KBIS 2026 Trends from the Show Floor

Nice to have you here. So uh you know we usually have you on every year just to talk about uh highlights from what happened at the ABCL. So if you could just give us a brief overview and no, no, sounds great. Thanks, uh Jason and Miriam.

And I do, I really look forward every year to um to doing this podcast because uh it it actually forces me to um you know kind of go through all my all my images and I and I counted. I I had close to 900 pictures that I took while I was at was at K Biz. So it's it's um you know you guys you know really encourage me or force me to to get um you know everything organized to be able to talk about uh really what I saw and for me to be able to just um you know just kind of put everything into context.

So so um you know just kind of based on that, I'll I'll kind of ramble along and you know I know Jason and Miriam, you'll you'll um jump in. But um as I was kind of going through all the images that uh you know I'm always kind of looking for themes and you know we've seen different themes, especially um you know since um I think it was 2022 when it was the first um K Biz that that came back, that was kind of the real shocker that all of a sudden we saw, you know, I saw such a softening, you know, of everything, like curves and arches and things like that.

So um, you know, that's still still continuing, but I think the biggest trend that I saw at K Biz is what I'm calling what's old is new again. And um, you know, I was talking with some manufacturers and we were all kind of chuckling about, you know, different things that that we're seeing um in the displays at K Biz are you know just stuff that the veterans, you know, like myself that have been in the industry forever, were seeing a um a regurgitating of of these. So I just kind of wanted to, I've made a list here myself of different things, and you know, I'll throw in a few comments from some of the manufacturers that I talked about.

But it's definitely seeing um, you know, just some of the some of the things that we were doing with with kitchens, um, you know, say even 15, 20 years ago, that are starting to creep back in. So some examples of that are um kitchen cabinet doors. Well, yes, you know, there was a lot of you know, shaker. We still see a lot of shaker doors, but it was not dominant the way that it that it had been in the past.

We're seeing a lot more detail in doors and drawer fronts. And um, you know, that was something like a lot of recess panel, like a shaker door is a recessed panel door, you know, with that inside sticking being the shaker, but but I was seeing beaded insides, I was seeing chamfered insides. I was just seeing that detail that you know I was used to, you know, as a kitchen designer um, you know, years ago, which, you know, to me, um, you know, was really exciting. You know, I was getting kind of bored with everything being that strict, you know, white shaker.

You know what? I don't think I saw a single white shaker kitchen. You know, I may have to kind of go through again, but that was that was really interesting. Um, we also saw, or I also saw a lot of, so again, recess panel doors, but the interior panels are starting to get detail.

Um, you know, a lot a few years ago, um, it was kind of the introduction of that fluting um look, but this year, you know, I was I was seeing um wallpaper, you know, put inside um a uh panel. Now that's almost a throwback to the 70s, long before I started designing kitchens, but I remember um you know ripping out kitchens that had wallpaper uh uh on their panels um in the kitchen cabinet. But I saw that and the mesh um metal mesh inserts. So when I say, you know, what's old to do again, you know, back in the day when people used to have those stereo stacks of all of this different equipment that produced a lot of heat, you know, we were building um and specifying entertainment units with these metal mesh in the front of it just for air circulation.

And I saw a ton of that um just just throughout the show that um they weren't using it for air circulation, but just for as a decorative element. We also um, you know, I even came across one display that had louvered panels on the inside of um the the cabinet doors. Now it was for an under-counter laundry area where they had built-in European uh washer and dryer behind doors, so definitely you know, looking at it, but um looking at air circulation there. But it, you know, it gave a nice kind of cottage-y, you know, look had I hadn't seen for a while.

Um, another thing with the doors, I had a whole list here of things on the doors, but another one was traditional mullioned glass doors. So glass doors with those traditional crossbars mullions. So that's not something that I've seen for a while, like um, because it's it is a bit more traditional, but I was seeing that. I was seeing some X mullions um behind with the glass doors.

