While it may seem like the days of nightly homecooked meals are gone, that doesn’t have to be the case. No matter how busy you are with work, school, and parenting, a smart kitchen could be the answer to your problems. After all, why stop at a smart home office? You can create the smart kitchen of your dreams and finally find the time to cook all your favorite meals and desserts again—all thanks to smart technology.
Creating the ultimate smart kitchen
So you’re creating the ultimate smart home. You replaced all your lighting with smart bulbs, swapped out your old tools for smart gardening tools, and your pets have automated food and water bowls. What’s next? It’s time to tackle the kitchen. Here are some tips from CenturyLink on how to design the ultimate smart kitchen.
Voice assistants
Most of your smart home devices will connect to your voice assistant, such as Alexa, Google Nest, or Samsung Bixby. You’ll be able to ask Alexa to add bananas to your grocery list, preheat the oven for a quick batch of cookies, or start brewing a fresh pot of coffee. However, you might want to stay loyal to one voice assistant or one brand. Let’s explore why.
Smart home hub
Pretty much every smart device comes with its own app and is compatible with a voice assistant. Rather than juggling multiple apps on your smartphone, you should look into a smart home hub. By controlling all your smart devices in one app, you can free up space on your phone, set schedules, and get your devices to work together to create the smart home experience you want.
Mesh WiFi system
Since your smart devices rely on a fast and reliable internet connection, you’ll want to invest in the perfect WiFi for your home. A mesh WiFi system will blanket your home with extended WiFi coverage for faster speeds and seamless wireless access. As you move a device around your home, the system automatically gives you the strongest available signal.
Smart appliances you’ll want to invest in
Now that you have a voice assistant, a smart home hub, and a mesh WiFi system, it’s time to start shopping for appliances for your smart home kitchen. Keep in mind that while smart appliances tend to be on the more expensive side, they use less energy and are a more sustainable option overall. In the long run, they’re a worthwhile investment.
Smart fridge
A smart fridge is an enhanced version of your favorite kitchen appliance. You can create schedules for household members, look inside the fridge without opening the door, set expiration dates and reminders to use up soon-to-expire foods, automatically order items you’re running low on, and more.
With a Samsung smart fridge, you can make grocery lists that sync to your smartphone. Your fridge keeps track of the items you have inside with either a bar code system or with cameras installed inside. You can even order groceries online, get recipes and meal plans, and easily keep track of what’s in your fridge.
Smart oven
Smart ovens are designed with the latest and greatest smart technology to simplify the cooking process and minimize your time in the kitchen. They can do everything your average oven can—and so much more. A smart oven will remember cooking times for you, cook your food evenly, and prevent food from burning.
The Tovala Smart Oven is famous for its “scan to cook technology.” Your oven will scan the bar code on your package and automatically adjust the temperature and time for the specific meal you picked. The oven is also controlled from your smartphone. Once you set the cook mode and time from the app, the automated cycles will do the rest to cook your meal for you.
Smart microwave
Nowadays, microwaves can do so much more than make popcorn for movie night. Like smart ovens, smart microwaves also have bar code scanning abilities. You can start microwaving food from the app on your phone and get an alert when it’s ready. Many smart microwaves have an anti-microbial coating inside, so you can avoid growing a science experiment.
Smart coffee machine
Imagine being able to brew a fresh pot of coffee by speaking it into existence. Smart coffee machines give you the ability to do just that by working with voice assistants to give you the best possible barista experience. The Hamilton Beach Smart 12-cup Coffee Maker lets you start brewing, change brew strength, or turn off the coffee maker by simply asking Alexa. The clock syncs wirelessly with the app to keep the correct time. And you can set yourself up for wake-up ready coffee by setting a routine in the app.
Smart slow cooker
Just when you thought slow cookers couldn’t get any more convenient, smart slow cookers came along to make mealtime even more convenient. The Belkin Smart Slow Cooker with Wemo lets you leave your appliance unattended and schedule cooking using the Wemo App. You can customize cooking times for complete control over meal times, connect from anywhere with 3G, 4G, or WiFi, and feed up to seven people with its 6-quart capacity.
Smart air fryer
If you’re running late and don’t have time to preheat the oven, a smart air fryer is a great, easy option for a quick meal. You can control the temperature and cook time from your phone as you finish getting ready. If your hands are full, connect your smart air fryer to a voice assistant for hands-free access.
With the Cosori Pro Smart Air Fryer, you can cook food up to 50% faster than a traditional oven and reduce your food’s oil content by up to 85% compared to deep-frying. The 5.8-quart basket can fit a whole rotisserie chicken or enough food to feed a family of four.
The future of smart technology
In the past ten years, we’ve seen innovations and revolutions when it comes to automating our homes and our lives. What smart devices do you use to make your life easier? What types of smart devices do you hope to see in the future? Leave us a comment below with your ideas.
