What’s New in Smart Appliances for Your Kitchen
With all the advances in the smart appliances for your kitchen, it feels like we are getting closer to living like the Jetsons. Technology just keeps getting smarter. And setting up your smart kitchen is as simple as putting a smart speaker, like the Amazon Echo Dot, in your kitchen.
We’ve put together a roundup of some of the most interesting and innovative smart tech products for your home.
Smart Appliances and the Wellness Home
With more people staying home and working hard to stay healthy, wellness living has become a priority. And smart tech can contribute to keeping you and your family healthy.
A smart steam shower, like the one from ThermaTouch, lets you give directions to your shower via Alexa. You can create a personalized wellness routine by controlling the water, lights and steam in your shower.
Peloton wi-fi connected exercise bikes have had their moment during the pandemic. As a result, they are now part of the wellness home. Gyms are closed. Weather is unreliable. Peloton bikes with their on-line classes and personal trainers are always available.
Peleton also has treadmills, rowers and programmable weights in addition to celebrity-lead workouts. If you can’t get to your gym, Peleton will be there for you.
Another huge piece of the smart tech-connected wellness trend is the many available health-centric smart phone apps and smart watches. These Bluetooth and wi-fi devices monitor steps, heart rate, calories, active hours, sleep hours and more.
Smart Appliances for your Kitchen
Faucets Are a Big Part of Smart Tech for the Wellness Kitchen
Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, people have become aware of how easily hands spread germs and bacteria. This is especially true in the kitchen. As a result, touchless-faucet technology is becoming a standard feature.
Kohler. Kohler’s Sensate smart faucet can be voice-activated using Kohler Konnect through Alexa, Google Home or Apple HomeKit. This faucet dispenses measured amounts of water, as well as provides two sprays. The price depends on the finish you choose and can range from $1100 to $1700.
Of course, Kohler has many other hands-free faucets that are not voice activated.
Some of the voice commands the Kohler faucet responds to include:
- Turn on or Start my faucet
- Turn off or Stop my faucet
- Fill my sink
- Fill my coffee pot
- Check my water usage
- How much water have I used
- Give me 1 cup of water or Pour 1 cup of water
- Pour 2 liters of water
The U by Moen Smart Faucet offers voice-activation and motion technology. The faucet can be controlled in four ways:
- With voice activation
- A hands-free wave sensor
- By using the handle
- Via a smartphone app
A new “wash hands” command will make sure you wash your hands long enough and at the proper temperature.
You can personalize presets. For example, if you need a certain amount of water at a certain temperature every day for your dog’s bowl, you can set that up in the Moen app. Then all you have to do is walk up to the faucet and say, “Alexa, fill the dog’s bowl.” The correct amount and temperature of water will come out.
Indoor Gardening is now Considered a “Smart Appliance”
The AeroGarden Bounty Elite Indoor Hydroponic Herb Garden provides a way to bring some green, growing life into your kitchen since biophilia is a big part of the wellness kitchen.
You control the features of this indoor, self-contained garden using Wifi and Alexa:
- 3-step water level indicators
- grow lights
- auto-light dimming
- vacation mode to keep plants alive while you’re away
- when to add water and liquid plant food reminders
The AeroGarden website has many other indoor gardening products to choose from.
More Smart Appliances for Your Kitchen
High Speed Smart Toaster.
The InstaGlo toaster from Revolution boasts it’s the first-ever touchscreen toaster. It features smart cooking sensors that perfectly toast bread more quickly than a standard toaster. The top of the line model, the Instaglo-r270, has settings for 37 different bread types and costs $400. What makes it “smart” is its smart toasting algorithm that senses what kind of bread you want toasted and adjusts itself.
Tovala Steam Oven
The countertop Tovala Smart Oven is programmed and controlled by your smartphone. It cooks foods in different modes: steam, bake, broil and reheat. You set the cook mode and time from your phone and Tovala oven’s automated cooking takes over. You can check on your food’s progress from anywhere and get notified when it’s done. The app has hundreds of recipes and Tavola also has a meal service.
Instant Pot Smart WiFi
The Instant Pot Smart Wifi is a programmable multicooker that you can control from your mobile devices. It combines 8 kitchen appliances in one:
- pressure cooker
- slow cooker
- rice cooker
- yogurt maker
- cake maker
- saute pan
- steamer
- warmer
Using your voice, you can cook, schedule, adjust and monitor the progress of your meals.
Smart WiFi Air Fryer
The air fryer from Cosori has 11 cooking modes. You control it with your voice using their VeSync app that gives you 100+ recipes and lets you remotely monitor its settings. You never have to touch one of its touch-screen, LED buttons.
GE Smart Countertop Microwave Oven
The GE smart microwave connects to Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa via its SmartHQ technology, so you can operate your microwave from any room in the house. You can scan the barcode on any product to get precise cooking times and temperatures.
