Tech Features That Can Improve Your Bathroom
Whether it’s a bathroom you can control from your phone or a responsive shower head, motion-sensor faucet, defogging mirror, automatic lighting, audiovisual technology or smart toilet, there’s a whole range of tech-assisted improvements you can make to your bathroom. These additions can increase safety and improve hygiene, and you can also use the technology to save water and energy, identify leaks or turn the bathroom into a spa-like space that soothes every sense.
Justine Bullock of The Tap End has seen a growing interest in smart bathrooms. “We’re having requests for everything from bathroom TVs and Japanese [toilets] to more basic tech, such as under-tile heating. Even those more entry-level additions are now compatible with phones, so you can set timers for everything from lighting to heating, which clients love to do.”
“With smart tech having taken over most other parts of the home, bathrooms have finally started to follow suit,” says George Holland of Victorian Plumbing. “In the past two years in particular, we’ve seen a rapid rise in demand for our many smart bathroom products.”
This Washington bathroom by Treefrog Design features a TV screen that can be viewed from the tub, shower or vanity. An LED tape light in the vanity toe kick can be turned on and off via a wall switch or remote.
“Simply put, people are turning to tech to make the little things that bit easier,” Holland says. “There are demisting mirrors for safer shaving, digital showers that preheat the water to your preferred temperature and smart toilets that save you having to use paper. Name almost any bathroom inconvenience and you’re likely to find a smart product to solve it.”
Audiovisual features are also popular, Bullock says. “These turn a bathroom into a more relaxing space, which really appeals to people who like to bathe for long periods of time.”
Other motivations are safety, lower utility bills and damage prevention. “You can equip spaces under sinks, baths and showers with smart water sensors that can detect leaks before they become problematic,” Holland says. “If you live in an old home with troublesome plumbing, these could potentially save you thousands … for repair work.”
“Anything you can hook up to your phone can also save you on utility bills,” Bullock says. “You can really home in on how you like to use your bathroom and set timers accordingly, conserving electricity and not having items running longer than needed.”
“It varies from product to product, but most bathroom tech can be retrofitted,” Holland says. “You can easily add things such as smart mirrors, automatic faucets and bathroom speakers to recently renovated spaces. However, you may need to give your plumber another call.”
Ivan Simpson of Ivan Simpson Kitchens says smart shower fixtures are relatively easy to retrofit too, though smart toilets may be harder. As Bullock points out, “They need electricity, so [they] may be a little tricky unless power is in that area of the bathroom already.”
Here are some of the smart features on the market today.
Multifunctional Mirrors
“Smart mirrors are amazing for storage, illumination, USB sockets and even wireless charging,” Bullock says, adding that motion-sensor technology often also comes standard. “That means you don’t have to put wet hands on the mirror itself, and gone are the days of pull cords.”
“If you’ve ever stepped out of a hot shower and been faced with a steamed-up mirror, then a motion-activated heat-up mirror could be just the gadget for you,” Holland says. “Some smart mirrors have Bluetooth connectivity too, allowing you to connect your phone or tablet and use your mirror as a bathroom speaker.”
But things get even more high-tech than that. “Beauty mirrors are starting to incorporate skin analysis technology,” Holland says. “From wrinkles to red spots, these mirrors are providing us with more information about our bodies than ever before.”
An electric defogging mirror is incorporated into the tile in this Virginia shower by Rendon Remodeling & Design.
Responsive Lighting
“We love a night light in an en suite,” Bullock says. “Whether under the toilet as low-level lighting or as a dim, ambient glow, a light source on a PIR [motion sensor system] is great for not disturbing your partner as they sleep. It simply comes on when you open the door or enter the room and goes off when you close the door or leave the room. [Passive infrared sensors] can also be great for bathrooms children use if they can’t reach the light switch.”
A simple LED light added beneath an existing mirror can be customized to work this way too. “These can be put on a motion sensor outside the room and retrofitted easily,” Simpson says.
Smart Toilets
“These can cost a lot of money, but it’s arguably worth spending,” Simpson says, adding that older clients have shown a particular interest in them. “A smart [toilet] can minimize the chance of cross-contamination, because you don’t have to touch anything in the room,” he says.
