5 Top Trends from Kitchen Week in Milan 2018

Milan Design Week 2018 was bigger than ever this year. This year included EuroCucina – the biennial Kitchen Exhibition – and some members of the Australian team were fortunate enough to attend to check out all the latest trends.

Here’s what we found:

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Concretes are big and getting bigger

Concrete was everywhere. If we thought this was a trend a year ago, the momentum is even stronger now.

Concrete inspired materials for benchtops and cabinet doors, often mixed with marbles, timbers and metal finishes, were highly prominent.

This lends itself to our own range of concrete designs, packaged up this year as the Metropolitan Collection. If you’re thinking of concretes for your next kitchen renovation, you can be highly confident that these designs will be on-trend and mainstays for a long time to come.

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Copper, Rust & Metallic

Kitchens are seeing an infusion of brass and copper accents delivering an urban edge. We saw a lot of warm, tactile metals inspired by industries of the past rather than a food preparation area. Textures ranged from perfectly polished to weathered and worn. Offset against matte black tapware and accessories, it’s a sensational look. Cue our new 2018 colour of Excava, set to light up the copper and rust look in benchtops across Australia.

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Matt finishes abundant

Not everything has to be perfectly finished, whether through the kitchen, furniture or homeware. The tactile feel of benchtops has evolved to acceptance of rougher matt finishes. Whilst they may require a little more care and cleaning than a polished surface, the trade-off is a multi-dimensional, sensorial showpiece for the kitchen that provides a more distinct look and feel.

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Material Mix

We saw an ongoing material mix of stone, natural timber, stainless steel, glass and strengthening metallic, so you don’t necessarily need to have a uniform look through your kitchen. This trend certainly opens up the options and a creative approach to modern kitchen living.

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Induction Cooktops

The big technology brands were heavily showcasing induction cooktop technology. The benefit is the link back to the IoT (Internet of Things) ‘smart home’ technology that allows you to connect and control appliances from a phone app.

Caesarstone^® can be deployed as a splashback to match the island bench and this is where an induction cooktop is ideal, as the requirements are only a 50mm gap from the back edge of the cooktop to the Caesarstone^® splashback.

Feeling inspired? Find out more about our latest colours to help transform your next kitchen renovation.