When you've got a tiny home, there's only have so much space to work with. To make the most of the space, you'll need to be very deliberate in the appliances that find their way inside. Luckily, there are plenty in the smart home category that can provide maximum utility with minimum footprint. Let's explore some of the best smart tech for your tiny home.
When it comes to cooking, you won't have a lot of room for multiple big appliances in a tiny home. Products like the Instant Pot are able to tackle multiple functions at once and maybe even replace a stove if you're in a pinch. Besides pressure-cooking, the latest models are able to sautée, make yogurt, cook rice, steam, sous vide, and more. You can even use it for canning preserves. The Pro Plus model pairs up with a mobile app so you can beam recipes directly to the cooker, or you can remotely control it. Of course, Instant Pot has a healthy range of products, so you can find smaller ones or air fryers among their ranks if that's your jam.
In a tiny home, you aren't going to have a whole lot of room for lamps. LED light strips are a great way to go since they have such a low profile and can be tucked into recessed areas. You'll likely want some kind of exterior illumination right on the house if you're counting on moving on to another site and don't want to affix much to the property. Running this Philips Hue light strip along the outside of your tiny home can handily take care of that. Philips Hue lights offer a wide range of fun color options, but they're also very energy efficient. Other models are available for indoor lighting, too. You can find some other great smart lights here.
Smart heat pumps are among the most energy efficient heating and cooling you can find, especially if you're trying to avoid using fossil fuels in a low-carbon lifestyle. MRCOOL makes ductless mini split systems that accommodate rooms between 500 and 1,500 square feet, while heat ratings go from 12K to 36K BTUs. Wi-Fi connectivity provides remote control and access via Google Assistant and Siri. You can set up schedules, enable geofencing so the system turns on or off depending on how close you are, and maximize energy savings.
To go even further off-grid, you'll need some solar panels. Renogy's 100W starter Kit has everything you need to set a foundation for renewable energy. It includes mounting hardware, a charge controller, and cables. You'll likely need another couple of solar panels and a deep cell battery to feed all of that power into. By plugging a separate Bluetooth module into the charge controller, you can pair up your phone and get rich data on your tiny home's power consumption and generation.
Be sure to read up more on our picks for best solar panels.
Finally, you'll need a washing machine that doesn't take up a lot of room, doesn't use a whole lot of water, and conserves energy. If it has smartphone connectivity, that would just be the cherry on top. Luckily, the LG WM3600HWA ticks all of those boxes.
Even without the smartphone app, this thing is pretty smart. It's able to figure out the type of fabric being loaded or execute a steaming cycle to remove allergens. In a bigger home, you might be lacking capacity in a washer like this, but it's a solid fit for a tiny home that's looking to save space.
Be sure to read up on our top picks for washing machines if you're looking for more options.
You'll want to check with a lawyer before knowing for sure if a tiny house is legal where you want to build one. This will likely depend more on municipal laws than anything. Namely, unincorporated rural areas are more flexible with zoning than cities.
The folks at TinySociety have put together a great map, ranking each U.S. state by its friendliness towards tiny homes. Texas, New Mexico, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Oregon all rate highly. Meanwhile, Montana, Wisconsin, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama all rate poorly.
It's possible to spend a lot of money on a tiny house if you want to. You can expect to pay between $20,000 and $60,000 on average, or more if you're going to splurge. Here's a look at some incredibly affordable tiny homes.
If you're handy, it's possible to save a lot of money by building a tiny house yourself. In general, labor accounts for about half of home construction costs.
In order to remain towable, tiny homes should be at most 8.5 feet wide, 13.5 feet tall, and 40 feet long.
Simon Sage is a green tech contributor at Digital Trends. He looks at all sorts of devices that can help reduce emissions through electrification, like power stations, solar panels, smart thermostats, and LED lighting. He's also keen on exploring right to repair and sustainable transportation.
Simon started journalism 17 years ago in the mobile tech space, covering the meteoric rise and fall of BlackBerry. Since then he's dipped his toe in mobile gaming, app reviews, and sponsored content. He's been to his fair share of trade shows, such as Mobile World Congress, the Consumer Electronics Show, E3 (RIP), the Game Developer Conference, and a smattering of smaller shows. He's done multiple TV interviews, the most surreal of which was explaining how Pokémon Go works on a morning show. Simon's also hosted over 100 podcast episodes.
Previous publications include BlackBerry Cool, IntoMobile, and Mobile Nations sites like Android Central, iMore, CrackBerry, and Windows Central.
Simon's based in Ottawa, Ontario, where he is constantly clawing against the gravitational pull of becoming a government drone. He studied English at Carleton University there, including a stint at Lancaster University in the UK. He has since levelled up his education in sustainability through the Climatebase platform. Simon spends way too much of his free time playing games, especially Magic: The Gathering.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.
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