LOUISVILLE, Ky.—January 7, 2019—GE Appliances, a Haier company, believes there is always a better way. That means taking technology beyond the latest bells and whistles. The right technology can make us more efficient and, ultimately, give us more time to focus on the things that mean the most to us. That’s the foundation on which GE Appliances’ connected products are built.

More free time could come from an unexpected place in the home: appliances. If people and families could bank that free time—up to 8 hours per month!—here are just some ideas for what they could do with it.

  • Spend more time playing with your kids
  • Complete the round-trip travel (and then some) for a one-tank trip
  • Binge-watch almost an entire season of your favorite sitcom
  • Add 16 30-minute cardio workouts to your routine
  • Log 24 miles walking through parks
  • Read a 250-page book
  • Spend the day at a museum or other fun attraction with your kids
  • Have dinner at a favorite restaurant—three or four times!—with a loved one
  • Take a weekly class to learn a new skill, like swimming or painting

GE Appliances is the leader in connected appliances and the first manufacturer to offer a full suite of connected appliances, bringing more convenience, more assistance and more peace of mind to people and families.

But what does that mean? What does more efficiency really deliver for the consumer? GE Appliances calculated the time savings its products can deliver for the average home. The results were surprising. Connected appliances allow people and families to become more skilled multitaskers, making it possible to spend quality time together, even while doing things like preparing dinner. If users could accumulate all the time connected appliances allowed them to save, those who fully leveraged connected features could bank up to eight hours per month. 

As connected technologies become more pervasive—there are an estimated 18 million smart homes in the United States today1—delivering tangible benefits for the user is more important than ever. Especially when considering that nearly half (47.5 percent1) of smart home adopters are between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, a segment of the population that places high value on free time.

So how did we calculate the time savings? GE Appliances looked at core features of its connected appliances and, based on averages for how often the features are likely to be used in the home, tabulated the total time each feature could save a user during a typical month. Here’s how the time savings added up:

Preheat the Oven Remotely
Americans prepare dinner at home approximately 3.5 times per week2. Preheating the oven to the standard cooking temperature of 350 degrees takes approximately 15 minutes. GE Appliances connected ovens empower users to preheat from a remote location, allowing a user who initiates a preheat from the office to be ready to cook dinner as soon as he or she arrives home.
Average time savings: 3.5 hours/month

Brew Coffee Faster
More than 60 percent of Americans drink a cup of coffee a day3. With GE Appliances refrigerators integrated with Keurig®K-Cup®Brewing System, users can program or command the refrigerator to heat water for coffee (or other hot beverages!) so it’s ready when they reach the kitchen, saving them 3 minutes per day (and that extra-anxious toe-tapping while they wait for the cup of java).
Average time savings: 1.5 hours/month

Skip a Trip to the Store
The average American household makes 2.2 trips to the supermarket per week4. And an average trip is 41 minutes, not including travel time5. GE Appliances connected products with Amazon Dash allow users to reorder dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent or dryer sheets. And some models even provide alerts when the supply is low. So households can prevent unplanned trips to the store.
Average time savings: 1 hour/month (by preventing just one trip to the store)

Prevent a Laundry Redo
We all do it. Forget about the laundry in the washer or dryer. Alerts from GE Appliances connected washers and dryers help users manage their laundry and prevent the laundry redo. If a user prevented just one rewash per month—on the Speed Wash cycle—the time saved would be 25 minutes. Just one prevented dewrinkle per month—on the Steam Dewrinkle cycle—could save 20 minutes.
Average time savings: 45 minutes/month

Shortcut Meal Planning
Americans spend an average of 37 minutes per day preparing and serving food6. If just a fraction of that time—5 minutes—is spent planning meals, and half of the week’s meals are chosen instantly using recipes and cooking instructions accessible through connected appliances, the time savings can make a big difference.
Average time savings: 70 minutes/month

Enhancing Convenience and Safety
In addition to saving time, GE Appliances connected products contribute to an efficient 

home through a number of features that enhance convenience and even support safety. Examples of just some of the available convenience and safety features—which users can control through voice activation and/or the GE Appliances app—include:

  • View the status of stovetop burners
  • Turn off the oven or change the temperature
  • Set or adjust cooking timers
  • Control the vent hood (lights and fan)
  • Send cooking instructions to the cooktop
  • Turn the ice maker on or off
  • Monitor the dishwasher cycle time and status
  • Monitor the washer/dryer cycle status and time remaining
  • Extend the dryer cycle
  • Turn on, monitor and control the air conditioner

When the goal is a more efficient home, more skilled multitasking—and even more free time!—connected appliances can help people and families get there. And they’re even closer to anticipating users’ needs. Not too far in the future, GE Appliances will use advancements like machine learning to understand users’ intent and do things proactively.

For more information about how connected products from GE Appliances can play a meaningful role in the efficient home, see the corresponding GE Appliances Time Savings Infographic and Home Efficiency Tips from efficiency expert, bestselling author, executive coach andForbes contributor Curt Steinhorst.

Sources:

1Statista Digital Market Outlook: Small Appliances, November 2018
2Zagat “Dining Trends Survey,” January 2016
3National Coffee Association, “National Coffee Drinking Trends,” March 2018
4Time Use Institute, “Grocery Shopping: Who, Where and When,” updated April 2016
5Food Marketing Institute and the Hartman Group, “U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2018,” April 2018
6U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, “Americans’ Eating Habits and Time Spent on Food,” July 2016