And I also one that really made me chuckle is in 1999, you know, I built the designer home and uh put in an award-winning kitchen. You know, I just loved, and I remember what I did is I took a standard recess panel door and I added, you know, wood mullions, you know, to the door. Uh some of them I did in glass, but some of them I did in um just veneer panels, just to add some detail, you know, to that shaker door that was uh so popular back then. And here I'm walking around in a display and I saw that exact door that uh that I had designed for my home like 25 years ago.

So that was you know, that, you know, and and and I know where it's coming from. You know, you we've got a whole new generation of kitchen designers. The the you know, a lot of our designers are millennials. Well, they may not, you know, they haven't experienced those those types of looks in their design.

So to them, this is gonna be something new and exciting. And um, you know, and I think that that's why some of the veteran manufacturers that I was around, you know, talking with were telling me, yeah, you know, we had discontinued tons of this stuff out of our catalogs, you know, a a decade or more ago. And now we're having to bring it all back in. So that's that's gonna be an interesting one to watch.

But just kind of looking at a few more things with um with the doors. Uh I actually even saw some stained glass um doors, you know, as a glass insert doing some stained glass. One of them, I think it was kind of a um uh kind of a um Frank Lloyd Wright kind of craftsman look, but um, and then one though was really quite traditional with little you know, circles of little crystals, you know, inside a leaded glass door in a principal bathroom, which wasn't something that we've seen for uh quite a while.

The um doors with uh um cutouts, like using the CNC and taking that panel and cutting out a maybe a flower or something like that. I saw a couple examples of that. And um I even saw, you know, and you know, again, you'll probably chuckle with this one, Jason. I even saw a couple of raised panel doors.

We have not seen raised panel doors, you know, it seems like for years, and some mitered doors. So I think this is gonna be something for us to really watch. Uh, what's what's gonna happen with cabinet doors? And I think that, you know, a lot of the techniques that we were perfecting in the early 2000s with really pushing the envelope on cabinet doors, I think we're gonna start seeing that again because you know, consumers, designers, uh, you know, are getting kind of bored, you know, of the same old, same old.

And um, we do have the technology to to do a lot of this. So that um I'm I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna put it out there. I feel that's gonna be a trend. Definitely a detail with our cabinet doors.

Does it make sense to you guys on seeing it? Then uh, so another thing scrolling through all the images I started to see was was um kitchen material. So what you know, what's kind of um you know old is new again, definitely stained wood. You know, we we had gone through painted cabinetry in the last 10 years, you know, as predominant as the predominant finish.

But um, I would have to say every cabinet manufacturer and a lot of the other manufacturers that use cabinetry as a backdrop, like the appliance people and the plumbing people, the countertop people, we're seeing a ton of natural woods. Um natural rift-cut white oak, natural um walnut or or other woods that are stained in light colors. You know, I even saw a um cherry wood uh kitchen display, you know, which you know kind of shocked me a little bit, but um, you know, they added some really cool detail to it.

But um it's just again re-exploring the wood, and and I and I could see it. Like I, you know, I would almost guess that there was a lot of millennials that were that were designing these displays. And to them, this is new and exciting. So it it was nice to see.

I personally love wood cabinet tree. I think that it has more longevity, that it's you know, kind of tougher than a paint than a painted finish. So you know, I was really happy to um see that coming out. For other materials, natural stone.

You know, uh of course there were a tremendous amount of quartz um displays there, but you I was starting to see the countertop manufacturers introducing natural stones and um you know using you know, using natural stones, which again we were doing, you know, a couple of decades ago. You know, that was it. We only had granite and marble to choose from. We didn't have you know quartz.

I think they, you know, I I'll have to check my dates, but I think quartz kind of came in around 05, you know, heavily into the market. And um, you know, again, you know, people start seeing, you know, kind of the same thing, you know, over and over again. And uh, you know, natural stone with their with the natural variations is something that is attracting buyers. So um saw that I actually saw that a lot in the peripheral, what do I call the peripheral displays?

They weren't actually the cabinet manufacturers, but the appliance manufacturers and and uh plumbing using a lot of natural stone. And decorative hardware. We hardware's always been you know something that's been around, but I definitely saw the the displays playing a lot more with hardware, which which again we used to do a lot in the past of really adding a lot of detail. So having seeing a lot of decorative hardware and all of the options and and just playing and having fun with it.

