Expertise: Kitchen & Bath Remodeling

Elegant, fleeting, ingenious, embellished—however you feel about them, trends are a commanding force in the home improvement field. What's 'in' has an unyielding influence on everything from the products that manufacturers produce to the value of your home on the market, so it's important to get it right.

House & Home spoke to Matteo Kitchens' co-owner and store manager Steve Matteo about the dominating influence of HGTV and how to cater trends to your space to create the ultimate dream home.

How important is HGTV to home remodeling?
I say 'HGTV' 27,000 times a day. HGTV and programs like it are constantly on in people's households, waiting rooms and online. It has people look around and say, 'Alright, there's nothing wrong with what we have, but we're out of style, we're out of color, and we need to update it.' More than anything, it really gives people some information on what's in. They say HGTV makes new colors and styles relevant every four to five years. During COVID, everything was very white and gray while now we're starting to see earth tones again.

Should homeowners pay attention to trends or should they stick to more traditional-style designs?
Trends are very important, but also very tricky. We're in our 30th year, and when we opened up our showroom, we had a white, an oak and a cherry kitchen. Now we have multiple options and the one thing that I can say that's still here and still viable is white, but the oak colors and wood species change. The cherry went from that deep, dark red, rich look that a lot of people grew up with to mixing with other colors to create a very light look. You have to be careful with trends and stick to using color as an accent to avoid being stuck with an outdated color. If you lock yourself into blue or green or gray, it's going to be trendy. If you mix those colors as an accent, it could last forever.

In terms of flooring, which options are homeowners gravitating towards?
I would say about 80% of what we sell in flooring today is luxury plank—and that's against carpet, real tile, laminate and hardwood floors. The top manufacturers have put a lot of money into their technology to make luxury planks more realistic looking, textured and durable, and the price points are fantastic. We used to tell people that hardwood floors are going to add value to your home when you go to sell it, but in today's market what people are really looking at in terms of flooring is maintenance. Between kids, pets and accidental spills, people don't want to be sweeping and mopping all the time and these vinyl plank floors let you live your life.

Spa-quality bathrooms are on the rise. How can homeowners transform their everyday baths into a relaxation zone?
We are pulling out the fiberglass tubs and showers every day and replacing them with tiled wall showers—whether it's a tub or just a full shower. When you're dealing with set things like the fiberglass pans, you have to stay in whatever those pan sizes are, which are limited. You can't make it bigger than that, so we see people switching over and we're opening up the shower as far as we can. Sometimes we add in a half wall with more glass to allow more light, making the room feel bigger, and sometimes we add in a bench allowing you to sit while you shower. It's creating a lot of luxury; you come home from a hard day's work, and you want to take a nice shower and feel a little bit more relaxed.

Matteo Family Kitchens & Flooring Inc.
Woodstown, NJ | (856) 769-2490 | MatteoKitchens.com

Published (and copyrighted) in House & Home, Volume 25, Issue 3 (March/April 2025)
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