Kitchens remain the most popular room to remodel, according to housing experts, architects, builders, remodelers, and manufacturers we spoke with at the International Builders' Show. But a tough housing market and continued concern about high unemployment rates has changed what’s popular and what’s not in kitchens. If you want a kitchen remodel that keeps its value and doesn't look dated the day after it’s done, here’s our take on what’s in, what’s out, and what’s timeless in kitchen designs based on interviews with the experts at the show and what was on display by manufacturers.

What’s in:

• Conscientious consumption
• Clean-lined cabinetry no matter the style
• Cabinet-depth refrigerators or enclosing a freestanding refrigerator (for a built-in look for less)
• Entertaining at home
• Combination kitchen/dining spaces for flexible entertaining
• Using ceiling treatments, not walls, to help define spaces
• Energy and water efficient appliances and fixtures
• Using color on accent walls, fabrics, and tiled back splashes to personalize the kitchen

What’s out:

• Conspicuous consumption
• Lots of applied corbels, do-dads, and heavy molding on cabinetry
• Built-in refrigerators
• Separate formal dining rooms
• Gigantic refrigerators and ranges

What’s timeless:

• Warm wood finishes on cabinets and floors
• White kitchens
• Granite countertops
• Connecting the kitchen to outdoor spaces and bringing the outdoors in through use of windows and plants

--Celia Kuperszmid Lehrman