It's something I remember doing, you know, as a young designer to really give that that um individuality to the pro to my projects. And I thought it was really nice to see it because it's a fabulous way for a um designer to get a custom look, you know, on um on a budget. Um what else? Okay, kitchen details.

And again, this was one I was I was just having lots of chuckles as I was I was walking around. And it was in one display that um actually, you know, and they they they won for their um their their display. It was actually the Fabiwood display, and in one of their uh vignettes, they had a wall of cabinetry that terminated in round open shelves on the wall cabinets and the base cabinets. We used to refer to them as knick-nack shelves, you know, years ago.

It's just it was a it's not floating shelves, it's a you know, L, kind of an L-shaped um, you know, box with uh radius uh wood shelves on the end. And that one really brought back memories. I can't believe how many knick-knack shelves, you know, I would have designed you know into kitchens in the late 90s and and early 2000s. Have not seen those in catalogs for years and years, but I I can see that they'll they'll be coming back.

Along that same area of the knick-knack, the radius knick knack shelves were the radius cabinet doors. And I was talking with the plain and fancy uh cabinet manufacturer, and uh you know, he was telling, we got talking about it, and I went, oh my goodness, you know, again, what's old is new again? And he said, You're so right, Jan. We removed these doors from our catalog in 2015, and now we've got to put them back in because of the because of the demand.

Like they they hung around like people hadn't been ordering them um at all. But uh it was really interesting that that soft geometry look is bringing back products that you know were in manufacturers' catalog decades, decades ago. So um again, kind of keeping with the radius, eyebrow arches. You know, I was kind of the eyebrow arch queen of um of uh you know the early 2000s.

I did a ton of arched cabinets and an eyebrow arch is rather than having a full arch on a single door, that you have a half arch where two doors come together to make a big wide arch. So these eyebrow arched doors, great way to get this look. I gotta say, I'm I'm glad to see uh some of the cabinet manufacturers bringing it back because I think it's a fabulous way for a designer to get that look without having to radius um a whole custom cabinet. Um, another another one that I saw in the details was um beadboard behind open shelves.

You know, we used to do that all the time, um, especially during that um you know early 2000s where it was kind of that Tuscan influence was everywhere, and we were wanting to get detail. Um, so you'd have an open glass door cabinet or open shelf cabinet. Uh, you know, often we would then stick a beadboard panel in the back of it just to add more texture. So I saw that that coming through in some of the displays.

Plint feet or kick feet, so little details at the kick area, little feet, little arches, with seeing that as detail. You know, again, another early 2000 look that um that we saw uh coming out, and I think they're just um reinventing it on how um how we can do it in a more modern way. Island posts that you know what I didn't see. Um well, maybe maybe I saw a couple ultra um contemporary European kitchens, but most of the kitchens that I saw, you know, were heavily detailed.

So, you know, having posts at the end of the island or um at the end of a run that it just wasn't just a flat panel, that there was that that detailed. And you know, now again, I didn't see this everywhere, but I did see a pot rack in in uh one of the displays. And you know, getting I'm getting a chuckle from Jason there. And like personally, you know, I I'm a cook.

I you know, I like all my stuff handed there. Uh, you know, I've been okay with pot racks, you know. I think in the right situation, they're they're good. So so it was fun um to see there was a a metal manufacturer there showcasing a pot rack, which was kind of cool.

And um a couple of displays, really traditional, stacked crown moldings, pilasters, you know, the kind of real panel molding added onto the cabinetry for details. Haven't seen that in a long, long time. So, you know, one display I saw, you know, very much over the top with it, but you know, it could be the beginning of bringing back that uh traditional detail. With the countertops, um, like just looking at different materials with the countertops, we or I definitely was seeing a lot of edge treatments that were way beyond the square um edge or the, you know, just kind of that, you know, I don't even know what what we call it anymore, but that basic square edge, east edge, east edge, which was the only thing that you ever got the count the countertop manufacturers to do in the last decade.

