Smart Kitchen Appliances: Pros, Cons, Developments

[Recoil Rob]

I have been watching lots of Youtubes about ovens and the last thing I'm interested in is the pre-programmed cooking cycles that new ovens seem to have. I want a rangetop and oven where I can set the temperature to what my recipe calls for and it goes to that temperature and stays there. All the other stuff, starting my oven from my phone, smart ovens, Wifi enabled is, in my opinion, nonsense and things to break down the line.

I work in an industry where 30 years ago I need a wrench to fix a shower, now I need a laptop and router to program it. Some smart stuff is OK but not on my stove and oven. Simpler the better.

When it no longer becomes economically feasible to make circuit boards for appliances that are 10+ years old, they'll stop.

So yeah, less bells and whistles is fine with me. Go on when I turn it on, hold the correct temerature, and go off when I turn it off. Steam and convection would be nice.

[palo]

I have an APO which has Wi-Fi, a phone app and pre-programmed recipes that I can set up from my phone... but I never use them. It's easier for me to just set the temp, set the steam % I want, put the food in and ask" Alexa" to set a timer for when it's done. So it does everything you want plus convection and adjustable steam.

 

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[weinoo]

8 hours ago, Recoil Rob said:

All the other stuff, starting my oven from my phone, smart ovens, Wifi enabled is, in my opinion, nonsense and things to break down the line.

Couldn't agree more.

 

Our (now) 6+ year old Wolf gas range (only 30", 4-burner) has had nary a problem. Keeps perfect temp in the oven.  I would buy one again in a NY minute.

[gfweb]

9 hours ago, Recoil Rob said:

I have been watching lots of Youtubes about ovens and the last thing I'm interested in is the pre-programmed cooking cycles that new ovens seem to have. I want a rangetop and oven where I can set the temperature to what my recipe calls for and it goes to that temperature and stays there. All the other stuff, starting my oven from my phone, smart ovens, Wifi enabled is, in my opinion, nonsense and things to break down the line.

I work in an industry where 30 years ago I need a wrench to fix a shower, now I need a laptop and router to program it. Some smart stuff is OK but not on my stove and oven. Simpler the better.

When it no longer becomes economically feasible to make circuit boards for appliances that are 10+ years old, they'll stop.

So yeah, less bells and whistles is fine with me. Go on when I turn it on, hold the correct temerature, and go off when I turn it off. Steam and convection would be nice.

 

Indeed.

I can't see  the use or wisdom  of remote starting my oven. (was food left in there all day at room temp to start spoiling?) 

I suspect that WiFi looks good to engineers and marketers who never actually use the product.

[chromedome]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

 

Indeed.

I can't see  the use or wisdom  of remote starting my oven. (was food left in there all day at room temp to start spoiling?) 

I suspect that WiFi looks good to engineers and marketers who never actually use the product.

This. So much this.

As many of you will recall I'm a freelancer, and I write a lot on topics related to internet safety, scam avoidance, etc. One really large and growing issue is that so many of these "smart" Internet of Things (IoT) devices can't be meaningfully patched or upgraded once they're in the field, which means that any vulnerabilities in their aging chipsets can be exploited for the remainder of their operational life. Sometimes there's no direct harm (you wouldn't know if your fridge or combi-oven was dragooned into a botnet), but in other cases attackers can gain access to your home network and many of the attached devices. You know, the ones containing your banking information, etc (not to mention the ones with mics and cameras).