A look at smart appliances and how they can be integrated in a high-tech home.








SMART APPLIANCES: Your home, connected

HIGH-TECH: What is a smart appliance, anyway?


The flashiest models are prohibitively expensive. The Samsung RF4289HARS touch-screen fridge costs $3,699 (and based on our lab tests, the performance doesn't match the price).









RELATED: The business of smart appliances

A LOOK BACK: There were smart appliances in the 1950s?






GUIDE: How to buy a smart appliance right now




If you decide to shop for a smart appliance, you'll run into a handful of seemingly advanced features and options — some worth considering, some not so much. Here's what to look out for:

1. Diagnostics — Many appliances can self-diagnose broken parts. But only a few of them can let their owners know what's wrong through a smartphone app. If it's a serious malfunction, the app can even call customer service and schedule a repair. This is a useful feature, and is even available on some affordable models.

2. Food management — A few high-end fridges can keep track of their contents, and send reminders about expiration dates. But they're labor-intensive, and don't make life much easier. In time, the process will be more automated, but the tech isn't good enough yet.

3. Customizable cycles — Smart washers and dryers let users download settings for additional, specialized laundry cycles. A clever idea, maybe, but doesn't everybody just set it to "Normal" anyway?

4. Smart grid — If and when the infrastructure catches up, most new appliances will be compatible with the smart grid. It should help save consumers a few dollars on each utility bill.

5. Touch-screens — Anything "smart" is supposed to have a touch-screen these days, apparently. But on the appliances we've seen with them so far, they feel like unnecessary, tacked-on gadgetry.