There were a ton of OGs and double OGs and bull nose with um different looks, and you know, that that was huge, you know, in my market when you know, when granite came into the marketplace in the 90s, um, had a lot of great um you know fabricators in my area being a port city. We were bringing in a lot of granite. And oh, I remember doing so many decorative edge treatments on my granite. And um, you know, for the last decade we've seen you know just kind of that square edge.

Every display, I'd have to say, had some edge treatment on their countertops. And, you know, and again, they're kind of um in one display, I found it kind of interesting is they actually did the OG on the bottom edge of the um countertop, not the top edge. Honey enough, the only time you saw it is if you were sitting down, you know, and looking back at it, like you couldn't. So that yeah, I'm gonna watch that one to just see, you know, is it worth the investment?

You know, if you don't, if you don't really see it. But there was a lot of um of edge treatment coming in. And um, another thing that that a few of the places were started was starting to showcase was thermal forming of the countertop material because we're able to get they're able to get the countertops much thinner. Now, this is something when I say what's old is new again.

You know, I used a lot of the corion product in um in my practice, and we'd thermal form that all the time because you could just heat it up. But um, that wasn't something that I had seen for a long, long time. And now the countertop manufacturers with the porcelains and being able to get down to one cm thickness in their countertops, there were a lot of them experimenting with thermal forming the countertops. So that's going to open up um, you know, a lot of creativity, which I did see with the Corion product, especially in in um, you know, the first um decade of the century, that there were a lot of designers really playing with that material and um you know, heating it up and and getting into these more organic shapes, which makes sense that we're seeing more organic, it's not as square and hard everything.

So uh that's gonna I think that's gonna be a real fun one to watch. Uh room details. So when I, you know, when I'm in looking at the the displays and snapping pictures, it's you know, it's not you know just about you know the actual cabinetry and and the countertop. I like to look at the background.

And this was a year where I was seeing a lot of traditional elements in the background, um, specifically at the Kohler, you know, booth. They had um uh Studio Mogee, you know, had um a big display area, and um, you know, everything that she did in there was um was on the traditional side, like you know, cased arches and wide crown moldings and baseboards and casings and panel molding and a lot of detail um on the walls that kind of echoed what was going on with the cabinetry.

Um but it but still a modern take, like it still felt modern, but it definitely was bringing that that um you know traditional look you know into a modern kitchen. And um probably you were just not ignoring the walls anymore and the ceiling that they're getting part of part of the kitchen. So that I think is going to be a trend for um designers to watch. Don't ignore you know that fifth wall, your ceiling, or those blank walls, or those casings that you know, flat stock is not you know the end all be all to um you know, finishing off a room that's layering in and adding some more of this detail or texture.

And then um looking at that, like I so I so I would kind of say overall it was kind of what's old is new again, but there were a couple of other things that I did see that I felt um was new to the market. And the first one was appliance color. We have been seeing a lot of color in appliances in the last five years, so that that's been a real highlight of color. This year, the color was all matte, so we you know.

Typically when you're painting a um in an appliance, the same like when you're painting a car, there's a glossiness to the finish. The m cabinet the appliance manufacturers, just about all of them that that I saw were introducing matte finishes. So that's that's going to be interesting to just to see. You know, I don't know how it stands up or um, you know, what process, but you can see that they've all been working on it because almost every upper-end appliance manufacturer display I had a look look at had beautiful colors but in matte finishes.

And uh now here's something I think we got to be watching for. There were a ton of closet displays. So I'm thinking, is the closet going to become that next room that um you know that the kitchen designer, the cabinet designer is really going to be able to have fun with. A little bit of what's old is new again.

You know, I remember designing Luxe closets, you know, almost my entire career. I, you know, I I've always used kitchen cabinetry and van and vanity cabinetry and you know, reimagined them into these deluxe luxe closets. But um I was kind of a little bit shocked about how many just closet manufacturers were displaying and like high-end and um just as tricked out, you know, as any kitchen. So that I'm gonna predict that's gonna be kind of our next room.

You know, we've had the luxe laundry room, you know, we've had the home office, we've had the media wall, um, we've had the the pantry. So um I'm gonna say it's gonna be the closet, it's gonna be the next, um, the next big one. And um, you know, just a couple of you know, little things, you know, maybe not a trend, but I was at at um one tile um manufacturer, distributor, and just something that really caught my eye was these huge format tiles that looked like wallpaper. So, you know, here was a way to, you know, it's it's going to be an investment and it's good, and it's you know, it's gonna be a long-term investment, you know, to put massive floral tiles, you know, on your walls.

