Posts Tagged ‘renovation’

Top Kitchen Trends From the 2025 NKBA Design Awards

The National Kitchen + Bath Association (NKBA) is the world’s leading authority in kitchen and bath design, always at the cutting edge of industry trends. Last month, we shared the top bathroom trends that inspired us. Now, let’s take a look at the winners of their 2025 Kitchen Design Competition—and the design elements that caught our eye.

Here’s the top kitchen trends that stood out to us.

Best overall Kitchen & First Place Small Kitchen: “Breckinridge Kitchen”

Marble backsplash with a built-in shelf ledge
Classic checkered floors
Undermount sink with apron front—you’ll see this sink style in several of the winning designs.

Small Kitchen, Second Place: “Parkway Kitchen”

Wood feature at the range hood—it’s becoming more common to see statement range hoods like this in kitchens
Integrated lighting within trim work above the sink
Custom trim details on cabinetry

Small Kitchen, Third Place: “Evanston”

Invisible appliances and fridge hidden in cabinetry
Mix of wood stain and painted finishes
Under-shelf lighting on corner display
Built-in wine captain (O Captain, My Captain!)

Large Kitchen Winners

Large Kitchen, First Place: “West”

Paneled ceiling to add warmth and texture
Built-in spice racks flanking the range
Marble everywhere—counters, backsplash, and walls!
Unique stain/paint combo with lit display storage

Large Kitchen, Second Place: “Bailey”

Dramatic full marble wall
Table-style island blends function and casual dining

Large Kitchen, Third Place: “Sea Glass”

Apron front sink
Appliance garage and hidden appliances
Hood feature made from 100-year-old barn wood

Which of these kitchen trends—from the 2025 NKBA design competition—are you loving?

All photos courtesy of NKBA. Submit a design request to start creating your dream kitchen with Kirkendall Design today.

Top Bath Trends From the 2025 NKBA Design Awards

The National Kitchen + Bath Association (NKBA) is the world’s leading authority in kitchen and bath design, always at the cutting edge of industry trends. Here’s a look at the winners from their 2025 Design Competition—and the design elements that caught our attention.

Here’s the top bath trends from the NKBA Design Awards that stood out to us.

Best Overall Bath & First Place Powder Room: “Knotty Potty”

NKBA 2025 award-winning powder bath with custom quartz onyx sink and unconventional design elements inspired by the client's love for burled wood and gemstones

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

A bold and unconventional design, but we can still appreciate the custom details inspired by the client’s love for burled wood and gemstones!

Bath features/trends that stood out to us:

Custom quartz onyx sink
Full-length mirror layered behind slabs
Backlighting behind the vanity and mirror–this was a feature in almost every winning design!

Powder Room, Second Place: “Tranquillo Santuario”

NKBA 2025 award-winning powder bath featuring a teak panel wall, full-height tiled backsplash, and a floating white quartz vanity with black veining.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Teak panel tambour walls with hidden storage—See the tambour wall in our Fieldstone Project.
Floor-to-ceiling tile and mirror
Indirect lighting behind the mirror and vanity
Floating vanity—you’ll see this feature in several of the winning designs.

Powder Room, Third Place: “Paradise Found”

NKBA 2025 award-winning powder bath featuring a curved backsplash, large-scale gold-leaf wallcovering, a black vanity, and gold accents.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Large-scale wallpaper mural
Scalloped backsplashes and curved cabinets—rounded edges are big this year.
Note the “abstract floral line drawing in the sink basin”

Secondary Bath Winners

Secondary Bath, First Place: “Midsummer Night”

NKBA 2025 award-winning bathroom featuring indirect cove lighting and botanical tree wallcovering that extends from the bathroom walls into the shower.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Maximalism design—bold textures and patterns throughout
Large-pattern wallcovering extends from the walls into the shower
Another curved backsplash
Indirect lighting in the shower—also known as cove lighting

Secondary Bath, Second Place: “Cenote Bathroom”

NKBA 2025 award-winning bathroom with a moody aesthetic featuring black tile backsplash, round backlit mirror and vessel sink.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Floating vanity and vessel basin
Zero-entry or curbless shower
In-wall toilet for a clean, sleek design—one of our clients just selected a similar style for their bathroom renovation
(Another) backlit mirror

Secondary Bath, Third Place: “Sharing is Caring”

NKBA 2025 award-winning bathroom featuring a black and white motif with a distinct tile design.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

All-black fixtures from lighting to plumbing
Distinct tile design—we love this tile!
Hidden linear drain in shower floor—do you see it?

