✔ The best smart coffee machine is the Melitta F86
✔ Samsung has made the best smart fridge and smart microwave
✔ Hoover Vision is the best smart oven
Brits spend an average of 253 minutes a week in the kitchen. That’s 219 hours a year, or a whopping 439 days of your entire life. It goes without saying, then, that if you’re going to spend so much time in your kitchen, you might as well make life easy for yourself while you’re there.
How? By investing in a few smart kitchen appliances.
Smart kitchen appliances connect to your mobile devices via a Bluetooth or wifi connection, meaning you can operate them remotely using your smartphone or tablet. And they come with plenty more innovative features, too.
Imagine, for instance, an oven with an HD camera to help you keep tabs on how the chicken’s crisping up. How about a fridge with a touchscreen interface, a voice-activated kettle, or kitchen scales that monitor your calorie count?
Whether you’re interested in a clever coffee machine or a brilliant blender, we’re taking you through 16 of the most intelligent (and budget-friendly) kitchen appliances on the market. Scroll on to browse brands, read reviews, compare prices… and supercharge your kitchen.
What’s on this page?
- 01 | Best smart coffee machine
- 02 | Best smart oven
- 03 | Best smart fridge
- 04 | Best smart microwave
- 05 | Best smart blender
- 06 | Best smart thermometer
- 07 | Best smart kettle
- 08 | Best smart kitchen scales
- 09 | Next steps
Easier than Deliveroo: smart kitchen appliances bring tasty tech directly to your tablet
Best smart coffee machine: Melitta F86
The Melitta F86 is an intuitive coffee machine that looks good in your kitchen, and means you’ll never again have to suffer a subpar cup of coffee within the four walls of your own home.
There are 21 coffee styles pre-loaded onto the machine, and it can also save the specific preferences of up to eight of your family and friends. And you won’t have to worry about having to attend to it all the time, either – descaling and cleaning is all automatic.
Grain compartments are airtight to seal in the freshness of your favourite coffee, and separate hot water preparation is available for the tea-lovers out there.
What’s more, this classy coffee machine is completely customisable. Flavour, strength, style… you name it. The Melitta Connect App works seamlessly with your machine to let you manage every aspect of your coffee – and start the day off right.
Price: £854.09 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart coffee machine on a budget: DeLonghi
The DeLonghi has a lot to offer the coffee aficionado. Aside from a modern design, this magnificent machine offers simple, tidy capsule coffee making, and connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The DeLonghi also offers five temperature settings and a range of automations to help you produce barista-style coffee on a budget.
Price: £230 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart oven: Hoover Vision
What happens when your TV meets your slow cooker? Something like this smart oven from Hoover. It’s equipped with a fully interactive 19” touchscreen that lets you create and save recipes, watch cooking tutorials, browse social media, and listen to Spotify.
Better still, the Hoover Vision comes complete with an HD camera, providing a close up, crystal clear view of your oven’s interior. Gone are the days of peering through a murky, semi-opaque oven door to check on the chops, or copping a face full of heat while monitoring your meat – the Hoover Vision makes it easy.
Did You Know?
Brits spend more than four hours every week in the kitchen, on average.
What’s more, you don’t even have to be in the kitchen (or the house!) to do the looking at what’s cooking. Simply tap into Hoover’s intuitive ‘Wizard’ app from your smartphone or tablet, wherever you are, to keep an eye on dinner. You can also pre-program the Hoover Vision with your favourite recipes, and easily access them when it’s time to cook.
Price: £1,187 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart oven on a budget: Siemens HB632GBS1B iQ700
With an A+ for energy efficiency, and a range of innovative features for temperature control and even heat distribution, the Siemens iQ700 gets top marks all round. It also boasts a sleek, compact look, and an impressive price point to boot.
Price: £660 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart fridge: Samsung RF56M9540SR/EU Family Hub Smart Fridge Freezer
The Samsung Fridge Freezer does everything you need it to. It keeps food frozen, drinks cold, and… streams music?
That’s right. One of the most advanced models of fridge freezer on the market, Samsungs’s Family Hub comes with everything you need to manage your groceries and entertain your friends. It streams music, mirrors your TV, and the kids can write or draw on its 21.5-inch touchscreen, while you catalogue your fridge’s inventory.
The fridge’s interior also features a camera, letting you take a peek at what ingredients you’re short on from your smartphone, while you’re in the supermarket or driving home. Throw in its moisture-control fruit and vegetable drawers and A+ energy efficiency rating, and you’ve got one of the best fridge freezers money can buy.
Price: £2,999 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart fridge on a budget: Haier HRF-522WS6 American Fridge Freezer
As close to the best fridge freezer you’re going to get on a shoestring, the Haier American Fridge Freezer boasts a huge 510-litre capacity, with the features to match. Its smart technology regulates temperature while preventing any frustrating build-ups of ice, and the handy holiday setting helps save energy while you’re away.
Price: £620 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart microwave: Samsung MC28H513CK/EU
Samsung is at it again, with a microwave that’s not only smart – but smartly-priced, too. The not so smartly-named Samsung MC28H513CK, however, still cooks your food quickly – and with the innovative intelligence of ‘Smart Sensor’ and ‘Slim Fry’ technology.
