10 of the latest must-haves for your home

Kohler’s Veil Wall Hung Intelligent Toilet integrates a toilet and bidet in one. It’s the latest loo to feature touchless flushing – you just wave your hand over the sensor – and self-cleaning technology. Price: $4,799.

Forget chopping firewood and the toxic fumes of LPG. Bio Fuel Fires are the new revolution in home heating. Incredibly clean burning, so no dry eyes and no poisonous fumes. Beautiful natural looking flame and no chimney or external venting required so you can keep the heat right where you want it. The model you see here is by Naked Flame.

Spot the water tank. If you were one of the hundreds of thousands who watched The Block, you’ll probably know that Niki and Tiff chose a Thin Tank with Thin Pots to help get their 5 Star Eco Rating. Many New Zealanders still depend on tank water, and many more are aiming for greater sustainability and self-sufficiency by supplementing their mains supply, but not everybody has space for big cylindrical tanks. The innovative solution for Thin Tanks New Zealand was to make a rainwater tank that looks like a wall.

Samsung Electronics’ new line of built-in cooking products will be hopefully be available in New Zealand in 2017. Finished in traditional stainless steel or Samsung’s new black stainless steel finish, all the appliances are equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity so you can remotely start, control and turn off your oven from a smartphone or order food from your fridge’s touchscreen.

If you're guilty of killing as many houseplants as we are, this Parrot Pot is for you. It comes with a hidden ceramic pot that holds two litres of water and releases it through four water spouts. Oh, and just in case you don’t know how much water is right for your plants, it has an on-board library of more than 7,000 plants and can detect when yours is thirsty and how much water should be released.

You have a remote control for your TV and your sound system, but now there’s a remote control for your whole home. And by remote control, we mean really remote. With connected smart home systems like ILI OneTouch, you can use your smartphone, tablet or touch screen to manage your lighting, heating, security, entertainment and energy use from anywhere in the world. 

This is the most low-tech – correction, no-tech – item in this list, but we like the Tombolo Oak Bath Rack from Robertson Bathroomware because it’s such as nifty idea and elegant piece of design. Just the thing when you’re basking in your Stoked Hot Tub.

As part of our mission to inject more pzazz into your home, we’ll make recommendations on the kinds of furnishings, fittings and gadgets that would work well with your renovation. After all, a house without the right accessories is like an egg without salt, as my grandfather used to say.