What Are Smart Ovens and Stoves?

A smart oven is an electric range that includes Wi-Fi or Bluetooth to connect the device to a companion app. The app allows users to control the appliance remotely or to set automatic functions. Some may also have voice controls or connect with other smart home devices such as Amazon Echo or Google Home. Smart ovens have all the same features as conventional ovens, but they may have more flexible cooktop configurations and induction burners make cooking faster than ever.

What Can a Smart Oven Do?

A smart oven integrates with your connected smart home network (which may include other smart appliances like smart dishwashers, smart microwaves, or smart refrigerators) and provides advanced cooking technology for more even cooking. Adjust the cooking temperature from your smartphone or tablet to prevent overcooking without leaving your chair.

In addition, smart ovens and ranges may include some or all of these features:

• Wi-Fi connectivity to control some features from your smartphone or even with your voice using Amazon’s Alexa, Google Assistant, or Samsung’s Bixby.
• Set oven to preheat, adjust cooking temperature, and turn the oven off from anywhere using your smartphone.
• Expanded oven cycle settings include bake, broil, warming, convection bake/roast, and proof to help yeast-based baked goods rise before baking.
• Multiple types of heating and cooking technology help foods cook more evenly and faster, including convection, infrared heating elements, and adding or relocating traditional heating elements for more precise cooking.
• Many smart oven range models offer two separate oven spaces that allow you to cook different foods at different temperatures at the same time.
• Connect to apps such as Yummly that provide recipe steps and can automatically preheat the oven to the correct temperature setting, cook food for the proper amount of time, and then turn itself off based on recipe instructions.
• Several smart range models offer a dual fuel option where the stove or cooktop is powered by gas and the oven uses electricity for the best of both worlds cooking experience.
• Receive alerts when the oven is properly preheated, when the timer expires, or if there is a problem with the appliance.
• New grime-resistant coatings inside ovens and faster than ever self-cleaning cycles make cleaning your oven less of a chore.

What Can a Smart Stove Cooktop Do?

A smart stove offers a customizable cooktop to accommodate any dish, pot, or pan. While a gas cooktop offers the best precision of cooking temperature, electric cooktops are where the new technology and features are found.

• Multiple types of burners allow you to cook in new ways. This includes induction burners that use electromagnetic energy to cook food and require either stainless steel or cast-iron cookware to work and multiple element burners that allow you to select the correct size burner element for the size of the cookware, eliminating heat loss and ensuring faster cooking.
• Power burners meet intense heat cooking needs such as boiling water or searing foods.
• Simmer burners keep foods warm while other items finish cooking and use less energy.
• Use a bridge element to connect two or more burners to create one large cooking surface for wide cookware or griddles.
• Smooth ceramic glass cooktops offer easy clean-up and include indicator lights to show which areas are still hot.

What Can a Smart Oven/Stove Plug Do?

If you can’t afford a new smart kitchen range but are interested in adding a bit of smart to your existing range, you can purchase a special smart plug for your stove. Your oven range plugs into the smart plug first and then the smart plug is connected to the wall outlet for your kitchen range. Let’s take a quick look at how this special plug adds smart technology features to your existing oven range.

• Wi-Fi connectivity allows it to send alerts to your smartphone and integrates it into your connected smart home network.
• Compatible with voice control options such as Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa.
• Learns your cooking habits over time and alerts you when the stove or oven has been on longer than usual.
• Receive alerts whenever the cooktop or oven is turned on and off.
• Uses geofencing technology to determine when your smartphone location indicates you might have left home without turning off the cooktop or oven and sends you an alert or turns off the range to prevent accidental house fires.

Common Concerns About Smart Oven Ranges

A smart oven range is a serious investment with prices ranging from around $3,000 to over $10,000 for very high-end models. Let’s review some common concerns buyers have when making an investment in a smart range.

Are Smart Oven Ranges Complicated to Use?

With all of the different cooking technologies included in smart ranges, this is an understandable concern. While smart oven ranges allow you to customize some of these different cooking options, there are also simple to use oven cycles such as bake, broil, and warm that take the guesswork and the stress out of understanding the different options.

How Is a Smart Oven Range Different From a Smart Wall Oven or Smart Drop-In Cooktop?

A smart oven range includes the oven (or ovens if more than one oven compartment) and the cooktop in one appliance. Using a separate smart wall oven and smart cooktop are just the same appliances split into two separate units instead of being combined into one.