[Interview] Connecting More Kitchens with Family Hub 2.0

When Samsung introduced its Family Hub refrigerators at last year’s CES, it did so with the goal of bringing new standards of convenience and innovation to consumers’ kitchens.

Family Hub 2.0 features key enhancements designed to take user experiences in the kitchen to a new level, including advanced voice functionality, user profiles, a streamlined interface and an expanded catalogue of built-in contents.

Samsung’s Vice President of Smart Appliances and Home IoT, Sunggy Koo, elaborated on Family Hub’s role, and explained how Samsung will build on the industry-leading IoT technology in the future.

The Next Step for the Smart Home

Samsung designed the Family Hub refrigerator to bring new levels of functionality to the appliance and ultimately transform its role in the kitchen.

Featuring a large touchscreen display and innovative features for food management, family communication and entertainment, Family Hub offers families a fun command center at the center of the home.

Koo explained Samsung’s commitment to building an ecosystem of connected, smart appliances centered around the kitchen-enriching refrigerator line.

“Family Hub is the center of Samsung’s smart home/IoT initiative,” Koo explained. “Samsung continues to innovate in these areas, and we expect to deliver more smart capabilities across all of our appliances and smart home infrastructure.”

Connecting More Kitchens

The first step in delivering more value to users’ kitchens is creating a wide selection of options to suit a variety of households. “Our users are all different, and have different needs, wants and tastes,” said Koo.

“To meet a variety of customer needs, Family Hub 2.0 takes flexibility and functionality to new levels, offering food management, family communication, entertainment features and voice capability to help consumers manage and enjoy their lives,” Koo continued.

Accordingly, Family Hub 2.0 will soon be available in more markets across the globe, and also see an expansion in its selection of available models. Family Hub 2.0 will encompass a full range of Samsung’s three- and four-door French Door refrigerator models, as well as its existing 4-Door Flex lineup, bringing the total number of available models from four to ten.

‘Easier and More Fun’

Going forward, Family Hub 2.0 and the line’s future generations will, as Koo put it, “continue to make consumers’ lives easier and more fun.”

Family Hub 2.0’s ‘fun’ aspects stem not only from its innovative entertainment functions, but from enhancements to its usability and app integration as well. Its advanced voice functionality, for example, allows users to easily control many built-in apps. Additionally, the expansion of the app catalogue itself reveals further cool new functions.

“We have so many great apps,” said Koo. “These apps make our customers’ lives more convenient, and have content localized to each market. For example, Eataly provides European customers the ability to order premium Italian groceries through Family Hub, while Groceries by MasterCard offers further convenience, allowing consumers to use their voice to handle e-commerce grocery shopping with Family Hub.

“Samsung is also closely collaborating with partners like GrubHub, Nomiku, Glympse, LidL, e-mart, Upday, Kakao, Ring, Spotify and iHeartRadio to provide more options for grocery shopping, cooking, home security and entertainment now and in the years to come.”

Powered by Allrecipes.com, Family Hub’s Recipe app offers users instant access to delicious dishes from around the world. As Allrecipes President Stan Pavlovsky pointed out, Family Hub’s philosophy of championing kitchen innovation is well in line with that of the world’s largest digital food brand.

“Allrecipes has always been at the forefront of leveraging new technologies to make home cooking easier and more rewarding,” said Pavlovsky. “It’s widely recognized that the kitchen is the center of the home for families. Family Hub’s location on the front of the refrigerator, along with its large touch screen, voice capability and wealth of other features that support busy families’ everyday needs make it an ideal solution.”

“Internet of Things technologies are driving the next big wave of consumer technology transformation,” he continued. “Working in partnership with Samsung is allowing us to be at the forefront of this shift, to pave the way for what the future of food and cooking will look like.”