For years, many custom integrators have viewed kitchen and bath shows as adjacent to their core business. Useful for trend watching, perhaps, but not essential. That mindset is increasingly outdated. As technology becomes more deeply embedded into kitchens, baths, and whole home renovations, KBIS is emerging as a strategic opportunity for integrators who want earlier access to projects, stronger relationships with design build partners, and a seat at the table before technology decisions are locked in.
KBIS 2026, running February 17–19 in Orlando, reflects how quickly the kitchen and bath world is converging with smart home technology and why integrators should be part of that conversation.
Kitchens and Baths Are Now Technology Forward Spaces
The modern kitchen and bath are no longer isolated rooms filled only with appliances and fixtures. They are becoming some of the most technology dense spaces in the home, incorporating networking, lighting control, audio, displays, automation, and increasingly intelligent appliances. KBIS 2026’s education lineup makes that shift explicit.
Technology focused sessions at the VFTI Conference and on the show floor address how smart systems are shaping design decisions, user experience, and long term functionality. Sessions such as Smarter Kitchens & Baths: Elevating Design with Technology and Designing with Tech: Elevate Your Aesthetic Through Smart Innovation underscore a key reality. Technology is now part of the design language, not an afterthought.
For integrators, this matters. When technology conversations happen late in a project, outcomes suffer. KBIS is increasingly where those conversations begin.
Design Build Relationships Start Earlier at KBIS
Unlike traditional AV or smart home trade shows, KBIS is attended heavily by kitchen designers, interior designers, remodelers, architects, and builders. These professionals are often the first to engage homeowners and frequently the ones shaping scope, budgets, and expectations long before an integrator is contacted.
By attending KBIS, integrators gain access to the upstream decision makers who influence whether technology is integrated cleanly or compromised later. It is an opportunity to move from being a downstream subcontractor to an early-stage collaborator.
This perspective reinforces a growing reality. Designers and builders are not just open to collaboration. Many are actively looking for trusted technology partners earlier in the process.
Technology Education Is Central to KBIS
KBIS 2026 does not treat technology as a novelty. The show’s technology tracks, workshops and other programming place smart systems squarely within the broader design and remodeling conversation.
Sessions led by integrators and technology leaders alongside representatives from organizations such as CEDIA signal that kitchen and bath professionals are actively seeking guidance on how to work with technology specialists. Brands and executives from companies like Daisy and Origin Acoustics appearing on KBIS stages further reinforce that technology is no longer siloed.
For integrators, these sessions are less about learning new products and more about understanding how designers think, how they communicate value to clients, and where technology friction still exists.
Appliances, Media, and Smart Systems Are Converging
Another reason KBIS matters is the increasing overlap between appliances, media, and home technology. Podcast stage discussions such as The Smart Home Standoff: Tech vs. Tradition in Appliances reflect ongoing tensions and opportunities around connected appliances, user experience, and reliability.
With appliance brands, retailers, and product leaders from companies like AJ Madison and Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove participating in these conversations, integrators gain insight into how appliance ecosystems are evolving and where professional installation and networking expertise can add value.
Understanding this landscape helps integrators position themselves not as competitors to appliance sellers, but as essential partners in making complex systems work in real homes.
A Strategic Show With a Different Purpose
KBIS is not a replacement for CEDIA Expo/CIX or other integration focused events. Instead, it serves a different and increasingly important purpose. It is where integrators can listen, learn, and build relationships outside their usual echo chamber.
For firms looking to grow design build referrals, reduce late-stage project friction, and elevate their role in residential projects, KBIS 2026 offers access to the earliest moments of the design conversation.
In an industry where success is tied to collaboration and foresight, that alone makes KBIS worth the trip.
