I'm Matt Ische with MDI Custom Homes, and every year my team and I notice certain requests coming up again and again on the homes we're building. Not just what a magazine says is trendy, but what's genuinely showing up in design meetings and material selections across our projects. This year the shift has been pretty noticeable, so I wanted to break down what we're seeing and building right now for folks in the Knoxville area.
A lot of what gets called a design trend is really just a swing of the pendulum. For a long time, new construction leaned hard into stark white walls, gray floors, and cool minimalism. It photographed well. It felt safe. But we're hearing from clients that they're tired of homes that feel like a hotel lobby. They want something that feels like theirs. That's the thread running through pretty much everything below.
Warmth is back, and it's not just paint colors
Houzz surveyed close to fifty design professionals for its most recent trend report, and one theme came up again and again: homeowners want rooms that reflect their own personality instead of chasing whatever's trending on social media. That's shown up clearly in what we're building. Creamy whites, soft taupes, and warm beiges are replacing the stark white and cool gray combo that dominated new builds for years. We're also seeing a lot more interest in earthy accent tones, sage green, terra cotta, deep olive, and rich burgundy, especially in cabinetry and tile.
Rich burgundy is the newest color we're seeing come in as a request. Homes & Gardens recently reported that burgundy kitchens dominated 2025 and that cabinet colors are getting slightly darker and richer in 2026. Designer Mary Beth Sullivan predicts plum and oxblood will show up in kitchens this year, because people want bold colors that still feel familiar and warm. She says these deep tones pair well with unlacquered brass, marble, and warm woods, which fits right in with the warmer palette above.
This isn't about a specific paint color though. It's about layering. A room with mixed textures, a vintage accent piece next to something modern, a mix of materials that feels collected over time rather than picked off a showroom floor in one trip. That's harder to pull off than picking one trendy color, honestly, but it's what makes a home feel finished instead of staged.
Kitchens are working harder than they used to
Kitchens keep evolving, and it's not just about size anymore. We're seeing a lot more requests for hidden appliance storage so the main kitchen stays clean looking, plus larger islands that function as a real gathering spot, not just a countertop. Deeper cabinet colors are showing up as well. A burgundy island or cabinet run paired with lighter walls adds depth without making the room feel dark. Scullery kitchens, a smaller prep kitchen tucked behind the main one, are coming up more too. That gives you a showroom-ready kitchen for entertaining and a working kitchen where the mess happens, out of sight.
Indoor and outdoor spaces are blurring together
East Tennessee gives us a real advantage here. Large windows and glass doors keep showing up as a top request nationally, and they make even more sense on a lot with a view or mature trees, which describes a lot of what we build on around Knoxville. Covered porches, outdoor fireplaces, and full outdoor kitchens are becoming standard asks instead of an afterthought tacked onto the budget at the end. Clients want their outdoor space to function like another room of the house, not just a patio.
Building for how people live, long term
A trend that's stuck around and kept growing is designing homes around aging in place and multigenerational living. That might mean a main level primary suite, wider doorways, or a private guest suite with its own entrance for a parent who moves in later. It's not flashy, but it's practical, and it's exactly the kind of thing a custom build handles well that a standard floor plan usually can't.
Flexible space matters too. A room that's an office now but could become a nursery or a guest room later is a much smarter use of square footage than a room with one fixed purpose. We talk through this with nearly every client now, because life changes and your house should be able to change with it, at least a little.
Smart home tech is getting simpler, not fancier
For a while, smart home tech meant juggling five different apps, one for lighting, one for the thermostat, one for security, and so on. That's starting to change. Clients want everything running through a single system they can manage without a headache. We're wiring homes to support that kind of integration from the start now, which is a lot easier and cheaper than retrofitting it after the drywall's up.
Craftsmanship and personal touches over generic finishes
If there's one thing tying all of this together, it's a move away from anything that feels mass produced. Clients want custom millwork, unique tile layouts, a built-in that fits their own hobby or collection, details that make the house theirs specifically. That's the whole point of building custom in the first place, and honestly, it's the part of this job my team and I enjoy the most. A generic floor plan can't give a family a home shaped around the way they live.
What this means if you're planning a build
None of these trends matter much on their own. What matters is how they fit your lot, your budget, and how you live day to day. That's the conversation we have with every client before a single design decision gets made. If you're weighing your options among custom house builders in the area and trying to figure out what's realistic for your project, that conversation is a good place to start.
If you want to see how some of these ideas show up in a custom home built by MDI, take a look at our showcase page. And if you're curious what's driving these shifts nationally, the National Association of Home Builders tracks buyer preference data across the country and is a solid resource if you want to dig deeper.
Trends come and go. What doesn't change is building a home that fits the people living in it. That's still the goal, every single time.