NEW YORK, NY — The advice “show, don’t tell” is typically reserved for fiction writers, but it holds equally true for kitchen and bath designers.

Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than at In House Kitchen Bath Home, a new design firm that uses its 3,500-sq.-ft. showroom as a springboard for projects ranging from kitchens and baths to wine bars and home offices.

Called The New York Design Center, the showroom spotlights a plethora of products and vignettes with working displays that add to the “real appeal” factor.

Dave Burcher, one of the firm’s principal owners, offers: “We have the showroom space, and 1,500 square feet of office and design space. Our windows and entryways are inviting, attracting trade and consumer traffic. This, of course, impacts our success, as does the layout of our showroom, the traffic flow and the vignettes we’ve designed.”

The showroom features a working washer/dryer, a working demo kitchen, stocked wine storage, a complete live kitchen, a working Zen bathroom – including a Japanese soaking tub – and a kosher kitchen complete with butler’s pantry.

The firm specializes in kitchens, baths and all other rooms in the home that might require built-ins, millwork, cabinetry, appliances or fittings and fixtures, while catering to working professionals.

“The design elements we’ve used in our displays of sinks, faucets and hardware help the client in a way that makes for easy purchasing decisions,” Burcher states.

On with the Show

A key aspect of what makes the showroom unique is the way it reflects how people live, Burcher says.

“Many people have commented that our showroom is so inviting [and] that it’s just like being a guest in our home. We believe that when clients visit, it’s like having company, so we truly strive to make people feel welcome,” he notes.

He continues: “The way we designed our showroom, from the entryway that is just like a foyer in a home to the vignettes, truly represents the lifestyles of our clients.”

The showroom features six complete bathroom displays, which include tub, shower, medicine cabinets, bidets, commodes, basin, accessories and lighting – each done in a different design theme.

There is also a kosher kitchen vignette, which Burcher says “shows how meat and dairy tableware can be stored and displayed [even] in a New York City-sized apartment space. For instance, instead of two sinks, we have easily changeable equipment to convert a sink from meat to diary.”