Howdy folks,
It looks like we’ll be remodeling our kitchen within the next 6 months. As such, I’m trying to make informed decisions as to which appliances I should purchase for my smart home. We’ll be replacing the oven, dishwasher, and fridge.
Unfortunately, I think it’s just too early for this market. Perhaps in 3 years we’ll really start to see smart kitchen appliances. But right now the options are limited and expensive. Unfortunately for me, I don’t think we will be able to wait until the market matures, so we may be stuck.
Seems that Samsung is probably the best horse to back. Not only as a ST customer, but because they already make large kitchen appliances and have committed to making them, smarter.
So my questions are: Who are the players? What is the timeframe? What are some of the things you want your smart appliances to do?
Samsung, LG, and GE are all looking into this. There was an article late last year on some that included a brief interview with the SmartThings CEO.
The biggest practical areas are maintenance and energy savings. A washer that alerts you BEFORE it breaks down would be of real benefit. A water heater that has Nest-like pattern learning built in could be useful.
The obvious “Did I turn the oven off?” Is definitely useful for people who use the oven a lot.
I’ve mentioned several times that I think the screen on Samsung’s wifi tablet fridge should host a dashboard app for SmartThings.
One feature that would be massively useful for some homes:
If the household is on a tiered energy plan where they pay less for electricity during off peak hours then a smart washer, dryer, and dishwasher that knows those hours and would lock out (with pin code unlock at other times) would be awesome. Especially in homes with teens or roommates. Even better if it shows a countdown clock to when power gets cheaper again.
I am getting my Rheem Water Heater today that has Wifi capabilities and an iOS app. Logitech Harmony already has integration with it. Any new appliances I buy now are to be “smart”. I would avoid GE by the way, their products seem to have slipped in quality.
