We spend a lot of time in the kitchen in my house. It’s where we congregate multiple times a day to make dinner, catch up on how things are going, and debrief about what happened that day. There are spontaneous dance parties and core memories that have taken place in my kitchen that I’m always appreciative of.
It’s also a place where my smart home gadgets have thrived. People may think of their smart home gadgets as ones spread out around the house. We have smart sensors on our windows, video doorbells at the front and garage doors, and my smart washing machine lets me know when a load is finished. Smart devices meant for kitchen use have helped make our smart house into a smart home.
I turned my old tablet into a smart home dashboard, and it’s perfect
I use my 1st-gen iPad Pro as a smart home dashboard
- Chipset
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Octa-Core SoC with Amazon AZ2 Neural Network Engine
- Display
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8.0-inch touchscreen
- Colors
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Charcoal, White
- Connectivity
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Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
- Dimensions
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7.9″ x 5.5″ x 4.2″
- Weight
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36.6oz
The Amazon Echo Show 8 is a Thread Border Router that can connect multiple devices in your home.
Our Amazon Echo Show 8 has transformed the kitchen
It’s what helps run our smart home
Our home runs on Amazon Alexa and the Amazon Echo Show 8 in our kitchen is the main piece. We do have an Echo Spot and an Echo Show 5 upstairs, but the most-used smart speaker is the one in the kitchen.
It’s a Thread Border Router that helps our Matter-enabled devices communicate with one another. Being able to sync up our devices with the Amazon Alexa app is one thing. But having Matter-enabled devices work with each other brings my smart home to an entirely new level.
The speaker is great and we utilize Alexa+ to get the most out of the smart assistant. Not only does it answer questions for us, but it also can show us the feed from our Ring cameras and help us communicate with family members through video calls.
The Alexa commands make the home easier to use as well. Just asking it to play a song on Spotify or Amazon Music gets our kitchen dance parties going.
I’m aware that an Echo Show 8 isn’t specifically a kitchen gadget. But our smart home wouldn’t be the same without this smart speaker in our kitchen. It helps us find recipes and we can set timers on it during any cooking process. We’ve become so reliant on it that I can’t see myself owning a home and not having a smart speaker in the kitchen.
The smart leak detector has kept our sink dry
This was a problem for a while
A few weeks ago, I noticed some water under our sink. I couldn’t quite figure out what was causing the leak after a bit of investigating. I was tightening the trap underneath and the faucet itself, which had become a bit loose.
What it turned out to be was the nozzle on the faucet itself was loose and causing water to leak down the pipe. This was a good-case scenario rather than the pipe itself leaking. But, the faucet had been installed by the people who lived in our house before us and my wife and I didn’t like it anyway. So we took this as a perfect opportunity to replace the faucet.
We picked out a Moen faucet and I took the old one out and installed the new one myself. With it being the first time installing a faucet, I opted for a Moen Smart Leak Detector to place under the sink as well.
The leak detector is a standalone sensor that searches for the presence of water. This can come in the form of actual water, humidity, or high temperatures.
When it detects something, it either sends you a notification via the Moen Smart Water app, a text message, a phone call, or an email. You can find out multiple ways that you might have a leak underneath your sink.
I feel good knowing that I don’t have to feel around in the back of the area under the sink every little bit to know if water is pooling. The sensor will tell me if something is wrong.
I purchased a pack of three leak detectors and put one in the basement next to the hot water heater and one under the sink in the master bathroom.
A smart pizza oven has been a game changer
Plus, I can check how it’s doing without any hassle
The Current Model P Smart Pizza Oven has helped transform our home, especially on pizza Fridays (a staple in my house growing up that has now been adopted in my own home.) This smart pizza oven has multiple settings that let you make a pizza the way you like.
You can make Neapolitan and New York pizzas and there is a special setting for frozen and thin crust pizza as well. On top of that, you can broil your cheese and toppings to get the right crisp. The pizza can reach up to 850ºF, letting it cook a pizza in about 90 seconds.
A great part about the Model P is that you can keep an eye on it through the Current app on your phone, so you can know when the pizza has reached its perfect crisp. This helps when we’re doing multiple things in the kitchen and the pizza oven is being used outside. You can use this indoors as well, making it great to use at any time of the year.
In the Current app, you can tell it what ingredients you’ve included on your pizza and it will adjust the cooking times to make sure all of them are cooked to perfection. It’s made pizza night a blast.
A smart meat thermometer is a necessary addition for grilling
I won’t overcook the meat with this
I have the ThermoWorks RFX, which is a Wi-Fi-enabled meat thermometer. It comes with multiple probes and a gateway to ensure that you have correct information coming from your meat to the ThermoWorks app.
You’ll get up-to-date data on the temperature of your meat while it’s in the oven or on the grill. This is ideal for anyone who likes to slow cook their meats in a smoker or on a grill. You don’t have to worry about those flimsy turkey temperature indicators that pop up when they’re ready, which aren’t as accurate and can lead to your turkey drying out.
This has four different sensors in each probe that are strategically placed to help you get the best info about your meal. As someone who loves to grill during the summer, this has allowed me to make dishes with pork, chicken, turkey, and beef while also preparing the sides. One of the toughest things to do when you’re grilling is to know when you should flip the meat. This gives you precise readouts to know when it’s time to turn it.
The sensors can withstand temperatures up to 1,000ºF. It has made grilling season much more enjoyable.
These smart kitchen gadgets make time at home simpler
It can be a lot to plan out and prep your meals each week. Being able to pop something on the grill and keep an eye on it without having to stand in front of the grill is a lifesaver. Cooking a pizza in less than two minutes means you can churn out more pizzas and calzones in a faster time. Adding kitchen gadgets to your smart home can help you put your time to good use and your meals more fun.
