Congratulations to the Winners of NKBA’s 2024 Professional Design Competition

By Donna Heiderstadt

The NKBA Kitchen & Bath Design + Industry Awards, the annual celebratory kickoff to KBIS, was more spectacular than ever as the 2024 Professional Design Competition winners were revealed to an enthusiastic audience of kitchen-and-bath business leaders and creatives. The lavish ceremony and afterparty, held on January 26, 2024 in the Lafite Ballroom at Wynn Las Vegas and featuring an all-new format, was hosted by NKBA Global President & Chief Executive Officer, Bill Darcy, and Chief Global Relations Officer, Suzie Williford.

The awards showcased the projects of the top three finalists in six kitchen and bath design categories — Large Kitchen, Small Kitchen, Specialty Kitchen, Powder Room, Secondary Bath, and Primary Bath — and each of the six first-place winners were then eligible for either the Best Overall Kitchen or Best Overall Bath award.

$100,000 in Prize Money Was Up For Grabs

Just like last year’s NKBA Professional Design Awards, this year’s contest featured $100,000 in prize money. Hundreds of entries were received and winners were chosen by a panel of industry judges, based on factors that included innovative design, presentation, superior function, creativity, safety and ergonomics, and adherence to NKBA Planning Guidelines.

Beyond getting national recognition of their design talent, the 2024 winners received $5,000 for a first-place finish, $3,000 for second place, and $2,000 for third place. In addition, the first-place winners in each of the six kitchen and bath categories were eligible to win the Best Overall Kitchen and Best Overall Bath prizes of $20,000 each.

This year’s Professional Design Awards sponsors were Diamond Sponsors Material Bank and Miele, Platinum Sponsors Cyncly and Ferguson Kitchen, Gold Sponsor Kichler Lighting, and Specialty Drink Sponsor Perlick. In addition, both Miele and Ferguson sponsored a giveaway during the awards ceremony. Lucky winner Brianna Weiler, Vice President & Interior Designer at Kitchens by Charles Weiler in Bucks County, PA, won an Edgestar Freestanding Cart Grill from Ferguson, while Nar Bustamante, President and Principal Designer of Nar Design Group in Sacramento, CA, took home a coffee system, courtesy of Miele.

And now for the top Design Award winners…

Best Overall Kitchen 

The top honor of Best Overall Kitchen was awarded to Bahar Zaeem and Co-Designer Shima Radfar of Toronto-based RZ Interiors for “Ultra Modern Kitchen.” The design, which won first place in the Large Kitchen category, was for an investment property client who desired a clutter-free, open-concept main floor ideal for hosting gatherings. The kitchen space featured a large bay window that created an asymmetrical layout as well as 11-foot ceilings, which the designers embraced to create a “meticulous spatial arrangement” that’s both visually pleasing and practical. The judges appreciated the designers’ use of clean lines and contemporary style, calling it “a very welcoming space.” Both Zaeem and Radfar said they were curious to see how the North American market would react to the project. “I can say that the design is a little bit out of the box . It’s not the ordinary kitchen that you see everywhere,” noted Radfar. One of the top accomplishments, according to Zaeem, was executing the substantial island. As for their Best Overall Kitchen win, she said it “encourages us to do more designs out the box and improve our North American aesthetics.”

Best Overall Bath

The winner of Best Overall Bath was Jaque Bethke, Founder and Principal Designer of Scottsdale, AZ-based Jaque Bethke Design, LLC, for “Small But Mighty.” The striking design, which took top honors in the Secondary Bath category, was for a client who requested “a masterpiece” as part of a total home remodel. Bethke relocated a closet to add a wet room with a must-have tub and chose a show-stopping tile pattern to create a focal point and one-by-one glass tiles and a vinyl wall covering to add texture. The judges lauded Bethke’s use of tinted glasses to separate the wet room and give dramatic proportion to an otherwise shoebox shape, as well as the dynamic opticals achieved with a floating vanity, large mirror and textured tile. Bethke was unable to attend the ceremony and her award was accepted by Jason F. Miller, President of NKBA’s Arizona Chapter and Founder and Principal Designer of Cedar & Fig Interiors in Chandler, Az.

Congratulations to all the finalists. The winners of this year’s awards are:

To see how these three compact spaces create a big impression, check project details here.

To see how design meets lifestyle aspirations in these remodels, check project details here.

To see the specifics for all three of these secondary gathering spaces, check project details here.

To see how these small spaces inspired creative solutions, check project details here.

To see how personal style met function in these winning designs, check project details here.

To see how these spaces were personalized by each of the finalists—check project details here.