If all goes well I'll be moving out on my own for the first time this fall, so I've been trying to figure out worthwhile appliances and such to set my sights on. So far I've got:
- Rice cooker for easy cheap meals
- Cold brew maker (I do be drinking it almost daily)
- Sparkling water maker (any non-sodastream recommendations?)
Doesn't have to be kitchen stuff or even an appliance like the stuff above—anything helpful (and general advice) is good!
Ikea's Tradfri line is a cheap-ish way to get into this. As a bonus, because both Hue and Tradfri devices use the Zigbee standard, you can use them both together (plus a lot of other brands) with Home Assistant and a USB Zigbee transceiver.
The best thing about this setup is that it doesn't require the internet for anything, just a LAN. The internet could vanish today, and if I had to set up my various Zigbee lights and controls tomorrow from scratch without internet access, I could do it easily. Home Assistant is a great way to de-cloud one's home tech.