If looking at the Kitchen Hub's guided steps would require you to walk around your kitchen between your prep area and your oven, then really a countertop smart display makes more sense. Guided recipes are a big selling point here, that feature is improved or impaired by your kitchen layout.
Ironically, while I could open Netflix on the Kitchen Hub with just my voice, I couldn't do the same with Flavorly or Yummly. Hands-free tech is the ideal in this space where hands are frequently busy or messy. In the kitchen, that feels like a problem. To access guided cooking on the Kitchen Hub, you'll need to touch the app icon to open it first, whether it's the pre-installed Flavorly or a downloaded cooking app such as Yummly or All Recipes. However, since this isn't a smart display, you won't get the same voice-centric recipe cards you get when you ask Google to show you recipes on the Google Nest Hub and Lenovo Smart Display. Once you're in the app, guided cooking works well. I love the idea of incorporating old family recipes into a new piece of tech. You can use the under-mounted camera to capture an image of a handwritten recipe card, saving it to your Flavorly app. The onboard cameras might have angle issues, but they do enable a feature inside Flavorly that I love. A voice command toggle allows you to say "next step" or "go back" to navigate through steps. There, you can see step-by-step guides for recipes.
It's powered by guided-cooking software SideChef, which also has its own app by the same name.
The Kitchen Hub comes with guided cooking from Flavorly, GE's guided-cooking app. A centered camera would be my preference, especially if you'd like to show footage or imagery of the entire cooktop. There could be refrigerators, pantries or open space. Some people don't have a countertop directly to the right of their oven. That approach might not work for every kitchen layout. A standard kitchen layout would have a countertop to the right of the cooktop, which gives the owner a chance to showcase their creations on the burner, or on a baking sheet or even stage an insta-shot of their perfected dish using extra counter surface to the right. The lower camera is designed to focus on the front, right burner - which is the most often used cooking spot on the range. When I asked GE about it, here's what Michael Earls, Senior Merchandising Specialist had to say:
Voice input is a secondary feature in the Kitchen Hub, and what that means it isn't always as responsive or intuitive as its voice-centric, smart display cousins. It assumes you'll use it primarily as a touchscreen, with all the tapping and swiping that entails.
The Kitchen Hub presents information the way you'll see it on your Android phone or smaller tablet. If you've seen the various smart displays and thought "why not just buy a tablet," the Kitchen Hub highlights the trade-offs between a voice-driven smart display and a touch-driven tablet pretty clearly. Instead, it uses the Android Oreo phone operating system, currently version 8.1.0, which scales up nicely on the 27-inch display. It's not a smart display, which is to say it lacks the voice-first interface you'll find in products like the Google Nest Hub, Amazon Echo Show, and Lenovo Smart Displays. They are focused on being price competitive and though most would recommend their refrigerators, there are some that have issues with quality and durability.Before we dive into the smart home specifics of this device, we need to categorize what exactly the Kitchen Hub is. They have a wide selection of refrigerators - from those with less features to those with more than average. GE is one of the largest appliance brands in the US. That said, overall, KithenAid is a well known brand with a lot going for it with solid features and quality refrigerators. Make sure you read the reviews on the exact model you are going to purchase because there are some models that are not as highly reviewed. KitchenAid's refrigerators cost more than others, but some of the best mid-grade refrigerators available are KitchenAid.
KitchenAid is a Whirlpool Corporation brand that is well known for its higher end appliances big and small.