Home Improvements Go High-Tech

Betty Crocker, Julia Child and Martha Stewart have been upstaged. Homeowners are now turning to computers to find recipes and use software for menu planning in their wired kitchens.

Home trends are taking leaps forward technologically, and at the same time they are taking an environmentally conscious step back to basics.

Making upgrades to a home typically includes remodeling a kitchen or bathroom. The focus is also going beyond aesthetics to making a home more energy efficient.

Bob Formisano, AIA, the About.com Home Repair Guide, said that the kitchen and bath improvements are always the most popular because they have the highest return on investment, although they don’t always get the same return as the cost put into them.

Pimp My Bathroom

Bathrooms are often remodeled or built with spa-like features.

Formisano said that a popular retrofit to existing bathrooms is putting in a heated floor. He said there are electric heating mats that are pre-manufactured and are installed on top of the bathroom’s subfloor.

Homeowners are also making more changes to their bathrooms’ shower heads. Formisano said more air is being introduced into the showerhead, thereby introducing more water. He said that multiple showerheads, retrofit with a rail system, are being added to showers.

He pointed out that there are also pivoting showerheads that are built right into the walls’ tile. He pointed out that tile, such as Kohler's 4-inch by 4-inch tiles that have directional showerheads built into them to offer a luxurious feel.

For bathroom floors, Formisano said more people are using slate, which is an inexpensive tile product that adds character.

Formisano said stressed that when remodeling a bathroom, keep the toilet and tub where they are. He said when fixture units are moved, “it seriously affects the cost and that homeowners never see value in that.”

Everett Collier, Certified Remodeler of Collier Ostrom, Inc., Remodeling Contractors in San Francisco, said he's seeing big upgrades in bathrooms. Homeowners are adding improved lighting, skylights and more natural light, as well as Jacuzzi tubs and TVs installed behind mirrors, said Collier, who is president of the National Association of the Rebuilding Industry.

Collier said people get sense of comfort from such features. For example, if homeowners have a stressful day, they can relax in a Jacuzzi bath with a glass of wine.

Cleaning Up Kitchens

Kitchens are becoming less cluttered. Getting appliances off the counter is a dominant look.

Appliances are blending in more with the kitchen’s background than ever before. Formisano said that people are going for lower-depth refrigerators that are built in and can get such appliances from retailers such as General Electric.

Collier said built-in appliances have a more stylish look, and they relieve homeowners from having a white box in the room. He said that dishwashers with drawers could also be made to look like cabinets.

Formisano said he’s seeing more homeowners opt for dual-fuel ranges that give them an electric oven and a gas cook top. Ovens are also becoming more heavy duty than they once were.

Collier said that over last few years, more people are requesting commercial-like stoves and range hoods that can produce higher temperatures.

He also said that sinks are getting deeper, faucets taking on a higher, gooseneck shape and having a sprayer built into the spigot.

Trends in countertops are expanding into unlikely materials.

Collier said a countertop with recycled bottled glass that’s ground like terrazzo in a cement matrix is a very new and interesting look. He added that concrete countertops and floors are also being used more in kitchens.

He added that butcher blocks have made a resurgence.

Going High-Tech

Homeowners are building home theaters and sound systems that carry into multiple rooms.

“People are becoming more electronically savvy every year,” Collier said. “The whole electronic age is just booming.”

He said that because prices are dropping, more homes are starting to go to a whole-house system. Features include incorporating speakers into walls and plasma screens with surround sound.

Go Green

Upgrades are incorporating a green spin. More homeowners are choosing to use environmentally friendly products in their homes.

Don Zeman, host of the Homefront radio show of Columbia, Mo., said that in the last few years, he's seeing more people building decks with composite materials, which requires less maintenance than wood.

"It's a great example of how people are starting to go green," he said.

Formisano said said kitchen floors are more often covered with cork, which has the durability of a vinyl floor.

Bamboo flooring also has a strong presence, but Formisano warned the coating used on the bamboo might not be environmentally friendly. If you're aiming green, make sure the bamboo flooring has a seal certifying that it is environmentally friendly.

Efficiency Increase

Homeowners typically buy and move into the largest house they can afford. That combined with rising fuel prices has made energy efficiency a hot topic.

“Sometimes some of the best money you can spend is putting in single-pane windows,” Zeman said.

Zeman said an energy-efficient house becomes much more valuable. He said he's starting to see people downsize in exchange for more energy efficiency.

Zeman suggested finding out what the previous owner did to improve the home's efficiency and then evaluate the existing work.

For example, increasing insulation from 3 to 8 inches triples the home's energy efficiency, he said.

Zeman added that when homeowners sell their homes, they should be very specific about what energy efficiency improvements have been made to the house.

He also pointed out that those homeowners with a furnace that is five to eight years old is not going to be energy efficient, but upgrading the unit will pay off.

“You will pay for that unit in three years. Then you’re making money on the payback,” he said.