12 New Gadgets and Appliances That Could Change Your Home, from CES 2026

LEGO surprised everyone at CES with the announcement of its new SMART brick, which will ultimately change the way we play with LEGO. According to the brand, it’s “one of the most significant evolutions in the LEGO System-in-Play since the introduction of the LEGO Minifigure in 1978.”

The brick is packed with tech like sensors, accelerometers, and more that enable it to interact and respond to other Legos, alongside SMART tags and SMART Minifigures. The system is designed to inspire kids and bring the play experience to life with lights, sounds, and behaviors. “It can change colors, make noises, and it has different sensors that can tell if you're ‘flying’ a ship around, for instance,” said Scherma, who regularly tests LEGO for GH. He also loves that the brick works with various tags and minifigures. “This way, you can swap out the tag for whatever sound or noise you want the brick to make, so it allows for more creative and even sillier freedom,” he said.

The first LEGO SMART Play building sets will be coming to various Star Wars sets later this spring, and our experts can't wait to see how LEGO continues to build out SMART Play.

Price and availability: Launching March 1, 2026; pricing will vary

RELATED: LEGO’s New 'SMART Play' Adds Lights, Sounds, and More Fun to Bricks

GE’s latest refrigerator wants to make grocery shopping and meal prepping easier. It's packed with tech like a built-in Scan-to-List barcode scanner to help you reorder low stock groceries. According to the brand, it’s able to recognize more than four million products. So, say you’re running low on milk—all you need to do is scan your milk carton's barcode, and the fridge will automatically add it to a grocery list in the SmartHQ app so you won't forget it when you're out shopping. You can also sync up your list with Instacart.

Additionally, the fridge has a built-in camera called FridgeFocus that you can tap into when you’re not at home. Other unique features include voice assistance, an 8" touchscreen display, recipe integrations, and more.

Price and availability: Expected April 2026; starting at $4,899

I’m no stranger to smart scales, but I couldn’t wait to get a demo of the highly anticipated Withings Body Scan 2. Referred to as a “longevity station” by the brand, the Body Scan 2 is so much more than a connected bathroom scale. In just 90 seconds, it claims to detect more than 60 biomarkers, providing information such as hypertension risk notifications, in-depth evaluations of metabolic efficiency, glycemic regulation, and much more.

Because chronic illness continues to rise globally, the Body Scan 2 aims to provide users with preventive health insights— specifically, “the ability to detect and reverse physiological imbalances at a reversible stage, years before symptoms appear," as described in a press release.

Price and availability: Expected Q2; pricing starting at $599.95

You’ll find no shortage of washers and dryers on the CES show floor, but Hisense’s X-Zone Master stands out for its unique design. Referred to by the brand as a “scalable washer-dryer platform,” it features a main unit along with two mini modules. These smaller modules can be configured to your space (stacked, side-by-side, etc.), and they’re perfect for items such as delicates, athletic wear, wool sweaters, and other garments that require gentle fabric care.

As a dog owner and mom, I’m constantly running hundreds of loads because I need to separate items—i.e., my baby’s clothing, my dog’s bedding, and my wool sweaters. Having two smaller modules would help simplify laundry days by allowing me to run multiple loads simultaneously, without the need for another full-sized machine.

Price and availability: TBA

Garmin watch wearers can now do more than track their health and fitness data in the Garmin Connect app, thanks to the brand’s launch of nutrition tracking. Though a Garmin Connect+ subscription plan is required, users can track calories and macros (proteins, fats, and carbs) in the app by taking a photo of their food intake, scanning bar codes, and more. While nutrition tracking isn’t a new concept, what I’m most excited about is that I can now keep track of the calories I’ve burned as well as the calories I’ve consumed within one app on my phone (and my Garmin smartwatch, of course).

Additionally, Garmin’s latest feature will produce reports to help you understand your personal data and whether you’re meeting health goals. Meanwhile, “Active Intelligence Insights" helps offer a better understanding of your overall relationship between food and fitness (i.e., how food affects how you sleep or feel). Ultimately, Garmin wants to provide you with a more holistic view of your health, and that’s something I can get behind in 2026.

Price and availability: Available now for all Garmin Connect+ subscribers; $6.99/month or $69.99/year

The Clicks Communicator is reminiscent of the beloved Blackberry, featuring a physical keyboard as well as a 4.03” touch display. What I love most about it is that it’s designed to help you focus on productivity and communication rather than the consumption of content –i.e., doomscrolling on Instagram or TikTok in the middle of the night. According to Clicks, the Communicator is “a new kind of smartphone designed to complement today’s flagship devices by doing what they increasingly don’t: helping people communicate clearly, act quickly, and stay focused in a noisy digital world.”

There’s no denying that an iPhone’s screen is alluring, but as a mom of a toddler, I want to limit screen time to what’s strictly necessary—messages, emails, calls, etc. I absolutely love the idea of using a smartphone that doesn’t constantly tempt and distract you with content when you’re trying to spend quality time with kids.

Price and availability: Expected fall 2026; starting at $499

Though the Seattle Ultrasonic looks like your ordinary knife, it’s far from it. With the press of a button that activates ultrasonic energy, the knife’s blade vibrates 30,000 times per second. I couldn’t feel the knife vibrating when testing it out myself, and you're not supposed to. The vibrations are silent and help create a smoother cutting experience with less friction.

Not only does the knife help make cutting more effortless and prevent sticky foods from clinging to your knife, but I love that you can purchase it alongside a sleek, wooden charging tile to keep it powered (or you can use USB-C).

Price and availability: Expected March 2026; starting at $399