
7 Benefits of Smart Home Appliances
You may consider the Roaring Twenties the golden age of jazz music and economic prosperity, but a century later, the Roaring Twenties have returned to welcome the golden age of technology. While the Jay Gatsbys of the world certainly flourished in an era of distinctive social edge, they missed out on smart home automation and a tech-forward approach to simplify and enhance our daily lives.We’ve come a long way from pagers and corded phones, and the same technological advancements that have been used to improve our communication functions are now being incorporated into our homes—specifically, our kitchens. Improvements in appliances and kitchen technology have changed the way we prepare meals, store groceries, and interact with our cooking space. It’s become easier to save time and save energy with smart refrigerators, ranges, wall ovens, microwaves, and dishwashers. The kitchen is the central hub of any home, so why not invest in smart kitchen appliances to help automate your mealtime routine?If you’re looking to increase the safety, convenience, and performance of your kitchen appliances, continue reading our list of the 7 benefits of smart home appliances. You’ll be happy you did, “old sport.”
What is Smart Home Technology?
Before we dive into our list, let’s do a quick recap of smart home technology. Smart home automation typically refers to any set of devices, appliances, or systems that can be independently and remotely controlled from a common network and a touch screen device. If the technology in your home works as one system to control your TV, speakers, refrigerator, and so on, this would be considered a “connected home.”Smart home technology allows users to tap into a realm of luxury and functionality that wasn’t previously possible. As advancements in home technology continue to expand so will the possibilities of what you can do to make life a little easier.
Now, let’s get back to smart home benefits.
1. Control Your Appliances from One Place
It’s incredibly simple to manage your kitchen and your appliances with just one interface. All it takes is a smartphone or tablet and you can tap into countless functions and features with a built-in app. Brands like GE, Bosch, Whirlpool, and LG, among others, feature connected appliances with Wi-Fi connectivity to ease the burden of everyday activities and chores.This makes it easier to access the specific functionality you need to simplify your at-home routine—whether you’re preheating the oven on the way home from basketball practice or scheduling hot water for your morning java.
2. Helpful Notifications
Our appliances can provide plenty of helpful information directly to our smart devices. Certain refrigerators will alert you when you’ve left the door open for too long, select ovens can tell you when it’s time to take your food out if you didn’t start a timer, and you can find dishwashers that will notify you once your dishes are completely dry.It goes well beyond cooking and cleaning instructions. No matter where you are, you can make sure you didn’t leave any lights on, check who’s at the door, and even receive up-to-date maintenance alerts for your appliances.Smart appliances notify you at the first sign of a potential issue—whether something is burning on the stove or you have a faulty water line in the dishwasher. Receiving notifications about a problem right away can save you from other complications that could occur if the problem goes unnoticed.
3. Energy-Efficiency
While the initial cost of a smart appliance can be more expensive than a traditional kitchen appliance, you’ll save much more money on energy consumption. Smart appliances allow you to monitor your energy use and receive feedback on how much energy your appliances are using.You can receive notifications of factors that might be affecting the efficiency of the appliance. For example, your refrigerator might sound an alert if the internal temperature is too high or too low. If the temperature is too far in either direction, your fridge will work twice as hard to keep the contents inside cool or keep them from freezing.In places where users are charged specific energy rates based on the time of day, smart appliances allow homeowners to control their appliance use based on peak demand periods. Users are alerted not to run appliances during certain peak hours or encouraged to run appliances in a power-saving mode.
4. Simplified Cooking
With smart appliances, mealtime is far less labor-intensive. Whirlpool appliances allow you to scan the barcode on your food items using the Yummly app to download cooking instructions and recipes. Keep track of what’s in your fridge, shift your appliances into warming mode until you’re ready to eat, and control your appliances with the sound of your voice.Appliances like the LG InstaView fridge allow you to keep track of freshness and see the contents inside the fridge without opening the door, and the Samsung Family Hub can recommend dishes to cook based on what’s inside the fridge.You can activate a moisture sensor inside your range or oven to evenly prepare meat and poultry without drying out, and you can even place food in the oven and walk away as your appliance automatically adjusts the temperature and bake time. Cooking isn’t just simplified; it becomes more intuitive and more user-friendly for home cooks of all skill levels.
5. Expert Performance
The advanced cooking technology featured on smart appliances improves the quality and consistency of any meal you prepare. When the appliances are connected to your smart devices, there’s no second-guessing.If you enjoy your coffee at a certain temperature, you can program a Thermador coffee maker to prepare your cup of joe exactly how you like it. No more measuring or pouring, you can store up to eight unique beverage creations, as well as dual spouts to brew two identical beverages at once. Don't be afraid to get creative—you can prepare up to 10 different beverages—from a single-shot espresso to tea to extra-large venti cappuccinos.And maybe you like to play music or utilize cooking programs to help you in the kitchen—if so, smart TVs can help you find apps and channels to prepare your favorite recipes, and an intelligently designed audio system allows you to manage your music collection when entertaining dinner guests. Ultimately, connecting your appliances and other home entertainment devices with automated technology will improve your appliance effectiveness and make your home life much more enjoyable.
6. Safety
If the flashiness doesn’t catch your attention, then the enhanced safety features should be your reason for making your kitchen smart. Your everyday stove can quickly turn deadly if you forget to turn it off or leave something that could easily burn and catch fire close by.A smart range or cooktop can send alerts to your phone if a burner has been left on, and you can control temperature settings automatically. Safety is important when you’re present in your house, but if you’re on vacation or out of town for the weekend, you can keep a smart light on in your kitchen to prevent your house from looking empty.Use your smartphone to check on your kitchen space to make sure nothing is running while you’re away. You can adjust the temperature setting on your fridge, set expiration dates before you leave so you don’t stink up the kitchen, and run performance checks to make sure nothing is loose or leaking.
7. Convenience
The premise behind smart home technology is to make your home more convenient and save you time in the kitchen. All smart appliances are connected through WiFi, so you can send a signal between similar appliances to keep your entire space connected.Monitoring cooking duration and temperature, the kinds of food to store in your fridge, and energy consumption habits are part of the added convenience granted by smart kitchen appliances. With these insights, you can analyze your nutritional habits and behaviors so you can live a healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.