Home appliances get more high-tech every single year, which means they get better at doing their jobs and conserving energy in the process. But Whirlpool appliances are getting smarter and doing not just their jobs, but yours, too: Its 2016 line-up of smart dishwashers, top-load washers, and dryers can now order supplies you’re running low on thanks to Amazon Dash integration.
Amazon’s Dash buttons started as brand-specific triggers, so if you placed a Tide-branded Dash button on your washing machine, you could press it to reorder more laundry detergent. Then Amazon opened up the Dash Replenishment Service to connected-device manufacturers like Whirlpool, which is the first appliance company to put Dash’s automated ordering system directly into its new smart dishwasher and top-load washer and dryer. If you buy the latest laundry pair, which will retail for $1399 each, or the smart dishwasher, you’ll be able to connect the Whirlpool app to your Amazon account. The machines will use cycle usage to estimate when you’re running low on supplies such as detergent or cleaning tablets and reorder them for you.
“Dash buttons are a great innovation, but a retrofit for people who don’t have smart appliances,” Whirlpool’s Ben Artis, senior manager of connected home products, told TechHive. “Our belief in the future and where we can take away some of those button presses, that’s the long-term vision for both of us [Amazon and Whirlpool].”
A smarter kitchen
WhirlpoolWhirlpool is also bringing Nest integration, which it added to its washers and dryers last year, to its new smart kitchen suite. The company’s Internet-connected French door refrigerator, oven, and dishwashers will use the Nest “away” signal as a trigger for a whole host of actions—activating the dryer’s wrinkle-shield setting, for example, or putting the washing machine into energy-efficient mode.
The Nest-integrated oven will signal to you if it’s still on when you leave, so you don’t burn your house down. The oven can also be controlled remotely with the Whirlpool app, so you can pre-program cook times and settings for your dishes. The smart fridge, too, has settings you can customize in-app, like a Party Mode that prompts the fridge to produce ice faster.
Whirlpool is showing off its latest appliances, along with its futuristic concept kitchen, at CES. Check back later this week for an inside look at the latest smart-home gadgets and gear from the show floor.