Is It Time To Build A Smart Kitchen?

As hard as it may be for some “old-timers” to take in, we’re now about one entire generation into the 21st century! That means there’s a generation of Americans that have grown up with the Internet always existing, digital music consistently an option, and smart devices always ready to provide information and answers.

For general contractors in Maryland, this also meant changes not just in the way we work but also in the kinds of features and appliances that clients and customers get. If you’re thinking of improving your kitchen, now might be the time to consider making it a “smart kitchen.”

What’s A Smart Kitchen?

Like your smartphone, a “smart kitchen” is a room that embraces the digital, online, connected world that we now live in. Information is constantly there, available wirelessly via broadcast internet technologies like wifi. The vast majority of American homes now use a home network of some kind, usually a wifi network, and it’s not just desktop and laptop computers that take advantage of this.

Today, devices—and even appliances—all over the home can now tap into a home network—and thus, the entire global network—to gather information or receive orders. It might not seem helpful to have aspects of a kitchen that can be connected to the Internet, but you’d be surprised at what this can mean for your kitchen experience.

Smart Fridges

A fridge connected to the Internet might not seem helpful, but today’s smart fridges can perform various tasks. A smart fridge can, for example, keep track and notify you of expiration dates on individual items within the refrigerator. It can also track items within the fridge, note what needs to be replenished once it’s gone, and add it to a shopping list for the next time you need to buy groceries.

Smart fridges even have cameras built-in. So now you can check inside the refrigerator directly if you’re already at the grocery store to see whether you need to buy more milk or it’s running low. A display on the fridge can be used to control music players, play back or stream media, and even retrieve and display recipes.

Smart Cooking

Both the stove and the range can be “smart enabled” to enhance and improve the cooking experience. A smart range can be controlled by phone or other devices, but it can also have built-in cameras that look out at the kitchen or directly at the stove itself. This means that even if you need to go to another part of the house while something simmers, you can check on the food by phone without going back to the kitchen.

A smart stove lets you preheat the oven wirelessly or control the stove’s temperature from another location. If you know you need to adjust the temperature of something that’s simmering, but you’re in another room, a smart oven lets you do it without returning to the kitchen.

If you’re remodeling your kitchen with general contractors in Maryland, think about modernizing things with smart kitchen features.