If you’re considering renovating a bathroom in your home, especially one in your main apartment, you’ll likely incorporate some technology into the project. While it may seem counterintuitive, many of the top trends leverage smart home features to make your space more spa-like. These were highlighted in the recent Bathroom Trends Research Report 2024 released by the National Kitchen and Bath Association.
This professional organization with 50,000 members, including designers, dealers, renovators, installers and manufacturers, tracks what residential customers care about and what professionals specify. (In the interest of disclosure, I have been a member of the NKBA for nearly two decades, but it is just one of many prominent associations that I consult for my research.)
Homeowners’ desire to create spa-inspired primary bathing retreats is certainly not a new trend. Neither is integrating technologies to improve comfort and safety, but they are moving together in intriguing ways, as the 2024 report highlights. Here are five of the technology trends that are improving well-being in updates. update of the owners’ bathrooms.
I returned to the same four design professionals who have weighed in on global wellness trends in last week’s trendas well as one additional professional, for their ideas on emailed responses:
1. Improved personalization
“Bathroom technology is becoming more and more central to our designs and more easily accepted by customers when we can highlight the benefits,” notes Brunet. As well as increasing sales of digital shower controls and smart toilets, she also sees “TVs in mirrors or placed at the end of the bathtub for a nice relaxing bath accompanied by entertainment or music”.
Velasco customers also personalize their bathrooms through technological capabilities, she shares. “Heated floors, lighting and sound systems in the bathroom integrated into the home automation system provide an added feeling of luxury and comfort.”
Irish customers are also asking for features, she comments. “These include motion-activated faucets, smart mirrors with anti-fog technology, integrated lighting and electrical, and voice-activated sound and lighting technology.”
Grubb reports that his customers are opting for tech windows, particularly “smart glass for privacy that can also tilt.” When you want a fabulous view, you select a display setting. When you need to block visibility from outside (perhaps on gardening day), you opt for the privacy option. Underfloor heating is also a smart feature requested by its customers; even Southern Californians want to avoid cold feet!
2. Smart lighting
NKBA reports that LED technology now accounts for 100% of lighting products specified for bathroom renovations. This is due in part to its energy efficiency, which helps projects meet updated codes, but LEDs also enable features that improve well-being, safety and comfort.
Velasco says its owners are interested in its circadian lighting and trail lighting benefits for health and safety, respectively, but also in its potential to improve mood through chromotherapy. “Most of our designs can have different scenes or moods combining multiple types of lighting in the same space, depending on usage and time.” These capabilities tie into smart home systems that let you set and choose themes with a single click or voice command, like “Night Relax” or “Morning Check Out.”
Brunet specifies circadian lighting in her high-end projects, she shares, and programmable ambiances. “The systems enable individual scenes or day/night events, as well as individual lighting options for tasks. » Smarter task lighting can make shaving, applying makeup, and reading directions on prescription medication bottles easier. She also likes to include security lighting in her bathroom projects for nighttime visits.
Ireland calls LEDs “a designer’s dream!” » What its major bathroom customers are asking for is floor and cabinet lighting, sensor and dimmer controls, and multiple layers of lighting.
Grubb also maximizes lighting capabilities in its projects. Beyond the layered ambient and task lighting that he and his colleagues use LEDs to achieve, there are additional applications that he designs into his lighting plans: “Other details may include lights in the shower niches and under a floating bench, a light strip at the foot of the shower. kick or under a wall mounted vanity on a motion switch for a night light and lighting inside cabinets and drawers.
3. Smart showers
Improved lighting can also extend to the shower for a wellness experience, says Velasco. “Built-in technology allows the user to program and automate different waterfall ambiances to receive rain, waterfall, mist, etc. effect. The spa experience is enhanced when different lighting options are integrated into its functions.”
Brunet’s clientele is optimistic about starting remote showers, reports the Canadian designer. Irish customers place smart showers in the category of need versus want, she emphasizes, noting: “They are unequivocally opting for smart controls as a necessity. »
Grubb says he adds an additional exhaust fan for the shower area to improve ventilation.
4. Smart bathtubs
The NKBA report states that 47% of bathtubs will have touch controls, 25% will have voice controls and 24% will have mobile app controls. Velasco considers this last advantage to be particularly advantageous for second home projects. “Home automation allows them to monitor their property remotely, prepare for their arrival, plan maintenance, etc. », she observes.
It is likely that leak and overflow protection will also be built into smart home systems enabling this capability, with shutdown features to reduce water damage if something goes wrong. This is especially useful for ski chalets and other properties with the potential for frozen water.
“Hands down, the desire for remote control features to start the bath from another location” is high on Bethke customers’ wish lists, shares the Phoenix designer. “People weren’t using their bathtubs because of the time it took to heat it up and fill it. [them]but technology now allows the consumer to do it from their car, their golf course or the comfort of their living room.
5. Smart toilet
The NKBA report cites a high 60% penetration of smart toilets in residential bathroom projects. Bethke sees this clearly in her practice, she says. “The most requested items in a “Washlet” experience are the heated seat and the dryer” (using the Toto bidet seat brand name generically). “It’s no longer something we hide, they’re here to stay,” she says.
Velasco customers are also interested in smart toilets. “We find that the self-clean and bidet options add to the convenience and that the dual flush is a big help in saving water.”
Brunet’s Canadian customers are also excited about smart toilets, she says. The features they’re most interested in are “a custom spray wand, a stainless steel cleaning wand, a heated seat, a lighted base (for nighttime tours), a hands-free seat cover, a digital wall control, a hands-free flush control and a reminder of individual preferences. .” Grubb cited the same features for his customers thousands of miles away in Southern California.
“The features my customers request most are heated seats, motion-sensing automatic flushing and washing, and a built-in bidet function,” Ireland observes. “Even though smart toilets come with a higher price tag, they offer luxurious benefits that my customers appreciate, especially those who are elderly. It makes the overall experience much easier for them,” she notes.