What we're specifying after KBB 2026: a designer's edit of the best new products

KBB is the one moment in the year where the entire bathroom and kitchen industry exhales everything it has been quietly developing, refining, and perfecting. Hundreds of brands. Thousands of products. An overwhelming, exhilarating celebration of what design can be.

We go so you don't have to wade through it alone.

Every year, our team walks those show floors with a singular purpose: to find the products genuinely worth bringing back to our showroom and, ultimately, into your home. Not everything that gleams under trade show lighting deserves a place in a beautifully considered bathroom. We edit. We interrogate. We ask the questions that matter — about quality, longevity, finish consistency, and whether a product will still feel breathtaking five years from now.

This is our KBB 2026 edit. The pieces we are already specifying.

The shift we noticed immediately: restraint is back

If KBB 2025 was defined by maximalism — bold colour, sculptural forms, statement everything — then 2026 brought a quiet but confident correction. The bathrooms that stopped us in our tracks were serene. Considered. Spaces where every decision felt purposeful rather than performative.

That does not mean boring. It means refined. And for our clients in Belfast and across Northern Ireland who invest seriously in their homes, it is very good news.

01. The brassware worth talking about

Brushed brass has been a staple for several years now, and frankly, lesser versions have started to feel ubiquitous. What KBB 2026 delivered was the next chapter: warmer, more complex metal finishes that feel handcrafted rather than factory-produced.

We were particularly drawn to a number of collections where the tonal depth of the finish changes subtly depending on the light — giving a bathroom that living quality that photography simply cannot capture. These are pieces that reward the person who lives with them every day.

Our specification recommendation: pair with deeply veined natural stone or large-format porcelain in warm taupe tones. The contrast is breathtaking.

02. Freestanding baths, reimagined

The freestanding bath is not a new idea. But what designers presented at KBB 2026 made us look again. The silhouettes are becoming more architectural — less the traditional rolled-top and more a considered geometric form that reads almost as sculpture when positioned correctly in a room.

The material innovation here is equally exciting. Stone resin composites have matured considerably, offering a warmth to the touch that acrylic cannot replicate and a weight and solidity that signals genuine quality the moment you encounter it.

For our clients considering a main bathroom or principal ensuite renovation this year, a freestanding bath in one of these new forms is, in our view, the single most transformative investment you can make.

03. Smart technology that disappears

This is the shift that matters most for how we specify today.

For several years, smart bathroom technology was visible technology — panels, displays, switches, the machinery of intelligence on show. The direction at KBB 2026 was the opposite: intelligence that hides. Thermostatic systems with the most elegant minimal controls we have seen. Mirrors with integrated lighting and demisting that look, from every angle, like beautifully crafted mirrors. Full stop.

The Grohe collections on display embodied this philosophy precisely. Precision engineering expressed through the simplest possible interface. You set the temperature once. The system remembers. There is nothing clinical about it — it simply works, and it works beautifully.

We have been advocates of specifying smart systems for years. What KBB 2026 confirmed is that the aesthetic gap between smart and traditional has effectively closed.

04. Wall panels: the evolution continues

Wall panels arrived in bathrooms as a practical alternative to tiling. What they have become is something far more interesting. The surface quality, depth, and textural realism of the premium panels we saw at KBB 2026 were, in several cases, genuinely difficult to distinguish from the natural materials they reference.

Large-format fluted panels in particular are something we are specifying with increasing frequency. The vertical rhythm they introduce to a bathroom adds architectural interest without requiring a single grout line. For a wet room or walk-in shower, the result is seamless in every sense.

05. The wellness space grows up

Infrared sauna integration into domestic bathrooms and dedicated wellness spaces has been a growing conversation. KBB 2026 confirmed it is now a mainstream design consideration rather than a niche one.

As Lisna Waters specialists — and one of the very few showrooms in Northern Ireland to hold that expertise — we watched this section of the show with particular interest. The cabinetry and architectural integration of sauna units has improved significantly. These are no longer bolt-on additions; they are designed spaces.

If a home wellness room or infrared sauna is something you have been considering, this is the moment. The design language has arrived.

What this means for your project

We did not attend KBB 2026 to be dazzled. We attended to curate.

The products above are not everything we saw. They are the pieces that survived our edit — the ones where quality, design longevity, and the lived experience of using them every day all aligned.

Several of these products are already making their way into our showroom. Others we are specifying directly into current projects. If you are planning a bathroom renovation in 2026 and you want access to our full designer's edit — including the products we have not published here — the conversation starts with a showroom visit.

Come and see it in person. No photograph does it justice.

Book your design consultation at isabellabathrooms.co.uk or visit us at 10 Ballyclare Road, Doagh, Co. Antrim.

Isabella Bathrooms — Discover the art of bathroom design and the finesse of refurbishment.