Closets to store cleaning supplies and vacuums.

Drawers custom-made for curling irons.

A place just for planning.

New-home builders are creating stations to serve specific functions. Here are some of the popular stations:

Mudrooms. The granddaddy of all stations, mudrooms have been a fixture for about a decade. They are designed to serve as a "drop zone between the SUV and the kitchen," said Lisa Suarez, director of strategic marketing for the Dallas office of Centex Homes.

Centex Homes

Today's mudrooms, such as this one in a Centex home, can be designed with hooks, cubbies and other storage units to keep gear stowed out of the way.

View larger More photos Photo store

That function used to fall to the utility room, but it wasn't equipped for the job, she said. Now mudrooms are outfitted with hooks and cubbies to hold cleats, shin guards and backpacks or other children's items.

Cleaning closet. A slim nook about the size of a linen closet, this station is designed primarily to store the vacuum cleaner, Ms. Suarez said. The cleaning station comes up frequently in focus groups, she said, because many homeowners resort to storing the vacuum in the pantry with their food or in a hall closet with their guests' coats. Centex has begun to build cleaning stations beneath stairways when possible, she said.

Smart closets. With all the wiring that goes into new homes, owners need someplace to house it. Michael Land of Richardson-based Plans by Land, builds a "smart closet" into to collect the category 5 wiring, as it's called, that powers a home's electronics, modems, routers, home-security control systems and so on.

Usually Mr. Land puts the closet near a utility room or study for easy access. Sometimes, he adds a safe if a family wants to store valuables. But usually the goal is for the smart closet to stay closed – and be opened only when the technology needs maintenance.

Planning center. This station goes into 80 percent of homes built by Jamie Smith of Flagstone Custom Homes in Dallas. It's just off the kitchen and includes a desk with Internet wiring and enough outlets to accommodate everyone's cellphone chargers.

Other features: mail slots, lots of cabinets, a place to hang keys and a location that keeps it slightly out of view from the home's main areas, in case things get messy. "Everybody needs it," Mr. Smith said. "Anybody who sees it in the model wants that little space."

Beauty station. To corral curling irons, hair dryers and other hair tools, builder Jeff Liles of Liles Designer Homes in Rockwall built a center just for them.

Housed in a drawer near the vanity in a master suite, the center has four cut-out circles to house regular-size curling irons and hairdryers – just like at a salon – and two bigger cut-outs for oversized ones, plus outlets for them.