Primary Bath Winners

Primary Bath, First Place: “Tranquillo Sanctuario”

NKBA 2025 award-winning primary bathroom with warm, spa-like design featuring pony wall shower and flat slab-front cabinets.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Partial shower walls or pony walls—provides a functional divider while keeping the space feeling open
Flat slab-front cabinets (Compare to traditional cabinet doors, such as Shaker-style. This style gives a more modern look.)
Tiled ceiling with rain head shower system—we love the ceiling design!

Primary Bath, Second Place: “TNAH 23”

NKBA 2025 award-winning primary bathroom with glass-walled, cedar-clad sauna, and dual floating vanities.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Glass-walled, cedar-clad sauna—Home saunas are increasing in popularity because of their health benefits
Back-to-back dual floating vanities
High narrow window in shower—brings in natural light but maintains privacy
Additional luxury features: Heated floors and comfort-height smart toilets with music

Primary Bath, Third Place: “Scandi Retreat”

NKBA 2025 award-winning primary bathroom featuring a hidden closet door within a tambour wall made of white oak slats.

Source: National Kitchen + Bath Association

Hidden closet door within tambour wall, this one made from white-oak slats
More backlit mirrors—Five out of the eight winning designs feature backlit vanity mirrors!

The 2025 NKBA winners highlight the top bath trends like maximalist design, curved elements, and indirect lighting. Which of these trends are you loving?

All photos courtesy of NKBA. Submit a design request to start creating your dream bathroom with Kirkendall Design today.

As Seen in TulsaPeople: Florence Park Midtown Attic Bathroom Renovation

We’re thrilled to share that our Florence Park midtown attic bathroom renovation has been featured in TulsaPeople! This nearly 100-year old attic bathroom transformation was a labor of love—turning a cramped, awkward layout into a luxe home spa with a spacious two-person walk-in shower.

Check out the before and after photos below to see the dramatic change, and read the full story for all the details on this stunning renovation.

End of The Year Project Highlight Pt. 2

Here’s Part 2 of our end of the year project highlight! Take a look at some of the transformations we’ve had the opportunity to be a part of! These showcase the range of our services, from new construction and renovations to furniture and styling. These are just a few of the projects we tackled in 2024—check out Part 1 here!

End of The Year Project Highlight Pt. 1

As 2024 comes to a close, we’re excited to look back at some of this year’s projects. These highlight the range of our services, from new construction and renovations to furniture and styling. Here’s a glimpse at just a few of the incredible transformations we’ve had the pleasure of working on. And now, Part 2 is live – check it out!

Room For Improvement: Our Favorite Home Improvement

We often overlook a crucial aspect that deserves more attention: Curb Appeal. Your home’s exterior is its first impression, and it’s easy to underestimate its impact. When considering exterior changes, a new roof presents an opportune moment. As a leading interior design firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, we understand the importance of harmonizing the exterior with your overall aesthetic vision.

We like to take a picture of your exterior and do some renderings to show you different options; Light fixtures, different colors, trim changes and perhaps even architectural changes all can make a dramatic improvement.

We recently had a client buy a home because it checked all the boxes—except for the outside. For this particular project we took out two porthole windows on the front of the home. We had plenty of windows for light and the design was distracting to the rest of the home, so out they went. Removing those prompted the painting of the brick because we had to patch those in (and the brick color was less than desirable) which totally changed the look of the home.

We also took off the rounded copper front porch because it didn’t shelter anything. We built a new porch that came out and gave shelter, and changed the front doors. Removing mullions and reworking a window also modernized the home.

These were big changes—huge, in fact! If you have the money to spend, architectural changes such as these can make a meaningful change to not only your home’s curb appeal but also its value.