But um, I think it's just the uh technology, it's just getting so much better for um for our products for them to be able to print on it that um kind of the new thing was okay, what can what can we print onto onto a product? Like even with the tile, I would I did pop over to the um ibiz side, you know, just for a couple of hours, and I saw that Schluter, who is a um manufacturer of tile trim pieces, you could now provide a sample to them and they would custom print your your edge treatment to match the tile.

So no longer did you just have the basic uh metals and basic colors. Like if you had if you had that tile that was that floral, you could send a sample to um uh to Schluter manufacturer and have it printed right onto your um edge trim. So I thought, you know, that's you know, the kind of technology coming back. And uh the last one that I've got here on my list of new stuff um was going back to the countertops, and it is the is showing really thin countertops.

Now, funny enough, um, we could probably go that's old as new again, that uh when I visited the um Ural Kachina show in 2010, that was something that really struck me was uh so many of the uh displays showed these really thin, like one and two CM countertops rather than the three, you know, three to four CM that that we've been doing here in North America. But it's definitely catching up, and there was a lot of two CM countertops um on display, a lot of thin ones. And I was in one cabinet manufacturer that had it, and uh so um a question I had, you know, for the the rep that I was talking to, and going, Well, have you, you know, have you modified the cabinet boxes to raise them up higher?

Because this counter seems a little low. So, you know, it's you know, anything that that we change in our industry, and they had not, you know, and that's why the countertop um felt too low. But you know, the designer, you know, when you see these new things, you know, you really want to be thinking about them. And something of, you know, it is a new way of looking at at the proportion in a kitchen, having these thin countertops, but you still need functionality.

You don't all of a sudden want to be dropping the height of your countertops, you know, because you haven't thought about, you know, everything being pulled together. So um, you know, that's that. And then maybe um, you know, the countertop people or the the um the slab producers are doing a lot of experimenting, and I saw a lot of texture that was happening. And I guess they've been able to figure out how to add texture to countertops or backsplashes or vertical applications and still make them um you know easy to maintain because that's you know you don't want to be getting getting grit in there.

But they were talking a lot about that in the booth. So that is kind of my overview of what I saw. And uh, you know, I'm sure there's you know other things, but um, I guess maybe just to wrap up uh detail, you know, looking at you know, some of that stuff that was being done in our industry, you know, 25, 30 years ago. How is it being reinvented and being brought back?

I love it. I love it. So last year, I was just looking over the notes from last year. You touched a lot on though on how over the years it built up and last year it was uh you saw it all over the place.

So what did you think about the color this year at the show? Um, yeah, it's continuing. That when I'm in a you know fairly traditional cabinet manufacturers display and they have a hot pink kitchen, then then we know that uh color. Like I saw hot pink, I saw a I saw mauve or mauve, you know, kind of that light purpley tone.

Um, I saw like lots of light greens and um, you know, navies, yeah. Color was everywhere. And you know, and I'm glad you bring it up, Jason, because in in uh years past, the color in the cabinet tree was mostly coming from the appliance manufacturers and the plumbing manufacturers and the countertop manufacturers sometimes um using cabinet tree, you know, as part of their displays, you know, and they weren't selling cabinet trees. So they, you know, they could they could take a risk and do something.

This year I was seeing it with the cabinet manufacturers. So that that is a big switch that you know they're introducing those finishes and those those colors into their offering now, whereas they used to be just so conservative. Remind me again, how many pictures did you take? You know what?

I did count them on close to 900. Okay. And I looked at last year, you took over 650. So you are amazing at looking at the show at a certain advantage point.

So for the designers out there, because I often get asked, um, there's so much to see. How do you organize what you see over the show? And if you had somebody new, a designer that hasn't ever been to his show or any shows, how would you advise them to look at it and take all of this in? Because it's a lot.

