Samsung Integrates SmartThings Automation into New Kitchen Appliance Lineup

The useful bit is not simply that you can reach for an app: paired appliances can coordinate lighting and ventilation automatically, while Samsung is also pushing faster air-frying and convection cooking. But if your kitchen is built around a mixed-brand smart home, there is one very practical catch: these appliances do not support Matter.

The small kitchen handoff that may actually help

Anyone who has started a pan, then realized the hood light is still off and the ventilation has not been switched on, will recognize the appeal here. When the range is in use, the matching microwave can automatically turn on its cooktop lighting and ventilation, according to Forbes. It is a small automation rather than a dramatic one, but those are often the features that survive real life: less reaching across a hot cooktop, one fewer routine step when you are trying to get food on the table.

The new range and microwave can also be monitored and controlled through the SmartThings app, with voice controls available through supported assistants. SmartThings Food adds recipe suggestions and meal-planning tools. That will feel most intuitive in a household already using SmartThings regularly, rather than one looking for a single appliance to fix a disconnected smart-home setup.

Samsung is offering both gas and electric versions of the slide-in range. The electric model includes a 3.6kW Express Boil cooktop with dual-ring elements for different cookware sizes; the gas version has a 23K BTU Dual Power Burner for tasks such as boiling, searing and stir-frying.

Faster cooking is the headline — with the usual kitchen reality check

Samsung’s new Air Fry Max mode is designed to produce crisp food without preheating, using high temperatures and stronger convection airflow. The company says it can cut cooking time by up to 15% compared with the Air Fry modes on its previous-generation appliances. The microwave gets Air Fry Max too, alongside convection cooking.

That sounds especially welcome on the sort of evening when frozen snacks, roasted vegetables and a hurried protein all need to happen in the same small window. Still, “up to” is doing important work here. Treat the claim as a potential convenience, not a promise that every tray of food will cook faster or come out perfectly crisp without some trial and error.

The ranges also include True Convection for baking and roasting, plus an Air Sous Vide mode intended to use controlled temperature and airflow with vacuum-sealed food. Those extras may be genuinely useful for people who cook often and want their oven to do more than handle the occasional sheet pan. For everyone else, the day-to-day win will probably be the quieter kind: quicker preheat-free air frying and fewer separate controls to remember.

Matter is the decision point before you buy

Samsung’s appliances work within SmartThings, but Forbes reports that the new ranges and microwave lack native Matter compatibility. Matter supports several major appliance categories, and SmartThings can manage Matter-certified devices from other brands; Samsung’s own large appliances have not adopted that standard here.

That distinction matters before you fall for a glossy connected-kitchen bundle. If you are happy keeping the range, microwave, app and automations inside SmartThings, the automatic pairing is the point. If you deliberately use a mixed ecosystem and want new appliances to sit on equal footing with the rest of it, do not assume that “smart” means universally connected.

For a Samsung-centered kitchen, this looks like a thoughtfully practical update: less button-pushing, more coordinated cooking, and features aimed at the rushed weekday meal. For everyone else, Matter support should be the first question on the shopping list—not the last one you discover after installation.