What to Know About Smart Appliances

Written by Ashley Sutphin Posted On Sunday, 09 July 2023 00:00

Everyone wants a “smart home,” but this can have different meanings and implications for different people.

One place you can make your home smarter is your appliances.

Smart appliances broadly let you connect your mobile device to the appliance for information, control, and convenience.

A smart appliance will help automate daily tasks in your life.

For example, if you get a smart oven, you can use your phone to start preheating before you even get home.

What Types of Smart Appliances Are Available?

There are a lot of available smart appliances, including:

• Instant Pot: The Instant Pot’s unconnected version is already wildly popular, and now, you can enjoy the smart version with WiFi connectivity that lets you cook, adjust, schedule, and monitor the progress of what you’re making from your phone.

• Microwaves: Some companies like Sharp are offering smart microwaves. Sharp’s device integrates with Amazon Alexa, and it recognizes over 70 voice commands, so you have hands-free and perfectly-timed control over cooking in your microwave.

• Toasters: Smart toasters are pricey, but consumers fall in love with them. They have image-based touch screens, so you can choose your type of bread and preferred perfect shade of toast. Smart toasters use sensors to give you the ideal result matching your settings.

• Refrigerators: One of the priciest investments into smart appliance technology you can make is with a fridge. For example, Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerator includes a WiFi connection and touchscreen. The Family Hub can connect with other smart devices in your home, you can shop for groceries directly from the fridge, and you can look up recipes and create a grocery list using the appliance. With the Family Hub, the fridge automatically scans everything you put in and keeps track of it.

• Washer/dryers: Samsung and LG added AI to their high-end machines. The laundry machines now automatically detect the texture of the fabric and the size of the load, customizing wash and dry modes.

Other smart appliances include dishwashers, ovens, and coffee makers.

Why Spend the Money on Smart Appliances?

Smart technology does tend to get cheaper every year as it advances and becomes more mainstream, but these appliances are more expensive than their non-smart counterparts. So what are the benefits of paying more?

There are a few key reasons people are willing to pay top dollar for smart appliances.

First, they’re the newest, best thing on the market, and people like the idea of being on the cutting edge.

They’re also efficient.

For example, smart washing machines have water-saving features that are automatically built-in.

They’re also safer in many cases, plus they make your life a little easier and more convenient. If, for example, the dishwasher is the wrong temperature or there’s a sign of trouble, the appliances will let you know right away.

Smart appliances make meal prep and cooking that much easier, which most people are looking for.

You can access and monitor your appliances no matter where you are as well.

Before buying a smart appliance, research the manufacturer and its reputation.

If your goal is to have a smarter home overall, you also want to make sure that everything in your ecosystem is compatible. Smart appliances require connectivity to a WiFi-enabled smart device, but some smart devices might not be compatible. Check on all the connectivity and compatibility requirements before you make a buying decision.

The three main ecosystems are Google Nest, Apple HomeKit, and Amazon Alexa.

If you pick one main ecosystem, everything in your smart-connected home is going to run more smoothly.

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