The top-of-the-range features on bidet-style toilets can include everything from male and female settings to anti-bacterial rims to automatic flushing. Heated seats and dryers often come standard, and Holland cites other features such as foot warmers, music and mood lighting. “These toilets offer a truly personalized experience and are more than just a gimmick — they can offer users with mobility issues more independence and privacy than a standard toilet,” he says.
“We would love it if every bathroom we designed included one,” Bullock says, agreeing on the hygiene benefits. “Clients absolutely love them once they’ve tried them.” And if they sound like something out of Bladerunner, fear not. The ones Bullock’s firm favors look no different than a regular toilet. “Gone are the days when such items looked as if they were from outer space!” she says.
This Aquia by Toto toilet has a bidet function. It includes a heated seat, oscillating and pulsating rinse wand, deodorizer and dryer and an electrolyzed water feature that cleans the bowl and wand after every use.
Water-Saving Shower Heads
“People are wanting more out of the shower,” Simpson says, explaining that water conservation is a big plus, especially for homes with meters. He cites rain shower heads that break up the water into droplets and designs that soak you with a mist instead of a torrent. “These use 20% to 25% less water, but it feels as if you’re using a lot,” he says.
The Kohler Statement shower head seen here uses air-induction technology to create large drops while using 30% less water than the federal standard.
Chromatherapy Showers
“These shower systems are a way to incorporate color therapy into your bathroom,” Holland says, noting that orange light is said to relieve fatigue and blue light is said to relax and ease muscle tension. “The showers are controlled using a remote or a smartphone, meaning you can blend different color palettes while you shower for a personalized experience.”
Bullock notes that some smart showers can be controlled remotely for other reasons. “Digital showers can be turned on from your bed, so they’re the perfect temperature when you get in.”
High-Tech Baths
Simpson extolls the benefits of auto-fill technology for baths, for which you need a specialized tub. “You can have it preset for a certain temperature and fill height and it will repeat that every time,” he says. This sort of tech can improve safety for young children, he says.
You can also swap faucets for a fill valve, which can be locked, meaning children can’t fiddle with the faucet and risk scalding themselves.
Touch-Free Faucets
Once the preserve of commercial environments such as restaurants, offices and bars, these faucets have gradually been modified to look and work better in domestic settings, Bullock says.
“We have access to many styles, from hardwired into the electrics to battery-operated,” she says. “They’re easier for little ones, elderly people and anyone with mobility issues, who can operate them with a simple hand wave rather than struggling with an awkward handle.”
They’re also a sustainable choice, Holland says. “They help to reduce the length of time a faucet can run for, as well as the need to touch, making for a more hygienic trip to the bathroom. They also have a lower flow rate and a preset temperature feature to keep everyone safe.”
Automatic Soap Dispensers
These are often battery-operated, so they’re easy to retrofit, Bullock says. “They’re perfect for [powder rooms] that would be used by friends and family and particularly appealing now that hygiene and handwashing are such a focus.”
“Automatic soap dispensers have planet-friendly benefits too,” Holland says. “You can say goodbye to plastic bottles and simply refill the dispenser when you run out.”
Audiovisual Technology
“If I were to choose one item of bathroom tech for my own home, it would be a TV at the foot of my bath,” Bullock says. “I can spend hours in the bath, between mud masks and hair masks, so a TV is a really lovely addition to me.
“My husband, on the other hand, would rather listen to music in the shower, making a TV that can do both the perfect solution for families like ours,” she says. “The TVs we favor are mirror-finish, so they look fab in a design.”
“In a traditional setting, we’d steer away from things such as illuminated buttons, color-changing lights, super modern styling and futuristic shapes,” Bullock says.
Holland suggests there are ways to incorporate some features though. “One of the best things about bathroom tech is how unobtrusive it can be,” he says. “Many of the products, such as automatic LED lights and sensor faucets, are really discreet in their designs. You can even find traditionally styled smart products, such as mirrors with hidden Bluetooth speakers, none of which will detract from a traditional bathroom’s looks.”
Is It Safe?
“Bathroom tech is safe, but this safety largely hinges on whether the product itself has been installed correctly,” Holland says. Every piece of electrical equipment designed for use in a bathroom will have a safety rating, he says. “This will determine just how waterproof the item is and tell your plumber in which locations it’s safe to be installed.”