While most people would be happy with standard kitchen appliances, I've spent a considerable amount of time, energy and cash to "upgrade" our kitchen with smart appliances.

The iCEBOX Internet Appliance

The iCEBOX is the key to my entire system. As a stand-alone appliance, it is a powerful entertainment system, housing a built-in DVD/CD player, TV Tuner, FM Radio and video input for monitoring kids or the front door. The iCEBOX also includes Internet Explorer for surfing the Web and checking web-based E-mail like Yahoo! or Hotmail. And, since it is designed specifically for kitchen, the iCEBOX includes a wireless keyboard and remote control that are waterproof.

I upgraded my iCEBOX with WiFi so it could connect to our wireless network, and having the iCEBOX on WiFi allows me to move the unit anywhere in the kitchen where there's a power outlet. With the iCEBOX connected the to the Internet, it serves as a "link to the Beyond mothership" to allow the microwave and bread maker to download new recipes and set the correct atomic time on all of the appliances. Each device also reports back to the iCEBOX with it's current status (shown below).
 

The Beyond Bread Maker

Thanks to my brother, Mike, I received this for Christmas this year. With one swipe of the barcode scanner (bottom right side of the unit), the Beyond Bread Maker automatically figures out how to mix, rise, and cook hundreds of bread mixes, as well as offering pizza dough cake mixes. The bread maker also includes a delayed start feature that is unique because it is set by time of day, rather than setting a specific time delay

The Beyond Microwave

With another barcode scanner, I can start cooking just by waiving the wand over the product's UPC symbol, putting the food in and pressing Start. Having the barcode scanner on the Beyond Microwave Oven inherently offers something that other microwaves cannot -- complex cooking advice, for food that has multi-step instructions (for example, cook for 2 minutes, 45 seconds, stir, then cook for an additional 2 minutes). The Beyond Microwave automatically paused at the correct moment, prompts me to stir the food and then, when the item was placed back in the microwave, resumed the cooking process. I've also tried scanning items that had just come out (like a new brand of microwave popcorn) and the Beyond Microwave was automatically updated with the recipe for these items.