The Wellness Upgrade: How technology and AI are transforming kitchen and bath design

Thoughtful Design Brings More Calm to Everyday Life

July 31, 2026

This summer, Ferguson Home joined design industry leaders for a panel discussion at the A&D Building’s Market Day in New York City. Here are four takeaways on how small, thoughtful choices in the home can bring more calm in daily life.

"There has to be human intentionality behind the choices. Wellness is very personal to the individual building that home. You need a human to pull the right levers." - Caroline Danielson, Senior Director, Ferguson Home

Wellness in the home can sometimes be found in the quiet details, like the steady pressure of a rain shower, a warm floor, the lingering scent of fresh laundry. Ferguson Home’s panel of design leaders explored how small, consistent choices add up to make a home feel good to live in. Here’s what they had to say.

1. Design Begins with Daily Life

“What is the one routine that helps you build calm during the day, and how can we improve it for you?”

For Sarah Robertson, Founder and Principal of Studio Dearborn, this is one of the most clarifying questions a designer can ask. The answer may be surprisingly simple: coffee in the same spot each morning, keeping a counter clear or having a warm towel waiting after a shower.

"I have a little coffee nook in my kitchen," Robertson shared. "The fact that I can stand in one spot in the morning, with all my things, gives me a lot of peace of mind."

A little structure for daily routines goes a long way, making a home feel calmer and easier to live in. A dedicated coffee bar, an organized drop zone by the door or a built-in charging station; that’s the small stuff that keeps morning from turning into a scramble.

A built-in coffee system keeps morning routines simple and clutter-free. Photo courtesy of Wolf at Ferguson Home.

2. Light Sets the Mood

Lighting is one of the most transformative elements in the home.

“Lighting is personal,” observed Joanna Saltz, moderator and Editorial Director of House Beautiful and Delish. “Some people want even light throughout. Some want focused light.”

"Color-changing technology has shaped the way our clients think about lighting,” said Caroline Danielson, Senior Director at Ferguson Home. “You can tune it down to a warm glow — and that changes the feel and mood of a room."

But technology is only part of the equation. "I want to orient the kitchen toward the sun and get that morning light, so you don't have to depend on electronic systems," said Douglas Wright, Founder and Architect of Douglas C. Wright Architects.

Positioning rooms to capture natural light remains one of the simplest, most effective design decisions a homeowner can make.

Smart, app-connected controls allow homeowners to adjust their environment instantly. One more way technology is quietly shaping the modern bathroom. Credit: Photo courtesy of Mr. Steam.

3. The Bathroom as a Personal Retreat

"I think of it as the last refuge," Robertson said of the primary bath. "Our bedrooms now have the dogs, the iPads, the phones. The bath is the one truly personal space left."

This perspective is directing both the products homeowners choose and the way bathrooms are designed. Steam showers, cold plunges, red light therapy and quality ventilation are being considered as part of a highly personalized experience. For years, the soaking tub was often replaced by a larger shower, but today homeowners are bringing it back for a sense of retreat. Smart mirrors with built-in lighting and app-controlled showers have become a bigger part of the bathroom experience, letting the room adjust itself to whoever's using it.

"Some of it is just the low-tech stuff," Robertson reflected. "The heated floor. The towel warmer. Those things that just make a space feel personal."

"The remodel side is where you can become very creative," Danielson noted. "Because the homeowner already knows that home backward and forward. They know exactly what they need."

4. Technology Works Best with Human Intentionality

AI is starting to show up in the design process, mostly as a visualization tool. AI-generated renderings can help homeowners explore combinations of color, finish and material that they might not have considered on their own.

"It gave my clients the courage to do things they found genuinely inspiring," said Robertson.

All panelists were equally clear about the constraints of technology. "AI is like a great temperature taker," Saltz offered. "A thermometer can tell you what the temperature is, and you need an expert to tell you what the actual problem is."

Danielson agreed: wellness is personal, and getting it right still takes someone who understands the individual living in the home.

As Wright put it, "Taste changes, and so do age and life cycle. Your needs change as a human." Technology can expand the possibilities. The final decisions still depend on understanding the people who’ll actually live with them.

Technology can expand the possibilities; it's the conversation with a design expert that turns options into the right decision for how someone actually lives. Credit: Photo courtesy of Ferguson Home.

The Quietest Stuff Counts

Throughout the conversation, panelists kept coming back to the small stuff: a quiet dishwasher, a kid-friendly dedicated device area with refrigeration for snacks, a dedicated composting station, a mudroom with a place for everything.

"I would argue those spaces are all wellness adjacent,” Wright said. “The coffee bar, the butler's pantry, the secondary spaces. They contain the cultural noise. That organization, that sense of having a place for everything. That is wellness too."

So when planning, homeowners should consider features beyond those that attract the most attention, focusing on the ones they’ll use every day. It’s often the quieter stuff, like a mini refrigerator in the bathroom for skincare or a stacked washer-dryer tucked right into the primary closet, and those are worth asking about when planning a build or remodel.