That means you’ll get fried food with less fat, and can do away with the stacks of greasy pots and pans. And if you’re struggling to conjure up the right cuisine, this smart microwave can help ignite the fires of inspiration. It comes with up to 15 pre-programmed recipes to help you enjoy the perfect meal, every time.
Price: £179.99 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart microwave on a budget: Daewoo KOR6M5RR Touch Control Microwave
Quick, energy-efficient, and perfect for smaller households, this Daewoo Microwave delivers delicious dishes in moments. It also offers a power-saving standby mode to help give the environment (and your wallet!) a break, while delivering a high power output. This microwave may be small, but it packs a punch, and will heat your lunch.
Price: £42.48 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart blender: Nutribullet 1200 series
Can’t start the day without a fresh juice, or partial to a homemade protein drink after a gruelling workout? You’re probably already familiar with the Nutribullet… but it’s new 1200 series is your new best friend.
Its smart technology completely pulverises your ingredients – meaning quick shakes, and without the lumpy bits.
The Nutribullet 1200 series comes with an in-built, hassle-free ‘Smart Technology Mode’. It’s a pre-programmed cycle that removes the guesswork from smoothie making – and you can activate it with the single touch of a button.
This smart blender is also simple to use, easy to clean, and comes with a range of different-sized cups for travel or enjoyment at home.
That not enough? Well, it even comes with a book of over 25 recipes for #inspo to get you started making nutritious, life-affirming drinks.
Price: £110 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart blender on a budget: Tefal BL420840 Blendforce II
Okay, it’s not a smart blender per se. But if a bargain blender is high up on your home’s wishlist, Tefal’s regally-named ‘Blendforce II’ ticks all the boxes. Powered by four stainless steel blades for efficiency, a two-speed rotary dial for custom blending, and one big, ergonomic handle for comfort, this budget blender is worth every penny.
Price: £24.99 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart thermometer: Meater Smart Wireless Food Thermometer
If you’re anything like the writer of this piece, you’ll probably struggle cooking steak to the right level. Not anymore, though – this handy, stainless steel thermometer is easy to set up and even easier to use – and it works intelligently with your other smart home devices, too.
View the progress of your cooking from an intuitive, vibrant mobile app, and get a notification sent straight to your phone when your food is ready. Alternatively, you can just ask Alexa how long it’ll be until your beef’s done. That’s right – with the Meater wireless food thermometer, dinner time becomes basically a hands-free operation.
Price: £89 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart thermometer on a budget: Cadrim BBQ Meat Thermometer
The Cadrim smart thermometer lets you monitor up to six different types of meat simultaneously, up to temperatures of 300 degrees Celcius – all from a single, straightforward mobile app, and at a smart price.
Price: £26.99 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart kettle: Appkettle
The practical-sounding ‘Appkettle’ does exactly what the name suggests – it’s a kettle that works with a mobile app to give you remote control over your brews.
The Appkettle works with Amazon Alexa, letting you turn on your kettle with a simple voice command. You can also schedule it to start boiling at certain times of day or night, so it’s already steaming when you wake up, or by the time you’re home from work.
Price: £129.99 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart kettle on a budget: Sage BKE820UK the Smart Kettle
With five different temperature settings, a chrome finish, and functionality that keeps water hot 20 minutes after boiling, the Sage Smart Kettle offers big benefits, for less cash.
Price: £74.99SHOP NOW
Best smart kitchen scales: Etekcity Digital Kitchen Scales
Remember back in the day, when kitchen scales just weighed food, and did nothing else? Yeah, well… those days are gone. The Etekcity Digital kitchen scales are here, and they’re ready to drag your kitchen into the 21st century.
These scales connect with your smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth to provide advanced nutritional information about the food you’re weighing. Calories, fats, protein, sugars, minerals, carbs… the statistics are all there, at your fingertips.
Even better, you can sync all this information with your Fitbit or Apple Health app to better track your daily intakes of the good (and not so good) stuff. Track square meals, monitor your carb intake, or keep track of your progress against your dietary goals – all through this basic-but-brilliant set of kitchen scales.
Price: £29.99 (free delivery) SHOP NOW
Best smart kitchen scales on a budget: SENSSUN Nutrition Kitchen Scale
The only thing more impressive than the SENSSUN scales’SENSSUN scales’ range of futuristic features… is its price point. Costing just over £15, this stainless steel set of scales provides nutritional data for almost 2,000 different foods, and then lets you leverage that data through an app – to help you hit even the loftiest of healthy eating targets.
Price: £15.99 SHOP NOW
Next steps
With smart kitchen appliances, it’s about the little things.
Having a kettle full of water ready to brew a pot of tea when you get home. Throwing together a strawberry smoothie in seconds. Putting a cup of coffee on without getting up from the couch…
Smart appliances don’t just make your life easier – they can also help bring families closer together.
And with so many smart kitchen appliances available for even the most money-conscious of households, there’s no better time to start investing in the ease and convenience these devices can bring to your home. Why not start now?
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