Lifestyle Planner

Appliances

Smart appliances are here to stay and are only going to get better. Refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers and other appliances that connect to the Internet, that can be preset, controlled from mobile phones and serviced remotely are already a reality.

All the major consumer goods manufacturers are already adding all sorts of smarts to their products, and while they may not be able to order your groceries or actually cook the dinner for you just yet, they certainly can help out.

For example, Samsung and LG Electronics have recently introduced refrigerators with the ability to talk to the internet. While you still have to add expiry dates yourself, Electrolux is already looking at radio-frequency (RF) tagging and reading through a concept refrigerator called the CyberFridge that could ultimately make reading the use by date a thing of the past.

You should also keep in mind that these advanced refrigerators with screens built into the doors can replace a TV and a computer screen. This ?in-the-door? design preserves counter space and provides a central location to surf the web.

For example LG?s Internet Refrigerator has a 15.1-inch LCD touch screen in one of its double doors, and the frame of the screen holds a built-in camera for taking pictures and a microphone for recording messages. The screen can display content from the web, cable TV programs and DVD movies.

Components such as a DVD player and a high-speed modem plug into a small box that sits on top of the appliance, the "brains" of the refrigerator.

The Samsung HomePAD side-by-side refrigerator features a similar touch screen-in-the-door design and can handle many of the same entertainment, information-gathering and communication tasks as the LG Internet Refrigerator, but with one advantage: Its touchscreen is detachable. You can remove it from the door and carry it elsewhere to watch TV or write a long email.

Some of the new generation fridges can do other smart things too. For example, built into the GE Arctica refrigerator is a sophisticated temperature-management system that adjusts the climate based on the type of food placed inside.

And the Arctica's Express Chill feature can chill a warm bottle of chardonnay in just 17 minutes and work in the opposite way to defrost food faster.

Even if you don't think that you'll ever need them, putting internet outlets on the wall behind every big appliance just means your kitchen is ready for whatever the future cooks up.