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Best smart home kitchen appliances

Ovens, coffee, and counters that earn a radio — and the gadgets that should stay dumb.

Maya ChenUpdated September 12, 20269 min read

Our pick: A Matter oven or a $15 plug — not a $400 Wi-Fi kettle

Best smart home kitchen appliances are the ones that save a walk across a wet floor. Everything else is a firmware update in the splash zone.

Worth a radio

  • Wall oven or range with a Matter or well-supported app preheat
  • Dishwasher cycle-done that hits a speaker, not just a phone buried in a bag
  • Coffee that starts with a scene, not a 12-step vendor login

Use a plug instead

Kettles, rice cookers, cheap air fryers, holiday lights over the sink. A Thread plug and a “kitchen morning” scene beat another branded app.

Skip

Any countertop gadget whose companion app wants a location permission to boil water. That is not a kitchen appliance. That is a tracker with a heating element.

Questions we get

Are smart kitchen appliances worth it?

Preheat-from-the-car and cycle notifications are worth it on ovens, dishwashers, and coffee you already drink daily. A Wi-Fi air fryer you open with a handle is not.

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