Smart features that will make you want to upgrade to connected appliances

Have you seen a smart refrigerator or Wi-Fi-enabled washing machine and wondered how these connected appliances really work? The latest smart features available on appliances from Samsung, Whirlpool, LG, and Hisense connect you to your appliances, help you get through tasks faster, and make everything from baking to grocery shopping to washing your towels easier than ever.

What is a connected appliance?

A connected appliance is an appliance that’s Wi-Fi enabled. These appliances connect to your home network and work via an app on your smartphone or controls on the appliance. Your smartphone becomes a remote control for your home, and because your appliances are connected to Wi-Fi, you’ll be able to access certain controls and functions from wherever you are. You can read more about smart appliances in the appliance buying guide.

Why do you need smart appliances?

Smart appliances can grow with your home, so you can download new cycles or update features as your family’s needs change. You’ll save money because you can adjust the power levels on your appliances to save on your energy bill when you’re on vacation. You can also receive notifications that let you speed up the process of washing dishes or doing laundry. If anything ever goes wrong with your appliance, you can troubleshoot the error codes right from your phone.

You can also update your appliance operating systems to make them more user-friendly or add new features. Brands like LG are releasing a full lineup of smart appliances that will work with the LG ThinQ Up app. You can choose smart refrigerators, washers, dryers, ranges, and dishwashers, and they will all be controllable through the LG ThinQ Up. One of the latest updates released for compatible LG washing machines is the Pet Care Course. It helps you remove pet stains and smells from your clothes.

Types of smart appliances

From smart refrigerators with internal cameras you can check from the grocery store to smart ranges that preheat with a tap on your phone, there is a lot to be excited about in the world of smart appliances this year.

1. Smart refrigerators keep your food bills low

A smart refrigerator is more than an appliance that keeps your food cold. The latest smart refrigerators work as hubs for your entire home and they can add a splash of colour to any space.

Depending on the model you choose, you can find smart refrigerators with large touchscreens right on the front panel. You can touch to order groceries, tap to make ice, view the contents of your refrigerator via camera without opening the door, look at family photos or schedules, stream music, or watch a video.

If you’re on the go you can open up an app on your phone and check out the contents of your refrigerator, and that can help keep your food bills low because you don’t spend money on food items you already have. If you use a voice assistant, you can even set up your refrigerator so you can issue voice commands and have it work with all of your other smart home devices.

One of the latest smart refrigerators coming this year is the LG MoodUp. It has colour changing panels you can change via the app, so you can switch your fridge colour based on your mood or what event you’re hosting. Samsung’s BeSpoke lineup of smart refrigerators are  have colour changing panels you can swap out when you’re in the mood to update your colour scheme.

2. Connected dishwashers do more than just scrub your dishes

If you’ve never used a Wi-Fi connected dishwasher, you’d probably wonder how adding Wi-Fi could improve such a simple device. You might be surprised to know having a connected dishwasher can make cleaning your dishes, pots, and pans faster and easier, and you can even order dishwasher soap when you’re running out.

When you choose a connected dishwasher you’ll be able to monitor your dishwasher’s cycle time and status right on your phone. You can lock and unlock the controls on the dishwasher through the app, which is great if have small children at home. Your dishwasher will also tell you if a pot or pan is blocking parts inside the appliance or troubleshoot if something has gone wrong during your wash cycle. You can even see the levels of your rinse agent so you know your dishes will always be sparkling.

3. Smart ranges help bake and boil

They are sleek, stylish, and Wi-Fi connected – connected ranges are one of the most useful smart appliances you’ll add to your kitchen. You’ll love the way you can adjust the temperature of your oven via an app on your phone, and smart ranges and ovens can also be set to preheat or turn off your oven from wherever you are. If you’ve ever left your house and wondered whether or not you’ve left your oven on, this is will be one of your favourite features.

You can use pre-set oven cycles to perfectly bake, broil, or roast your food, and if you have a voice assistant in your home you can connect your smart range and issue voice commands. You can even troubleshoot your range if anything goes wrong, and that can save on repair bills.

The latest smart ranges even have artificial intelligence. The Samsung Bespoke AI oven, released later this year, will be able to recognize what you’re cooking and set the temperature for that dish. It will even have an internal camera so you can watch over your food from your phone, and it will send you an alert when your cook time is finished.

4. Smart washers and dryers tackle your laundry pile

Just add Wi-Fi to your laundry room and you’ll streamline your entire laundry process. Connected washers and connected dryers give you the power to just tap to start or stop a wash or dry cycle, or you can schedule a cycle to start if you’ve forgotten to turn it on.

With notifications when a cycle finishes, you’ll be able to work your way through your laundry pile much faster. You can even download new wash or dry cycles if you’re washing or drying a specific type of clothing. There are also smart diagnostics if something were to go wrong with your washing machine or dryer, and you can tap to run a cleaning cycle so your connected appliance stays in tip-top shape.

This year we’ll see new smart washing machines, some with AI added, so your washing machine will sense how soiled your laundry is and adjust the wash time and type of cycle for it.

Keeping your smart appliances connected

Smart appliances are easy to set up and maintain, but one of the most important steps when adding one or several smart appliances to your home is testing the strength of your Wi-Fi signal.

If you have your smart laundry pair in your basement or another area that gets limited Wi-Fi,  you may want to add a Wi-Fi repeater or invest in a mesh router to boost your signal. You’ll also want to keep in mind that smart appliances only work with a 2.4GHz connection, so you’ll need to make sure you have that band accessible when setting up your smart appliance. Speedier Wi-Fi access for your smart appliances means you’ll always know exactly when a load is finished drying or when the wash is ready to be transferred to the dryer.

Add a smart appliance to your home

Imagine getting up every day and enjoying your morning coffee while ordering groceries right on your fridge. What if you could put a roast in the oven and leave the house, knowing your oven will turn itself off so your dinner won’t burn. You could have a connected dishwasher alert you when a load is complete so you can start another right away, and a smart washer and dryer will keep you on top of your laundry pile by sending you notifications of a forgotten load.

There are so many ways you can use connected appliances in your home. You can enjoy all of these smart features by choosing smart refrigerators, dishwashers, ranges, and laundry pairs at Best Buy.