It's it it could be over. It absolutely is a great question because I actually wrote a blog on this, you know, probably three years ago. But here's my strategy is um so I always arrive um to the show the day before. And you know, it's and it's a little basic thing.

You know, the the um the venue is open, like you can't go into the display, but I go down and get my pass. I make sure I've got my land, I've got my pass, and I'm ready to go. The first day, I always kind of go to that outlying pavilion, typically with um K Biz. And um, you know, in Las Vegas, they've kind of got South Hall, which is the big, big hall, and they've got West Hall.

Um, here in Orlando, they they had um, yeah, I think it was West Hall and North Hall or South Hall. I, you know, I look, I grab, I grab a catalog that first day too, so that I look at the map, I look at where everybody is, and I determined, um, and and I always do this with the shows, that I determine kind of what is kind of the peripheral um hall. You know, still's got stuff I want to see, but maybe doesn't have the big names, like the big Kohler monogram, uh, you know, some of the the larger manufacturers, you know, typically they're all uh jumbled in one hall.

So what I do is I go to that first day, I go to that peripheral hall because a lot of people go to the big hall the first day and it's crazy crowded. So I go over to that other one, I spend the whole day there. And um, you know, I do. I have got my phone out with me, and as I'm walking through, I am taking a you know a lot of pictures because um I when I go back, I can kind of look at them.

But um, and I'm very systematic that um, you know, I kind of walk in, I go to the right, and I just do a grid pattern to make sure that I kind of hit everything. The second day, I tend to go to the big hall. And uh the big hall is where I want to um, you know, just kind of look at it what you know, everything that's going on, get the vibe, but I actually stay out of the big booths, the big popular booths on that day because they're crowded as can be, and it's difficult to get in and see them and get pictures.

So I I get a good grounding on what's happening and um on that uh that same same on that that first day. I'm able to walk the whole show to be able to see where it is. But as I said, I don't I don't go into Kohler on that first day. I don't go into monogram.

And then the last day, because everybody's leaving Wednesday night and Thursday morning, that's when I'd go and look at those big booths that I'm really interested in, or that there's been a buzz. You know, when you're at a show, you start to hear, you know, kind of what the buzz is. And you know, and it's funny because on my Instagram I was getting I was getting comments. How did you get pictures?

You know, I was in that booth, I couldn't see anything. I said, Well, I don't go to that booth till Thursday afternoon. Nobody does Yeah. So, and then, you know, there's lots going on at a show and there's dinners and stuff like that.

But I do come back to my hotel room, you know, usually the show closes at four, and maybe you're going out for dinner at six, and I will spend an hour flipping through um kind of my images, and and that just kind of kind of tweaks me on okay, what am I starting to see? And I started seeing that what's old as new thing after the first day. So then now I'm looking for it. But um, you know, it it is it is having, you know, having a uh a plan because I do see a lot of uh first timers getting really overwhelmed and they're just walking around like zombies, you know, and they just don't know where to go.

And and I know I'm not gonna be really popular on this next one, but I don't like to do a show in a group. You know, it is too difficult. So even when I've taken designers to uh shows like this, we get in there, we meet as a group, and I say, okay, you know, let's just everybody go off on their own for an hour. Um, I want you to go off in your own, and then I want you to come, we're gonna meet back, you know, right here in an hour or an hour and a half, and we're just gonna share what we saw.

And I find that that that designers get way more out of that than a group of eight people kind of, you know, clomping around the show because you're losing somebody or waiting for somebody. And um I do typically do the shows on my own. You know, maybe, maybe my partner sometime is with me, but I get to see more and experience more, you know, kind of on my own time. I love that.

I love that. Now, you usually have a blog that highlights all of this. Are you gonna have a blog on what happened this time as well? You you may, you may be forcing me since you're asking because we usually link the blog to the I don't, yeah.

I haven't, it's been a very, very busy, uh busy year, you know, a lot of clients and a lot of things going on, and um, you know, the vestibule learning uh platform is kind of really taking off, and so I've been focusing on that. So I don't have it on my agenda right now. So um, you know, it's um you know, I appreciate it. I uh I'm gonna I you know I might put something together.

