Where Design Meets Intelligence: The New Heart of the Modern Home

For decades, the thermostat has been a workhorse that only gets noticed when it’s too hot or too cold. The Honeywell Home brand helped define the category, with the iconic Honeywell Round thermostat earning a place in the Smithsonian. But as modern homes became more connected and design-conscious, the category needed to evolve beyond appliance mode. Resideo’s experienced design team set out to solve that disconnect and reimagine its new Honeywell Home thermostat as the centerpiece of the modern home—an approach that was recently recognized with the 2026 iF Design Award.

As Marty Ellingson, Senior Director and Head of Global Experience Design at Resideo, frames it, the team asked a simple question: what would a homeowner want to have on a wall that looks good, but isn’t distracting? The result is: heritage thinking with modern standards. The thermostat isn’t a utility afterthought, it’s part of the home’s rhythm.

Five Ways to Redesign Comfort

Guided by the voice of the customer and more than 130 years of Honeywell Home heritage, Marty and the design team set out to redefine smart comfort. The customizable interface and sleek form reflect Resideo’s commitment to smart, user-centric design, setting it apart in both function and brand expression.

Here are five intentional ways the ElitePRO smart thermostat was designed to redefine smart comfort.

1. Personalized Design That’s Worthy of the Wall

“Comfort isn’t only about temperature — it’s how your home looks, feels, and adapts to your daily rhythm,” said Ellingson. The team used daily rhythm as inspiration to design the interactive five-inch touchscreen: a smart watch.

“A standard watch can tell time, sure— just like a thermostat can tell you the temperature inside your house. But a smart watch becomes something you actively customize and engage with to try to optimize your performance. That’s how a modern home should use their thermostat: to optimize energy savings and customize, just like artwork,” she added   

The ElitePRO’s customizable idle screen goes beyond a static control panel for a personalized décor statement, offering several choices of design themes and color combinations. Customers can choose to display a five-day weather forecast, analog or digital clock options, or indoor air quality information. The look and feel of the screens range from dramatic and modern to understated and classic. Both the hardware and user experience are seamless and integrated into daily life.

“The idle screen is a breakthrough because it turns a functional thermostat into a personalized home companion – showing what matters most to each household, whether it’s the morning weather before a golf round, indoor air quality updates for allergy-prone kids, or a simple clock display that blends seamlessly into daily routines,” said Ellingson. “I’m also very proud of the team’s ability to deliver soft, approachable form and the touchscreen’s size supports ergonomic interaction.”



2. Comfort Beyond Temperature

The ElitePRO gives users visibility into areas of the home they’ve never been able to monitor before – including air quality, humidity, and potential HVAC system issues.

According to Ellingson, “this smart thermostat is not just beautifully designed – it’s built to help homeowners stay ahead of issues before they become problems.”

Built-in sensors track indoor air quality, measuring humidity, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon dioxide estimates. The information is displayed in an easy to understand, graphic format, so families can make informed adjustments. The thermostat can also be paired with remote room sensors to help prioritize comfort at home, tracking, and setting temperature room-by-room.

Importantly, the ElitePRO smart thermostat continuously monitors the HVAC system, and a notification is sent to both the homeowner and their technician when an unusual pattern is detected – enabling proactive service to help prevent minor issues from escalating into costly system failures.



3. Bringing the Smart Home Together

The ElitePRO smart thermostat is a connected hub, with live video streaming from compatible First Alert^® and Ring^® doorbell cameras that allow homeowners to see and speak with visitors right from the thermostat.

“This thermostat is anything but static – it’s beautifully designed, highly functional, dynamic, and fully connected to the smart home ecosystem,” said Ellingson. “With a video doorbell feed displayed right on the thermostat, comfort and convenience work together. Users don’t have to walk to the door or interrupt what they are doing when someone rings the doorbell. They can see who’s there and respond instantly.”



4. Energy Savings That Matter

Increasing energy costs require creative solutions. The ElitePRO thermostat is ENERGY STAR^® certified and designed for low operational energy use. It’s easy to program schedules that fit real lifestyles, whether through the app or on the device. Honeywell Home thermostat users save on average 22% (heating users) and 17% (cooling users) on their HVAC energy consumption when using the recommended scheduling feature consistently, for annual savings of $204.*

“Using program schedules isn’t just smart, it provides savings that users can feel,” said Ellingson. “A thermostat that can help lower bills and boost efficiency earns its place on the wall and can pay for itself in a short time.”

The ElitePRO also promotes energy efficiency through features like auto-away, room prioritization with remote smart room sensors, and a “feels like” temperature that factors in humidity levels in the home. This awareness can help users reduce energy consumption and costs.

5. A Legacy of Leadership

Honeywell Home is America’s No. 1 most trusted thermostat brand, with a long legacy of providing comfort for homes. The design team treats that heritage not as nostalgia, but as a standard to live up to when creating the next generation of iconic solutions. The ElitePRO smart thermostat continues tradition with a modern combination of premium design, precision sensing, smart home integration, indoor air quality visibility, and proactive insights.

“The ElitePRO thermostat isn’t just a thermostat — it’s the heartbeat of the modern home. It shapes comfort, reflects personal style, and quietly drives efficiency behind the scenes,” said Ellingson. “When design and intelligence come together, the entire home feels elevated.”

It is offered in both bold black and classic white versions so that customers can choose what best fits their home. To learn more about the Honeywell Home ElitePRO smart thermostat, visit HoneywellHome.com.

* Results are based on a random sample of 6,000+ U.S. Honeywell Home ENERGY STAR thermostat users that have a schedule routine. The schedule routine used a setpoint spread of 8 degrees Fahrenheit on heating setpoints and/or 7 degrees Fahrenheit on cooling setpoints for at least 14 days a month.

To reach these findings, actual HVAC equipment runtimes were compared to equipment runtimes estimated with user-selected comfort setpoints during both heating and cooling seasons in 2023.

Data analysis led to finding the average savings on HVAC energy costs, as opposed to the commonly used “up to” percentage of energy savings that only reports the highest-end possibilities.

See also:

Resideo Announces Honeywell Home ElitePRO™ Smart Thermostat Powered by Pro-IQ™ Services

How to Cut Winter Heating Costs with Smart Thermostats

Fall Home Safety Checklist: Comfort and Protection for the Season Ahead

Frequently Asked Questions:

What makes the Honeywell Home ElitePRO different from other smart thermostats?

The Honeywell Home ElitePRO smart thermostat features a sleek 5-inch touchscreen with a customizable idle screen and live video streaming from compatible doorbells, along with indoor air quality visibility, and proactive HVAC monitoring.

Can the ElitePRO smart thermostat help monitor indoor air quality?

The ElitePRO monitors indoor air quality, as built-in sensors track humidity, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon dioxide estimates and presents the information in an easy-to-understand, graphic format.

Can the thermostat alert me to HVAC issues?

The ElitePRO smart thermostat continuously monitors HVAC system performance and sends notifications if unusual patterns are detected, helping prevent costly system failures.