Home Improvement Ideas for the Kitchen and Bath

Bathrooms overtook kitchens as the most popular remodeling project, according to a new survey released by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

“Small-scale renovations are slowly becoming just as popular as large-scale projects, as seen with bathroom remodeling becoming more common than kitchens,” says 2018 NAHB Remodelers Chair Joanne Theunissen, CPG, CGR, a remodeler from Mt. Pleasant, Mich. “Homeowners are finding cost-effective and shorter timeframe upgrades can also add comfort and value to their homes.”

In the survey, remodelers reported the most common projects in 2017:

· 81 percent bathroom remodeling
· 78 percent kitchen remodeling
· 49 percent whole house remodeling
· 37 percent room additions
· 30 percent window/door replacements

According to Consumer Reports, people are clamoring for cool new technology in their homes. Whether it’s one device or an entire system, technology is expected to be incorporated into more than 60 percent of homes by the year 2021. With kitchens and bathrooms noted as the most popular places to invest your remodeling dollar, here are some of the best types of technologies to incorporate into those rooms:

Tech That Enhances the Design

There are plenty of high-tech options that not only blend into the room design but enhance it. Take a smart lighting system. The keypads used to command the lights are strikingly beautiful, adorned in faceplates of various colors, finishes, and sizes. But the biggest design benefit of a lighting system is its ability to take an ordinary group of light fixtures and make them look and function better.

Each button of a keypad can be set up to evoke a unique lighting “scene.” These scenes can be crafted to showcase a particular design feature like the texture and color of a magnificent backsplash, to set the mood for activities such as a luxurious soak in a whirlpool tub, and to save your household time and money. By touching one button you can set the lights perfectly for a party or family dinner, or your nightly bedtime routine. These lights can be set to various intensity levels; the dimmer the light the less electricity it consumes.

Other smart home technologies that can enhance your kitchen and bath include TVs that function like a mirror when they are off, but display images when activated; invisible and water-resistant loudspeakers that deliver music to the space, and smart electrical outlets that let you client turn devices, like curling irons and coffeemakers, on and off via a mobile app on your smartphone.

Tech That Provides Peace of Mind

When it comes to smart home tech, items that provide security and safety consistently rank as top consumer priorities. The kitchen and the bath are ideal places to integrate products that provide peace of mind. As the hub of home, a kitchen affords you a convenient location to monitor security cameras, answer smart doorbells, and create passcodes for smart door locks. Thanks to the prevalence of Wi-Fi, these devices can all be monitored and managed easily from a mobile app on a smartphone, so dedicate a convenient spot for a charging station in the kitchen for phones, tablets and other mobile devices.

 

It’s unlikely you will engage with security devices in this manner in the master bathroom, but being able to see who’s knocking at the front door and speak with the visitor without ever leaving the room is a huge convenience. There’s also the need for privacy in the bathroom, especially when large windows are part of the design. By adding motorized shades to windows, especially hard to reach windows like those above a bathtub, you can cover the glass at the top of button on a keypad. These shades are available in a variety of fabrics, colors, and weaves to suit the style of the room.

 

Tech That’s Trending

Voice control in the home is hot, and it’s one of the easiest technologies to incorporate into a home. According to a report from Juniper Research, voice assistant devices like the Amazon Echo, Google Home and Sonos One will be installed in a majority – that is, 55 percent – of U.S. households by the year 2022. Chances are if your clients don’t already own a smart speaker, they’ll want one. These devices are particularly useful in the kitchen and bath, places where hands are occupied with cooking utensils and grooming tools. They’ll enable you to hear a weather report, summon a song, request a recipe, and even command the smart lights, shades, and other devices completely hands-free. Smart speakers, come in a variety of sizes and shapes, so there’s bound to be one that suits your kitchen and bath designs.