Connectivity, Wi-Fi, so smart household appliances that dialogue one another; the next frontier of hi-tech has undoubtedly become the kitchen that, thanks to futuristic applications, turns into a forefront technological space able to facilitate several daily use operations.
The intensification of the man-machine interaction is one of the trends that regulate the contemporaneous living, especially for young, privileged interlocutors of the technological development and future custodians of new habits and lifestyles.
The new generations are the first “born connected”, and it is obvious that this attitude influences actions, thinking and interaction modalities, affecting each daytime.
In any domestic environment, from the living to the kitchen, from the bedroom to the bathroom, is taking hold a new simple and intuitive way of managing household appliances, that is to say the intensification of a direct dialogue, of a simple and intuitive use permitting to simplify numerous activities of our everyday life. A mutual dialogue in which data follow a forward and backward path because it is always man who controls the machine and regulates its operation but it is the machine that outputs data and information to the user so that he can process them and modify its operation.
The kitchen is undoubtedly one of the privileged places for this type of relation. The possibility of dialoguing in simple and effective way with household appliances means to improve performances and outputs, it results in the extreme customization according to one’s own needs and habits, it means to monitor consumptions and to know all activity typologies in order to succeed in achieving a resource, and actually also economic, saving.
In short, choosing a 2.0 kitchen means to make everyday life more comfortable and sustainable.
Companies and producers have therefore nourished this new system of man-machine relationship with smart solutions, developing an approach to technology and household appliances that results in a creative, technological and sharing experience, in a new way of living our passion for kitchen.
The dialogue does not take place with users only but household appliances themselves are networked and dialogue one another, in order to integrate loads and consumptions, to share information, to decide what modalities can be consistent with the simultaneous operation of more elements.
Obviously, in this virtuous circuit, an essential role is played by technological interfaces: tablets, smarthphones, computers, Wi-Fi systems that allow the remote management of household appliances, organizing and programming all operations of switching on, switching off and adjustment.
An excellent example of that is Simply-Fi by Candy, the first complete range of household appliances connected by Wi-Fi technology: washing machine, refrigerator, dishwasher, oven, hood and induction bob are constantly connected and prearranged to communicate with users though a dedicated app, available for the main iOS and Android operating systems, usable by smartphone, tablet or PC.
Transversal, useful and smart functions allow managing with full freedom household appliances also remotely (then when we are outside home) and receiving notifications and feedbacks, always remaining updated about their status at any daytime. The application allows activating predefined options for any household appliance connected, or storing habits and use preferences for a management perfectly conforming to our habits and requirements. Besides, from a practical point of view, the system enables a smart monitoring of the electricity consumption and offers cues and suggestions for a better use.
The Simply-fi system is already protagonist of several Candy household appliances like the innovative KriÓ Vital EVO Simply-fi refrigerator, able to dialogue with users to set up the optimal operation according to the characteristics of the elements contained in it. The refrigerator, no frost in A+ class with total net capacity of 278 litres, couples the features of a highly technological model with the possibilities offered by the remote dialogue. The new flush-door LCD display allows selecting programmes and options for an optimal management of performances and consumptions, while thanks to the simply-Fi app are multiplied the product management possibilities for a smart refrigeration. Through a sound signal, for instance, the app warns when the bottles stored in the freezer have reached the desired temperature to be served on the table, thus avoiding forgetting them or, still in safety terms, an alert message is sent when we leave the door open inadvertently or when the current is cut off for whatever reason.
Very active on the front of the connectivity and of the dialogue with household appliances is also Franke, which with the latest upgrading of the myMenu app, now available both for IOS and for Android, launches #Icooksocial, a new 2.0 kitchen concept that matches the user-friendliness of a mobile device with the performances of a professional oven and transforms the passion for cooking into an amusing and sharing time, at 360°.
The remote connection between oven and app is now completed by Facebook, with which conferring a real domestic use to technology, able to enhance and to spread the convivial, amusing and social aspect of cooking, making it simpler and faster, too. Besides communicating with the oven in remote, setting temperatures and cooking cycles, it is possible to register, to customize and to share recipes in real time in our Facebook profile. Once ended the cooking of the recipe pre-set by the user, the application gives the possibility of saving, customizing and sharing it, adding an image, ingredients and the preparation procedure.
The new Crystal Steel CS MY912 M 60+ DCT myMenu oven is the synthesis of Franke technological innovations. It is equipped with DCT (Dynamic Cooking Technology), which allows managing separately the innovative wire resistances, assuring the optimal heat management, a sensible reduction of cooking times and the elimination of the risk of burning foods. Besides, thanks to the myMenu technology, it is possible to gain access to an endless recipe book (organized by Country, recurrence, typology, ingredient and season) and starting from it, we can invent the suitable menu for all occasions. Once chosen the recipe or combined the menu of two, three or four dishes (cooked simultaneously thanks to the Complete Menu programme), few instants are sufficient to send the warning to the oven that, according to the set parameters, is automatically programmed for cooking, signalling when the dish (or the menu dishes) are ready to be churned out. The cutting-edge electronics of myMenu grants professional performances and it is irreplaceable for the remote cooking phases, for saving our recipes or our menus, for customizing the cooking cycles, storing the variations and sending the recipes to our friends.
