KBIS: remodeling market lens

Home remodeling is still a growth story, but the clearest signal from Kitchen and Bath Industry Show coverage is not a single product launch. It is that connected devices, design software and custom layouts are being folded into routine renovation demand. (nkba.org) The broadest market forecast tied to that theme came from a syndicated market note that put global home-remodeling spending at $4.05 trillion in 2025 and $6.66 trillion by 2035. The note named artificial-intelligence design tools, smart-home integration and personalized living spaces as core drivers. (openpr.com) United States data points to a slower, steadier market than that global headline suggests. Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies said annual expenditures for improvements and maintenance to owner-occupied homes were projected to reach $509 billion in 2025, after it raised its benchmark estimate by $30 billion. (jchs.harvard.edu) By October 16, 2025, Harvard said spending was expected to remain steady through the end of 2025 and into the middle of 2026, with year-over-year gains of 1.2 percent by the third quarter of 2025 and 1.8 percent by the second quarter of 2026. That is a cooling market, not a collapse. (jchs.harvard.edu) Builder sentiment tells a similar story. The National Association of Home Builders said its Remodeling Market Index for the fourth quarter of 2025 rose to 64, up four points from the prior quarter, and any reading above 50 means more remodelers report good conditions than poor ones. (nahb.org) The smart-home piece is no longer niche in kitchen-and-bath planning. A September 4, 2025 report from the National Kitchen and Bath Association and CEDIA, the smart-home trade group, said it was measuring demand for technology integration across kitchens, baths and whole-home projects. (nkba.org) That framing showed up at the 2025 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show itself, where the National Kitchen and Bath Association highlighted sessions on “smart home design,” sustainability and luxury positioning rather than only fixtures and finishes. The show’s own coverage described it as a gathering for designers, builders and remodelers focused on innovation and market opportunity. (nkba.org, kbis.com) Consumer surveys also show why personalization keeps surfacing in forecasts. Houzz said the median spend on kitchen remodels in its 2025 United States Kitchen Trends Study rose to $60,000 from $55,000 a year earlier, while 86 percent of renovating homeowners hired a professional. (houzz.com) Houzz’s broader 2025 renovation survey, based on 21,889 users including 10,981 renovating United States homeowners, said renovation activity “inched down” from 2024 levels but remained historically high. That supports the case for a market driven less by new-home volume than by upgrades to existing homes. (houzz.com) So the KBIS lens here is less about a show-floor blockbuster than about where renovation dollars are drifting: toward homes that are older, more connected and more tailored to the people living in them. The forecasts differ on pace, but the direction is the same. (jchs.harvard.edu, openpr.com)