I thought my laundry problems were over with this smart washer & dryer – now I can’t live without it!

Every January, my eyes widen with appliance envy as I witness LG, Samsung, Whirlpool, and other manufacturers showcase their cutting-edge innovations at the CES tradeshow. The smart home integration, seamless control via a single app, self-diagnosis capabilities, and appliances talking to each other leave me in awe every year.

1. No More Landlord Specials: Our clothes dryer, a victim of repeated failures in less than three years, was what realtors dub a "landlord special." An unreliable, no-frills machine prompted us to replace it, along with its equally dodgy partner, the washing machine.
2. The Brand Dilemma: Surprisingly, buying a smart appliance is not as simple as selecting the best option from any brand. To enjoy the seamless experience touted by manufacturers, one must commit to a single brand for all connected appliances.
3. The Integration Conundrum: While different smart home categories are striving to harmonize through initiatives like Matter, larger appliances are still left out. Monolithic consortiums like the Home Connectivity Alliance are taking baby steps in merging smart appliances for a unified experience.
4. The Connected Laundry: Opting to stack our new appliances in our limited-space home, we settled on LG’s washer and dryer. Their Bluetooth connectivity provides an interactive laundry experience, sending notifications when cycles end or when maintenance is due.
5. The Smart Kitchen: Our LG dual-fuel range, complemented by the ThinQ smart ecosystem, offers convenience with self-diagnosis routines and in-depth user manual access. Although the smart features are handy, they don’t revolutionize our daily cooking routines significantly.
6. Beyond Laundry and Kitchen: Despite our energy-efficient refrigerator lacking ThinQ capability, LG’s Smart Diagnosis feature offers problem identification assistance. This seamless integration allows for easy access to manuals and warranty details, showcasing the utility of a connected ecosystem.

In conclusion, while I didn’t plan to be locked into LG’s ThinQ ecosystem, the benefits it offers have transformed mundane household tasks into streamlined experiences. However, the future of smart appliances remains uncertain, with hopes set on more comprehensive interconnectivity standards to avoid being tethered to a single brand for compatibility.