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There are smart thermostats to make us comfortable, smart doorbells to make us safe, smart plugs to make us energy-efficient... and now, smart ovens to make us better chefs.
KitchenAid recently came out with its new Smart Oven+, a wall oven that connects to your smart home so you can control all of your baking, steaming, grilling, and broiling via a mobile app. But with the 30-inch single oven sporting a price tag of nearly $3,000, it's certainly not an impulse purchase. Below are all of the cool features you'll get with a Smart Oven+ plus whether or not our experts think it's worth shelling out thousands of dollars for.
What can the Smart Oven+ do?
You'll have nearly 100 recipes at your fingertips.
Just like the KitchenAid stand mixer (which our experts ranked as the best stand mixer of 2019), the Smart Oven+ comes with interchangeable attachments (a grill, a steamer, and a baking stone) so you can customize your appliance.
Once you connect the attachments to the power hub in the back of the oven, you'll be able to control everything via your smart home system or phone. For instance, you can change the oven temperature, set a timer, monitor your food, and even record specific instructions or reminders for yourself for next time.
The full-color touchscreen also has a "Recipe Mode," where you'll find step-by-step instructions for creating delicious dishes using the attachments.
Which smart home systems does it work with?
The Smart Oven+ is currently compatible with Google Home and any Alexa-enabled device. It can also be linked to your Nest thermostat to alert you if you accidentally leave the oven on when you leave the house.
Who is it for?
Grilling, but in an oven.
While the Smart Oven+ has features that most home cooks could benefit from, the high price could be a turn-off. However, our Smart Home Editor Sarah Kovac notes that it could be beneficial for "a person who is busy and can't stay in the kitchen to monitor what they're baking." And if you're worried about the size or layout of your kitchen, the appliance can also be customized and installed to fit in your existing cabinet structure.
Is it worth the cost?
Purchase at your own risk, says Kovac. "This oven has a lot of bells and whistles, which means a lot of things could go wrong with an essential part of your kitchen," she clarifies. "Maybe it's great, but a bug in the app or oven itself could mean serious inconvenience."
That being said, she isn't writing off smart ovens for good. She simply advises, "I'd wait to purchase such an expensive smart gadget until it's had some time on the market and in people's homes." That will give manufacturers like KitchenAid a chance to work out any kinks and make the product even better before you spend your money on it.
And if you're currently in the market for a new oven (but don't need or want to pay for the smart oven), we've reviewed tons of ovens in our lab. You can find our favorites here.