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Does the use of mirrors reflect what's going on in the rest of the interior design field? The answer, according to three members of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, is a resounding "Yes".

Mirrors continue to be used all over the house, in both expected and unexpected ways. For the unexpected, Jack Rutheazer, senior designer at Greenbaum Interiors, Paterson, is a particularly fond of mirrors as backsplashes in the kitchen. "Clients are sometimes reluctant when the idea is first proposed," he said, "but after it is installed, they are thrilled. The upkeep is as easy as granite and easier than tile because grease and dirt don't get caught in the grout. My preference is for plain glass mirror, not antiqued, not opaque, so it really expands the room. And if it is installed opposite the windows, it makes the kitchen much lighter and brighter."

High-tech backsplashes are being fashioned also from silk mirror, a material that has non-staining properties and is specialty textured courtesy of a a sandblasting technique, Greg Csaki, vice president of Galaxy Glass and Mirror, Fairfield, a to-the-trade-only resource, works with interior designers and architects to create many special effects with mirror and glass, including custom-colored silk mirror "in literally any color."

"When laminated to another piece of glass for additional strength, this same material can be used also for high-end vanity tops," he said.

At the other end of the color spectrum is the ultra-clear mirror. According to Csaki, this type of mirror has a low iron content so there is no green cast at the edges of the glass. "It's a very pure mirror that's particularly effective in a room full of white," he said.

Rona Spiegel of RJS Interior Designs, Englewood Cliffs, said as homes are getting larger, so are mirrors. "The proportions are in keeping with the scale of the home. for example, a bathroom vanity still may be 34 or 36 inches high, but the ceiling is often nine or 10 feet high. This has affected the size of the mirror above the vanity," she said.

"In the bathroom, mirrors often are installed straight up from the top of the vanity to the soffit. This large expanse makes today's glamorous bathrooms seem even more glamorous," said Ruthazer.

Large, framed mirrors are another feature of today's bathrooms. Spiegel said because of all the beautiful options in ceramic and stone tiles, the tiles themselves often are arranged to form a frame for the bathroom mirror. She also loves the look of a mirrored wall in a small bathroom or powder room, particularly with a pedestal sink. However, she cautions this requires some careful coordination. "When I do this, it involves meticulous planning with the plumber and the mirror man so the reflected view doesn't include the piping the pedestal normally hides.