Like, you know, I enjoy doing this, and if I do, I'll uh I'll send you I'll send you the link. Everyone's gonna have to listen to the podcast. Absolutely. That's it.

And I think your approach is absolutely genius. Because and I think I it's fascinating listening to you and after when you describe because I'm from Europe and we don't have a lot of things that have to think that you were talking about the way you talk because um working in the color boost and other boost, and it's so true. It's like the first two days are complete ma'am, you know, and it's popular boost, and then there's nobody. So I think that's that's really that's really clever.

Yeah. And I think, you know, also too, for you know, for the individual or for the company, this is a big investment. Like, you know, this is this is not a couple hundred bucks for me, you know, especially for me to fly across the country and and you know, like literally me getting there, my my 10-hour commute from the west coast to Florida turned into 24 hours the first, you know, the first day. So, you know, that's an investment in time and money and everything.

So, you know, I you know, definitely if if you're planning on going or if your company's sending you, you know, I think you owe it to yourself to um, you know, to really, you know, get the most out of it. Like it is, it's a privilege to be able to go to a show like this and um be able to experience it and make those those connections. Yeah, now both Jason and I have FOMO because we both didn't end up going this year. And it's it's kind of nice because I'm not a big fan of Orlando and trying to get around during a picture.

Yeah, it was crazy. Oh, it's just fun. I have one um question for you with regards to just like the general vibe. And like as you were talking with people, like what what sense did you guess you read like the reports of the industry and so on, but it's like what was the general vibe?

Were people excited or um what was it like? Do you know what I think the general vibe, and it's always going to be positive, you know, a show like this, other than the traffic. Like you, you, you brought up that, you know, that you know, I I can't see K this going back to Orlando like when it was taking me two hours to get um to a restaurant that was you know two miles from my hotel, which was crazy. I even had Uber phone me while I was in an Uber to see if I was okay because my vehicle had moved for several minutes.

So that's you know, that that just kind of sums up um the evenings there. But you know, I think, you know, I think the the vibe is positive. Maybe the nature, you know, of what I do with with vestibule learning of of teaching um you know kitchen designers. I had a lot of um different contacts talking to me about um you know kind of the industry going through this difficult time of trying to hire uh people.

That that probably every almost every conversation that I had did revolve around around that. And it is, it's getting it is difficult to um to hire quote unquote experienced people in this industry because there is so much going on and there's you know this chaos of choice and you know all of these different changes and you know all these all these different things to learn. But but you know, I think on the whole, you know, most of the people that I talked to, you know, were were pumped about it.

And um, you know, I you know, I think definitely our industry, you know, is is one that is always evolving. And um, you know, the our b I think our biggest thing is is gonna be labor shortages. Even even with AI, yeah, the AI conversation came up quite a bit. And um that's that's definitely gonna be creeping in there, but we're still gonna need, you know, we're still gonna need people to be stuck in our industry and and just how we're gonna attract you know those bright young minds, you know, to to the industry and get them trained and and get them excited and you know have them you know have re rewarding careers like I've had in the industry.

We'll just kind of keep the conversations going. And uh um, you know, I think we're back in Vegas again next year. So it's truck down to that one. At least it's an easier, an easier flight on the from the West Coast.

But uh yeah, we'll see. You guys will be there. Well, I'll go just because you guys will be there. I think we're planning on it at this point, right?

Yeah. Yes, yes, we'll be there next time. So so if any of our listeners want to learn more, how do they contact? Um, well, they can um it it's a little bit of a work in the progress right now, but they can pop onto my website Vestibule, um, which is V-E S T A B U L dot com.

And uh there's contact sheets there that that um of the contact page that you can get a hold of me. And uh, you know, that's where I've got my online uh learning with um with the kitchen industry. So that's that would definitely be the best one. And I'd love to, yeah, I'd love to hear from them.

And love, you know, maybe I will get a blog. I haven't written a blog for about a year because you know, just of circumstances, and maybe I will get a blog out and and get people to um you know comment on their experience at K Biz 2026. Awesome. Well, we always enjoy having you for these wrap-ups.

We hope to have you again next year as well. Sounds good. Sounds good. So we hope to hear and see you all here in two weeks on design of the cutscene.

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