The oven checks whether the pizza is already crispy brown

The Digitec and Galaxus editorial team will be reporting on site from IFA 2023 in Berlin. You can find all the news and background information published so far in our overview

At the IFA tech fair, Siemens is not focussing on individual appliances, but on networking the kitchen. The oven, hob, coffee machine, washing machine and tumble dryer are all connected via the Home Connect app.

And in future, this should not only be possible within the Siemens universe, but also across manufacturers via the Matter standard. However, as with many other brands, this is not yet really concrete at Siemens. If you want to know more about Matter, I recommend the following overview article.

It is also significant that Siemens is introducing the Smart Kitchen Dock as its first product. This speaker serves as a base and charging station for the tablet or smartphone running the Home Connect app - which in turn connects all devices.

The special feature of the dock: You can control all kitchen appliances via Amazon Alexa. Thanks to four microphones, the voice assistant should understand you even when the cooker bonnet is running at full speed.

In addition, thanks to gesture recognition, you can swipe across the touchscreen even if you have wet or dirty fingers. For example, to switch to the next page in a recipe. This is definitely an intelligent innovation in the kitchen.

Oven checks for you whether the browning is right

However, the individual appliances still make an appearance - and are given some smart functions. Take the iQ700 oven, for example: it now has a camera that films the inside of the oven. For example, you can use the app to make sure that the Milanese pastries don't get too dark without getting up from the sofa.

For some dishes such as pizza, croissants, bread rolls or lasagne and casseroles, there is even an automatic browning function. You use the large touchscreen to set how light or dark you want the pizza to be baked. The oven automatically recognises when the desired browning is reached, switches off automatically and sends a notification to your smartphone.

An innovation in the hobs is also exciting: Siemens quite rightly wonders why cooks can actually only set the temperature precisely on the oven - but not on the hob.

If Siemens had its way, cookery books and recipes should refer to temperatures rather than "sear" or "bring to the boil over a medium heat", even on the hob. Just like in the oven. Nobody says: "Put the bread in the top rack on a medium heat."

This is now possible with some cooker models: you set a temperature between 70 and 220 degrees, while a sensor in the cookware constantly measures and corrects the temperature so that you can melt chocolate, for example, without burning anything.

Dishwasher learns, coffee machine cleans itself

Two further examples of additional intelligent functions in the new products from Siemens: In intelligent mode, the dishwasher uses the app to ask you how satisfied you are with the result. Are the dishes dry? Are the glasses shiny? Depending on the answer, the programme is readjusted. Until you are satisfied.

The Siemens EQ900+ fully automatic coffee machine has a very similar automation system built in. In barista mode, all parameters can be set so that the coffee comes out of the machine exactly the way you want it. The machine now also takes care of cleaning and descaling. So you have as little to do as possible.