Still in the oven segment has operated also Samsung with the new built-in series Defense, which is part of the Chef Collection line, a range of premium state-of-the-art household appliances devised to satisfy the requirements of the best chefs in the world, mixing design and functionality. The oven is characterized by an intuitive LCD touchscreen colour 4,6 inch interface and by the Wi-Fi technology, which allows controlling our foods remotely on our device, keeping wetness and temperature constant and, with a notification on the smartphone, being informed when the pre-heating is accomplished or the cooking ended.
Always pioneer of technological innovation, Whirlpool, with 6th Sense Live Technology allows consumers to interact remotely with household appliances, improving their use and making it even more intuitive. Though an app controllable by tablet it is in fact possible to dialogue with household appliances at any time and everywhere, to understand at best the technology at the base of products and relative features, learning to exploit fully their potentialities, all that with a single password: intuitiveness.
The tutorials included in the application explain how to load the washing machine or the dishwasher correctly or how to make gourmet recipes, guiding users in each phase to achieve the best result with the minimal effort.
The app allows customizing the household appliance use at best, setting specific functions not included in the control panel of the household appliance itself, with the target of satisfying customers’ needs, constantly changing. All this, besides facilitating users, grants the highest energy saving, thus activating a virtuous circle of resource optimization.
Like in the case of the Greenkitchen collection, too, the set of greenest household appliances on the market designed to integrate several household appliances able to save energy and resources. The dishwasher 6th Sense PowerClean and the combined refrigerator with 6th Sense Fresh Control technology, for instance, connected each other grant exceptional food conservation performances and very good dish cleaning results. This unique system exploits the heat generated by the refrigerator to heat the water that will be used in the dishwasher for the washing cycle. This allows consumers to obtain the performances of a dishwasher with energy A+++ class.
6th Sense Live Technology introduces a new dialogue technology among household appliances, and with users, which can communicate with products thanks to a single app, in particular through the scheduler function that permits to programme in advance the time of the household appliance start and end, showing information about the energy and water consumption to the user, permitting to entrust the household appliance itself with the choice of the most convenient hours.
Inside the wide range of connections and relations among household appliances, the most thorough is undoubtedly the one linked with the hood-hob relation. Pioneer of this trend is undoubtedly Elica, which has developed a dedicated range of hoods able to interact with the cooking hob surveying its operation data.
Thanks to the use of sensors, hoods decode the signal coming from the hob that communicates the level of switched-on stoves and the presence of pots. After recognizing the quantity of fumes coming from cooking, they optimize the operation level, they self-adjust, calibrating the suction optimally and reducing energy consumptions.
In the meantime, the company has also developed a range of Lien induction hobs equipped with an innovative wireless technology with which they are interconnected to hoods.
Golden and Diamond hobs couple the advantages of fast cooking and cleaning user-friendliness that are typical of induction hobs, a purposely studied technology that allows the transmission in real time of the hob use information: energy absorption, activated zones, cooking power and pot presence.
The same wavelength is shared by In Touch hobs by Novy, which integrate a touch control for the hood starting.
All controls are positioned at the level of the worktop, well visible and arranged in intuitive way while keeping anyway the functions of the two appliances independent (hood and hob), the connection occurs through radio frequency and does not need any supplementary wiring. Novy induction hobs give then the possibility of integrating the quality of this cooking system with the qualities of several hood models, transforming the standard kitchen into a jewel of technology and practicality. Hobs are safe (the hob is not a source of heat), user-friendly (we select the power level by sliding the finger on controls up to the desired level or directly touching the suitable level for the cooking time) and they enable to adapt surface and power to the pot size (the “bridge function” allows uniting two cooking zones).
Con@ctivity is instead the name of the system proposed by Miele, which allows an automatic and smart management of the hood in view of energy saving.
Thanks to this technology the suction hood, like the isle-model DA 7006 D Aura, can communicate with the hob; Con@ctivity 2.0 detects the information about what happens on the hob and transmits it to the controls of the hood aspirator that automatically selects the optimal operation level while always keeping the kitchen climate ideal. Besides, after a supplementary operation time, the hoods automatically switches off thus avoiding an energy waste.
We end with a made in Italy product, the hood Isola T15 by Tecnowind, fully made of steel and tempered glass, which couples design and performances with a relevant emission reduction up to the achievement of the A+ energy class. The hood can be equipped with wireless device that allows it to communicate with the hob. Controls are provided for on the cooking hob only, conferring even cleaner lines to the hood design and permitting the switching on and the speed and lighting regulation directly from the hob itself.
