Kitchen's Kitchen

I assume they are taking all the knobs off to paint...?

Yes, it's a Harvey Jones painter, so yup.

That cooker splashback is positively renaissance.

Just catched up with the last 10 pages or so, and wow. This worktop is like a crown jewel. Excited to see the whole thing finished.

An update on Miele app and appliances.

All the appliances I purchased have a WiFi capability... but I've had a few issues getting it set up, so here's the low down for future posterity (in case a random person on the internet finds this).

Miele@mobile https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.miele.infocontrol

This is an Android app which is used to manage your appliances, view information, update them, synchronise their clocks, etc. It's useful. You can even view recipes, add shopping lists directly to your Ocado (or whatever), and your appliances will be guided through cooking stuff (as will you).

Most usefully: When you're at the other side of the house you can be notified your washing machine or oven is done. Or when you're out for a walk you can glance at the app and see what time things will be done.

So... what's the catch?

1. It appears the app and the Miele website use 2 different accounts. Both have different password complexities and requirements. Tip #1 is to make sure you don't use special characters in your password, keep the complexity low and the length low... this is annoyingly poor security. You also really want to make both usernames and passwords the same... also annoyingly poor security. Tip #2 don't use your real email address if you can avoid doing so, the email field is actually one you can go longer on, so I personally made the email complex and long to massively increase the entropy and to ensure that 2 parts are unknown given the short length and low complexity of the password. So... same email and password on both the website and the app, there are two accounts and you should make them the same.
   
2. Different appliances have different limitations in their connectivity. It turns out the cooker hood a Miele DA6998W couldn't see the 2.4Ghz channel 13 WiFi... took a while to understand that the networks it could see were all between channel 1 and channel 11.
   
3. The hood was supplied with an XKS3000Z module... but this doesn't fit anywhere in the hood, and the hob which is a Miele KM7575FR also had nowhere for it to go. Don't worry about it! Both this hood and hob connect to WiFi and will talk to each other via WiFi. The module only exists if this hood is paired with a Miele hob that doesn't have WiFi so that the hob can speak directly to the hood on it's own WiFi network.
   
4. Check the timezone on the clock synchronisation, it is probably wrong... so you'll have the time in sync, but the time will be an hour out (mine was set to CET not GMT).
   
5. The fridge is a Miele KFN29493 DE edt/cs and couldn't be connected to WiFi... it turns out that the WiFi module isn't installed. You can find the slot for this behind the bit of plastic hiding the top left hinge position. The module I needed is an XKS3100W which slots in and provides WiFi capability... I've got the dealer to order this.
   
   

Once all of the above were done... this shit works fine. It's rock solid, and allows me to control everything.

I've managed to live my entire life without having my cooker hood on the internet.

What is the advantage of connected hood/fridge? I guess i can see washing machine and oven have some merit but struggling with the others....

Mine isn't either.

I use a local VLAN so once it's set up it's moved inside the VLAN and only accessible within the house.

The cooker hood and hob communicate over WiFi... put a pot on the hob and turn it on and it automatically turns on the hood fan and lighting. 5 minutes after removing the last pot from the hood and the light goes off, the fan slows but continues to extract at a lower speed for a little bit longer before turning off.

It's pretty damn useful, and if I want to update all of the software and firmware I just reconnect the VLAN to the internet. If I remotely want to access things, my phone VPNs into my house and sees the VLAN.

The fridge is really just monitoring, unsure I'd need the control.

But meh... let me trigger creation of ice cubes whilst in Scotland so I can drive back and make cocktails!

Unlikely to happen, but putting the device into a vacation eco mode remotely is probably what it will be used for.

That's neat but I think I'd have preferred a cabled option + timer the same way bathroom fans and lights work (or bluetooth if you're desparate to avoid cables).

Wifi-enabled white goods >>>

On the other hand if Miele can do wifi as well as they do dishwashers maybe I'll start buying my access points off them.

Oh, and I'm watching this Home Assistant thread too: https://community.home-assistant.io/t/miele-home-miele-mobile-component/64508/

So I can add automations... i.e. switch to a dining/eating lighting mode 5 minutes after all cooking is done.

