Apr 15 2008 9:20AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |
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K/BIS was here in Chicago over the weekend, so I made my way to my first one in quite a few years. (The birth of my daughter, far-flung locations and a job that doesn't center around kitchen and bath products have conspired to make me miss the last several.)

I'm not going to get too much into the products that were introduced. I'll be leaving it to Products Editor Nick Bajzek, who will be writing about the show this week on his blog, The Product Guy.

Instead, here's some general impressions. First of all, turnout was great. It seemed busier than IBS was in February. (It's a smaller show, so fewer people, but more crowded.) The companies I visited were very happy with the traffic. A lot of press there as well, so that's good news about getting the message out to consumers.

The manufacturers I was talking to seem to be chasing the luxury homeowner ... which makes sense considering the current market conditions. The ultra high-end is still spending, while the middle and upper-middle class have had to tighten their belts. (Here's a NY Times article on that very trend.)

And of course, everybody was talking up their green credentials. I'm really starting to feel like we've been there, done that after all the other shows I've been to in the last few months hyping green. But I've got to tell you one thing that bothered me about this. I couldn't help thinking as I walked by and in all these booths for faucets, showerheads, etc., how much water these exhibitors were wasting to show off their "green" credentials. Even as some of it is recaptured and cycled through again, it doesn't change the fact that a lot of water is being lost.

Oh well, maybe Carl Seville, the Green Building Curmudgeon, is rubbing off on me, but it just seems a little silly.