Kidde’s Worry-Free smoke alarms eliminate the semiannual chore of changing your smoke detector batteries.

The alarms have a long-life lithium battery that lasts 10 years, the lifetime of an alarm.

Four models are available: one designed for living areas; one for bedrooms, with a talking voice alarm to better wake occupants; one for hallways, with LED lights to illuminate the escape route; and one for kitchens, with a sensor designed to reduce nuisance alarms. The kitchen alarm also incorporates a carbon monoxide detector.

Each alarm has an end-of-life signal that chirps when the device needs replacing.

Suggested retail prices for Worry-Free alarms range from $25 to $50. They’re sold at some home improvement stores, hardware stores, discount department stores, drugstores and other retailers.

ON THE SHELF

Custom furniture making represents a combination of artistry and utility, a marriage of minds between furniture designer and client. E. Ashley Rooney explores the creative process and its results in Bespoke: Furniture From 101 International Artists (www.schifferbooks.com, $50 in hardcover).

Rooney profiles 101 makers of bespoke, or custom, furniture and shares photos of their work. The pieces exemplify a range of influences and styles, from Colonial to contemporary, but all share an uncommon artistry that balances function with form.

Rooney also offers guidance on working with a furniture artist to help people who want to commission their own works of utilitarian art.