We’re in the planning stage for a major renovation of our 20 year old kitchen, we expect we’ll be replacing everything.
We already have Home Assistant automation for the lights in the kitchen through TP-Link Kasa switches. The reno may provide an opportunity to do more, but what?
Any practical ideas of what we may want to implement in a new kitchen?
If you don’t already use some type of home energy monitoring then ‘smart plugs’ to help you monitor energy usage and verify things are actually running. Example, an energy monitor for your dishwasher can tell you that the cycle is done; if you left the stove on; if the refrigerator compressor has been running not stop for days (signs of failure). If you don’t do this at the beginning then you probably aren’t likely to move the appliance later to do this.
An example of something I did was put a window sensor on my deep freezer which if open for 10 mins will send me and my wife a notification. These are ‘now’ small devices and the batteries last years.
Probably a pet peeve of everyone but look to see if you can get a microwave that can connect to a time server so you don’t have to worry about a flashing clock after a power outage.
Not something that is related to renovation but I have been using Grocy ERP to inventory food and other items. It also has the ability compare your inventory to recipes so you know what you can make with items on hand or what you need to purchase. There is also a REST API that you can pull these things into HA. Grocy GitHub Grocy Info
Thanks GlennHA, the microwave suggestion is brilliant! Though it seems all the appliances we’re looking at are smart except the microwave – and none of them talk to automation systems.
But your suggestion makes me think I’d also like a connected vent hood over our range, so that its lights can be turned on automatically with other kitchen lights.