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Fixture Fix Choose high-end faucets and knobs for bold home improvements  Image courtesy Cifial Want to lavish your lavatory and transform your kitchen? New, glossy fixtures may be all you need to do it. The National Kitchen and Bath Association's annual KBIS show, held earlier this summer, featured the best in the business. Some are steals, while some may break your bank - but there's no harm in looking, right? Sculptural faucets and levers To complete the modern look, many companies introduced simpler, more sculptural fittings. High-end kitchen and bath product supplier Rohl has a geometric "Vincent" and curved "Wave" and "Modern Wave" series, displaying artistic flair equivalent to that of fine jewelry. Sleek medicine cabinets The clunky, purely functional medicine cabinet is vanishing, replaced by all-mirrored slimmer boxes. Residential storage maker Robern featured the show-stopping "Uplight" design with an aluminum bar that lifts up Euro-style to reveal shelves, outlets, magnifying mirror, night light, defogger and space for a flat-screen TV. Curved, frameless showers Doors with minimal framing have been popular, but now retailers like Fleurco, a Canadian bathroom and shower door company, have made them available in curved shapes with clear or frosted glass for a more modern twist. New finishes for bigger, bolder pulls While bronze remains popular for kitchen and bathroom cabinet hardware, coming on strong are weathered bronze, brushed and vintage nickel, chrome and black pieces like those of the hardware company Berenson. Another decorative hardware company, Top Knobs, makes pulls bigger for use on refrigerators and dishwashers for a matched presence. Digital technology High-tech in today's bathroom means everything from toilet lids that lift up as a user approaches to heated seats and systems that deodorize. Toto U.S.A. Incorporated's complete line of residential and commercial products has you covered for those tech-toilets. Robert Smith's dual flush "Odorless" toilet includes a 12-volt fan system with air passages that stop unpleasant smells from escaping into the room. If quieter bathtubs that provide different water, chromotherapy and aromatherapy treatments are more your taste, search at Maax US Corporation or Pearl Baths. Brizo faucet retailer features fixtures that only need to be tapped to send water gushing while Moen company's "ioDigital" controller lets you dial and maintain the temperature and flow so you don't have to adjust handles. Dual-flush toilets They've been popular in Europe and are available from some manufacturers in this country, but more companies now are introducing the technology, which helps to conserve water. Nifty examples: Kohler's "Strela" at the higher 17" comfort height and "Fountainhead" with heated seat and night light and Toto U.S.A's "Neorest II" that flushes automatically. |
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