GE Appliances just dropped an interesting new appliance: a smart stand mixer with built-in scale, app control for guided recipes, and voice control through Alexa and Google Home.
The Profile Smart Mixer is, as far as I can tell, the first Wi-Fi controlled smart mixer on the market, which is quite a feat in itself, given the sheer number of connected appliances that have debuted over the past decade.
The mixer has many interesting features, including a scale and voice control, but its the device’s ‘auto-sense’ technology that intrigues me the most. The auto-sense feature monitors changes in texture and viscosity through motor torque feedback optimizes performance, and will automatically shut off the mixer when it determines the mixing is complete.
The mixer has an app and utilizes guided recipes, enabling users to follow the instructions around ingredients and send mix commands from the app itself. For someone who often cooks using YouTube videos or new recipes discovered online, I’d appreciate the ability to send commands to my mixer from a phone. Unfortunately, I often find a device’s app recipe libraries lacking, so hopefully the new mixer will eventually enable the import of recipes found online (something companies like Fresco, a GE Appliances partner, enable through their platform).
The new appliance has built-in Wi-Fi, using the company’s Profile Connect+ software platform to enable connectivity to the cloud and field-deliverable software updates. GE Appliances has been perhaps the most active in promoting its field upgrades. I expect they’ll do the same with their new smart mixer by delivering new features or seasonal capabilities.
GE Appliances’ new mixer is an interesting addition to the mixer market, one that KitchenAid and Cuisinart currently dominate. However, while GE Appliances has had products in the market, they’ve been priced much lower than the new smart mixer (which retails for thousand bucks), often below $200. It will be interesting to see if Whirlpool/KitchenAid respond to GE Appliance’s new entrant by bringing their own smart mixer to market.
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