November 21, 2022

The Plan Collection, the pioneer of online home design plans, announces its annual residential design predictions and trends report that reveals millennial preferences, inflation’s economic realities and social media sharable spaces will influence 2023’s direction. While house design will be cozier, more relaxed and aesthetically pleasing, with inflation approaching 10% and higher in some categories, spending on large projects might be out of reach. Expect homeowners and designers to get the most bang for their buck by pursuing smaller projects with bigger impact in the coming year.

“Home design will experience meaningful change in 2023, with some design trends driven by inventive, new ideas inspiring millennials – a generation representing over 40% of home buyers and social media driven – while others will be influenced by the practical reality imposed on budgets by higher interest rates and inflation,” said Laurel Vernazza, home design expert at The Plan Collection.

With insights gained from trusted architects, builders, realtors, contractors and other housing industry experts, here are select home design and building trends for 2023.

Economy-Driven Design

Tiny Spaces with Big Impact. Since interest rates are increasing and homeowners are staying put, owners are reimagining overlooked alcoves, nooks and corners to be redesigned into compact, colorful and inviting spaces.

Affordability: Goodbye Modern Farmhouse, Hello Bungalow. The modern bungalow gets increased attention from millennials and empty nesters who want to downsize affordably but with style. One-story modern bungalow designs are typically less expensive offering curb appeal, high ceilings, contemporary open floor plans, larger bathrooms and a 21st-century exterior.

Staying Put with Floating Sinks and Vanities. Homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages may rethink trading up to a larger home in 2023 and revisit home remodeling instead. Expect kitchen and bath solutions that are attractive and affordable while creating a larger sense of space to be especially popular. In the bath, floating sinks will be the center of attention, especially in small bathrooms and powder rooms. Floating sinks/vanities can make a small space feel larger and enhance the room with their clean lines and sleek look.

New Construction/Home Updates

Friend’s Entry and the Well-Appointed Mudroom. With many open floor plans, the traditional front door entry hall has been significantly reduced in size or eliminated altogether. The result? A cluttered mess in the living space when family and friends visit. Enter the friend’s entry as the solution. A throwback from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the friend’s entry offers an additional door into the home leading to transitional space between the outdoors and the main living areas. Today, homeowners are reinventing the mudroom into this very space.

Prep Pantry: New Must-Have In Kitchen Design. Designers add prep pantries, the successor to butler pantries, to new homes — a separate prep area usually located off the
kitchen/dining area. With so much kitchen entertaining, unsightly items are kept from view in the prep pantry.

The Plan Collection’s Vernazza answered KBB’s questions about the prep pantry:

How are prep pantries sized? On average, we would say that most are anywhere from 100-150 square feet but a homeowner can customize them however they like. They are usually found in homes larger than 3,000 square feet.

How does a prep pantry differ in function from a butler’s pantry? The butler’s pantry was designed as more of a stopping station between the kitchen and the dining room. The staff of the home would prepare the food and bring it to the butler’s pantry where additional staff would make sure it was “showroom” ready before serving to the guests and to make sure that all of the guests were served almost simultaneously. For clean up, the butler’s pantry was where the staff would bring the dirty dishes and plates and store them until the kitchen staff could gather and clean them in the kitchen. There was not much prep going on in the butler’s pantry. This was before open floor plans when homes had distinct rooms and most of your gathering was done in the dining room or a parlor.

Over the years, homes, as we know, have become much more open – with no walls distinguishing rooms, the butler’s pantry morphed into a little room off the kitchen that may have a wine fridge and cocktail/wine glasses, almost like a mini bar area where you could make drinks while guests hung out in the kitchen or great room. You may pop a few dirty dishes in there just to get them out of the way but for the most part, the mess was still in the kitchen. With the kitchen being the most active place in the home and the spot where most everyone gathers, even your guests, the butler’s pantry has now become a prep pantry.

What features do prep pantries contain? The prep pantry, at minimum, has tons of counter space and cabinets for storage, a kitchen sink, and a dishwasher (to clean up after the party). We would also recommend a small refrigerator, either a wine fridge to store beverages or a drawer refrigerator (or both – it depends on how you entertain). Both of these choices are great because they fit under the counters so you are not sacrificing crucial prep space. They can have other smaller appliances such as a coffee maker or a mixer. We would also outfit it with its own set of knives and some utensils. The prep pantry is also great for storing extra dishes, grandmother’s china, or serving platters that take up crucial space in the main kitchen.