Living it Up in the Kitchen and Bath
           
More and more, Carolina kitchens and baths are going upscale, creating new “living” rooms and sanctuaries in the places people used to go only out of necessity. In today’s world, the kitchen has now become a site not just for cooking, but for sitting, talking, watching TV, reading the newspaper, surfing the web, and just plain lingering. The same goes for the bathroom, which now serves as a refuge for relaxation and rejuvenation.
           
But let’s start in the kitchen. What’s cooking when it comes to the latest trends for one of the home’s heartiest hot spots? The kitchen remodeling industry recently gathered together at the annual Kitchen Industry Show and Convention in Las Vegas, dishing up the new and hot trends in kitchen layout, design and construction. One trend revolves around making the kitchen a true living space by installing luxury living items such as a fireplace, bookshelves, seating or a flat-screen television.
           
Another trend is the magnificent manifestation of manmade quartz for countertops. Quartz provides the beauty of granite without the maintenance, withstanding heat from pots and pans, stains caused by cooking oils - and it doesn’t need to be sealed. The modern kitchen is also going green. Sustainable materials choices such as bamboo and wheatboard for floors, countertops, and cabinetry; low-VOC paints; and Energy Star rated appliances have gained in popularity as the green message becomes more prevalent.
           
But the kitchen isn’t the only room turning up the transitional heat. According to a National Association of Realtors survey, today’s home buyers have come to expect only the best from the bathroom with 45 percent of recent buyers making an improvement to their bath within three months of purchase. Recent trends include living room-style cabinetry in the bath. Cabinetry that resembles furniture also goes hand-in-hand with the trend of mini-kitchens securing their place next to the bathroom sink.
           
Open your beautiful bathroom cabinet and you might just find a coffee maker and microwave. Keeping its cool in the best-of-the-bathroom craze is a bathroom medicine cabinet with a cold storage area to keep beverages, beauty products (and perhaps even medicines) chilled.
           
Turning toward the shower, state-of-the-art companies are introducing heat, light, chromatherapy, aromatherapy, and audio features to make the idea of a quick shower seem absolutely unruly. Making the quick shower seem even more unappealing are towel warming drawers, showers that can be turned on and warmed up before stepping in, and heated tile floors.
           
The great rooms of the house are also squeezing into the bath with showers or “wet rooms” that luxuriously accommodate at least two. Flat-screen TVs installed on walls, in mirrors, and in tubs and showers add to a bathroom to bask in all day.
         
“Not every remodeling project has to be a total gut to be effective,” says Sean Ruck, manager of public relations at the National Kitchen & Bath Association. New cabinets, countertops, plush towels, comfy bathrobes, or just one new piece of equipment can have a tremendous effect. Feel indulgent? That towel warming drawer is just an online order away….