Most smart locks are designed around a single door type, typically a standard wooden front door with a mortise or deadbolt. The Aqara Smart Lock U500 series, now available in the UK, takes a different approach, offering three separate versions built for door types that retrofit smart locks have historically struggled with.

Hosting has shifted from formal dinners to everyday gatherings, with more people investing in their kitchens and tablescapes as extensions of their lifestyle. In that context, the objects that sit on a table or a kitchen counter carry more weight than they used to. They are part of the atmosphere, not just the function.

At-home slushie machines have become a genuine kitchen appliance category over the past two years, largely on the back of the Ninja Slushi, which sells at £299.99. Salter, the British kitchen appliance brand, has now entered the same space with its own Slushie Maker, priced at £179.99 and built around a similar operating premise.

Robot vacuums have been solving floor-cleaning across single rooms and open-plan spaces for years, but stairs have remained the consistent limitation. Most models stop at the edge of a staircase. The Dreame Cyber X, first previewed at IFA Berlin in 2025 and formally announced at Dreame's Paris launch event this week, addresses that directly with a purpose-built stair-climbing system and now comes with a stair-cleaning function that was absent from the earlier concept.

Ducati was founded in Bologna in 1926, and the centenary has produced the kind of releases one would expect from a marque of its standing. The Barista M3 1926 Limited Edition Carbon Fiber, developed in collaboration with Swiss manufacturer Cuisine Barista, is a different kind of object: a capsule espresso machine built with the same material logic as a racing motorcycle.

Scavolini's Stilo, designed by Spalvieri & Del Ciotto, is a whole-home system that runs from kitchen through living area to bathroom within a single coherent design language, premised on the idea that the contemporary home no longer organises itself around fixed single-purpose rooms but around spaces that shift function across the day.

Inspired by early twentieth-century steamer trunks, the new Steamer Home Trunk retains their sturdy construction and generous proportions while focusing entirely on interior functionality. Placed at the end of a bed, it functions as an ottoman.

Fender and PAC-MAN have collaborated on a limited edition guitar that is equal parts collector's object and fully functional instrument. The limited edition Fender x PAC-MAN Player II Telecaster is available now as a web exclusive, made to order at £949, with a current delivery wait time of approximately four months from the point of order.

Pedrali has introduced what it calls the "Gentle Habitat," a design philosophy built around the idea that the spaces we live in should actively contribute to our well-being rather than simply hold our furniture, and the new collection it has built around that conviction is worth paying attention to.

The chromatic sensibility is warm without being decorative, and there is a quiet Art Deco quality to the overall character of the piece, understood more as a mood than a stylistic reference. It is the kind of armchair that looks better in ten years than it does today, which is the only real measure of whether a piece of furniture is worth the investment.

The outdoor kitchen has moved well beyond the category of seasonal luxury. What was once a weekend novelty has become, for a growing number of homeowners, a genuinely considered extension of the living space, designed with the same permanence and intention as the kitchen indoors. Napoleon's newly launched Oasis 106 Modular Island Kit sits at the serious end of that market.

Home solar energy has always had the same fundamental problem. Panels generate power during the day when the sun is out, but most households need that energy in the evening when it is not, and without a proper storage system, the electricity generated simply feeds back into the grid rather than reducing the bill it was installed to address. Anker SOLIX has built the Solarbank 4 E5000 Pro as a direct answer to that problem, and it is the most powerful and longest-lasting plug-

Most people who own Philips Hue lights bought them because they wanted the best. The colors, the scenes, the bridge, the ecosystem, and the whole considered experience of walking into a room and having the light already know what mood you are in. Hue earned that reputation, and it is not losing it.

Levoit has launched its Windi Mini series, three compact portable fans that take the brand's popular tower fan design and scale it down into something small enough for a desk or bedside table without sacrificing airflow or noise performance.

Garmin has quietly launched two new running watches that punch well above their price bracket. The Forerunner 70 and Forerunner 170 arrive with AMOLED displays, advanced training tools, and adaptive coaching features that until now were reserved for the brand's more expensive lineup, making both watches a genuinely interesting proposition for beginner and aspiring runners who do not want to compromise on capability.