In this weekly column, hosts Brandon Doyle, Doyle Real Estate Team with RE/MAX Results, and Colton Pratt, project manager, walk through smart-home products and showcase their capabilities while reviewing pros and cons.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show in January in Las Vegas always provides a plethora of new products to entertain us with, and to ponder. There’s so much there that we could showcase all the stuff we saw for the rest of the entire year … but we won’t!
What’s always timeless for those in the business of residential real estate however, is ideas for upgrading bathrooms and kitchens.
The plumbing products specialist Kohler put in a show of force this year at CES, introducing products that could make any homeowner feel like they’re living in a futuristic Hollywood movie.
The company introduced five new products: The Moxie Smart Showerhead + Smart Speaker, the Aquifer Refine water purification system, the Setra touchless faucet controlled by the Kohler Konnect app for iOS and Android devices, the DTV+ showering system and new Touchless Toilet technology.
The goal of these line of products is to make life more convenient. While they might work in luxury homes, and for those who love to have all the latest conveniences, it’s not hard to imagine how some of these hands-free technologies could be a Godsend for the elderly aging in place at home.
Faucet, pour out two cups of water!
The Setra touchless kitchen faucet with Kohler Konnect enables people to turn the faucet on and off with a wave of the hand. It can also dispense measured amounts of water with voice commands through a smart voice assistant.
Setra also monitors water usage and lets you track consumption in the Kohler Konnect app. This could be very useful for people living in drought-prone states like California where water consumption is metered.
Toilet, warm up the seat, play the news and light up purple!
Numi 2.0 Intelligent Toilet: Numi is efficient with the water it uses, lights up with colors and music playlist you choose, and flushes itself. It even features adjustable water temperature, automatic deodorization, UV sanitization and a lid that opens and closes itself.
And it’s embedded with Amazon Alexa, which enables you to activate these features. You can also then ask the embedded Alexa to check the weather, traffic and news as you’re doing your business. Numi 2.0 was named as a CES 2020 Innovation Awards Honoree. The company’s web site says the product will be available in the second quarter this year.
Showerhead, turn yourself on and play my favorite songs!
Kohler’s Moxie Showerhead + Wireless Smart Speaker: The new Moxie showerhead and wireless smart speaker combines the smart technology from Kohler along with the latest in sound technology from the audio speaker specialist Harman Kardon. It’s connected bathroom technology combined with a portable smart speaker and built-in voice assistant. The company also claims that its showerhead system dispenses water efficiently.
Shower/Bath, set the water at my favorite temperature!
DTV Mode digital shower system: DTV Mode provides a push-button control of Kohler’s digital shower and bath system with an integrated temperature dial. You can create customized bath preset temperatures, adjust maximum temperature and remotely start your shower or bath from the app.
DTV+ shower system: The DTV+ showering system brings water, sound, steam and lighting together to deliver a spa-like experience. The Kohler Konnect system allows you to control it all either with an app or your voice.
Brandon Doyle is a Realtor at Doyle Real Estate Team — Re/Max Results in Minneapolis and co-author of Mindset, Methods & Metrics – Winning as a Modern Real Estate Agent. You can follow him on Twitter.