Save

Start with your front porch and work your way out. First, clean it. There’s nothing worse than walking up to a home with a dirty front porch. Sweep it off, clean your windows and put out a welcome mat and some planters with flowers. Maybe consider updating your address numbers. These are all simple changes that can have a big result.

In one of our projects the owner didn’t want to replace the concrete on the front porch, so we added a four-foot by six-foot outdoor area rug and layered a welcome mat on top of that. It gave a fresh, inviting look and you can’t even see the damaged concrete now.

Landscaping is another relatively simple change. One thing I run into with people who have lived in a house a long time (myself included) is that things you may have planted 20 years ago may not look the best now. I can barely trim my boxwoods they are so overgrown they hardly have any green on them.

If it’s so large it’s hiding or damaging your home—it’s time to go. Pull out the old and put in something fresh and simple. Landscaping provides the biggest bang for your buck.

That’s a wrap on our July home improvement series! If you happened to miss any, you can catch up on the other two posts here:

Our Most Requested Home Improvement
Our Most Impactful Home Improvement

And if you are motivated to start giving your own home some attention, let’s have a conversation. You can trust Kirkendall Design in Tulsa, Oklahoma to reimagine your home’s curb appeal and create a lasting impact for your home.

Submit a design request HERE or call the office at (918) 250-1650.

New Year, New Look

Simple Ways to Update Your Home

I don’t know about you, but after the holiday decor is all boxed up and put away I am always ready for a little design refresh in my home. I often hear the same thing from clients so I thought I would share some easy tips for breathing new life into your home this month.

ACCESSORIES

The easiest way to make a change in your decor has and always will be with your accessories. But—here is the fun part, and a shift that has me very excited—I am seeing people gravitate towards incorporating family heirlooms and vintage/organic pieces into their homes again.

I’ve had several clients want to keep and display meaningful pieces they have either inherited or come across. For example, one client had three grandfather clocks. We discarded one and kept the other two, saving one from each side of the family. We gave them both a fresh coat of high-gloss paint and now they are the showstopper in her home. With another client, instead of hiding her expansive collection of barware, we chose to display it all in the bar area which in turn created a truly unique design statement. It’s all about finding creative ways to breathe new life into pieces that are meaningful to you. Don’t just keep them to keep them! Instead, update them, rethink them and give them a significant place in your home. The bonus is that yours will have something no other home will have—a truly one-of-a-kind design element!

If you haven’t inherited any wonderful pieces, don’t fret. Antique stores, resale shops and even various online sites can be a goldmine for quality pieces. Being one of eight siblings, I lost the bid for our family cookie jar when it went to my oldest brother. But, that heirloom was so special to me I eventually found an identical jar and bought it so I could incorporate it into my home. I love teasing my brother now and making him second guess who actually has the real deal! Likewise, I recently came across a vintage 1970s lamp that was incredibly well made and fit into today’s design aesthetic beautifully. It had a horrible shade, but I know that is an easy fix. I can’t wait to find the perfect home for it.

COLOR

Thankfully, the trend over the past several years has been towards monochromatic, somewhat sparse spaces, which makes it very easy to introduce color in small, noncommittal ways. Think pillows, art and small accessories. Benjamin Moore did a great job capturing the color palettes we are asked about most as of late with their 2022 color story. The trend now in color is earthy—terra cotta (I love Benjamin Moore’s “Wildfire”), sage and deep charcoal blues. Benjamin Moore’s “Natural Linen” is a great neutral that is not gray. The neutral trend is here to stay, but it is trending warmer and this color hits the nail on the head. For white, I usually gravitate towards an off-white like Benjamin Moore’s “Wind’s Breath.” You can find Benjamin Moore locally at Spectrum Paint.

TEXTURE

Like I said, the neutral palette is still a strong trend whether it is your total color scheme or a backdrop to the earthy tones mentioned above. The key to making neutral interesting and pleasing to the eye, however, is texture, texture, texture. When it comes to pillows and throws, be sure to incorporate various materials. For accessories, think about layers and juxtaposing elements. Perhaps you have a beautiful bowl on your coffee table…try adding some moss balls. The harmonious blend of opposing materials will make your design pop.

If your home is ready for a refresh and you need our team to be your eyes and ears on the project, fill out a design request form HERE. We’ll go from there!