Sharp SMC1449FS Microwave
Sharp teamed up with Orville Redenbacher to program their smart microwave so that it pops popcorn perfectly. Their microwave is integrated with Amazon Alexa so that it recognizes over 70 different voice commands — including multiple popcorn-related ones — to provide hands-free control. The Wifi connection also ensures your microwave oven will always display the correct time.
Cue Smart Induction Burner & Fry Pan from Hestan
The Cue smart burner and fry pan use embedded sensors in both to connect to the Cue’s app. The app controls the cooking process; it guides you step-by-step through their recipes. The promo information states that the recipe instructions and videos are “foolproof”. The frying pan only works with the induction burner; however, the burner has “manual” mode that works without the app and fry pan.
The June Oven
The June oven is seven appliances in one:
- convection oven
- air fryer
- dehydrator
- slow cooker
- broiler
- toaster
- warming drawer
Control this oven from your phone. You can remotely re=heat and adjust the time and temp from anywhere. Monitor what’s cooking with live video and get alerts for when your meal is ready. It comes with more than 400 guided recipes created by professional chefs.
Three models are offered. The basic is $600, the mid-range model costs $850 and the top-end model is $1000. The length of warranty, the level of access to videos and some accessories account for the price differences.
GeniCan Scanner
We’ve seen smart ovens and microwaves before, but this is a new one.
The GeniCan attaches to your trash can or recycle bin. It scans the barcode on items as you throw them out, then adds those items to your shopping list. You can use the voice control feature if scanning is too difficult.
Vitamix Ascent A3500 Blender
The Vitamix Ascent A3500 Blender has five program settings and a commercial-grade 2.2 peak horsepower motor that propels its blades up to 240 mph. It also boasts WiFi connectivity, allowing the blender to automatically adjust its settings based on container size and the recipe selected in the Vitamix Perfect Blend app on your phone. For a cool $650 you also get a tamper. Plus a 10 year warantee.
Smart Electric Convection Range from GE
The electric convection range from GE connects to wifi, so you can set it up to work with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Nest, and several other apps to make baking easy. Gourmet Guided Cooking technology talks you through recipes step-by-step. There’s an in-oven live streaming camera, so you see what’s cooking. Plus, you can preheat your oven from anywhere, change the oven temp using your phone and adjust cooking timers from anywhere.
G7000 Dishwasher With AutoDos With Powerdisk from Meile
This smart dishwasher from Miele can do things ordinary dishwashers can’t do. It features the designer good looks and extreme durability you expect from Miele, with the bonus of being WiFi-connected so you can control the dishwasher from your phone when you’re away. It automatically dispenses the correct amount of detergent, and will send you a notification when you need to order more detergent, which you can do directly from the Miele app.
If you’re a fan of the sleek Euro style of kitchen design that has no decorative hardware, this dishwasher can integrate seamlessly because it has a “knock to open” feature. The door opens automatically when you tap on it. No handles needed.
Samsung 4-Door Refrigerator With Family Hub
Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerators are envisioned as more than a place to keep food cold; they’re envisioned as the center of your connected home. Thanks to its WiFi connection and huge touchscreen, the Family Hub functions as a family center memo board; all family members can access it from their phones. You can control and communicate other smart devices in your home and stream TV from apps like Netflix. And since it’s a fridge, there are lots of food-related features, too. You can shop for groceries directly from your fridge, look up recipes and form a grocery list with the fridge’s help, and view what you currently have in stock from your phone. The built-in camera that lets you check inside when you’re at the grocery store wondering if you have enough eggs. You can just look inside from your phone.
The fridge even automatically scans and keeps track of everything you put in it, so you never have to run out of milk again or eat a yogurt that’s past its expiration date.
Bosch 800 Series Built-In Coffee Machine
This list of smart appliances for your kitchen wouldn’t be complete without a coffeemaker, and they don’t get better than this.
The built-in 800 Series from Bosch will make a cup of coffee any way you want it, and it will do so precisely thanks to AromaPro technology that provides constant pressure and consistent temperature. To make your coffee, you can program the perfect cup from the intuitive touchscreen or from your phone via the Bosch Home Connect app. And since the machine is fully automatic, it will clean, steam rinse and descale itself while you enjoy your fresh brew. Oh, and it costs $3,500.
Conclusion
No need to wait for a future filled with flying cars to include futuristic products and smart appliances in your kitchen. You don’t have to look far to find the Wifi-connected smart tech products that will make your home voice-activated and hands-free.
Other than flying cars, the Jetsons were pretty good at predicting the future.
Kitchen Design Partner exists to offer insight and advice about all things related to kitchen remodeling. Our goal is to connect homeowners with talented, experienced kitchen designers who live and work in their communities. We are a serious resource for anyone preparing to remodel their kitchen so they can make the best possible choices about designers, contractors and products.
