Once again, the novelty of a whiteboard accessory caught our attention at IBS. This time it happened at the Wellborn booth, where they showcased their new wall-message-center cabinet (shown in Sage Mocha, one of Wellborn’s new finishes). As you can see in the attached photo, the whiteboard is placed inside the cabinet door, and the shelving has very little depth, which works for storing erasers, notepads, etc.

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Space-saving was a buzz word on the show floor this year. While making the most of what you’ve got is nothing new, smart space planning takes on new meaning as homeowners plan to weather the housing crunch and waning economy. There were plenty of compact appliances, clever space-savers, and new storage options at this year’s builders’ show.

Clean and Compact
This compact washer-dryer set from Bosch has 3.4 cubic feet of capacity (room for 14 pairs of 32×32 men’s jeans) while only taking up a 24-inch footprint. The condensation dryer doesn’t require any ventilation—when you run the dryer, a condenser takes all that hot air, turns it into water, and drops it down into the washer for your next laundry load. You’ll still need to be hooked up to a water line, of course, but for condos or under-the-counter laundry stations, this appliance is a pretty good space-saving bet.

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I’m not normally one for bells and whistles when it comes to my appliances. Form and function, without all the fuss, is my creed.

But with Miele’s new MasterCool refrigeration line, these bells and whistles are more than sound—they’re substance too. An alarm alerts you if you’ve left your fridge door open for more than five minutes. (Don’t worry about obnoxious beeping—if you’re keeping that door open for a reason, like a refrigerator deep clean, you can turn the alarm off.)

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Like the metric system, soccer and Capri pants for men, tankless hot water systems have never been fully embraced in the United States despite decades of popular usage in Europe and Asia.

For those not familiar with tankless hot water units, they heat up water on demand, as opposed to a hot water tank, which constantly heats up water even when it’s not being used. Because tankless units just heat up incoming water, they can supply an endless amount of hot water, whereas hot water tanks can run of hot water temporarily.

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