Sounds ridiculous I know, but my flat has a load of these conveniences and they are incredible to live with. i.e. if I leave the house any lights that were on turn off, heating goes into eco, etc. The downstairs light switch at the entrance has a strange modality... turning on lights actually only turns on the stair and hall lights, but turning off lights turns off all lights.

So I am gradually experimenting with adding automations that make the house appear to anticipate needs and then do things. It's going really well... the one I'm working on at the moment is a "Every Saturday I go for a walk, aside from turning of all lights and enabling security... also hoover the entire floor and run the dishwasher whilst I'm out". I go for walks at different times, so this should be done by a geofence.

The autodosing dishwasher means that as long as the door is closed this can be done.

It's nice to see clever people doing clever things with tech in their lives, but none of these use cases seem particularly life-enriching to me. I never resent turning lights on/off or pressing start on a dishwasher. Presumably you can set lights to come off/on at particular times which is a good security benefit and does away with the old plug socket timer i have in my hallway...

Oh there are good ones... the bathroom and hallway lighting comes on only when people are present, and turn off automatically.

The colour of the lighting changes through the evening to help me sleep better, removing more blue light with each hour past sunset.

It's all excessive of course... you could just have halogens on a light switch. But then, this entire setup uses way less power, helps you save even more power, helps you sleep better, or have peace of mind when you're out, or make better use of your time when you're in, etc, etc.

Yeah nerds are going to nerd, yet the entire setup I have works perfectly fine manually too so absolutely none of it requires anything special. There's no weird cabling left behind for the next house owner, and if the WiFi and internet is removed all light switches and appliances work manually.

All of these capabilities are in addition to whatever the default experience is.

Back onto paint... Grey Steel 4 is too light and under the couple of lights I've shone at it it is also too purple. Either the formula is wrong or the colour was a bad choice. Going to change it to Grey Steel 3 for the walls, and this is probably going to have to be done after the cabinets are fitted and before the worktop goes in now.

Actually going to stick with Grey Steel 4.

So... it turns out that the builder's LED lights are all a very blue and bright LED... and as such, the grey looked lilac under the lighting due to the blue levels of the LEDs.

Under the Philips Hue lighting which isn't blue, the grey is what I wanted - a light grey that is neutral and takes on the light of the room.

Hallway lights that turn on and off automatically when you go in there (and are dim at night) are great.

Our work has them in the office. I have never begrudged turning on lights at home. Maybe I'd love it if I got it? Who knows.

You can do that with a cheapass sensor light arrangement though.

None of this stuff needs wifi and god help anyone without VB's networking nous setting this stuff up with a bunch of admin / admin devices scattered around the public internet. :D

That kind of stuff needs wiring in though, plus I've not seen one where you can set different brightness at different times.

I'm the kind of guy that takes lamp shades off my lights because I want ALLL THE BRIGHTNESS

Doing the hoovering when out is something I would appreciate. I have a Miele hoover and it sucks, pun intended, cumbersome and heavy. Also...

https://youtu.be/zM3n3ABbe_M

I'm reading the bit about the dishwasher coming on automatically, but I still have to load the fucker...

Looks great @Velocio will be nice to see it painted. End of the week?

Looks great @Velocio will be nice to see it painted. End of the week?

Yup.

A couple of cabinets have had their first coat today but as one coat and partial work looks shite I shall take a photo when it's all done.

The gist is: painter is masking every surface, removing every knob, drawer, the magic corner doors, etc... and will do everything in 3 light coats of an eggshell.

Current prediction is Thursday.

What is your budget for this project?

I didn't have one.

It's a small project, there's a natural limit as to what it could cost... I was comfortable spending whatever it worked out to be which proved to be almost double the initial uninformed idea I had of the cost. If it had gone higher I would've done it on credit.

But if you're wondering what it worked out to, page 16 has that https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/351228/?offset=375#15779429

Not quite the final figure at that point, but close enough.

Edit: Just realised I spent another £1k on a 6 pans and 3 knives.