Happy National Kitchen and Bath Month! Our Chapter and NKBA National have much to celebrate! The global initiative continues as our September 12 chapter meeting presented “New Zealand Design” at the Fisher & Paykel New York Experience Center, while national representatives have just presented trends and industry insights from North America at the NKBA Global Connect Meetup in London, “connecting the world of kitchens and baths.”
We have a few celebratory surprises in order for you in the next few months, so please check the newsletter calendar and your emails to RSVP. Our Chapter sponsor, Gringer and Sons, celebrates 100 years in business this year, and we hope you can join us at their East Village showroom to toast their anniversary. LIXIL, the parent of Grohe, DXV, and American Standard, and also a chapter sponsor, has planned an industry celebration day of learning, lunch, and cocktails that includes a party bus!
I love waking up in an industry that positively impacts how people live, and I recently found kindred spirits at The Custom Entertainment Design and Installation Association (CEDIA) when I attended in early September. When you look at their website, you’ll find the statement “life lived best at home,” and I find that to be our common goal. CEDIA offers not only home entertainment solutions but also smart-home solutions for integrating safety, security, and convenience into our designs. Smart solutions will be more and more common and certainly more necessary for us as we head into the bold new world of connected kitchen appliances. Programs council chair Dawn DeLuca and I were invited to the CEDIA Expo as part of the inaugural Design Connection Tour. We had a blast, learned much, and discovered that great partnerships can be formed between NKBA members and CEDIA techs to create our ultimate smart kitchens and interior designs, as well as give clients their ultimate lifestyle — while also positively impacting our bottom lines.
On October 18, there will be an AIA day of learning here in NYC, also talking smart-home solutions. The event is free, and if you want to start learning more. Click here to sign up . 
Here’s to hoping we all find something new to share with our colleagues this National Kitchen and Bath Month! Cheers!