How to transform your kitchen setup with these smart, time-saving appliances

If both you and your home are feeling a little tired coming into spring cleaning season, I have good news. Embracing smart home appliances can help improve your day-to-day chores, saving you time and money in the long run. Wave goodbye to re-washing your dishes, scrubbing grease off the hob surface, and less-than-perfect laundry. It sounds like a dream come true, so where do we start?

I’ve worked through all the different smart appliances that you can invest in. The ones below offer genuinely innovative improvements on older, less smart models. They’ve been cleverly designed by people who use these every day, meaning all the clever extras are the sorts that you’d actually use. Your oven will cook evenly (whatever level you select); your hob can bring a pan to boil in seconds; and your washing machine will let you add that stray sock mid-cycle.

So, if you’re ready to revolutionise your everyday routine, grab a cup of tea. Let’s talk about how you can make your spring cleaning smarter, cheaper, and more efficient.

What are smart appliances?

These days, it seems like everything (except me) is getting smarter. And whilst there are plenty of appliances that I think are too clever for their own good, there’s a select few that are worth embracing.

If you want the overall sense of what makes an appliance ‘smart’ it usually means that it’s wifi connected, but you’ll also find lots of clever extras integrated into a model’s design. To save you the time and effort of researching which smart appliances are the best, I’ve found the best on offer.

It might surprise you to know that they’re all large appliances. From an oven with air fryer functions to a washing machine that automatically adjusts its water, energy, and detergent consumption to suit your laundry, I’ve got the lowdown on everything you need.

What are smart hobs?

You might think that you’re cooking on gas with your traditional hob, but it’s only true in the very literal sense. Older hobs aren’t half as energy or time-efficient as modern hobs. Throw in smart features and you’ll be cooking on something much better than gas.

The best example of this is the Hotpoint Induction Hob. If you’re already familiar with induction hobs, you’ll know these clever surfaces use magnets to detect exactly where your pan is sitting. This means only the space that your pan is touching gets hot, saving you on power. Clever stuff.

Hotpoint takes full advantage of induction technology and offers eighteen different heat settings alongside some pre-sets that’ll automatically choose a temperature for your pots and pans. Jess Meyer, food stylist for woman&home, says “eighteen settings is an amazing range to have at your fingertips. I generally heat my pans on the middle setting, so would opt for 8 or 9. If you go too hot too quickly you could crack a cast iron pan. I know because I’ve done it too many times myself.”

If you play around with the temperatures, you’ll quickly find that 18 is particularly good when paired with the Boost Function. Imagine pans full of water simmering in seconds. Hot stuff, right?

There are other clever features, such as child-safe sensitivity and a residual heat indicator that'll let you know when it's safe to run a cloth over the surface, which brings me to the topic of cleaning.

Normally, I dread the faff of the cleanup, but Hotpoint has done something very clever. This comes with a special coating which they call CleanProtect. Lindsay Molyneux, a cooking expert from AO, says "you won't have to worry about the clean-up thanks to the coating which allows you to lift burnt-on food with just water. It's also much more resistant to chipping, so dropping a plate won't make your heart sink." Now can you see why these are called smart appliances?

What are smart ovens?

I've put smart ovens under the heat too. Just the other day, I was working on a fakeaway set of recipes that are designed to be whipped up speedier than you can say “what’s for dinner?”

To create these recipes, I had the helping hand of the Hotpoint Class 4 Electric Oven from AO, which comes with 20 different functions. This means the oven can cater its cooking style to suit exactly the kind of culinary craving you’re facing. There’s a pizza setting (which is my personal favourite) as well as air frying (no need to buy a bulky extra appliance), roasting (for simple traybakes) and steaming (if you’re trying to keep things healthy).

The Hotpoint Oven has every little niggle covered. For example, their MultiFlow technology means that the heat inside your oven is consistent across every shelf. There’s no gamble of how food will cook on the top shelf or uneven cooking on the bottom shelf, just delicious consistency wherever you put your dish.

At every stage of cooking, a sleek screen that will keep you up to date on the temperature of the oven; where to put your food in the oven; and when to add steam or any extra elements. Hotpoint’s Smart Ovens don't don a chef's hat and apron, but they may as well.

