Honestly, this is where opinions really split for me. With smart kitchen gadgets, I sometimes genuinely don’t know what the smart function is even good for.
My First Brush with ‘Smart’
A few years ago, long before the smart hype, when NFC technology was new on the market, I had no choice but to buy a new washing machine. At the time, the washing machine had this feature, which was called “smart” back then – my cell phone at the time, however, did not.
When I later actually owned a phone with NFC, I of course tried out this function right away, with the disappointing result that on the phone I can’t do anything other than what I set manually on the machine anyway.
When Every Appliance Suddenly Went Smart
Later on, all kinds of devices came equipped with WiFi smart functions: coffee machines, automatic espresso machines (I have one – smart is useless), air fryers, refrigerators, ovens, range hoods, cook tops, dishwashers, kettles, dryers, and so on.
Every time I see an ad for such devices, I ask myself what advantage this actually gives me over manual operation. The answer has always been the same: none whatsoever.
The Real Problem: You Still Have to Be There
Despite the fancy smart app, I still have to fill the coffee machine with coffee and water myself, unless it’s directly connected to a water line – same with the kettle. I also have to load the dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer myself. In other words, no matter which device, I still have to be physically present to prepare it. So if I’m already standing in front of it, I might as well operate it by hand instead of pulling out my phone, opening the app, and doing exactly what I would have done manually five minutes earlier anyway.
On top of that, one of the downsides of these devices is: unless you own every single one from the same manufacturer, you end up having to download what feels like a thousand different apps, one for each device. The former, of course, is a clear advantage for the manufacturer in terms of customer lock-in.
Because of this, I lost interest in such devices for a while, until I found myself in the position of having to buy a new refrigerator.
My Smart Fridge, Whether I Wanted It or Not
When we built our house 20 years ago, I sized the kitchen space for the fridge based on the one we had in our rental apartment at the time: a relatively large and wide combo unit from LG. When looking for what was now going to be our third model, I ended up sticking with an LG again. All the other models on offer were either too narrow for the space (and, correspondingly, for the interior capacity), too tall, too wide, or too expensive. This fridge was offered with a smart function – unfortunately, ONLY with it! I jokingly asked the salesperson whether it was also available without it, fully aware that the answer would be no.
So what can my fancy smart fridge actually do that others can’t? Really, apart from what it was built to do in the first place, nothing at all.
On the outside of the door there’s a “fancy” digital display that only shows the temperature of the two cooling zones when you open the door, and whether it’s connected to WiFi. With the LG app, I can remotely check whether the cooling zones are holding the required temperature, whether it’s dropping into a critical range, and use a smart diagnostic feature to check whether the temperature sensor, fan, and freezer vent are working properly. That’s it.
And that’s exactly the point at which I draw the line on smart for such devices: on top of the lack of real benefit, you also pay more to buy the device. In my opinion, “fancy” features like a fridge door that turns transparent so you can see what’s inside, or smart functions that tell you which groceries to buy because they’re running low, are completely superfluous. And when it comes to the latter, I imagine it’s actually quite time-consuming, since you’d first have to tell the fridge what you’ve bought in the first place.
What About Privacy?
The argument that these smart functions cause you to hand over a lot of personal data to the manufacturer strikes me as pretty far-fetched. Anyone who’s signed up for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Xing, WhatsApp, and so on has already turned themselves into a walking glass house. Just signing up with Microsoft or Apple reveals more about your life than a fridge’s smart app ever could.
For me, these functions have nothing but downsides, so I won’t go into detail on each one here. As for finding out at work whether my washing machine has finished the load I started before leaving the house – I can just as easily find that out in person once I’m home after work. I still have to hang the laundry up or put it in the dryer either way. Until Bosch’s advertising actually becomes reality – where you put dirty laundry into a “washing closet” and it comes out ironed and folded at the end – I will always prefer a kitchen appliance without a smart function.
Where Smart Actually Makes Sense
The only things that have genuinely won me over as “smart” devices so far are smart plugs and lights that you can switch on before you get home, and smart security cameras.
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