If you've been resisting the idea of smart kitchen appliances – ovens that let you set timers from your phone and alert you when your food is cooked, or washing machines that 'know' what you've loaded into the drum - then it might be time to think again. That's the message from Daniel Hadley, UK Managing Director at Smeg, who says that the smart kitchen isn't just a gimmick; it's about putting you in control.
I spoke to Hadley at an event in London where TV chef Clodagh McKenna was cooking up an Italian-inspired shakshuka using an induction stove with extractor fan built in, and a smart oven with a steam function that sucks up water through a straw like a strange butterfly supping nectar.
"It's about making it personal for the user," Hadley said, explaining that Smeg has taken its time with smart appliances because the company didn't want to throw in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for the sake of it.
"Some other companies have an app for everything, but we only want to do it if it adds value," added Alex Rebdi, Marketing Manager at Smeg UK. "Things like recipes and cooking guide, and even telling you when it's time for maintenance."
Smeg's own smart kitchen app, SmegConnect, launched in 2018 alongside one of the company's more niche appliances: a wine cooler. The app's first iteration allowed home wine connoisseurs to manage their collection, plan food and wine pairings, manage the temperature throughout the cooler, and operate the lights.
Since then, SmegConnect has expanded to cover other large appliances, including ovens, washers, and dryers. For example, if you have a smart oven, you can use the app to start preheating remotely on the way home from work, share recipes via social media, and choose recipes to follow with times, temperatures, and cooking modes already set. If you have a Wi-Fi-enabled washer or dryer, you can select and start a program while you're out so it's finished the moment you get home. No more damp laundry sitting in the drum for ages.
Your kitchen, your rules
Hadley wasn't able to say whether SmegConnect will become available for Smeg's smaller appliances, such as countertop ovens and toasters, but he could see a case for it with coffee machines like the Smeg BCC13 (which earned a place in our roundup of the best coffee makers) or the Smeg Mini Pro Espresso Machine, which was also demoed at the event.
Coffee is very subjective, and an app that connects to a fully or semi-automatic coffee maker can let you make your drinks exactly the way you like them, consistently, rather than sticking to presets set up by a team elsewhere.
"It's about giving the customer the coffee they want, not the coffee someone else wants," Hadley said.
It makes sense, and Smeg's rivals Bosch and Siemens have taken a similar approach. Both companies have ranges of smart coffee machines with the HomeConnect app. The app lets you make a personal menu of your favorite drinks (known as a Coffee Playlist), which you can then send to your coffee machine. HomeConnect can also use a system called BeanIdent to tweak your machine's settings (such as brewing temperature and grind size) to suit the type of coffee you've poured into the hopper.
Whether it comes to coffee machines or not, Hadley said that the SmegConnect app will continue to develop – and although he and Rebdi couldn't say exactly what's coming, they definitely have plans in mind for your kitchen.
"You can't just have an app and that's it – it has to keep evolving," Hadley said.
"We can't say exactly what, but there's a lot coming in the short and longer term," Rebdi added.
Smeg might not be charging ahead like Samsung, which recently unveiled AI-enhanced fridges that can order more eggs if you're running low and let you answer your video doorbell , but I'm intrigued to see what new features it has in store.
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