Dacor's Android-based ovens take voice commands from an app

We don't often write about ovens here, but when we do, we tend to come back to a brand called Dacor. Here at CES 2015, the 50-year-old company announced that it's adding voice activation to the phone and tablet app for its Discovery iQ Android-powered ovens plus ranges -- and we're looking at a base price of $8,999. While the existing app already comes with a remote control feature (including temperature, cooking mode and oven lights) plus recipe browsing, the new voice control saves you the hassle of tapping buttons, so long as your phone or tablet is on the same WiFi network as your oven.

Alas, said feature isn't quite as powerful as Siri; it only looks out for keywords for the cooking mode, temperature, time and action. Still, for those who are already familiar with Dacor ovens, this remote voice control will come in handy. For example, you can just say, "Start bake on the top oven at 200 degrees," "Set timer one for one hour" or "Repeat that." While we couldn't try a demo on the CES show floor, a rep from Dacor told me that users should get some leeway with certain wording to make the instruction less boring.

Both old and new customers will be able to use this voice activation this spring, and we look forward to the day when Dacor complements its ovens with a robot that can bring the food to the couch.