BATHROOMS, SHOWERS & KITCHENS
DESIGN OPTIONS HEAT UP
How the nation’s bathrooms and kitchens are heated can play a big part in their overall look. BMJ looks at what radiator manufacturer Stelrad is doing to make the most of these two areas.
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or the past twenty years or so, it’s become common place to see a special towel radiator in the bathroom of nearly all new build homes. And the market for replacement towel rail type radiators has grown exponentially, seeing them retrofitted in the majority of existing properties up and down the country as well.
The Stelrad selection of designer and decorative radiators for the kitchen and bathroom has grown particularly in the past five years and there are significant plans for the range of options to grow significantly later in the year. A range of designs, sizes, even colours make these exciting new radiator options a special new feature for homes up and down the country and vitally, offer an additional profit opportunity for installers, willing to broaden their horizons and
Grohe gets smart
With the SmartControl kitchen tap range, GROHE has replaced the standard kitchen tap lever with an intelligent, outward-facing button at the end of the tap’s spout. Perfect for when hands are full with pots and pans or unclean from cooking, the ergonomic design prioritises user-friendliness while also helping to reduce the spread of germs and bacteria in the home. With a push of the button, the water can be turned on and off with the volume of water – scalable
from a water-saving eco-spray to a powerful jet-spray – adjusted precisely with a twist of the button. The temperature of the water can be regulated using a mixing valve on the body of the tap. The SmartControl range uses intelligent technology to automatically save preferred settings. The new tap range is available in three designs: Essence, Zedra and Minta. The Minta design gives a minimalist and cylindrical look whilst the Zedra line features the ‘push-and-turn‘ operation. Essence range is available in a selection of 10 PVD colours and finishes.
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offer their customers a say in the selection of the special radiators they install in new homes and replacement heating system installations. The bathroom was the first room in the home to benefit from something a bit more special on the radiator front, with the archetypal ladder towel rail being the first non-standard response to heating in a home – several decades ago now. The fashion for investing in a special radiator in the bathroom extended into having a special radiator in the kitchen, often because the fitted furniture in that room left precious little horizontal space for the normal horizontal radiators, and vertical versions of radiators and designer options that were very much part of the décor rather than part of the heating system, began to appear widely. Obviously towel rails and specially designed bathroom and kitchen radiators tended to be tall rather than wide and the beginnings of the love affair with vertical radiators had begun.
The days of a radiator being a purely functional heating emitter are now pretty much a thing of the past. Perhaps because of the number
AKW’s new shower wall
AKW’s new Origins Wall Panel range comes in both tongue and groove and square edge formats and iin 16 colourways. Having the option of 900mm and 600mm width tongue and groove panels or the 1200mm width square edge version means that no matter what the quality of the existing surface, there is a wall panel solution to suit. The Origins Wall Panels are designed for internal use, in areas that are exposed to water. From bathrooms, wet rooms and shower enclosures to commercial spaces that require hygienic wall cladding, the solution is hard- wearing, low maintenance and quick
of house renovation and decorating type programmes on the hugely expanded number of TV channels available to us all these days, more people are taking an interest in their radiators. Seeing inside other people’s homes, raising aspirations for their own homes, has been instrumental in widening the choices for homeowners. Many no longer rely solely on their heating engineer or installer to quote for “a boiler and eight rads”. They want to know what rads, where and whether they will be getting an attractive towel warming radiator in the bathroom. Whether they can have an attractive vertical radiator in the hallway that everyone sees as they come through the front door. Perhaps a designer radiator in the kitchen by the breakfast bar, so anyone stopping over for something to eat sees an attractive radiator on the wall between the kitchen cabinets and the back door. People are getting more choosey and understandably, they want a say in the way their home will look.
And Stelrad is making sure that there are a range of options available to the end user – be it simply a chrome ladder radiator, a painted vertical radiator or as is increasingly the case – a coloured specialist radiator with accessories – perhaps towel rails – making them functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.
Tubular radiators are providing a wealth of options - popular tube on tube options, narrow tubes, chunkier tubes, flattened tubes – the options are wide and almost endless. And Stelrad has grown its collection year on year to meet the wider aspirations of installers and their customers. And its about to grow even more – watch this space as Stelrad introduces yet more additions to their collection later in 2020 and takes the selection of designer and decorative radiators to the next step.
BMJ
and easy to install. The 11mm thick wall panels are made of WPS plywood substrate for ultimate strength and longevity. Fixtures such as shower seats and grab rails can be fitted securely to this, without impacting weight loading. A range of corner, bottom and end cap extrusions are also available in chrome, white and satin anodised aluminium to add the perfect finish.
www.buildersmerchantsjournal.net May 2020
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