

These showrooms have multiple showroom locations that sell/display various products and brands, but all the showroom locations are owned by the same company.

Winner: Medium (2,500 to 5,000 square feet): Reico Kitchen & Bath, Winchester, VA

Showroom Designer: Tristin Kalivoda

This Winchester, VA, showroom is Reico Kitchen & Bath’s 24th design center and features intimate vignettes with full-size displays designed to “balance ideas and inspiration without overwhelming the client,” says designer Tristin Kalivoda. “Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication, and we’ve created a space clients naturally know and understand how to move through and interact with.” Meeting rooms with large TVs and on-screen presentations allow easy sample viewing and swapping, and elements like floating kitchen islands on casters demonstrate spacing and other layout requirements. 

Winner: Large (5,000+ square feet): WDC Kitchen & Bath, La Quinta, CA

Showroom Designer: Shoko Takahashi-Diaz

Each of WDC Kitchen & Bath’s six Southern California locations reflects its unique surroundings, and its new 38,000 square-foot La Quinta showroom is modern and airy with a 30-foot-high ceiling. It boasts 16 luxury kitchen appliance vignettes, 13 high-end plumbing vignettes, an outdoor kitchen area, a customer lounge and collaboration spaces. Vignettes represent individual manufacturers’ branding, but the full showroom has a cohesive feel, says designer Shoko Takahashi-Diaz. Innovative materials like leather laminate, Airslate walls, textured wood panels and printed porcelain slabs create a functional, cost-effective space that helps clients and designers visualize their new or upgraded spaces.

Unique Showroom Application

These non-traditional showrooms are not brick-and-mortar, and they may be virtual mobile or be unique in another way because of the innovative showroom solution they offer. 

Winner: Sharp Virtual Kitchen Showroom, Montvale, NJ

Sharp Kitchen’s virtual experience features 3D renderings of consumer kitchen appliances in a digital model kitchen that showcases each product as it is meant to be used in the home. When “entering” the virtual showroom, consumers see all available categories of Sharp’s appliances, highly detailed models that may be placed in a kitchen setting. The application showcases each appliance’s features, so consumers can learn about them as they interact. The digital environment efficiently expands online shopping capabilities without requiring in-person meetings and provides an engaging pre-sale experience.