A handful of categories saw individual sales gains compared to last year even as overall U.S. home and housewares sales dipped 0.5 percent.
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Several homes and houseware categories, including kitchen gadgets and cookware/bakeware, saw a gain in sales last year, according to the latest report from the International Housewares Association (IHA).
Earlier this month, the IHA released the first installment of its 2026 State of the Industry Report, MarketScope, which details data and analysis on U.S. market size by category and retail channel. According to that report, overall U.S. home and housewares sales totaled just over $77 billion but were still down 0.5 percent from the previous year.
Within that total, small appliances accounted for nearly $45 billion, up 1 percent from 2024. Non-electric housewares, which include categories like cookware, bakeware, tools and gadgets and more, dipped 2.5 percent to $32.18 billion for 2025.
“There’s no doubt that economic uncertainty made for a challenging year in our industry,” said Derek Miller, IHA president and CEO. “But that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities. The IHA State of the Industry Report is designed to identify those opportunities and assist companies in making the best strategic decisions for their customers and partners as they plan for the future.”
Despite the overall decrease, several categories saw individual gains: kitchen electrics like air fryers, stand mixers and espresso makers saw a 4 percent boost on the year. Cookware/bake also rose 4 percent as consumers continued the trend of wanting to bake more at home. Circana data supports this trend, noting that for the first time since 1980, ready-to-eat baked goods declined, while baking ingredient sales increased.
Home comfort and water filtration, as well as gadgets/cutlery, each rose 2 percent as consumers continued to eat more at home and had a “greater focus on convenience.”
Joe Derochowski, Circana vice president and senior home analyst, said five main factors contributed positively to home and housewares sales this past year:
- Consumers are eating at home more
- Consumers are entertaining at home more
- High-frequency-use products hitting the replacement phase
- Changes in weather patterns
- New product innovation
The report also notes that the sale of home and houseware items most commonly occurred through e-commerce sites and mass merchants. In total, 40 percent of all home and housewares goods were purchased in-store vs. 60 percent online – a 2 percent shift towards online compared to 2024.
MarketScope data is generated through IHA’s partnership with industry-leading market research and analytics firm Circana. The full MarketScope report can be found online.