What is a smart dishwasher?

typologiesThe best way to answer the question “what is a smart dishwasher?” is by listing common grievances: you have to work hard to make everything fit; there’s residue on the dishes; your glasses tip water out onto the floor when you want to unload the dishwasher; and you want another layer without needing more space. Guess what? That's what the best smart dishwashers do.

There are lots of moving parts that come together to make the Hotpoint Hydroforce Dishwasher the best kitchen assistant that I’ve ever employed: it’s thorough, adjustable, and even dries your dishes for you. It sounds dreamy, and honestly, it is.

No more pre-scrubbing! The innovative Hydroforce 3rd Rack (the first on the market with integrated spray jets*) delivers a deep, targeted clean for mugs, bowls, and utensils, freeing up space in the lower racks.

Got stubborn, baked-on food? Simply load up the rest of the dishwasher and let the powerful 3D Zone Wash do the hard work, tackling grease and grime with up to 40%** more cleaning power.

And when the cycle’s done, this Hotpoint dishwasher goes one step further. It dries your dishes, then automatically opens the door slightly, so your glasses and cutlery are perfectly dry and ready to go straight into the cupboards and drawers. Job done.

*Referred to all models of dishwashers with 3rd rack with integrated and dedicated spray jets sold under Beko Europe brands: Whirlpool, Hotpoint and Indesit. Market: Europe. September 2024.

**Average percentage of washing performance increase versus non-3D Zone Wash cycle running Auto-Intensive programme, obtained on 17 different types of items with various typology of dirt. Test results were verified in an external laboratory.

What is a smart laundry system?

If you’re always getting in a spin about your laundry, you need smarter appliances. Smart washing machines, for example, can get your clothes cleaner with less energy, detergent, and time. And the technology is still really simple to use.

The Hotpoint ActiveCare washing machine from AO is a real standout amongst all the other appliances that I’ve come across. The drum has integrated ActiveLoad sensors that will adjust water use and energy depending on how much laundry you load. Then, special ActiveCare technology pre-mixes your liquid detergent with water to give it more cleaning power, before dispensing it into the drum. Once in there, it mimics a scrubbing motion to work on any stains and bad smells and the ActiveCare technology works to clean clothes at temperatures as low as 20°C*. I’d say that’s hot stuff, but it’s actually very cool.

There are plenty of other clever features: if you find a stray sock that you dropped on your way to the washing machine, you can pause the cycle and add in clothes. You can also run through steam, anti-allergy, and hygiene cycles for every kind of laundry dilemma.

And what’s a washing machine without its partner in crime, the humble tumble dryer? In this case, the Hotpoint ActiveCare Heat Pump Tumble Dryer from AO should be anything but humble. It’s very clever.

First of all, it’s a heat pump dryer, which is the most efficient way to dry your laundry. Then, it’s packed with lots of clever settings, including the ActiveCare technology, which cuts down on wear by up to 40%, so your favourite jumper will stay in tip-top condition for longer**.

The Hotpoint Dryer also has a special setting called Crease Care that keeps wrinkles out of the clothes, if you can’t get to emptying them straight away: it’ll lightly tumble your laundry for up to 10 hours in the drum. It’s quiet, spacious, and cheap to run. What’s not to love?

*Obtained on an Anti-stain programme (tested on Cotton) and ActiveCare option activated.

**Up to 40% based on jeans programme without ActiveCare

This selection of smart Hotpoint appliances is made of some seriously smart stuff. Lots of people invest in them because AO is trusted and well-established, but there is another special something that sweetens their appeal. If you see any of these appliances cheaper at another retailer, AO will match the price. They already check the prices on their AO site multiple times a day, so that they’re giving you the best deal around. However, if you do manage to find it cheaper at one of the thousands of retailers on their list, they’ll match it. That’s not the end of it either. Just because you bagged an extra saving, you won’t lose out on any of their reassuring services. AO delivers, installs, removes, and recycles on the day of your appliance delivery. So, with smart savings and even smarter service, upgrading your home has never been easier.