Imagine family and friends gathering around the television for Thanksgiving Day football. Suddenly, a pop-up appears on the screen — the oven is letting everyone know the turkey is ready. At that same moment, dinner music begins to play through the speakers. As the host removes the perfectly cooked bird, the doorbell chimes and a speaker announces the grandparents’ arrival.
The homeowner hasn’t lifted a finger. Each smart device has seamlessly communicated with the others.
For more than a decade, kitchen appliance manufacturers have been racing to keep up with the rapid pace of technology, introducing increasingly sophisticated smart cooking solutions as artificial intelligence becomes part of everyday life.
The kitchen of today could look like this scenario, but most homeowners have yet to embrace cooking technology or the greater capabilities of smart home features beyond smart lighting or motion-sensor faucets.
Whether most consumers know it or not, the majority of new appliances sold today are technically “smart,” meaning they have internet capabilities, said Daryl Friedman, global president and CEO of smart home professionals trade group CEDIA.
The first smart appliances hit the market in the mid-2010s, according to Friedman, boasting internet connectivity as a response to the growing prevalence of smartphones and technology-obsessed Americans. In 2013, Apple released its iPhone 5 and GE Appliances released its first internet-powered ovens and ranges.
“We got a terrific response back in 2013 with the Wi-Fi and realized that people were seeing a lot of changes and enhancements in their consumer electronics, but not seeing them in their appliances and just starved for that kind of technology that drives convenience and results,” said Rachael Schwartz, executive director of product management for built-in cooking at GE, in an interview with Homes.com.
Now, 12 years later, the company is still following consumers’ hunger for technology with AI-powered cooking capabilities.
AI now cooks for you
It’s become hard to escape AI in conversation, even in the kitchen.
GE launched its Cookcam AI last year, which can identify what’s inside the oven and take over cooking for dishes such as steak, pizza, vegetables, and, of course, the notoriously challenging Thanksgiving turkey.
“We realized that people were very stressed about getting their Turkey right. … We created a mode where you just put the probe in, it asks a number of questions about the size of the turkey, and it will cook it to perfection,” said Schwartz.
The camera analyses the food and a probe that tracks internal temperature helps guide the cooking time. To aid in preparing to serve the turkey, these Cookcam AI ovens also provide an estimated time for serving. When it’s ready, a "gobble-gobble" sound alarms the host that it’s turkey time.
Other brands are jumping on the AI bandwagon, though most offer only a connected app with recipes and remote oven control. They use voice control through Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, leaving the AI cooking world still largely undiscovered.
Samsung offers in-oven cameras to livestream foods — or to post on social media later — while suggesting recipes or enabling homeowners to stream a cooking video as they follow along. The brand’s Bespoke line integrates with video doorbells to display who’s at the door and allows users to select cooking modes for specific foods. Standard features include options like preheating the oven directly from a smartphone.
Slow adoption for some smart devices
Whirlpool and LG Electronics enable users to find cooking suggestions based on the barcodes of food packaging. Whirlpool also recognizes commonly used functions as favorites, suggesting baking a frozen pizza at 6 p.m. on a Sunday, for instance, if that’s a household ritual it notices.
The brand’s cooking techniques can also be updated automatically, giving homeowners a new function overnight.
GE did this when it pinpointed air frying as the latest cooking trend a few years back. Working with food scientists and engineers, the brand created an air fry technique by using a combination of convection fans and heating elements that went off at specific times during the cooking process.
“We realized that [consumers are] expecting us to be the next Netflix or Peloton or so on, and just keep having more and more modes,” said Schwartz.
However, kitchen ovens aren’t like an iPhone or ChatGPT. Despite the availability of intuitive features, adoption has been slow.
Schwartz said 15% of GE's smart cooking appliance owners use remote monitoring to control what happens in their kitchen from an app.
That small share reflects a broader awareness of tech-powered cooking appliances. More consumers are aware of smart products such as motion sensor faucets or smart refrigerators over cooking appliances, according to a 2025 survey from the National Kitchen and Bath Association in partnership with CEDIA.
About 39% of designers and tech integrators surveyed said homeowners were aware of smart ovens and ranges, while just 11% said they were a top-requested choice in the kitchen.
A smart kitchen future looks like more capabilities, less work
Friedman, who leads CEDIA, said much of the disconnect between smart tech and homeowners has to do with the products themselves.
“The typical consumer probably has three different apps. … They may or may not have connected it to the internet. They might just be using it as a stable appliance,” said Friedman, who points to complexity as a significant barrier to home tech.
CEDIA is an association of technology integrators — professionals who can configure a home so all apps and smart devices work through a single hub. This integration enables features like a doorbell announcing visitors while the oven provides a real-time update on the green bean casserole.
That’s a reality that’s not quite mainstream yet, but Friedman believes it’ll penetrate the market much more in the next five years.
And as smart kitchens look to take advantage of consumer demand for AI, concepts are coming quicker than ever.
For example, if a homeowner doesn’t want to think about what to cook for dinner, they might be able to ask their fridge one day what recipes they can make based on the contents. Or a fridge shelf dedicated to milk could detect when the weight gets lighter, adding a new gallon to the grocery list.
“It becomes less about appliances and more about lifestyle. This is going to become a very simple and natural lifestyle that consumers will expect to have,” said Friedman.