The Louisville Manufactured Housing Show takes place every January and kicks off the spring selling season for the Midwest region. The 2024 show was the 63rd edition and featured 45 houses produced by manufacturing housing companies located in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio.
Our team visited the show to see what is new in color and design for High Pressure Laminate (HPL), and to spot creative uses for HPL including those uses with postformed countertops.
Color Palettes Warm and are Earthtone Inspired. Earthtones were the dominate color story with subtle shades of beige, brown and camel. Neutral colors of olive and soft peach added life to the interior color palette through the use of rugs, upholstery and other soft goods.
Wood mix between cabinetry, flooring, islands and worktops shown clockwise from upper left: Commodore Homes, Colony Homes, Commodore Homes, Fleetwood Homes.
There was no carpeting in the homes, with the floors being covered in Luxury Vinyl tile (LVT) or rolled vinyl goods. This made for an interesting Wood Mix when cabinetry, flooring and kitchen island were all different wood species and color. There seemed to be no rules regarding mixing and matching of wood tones.
Aluma Marble (upper left) at Clayton Homes and Sea Salt (upper right) at Adventure Homes are examples of white designs becoming more warm and inviting.
At the bottom, drama black Nero Marquina 180fx® marble at Ritz Craft (left) and subtle and moody Basalt Slate (right) at Adventure Homes.
Wood Tones Return to cabinetry after years of white painted wood cabinets. Woods are in their natural state and unstained so the natural grain of hickory, oak and maple can shine through, or they are stained in dark walnut and chocolate browns. While there are still white painted cabinets, Dark Moody Colors of deep navy and black cabinetry are making a showing – especially in the bathroom.
Playing off the cabinety in the kitchen and bath are HPL countertops. The majority of patterns featured either Black or White Marble Patterns. New white marble patterns featured classic creamy white with warm veining while black marbles were either subtle and moody or showstopping with bold veining. It was common to see contrast of black and white between cabinets and countertops at the Louisville Manufactured Housing Show.
Creative uses for HPL countertops clockwise from upper left: office space is carved out of a hallway at Fleetwood homes; a stunning built in media center with a postformed countertop and contrasting square edge HPL shelves; a postformed countertop makes a great bench for a mudroom at Claytone Homes; a welcoming entry is created with a postformed countertop and cabinets at Penn West Homes.
Besides the typical kitchen and bath applications, there were a lot of Creative Uses for HPL and postformed countertops at the show.
- Built-in-desks and craft centers in the kitchen or in the laundry room
- Benches created for laundry rooms, bathrooms and closets
- Countertops and cabinets were used in entryways as a welcome area or drop zone
- Media centers varied from a modest shelf to a built-in 3 piece bookshelf created from cabinets and postformed countertops
- Shelving in bathrooms and laundry rooms