The more innovative, more connected and greener home in 2024

It’s a green house

Oceans and microplastic: a missed opportunity

To limit the release of plastic into the oceans, we should have seen many washing machines equipped with microplastic filters arriving in France by 2024. Grundig, Samsung, Electrolux had also followed suit and proposed external filtration systems, and devices equipped directly with these same filters…

Alas, it seems that this good resolution is failing. According to our sources, the government would have abandoned this directive given the difficulties of implementation and the little impact that this measure would ultimately have. The seventh continent should therefore continue to be enriched with plastic particles torn from the clothes of French homes during washing and shamelessly thrown into the oceans.

Sustainability Index arrives for washing machines

Having barely had time to get used to the repairability index on washing machines, consumers will have to learn to decode the new durability index. Taking into account repairability, this new rating, still out of 10, is based on a second criterion, reliability. These two sub-scores are themselves calculated using numerous indices that curious consumers can consult on simple request in store or on the Internet.

“The objective is to encourage consumers to make their products last by favoring the purchase of more robust models, maintaining them more and repairing them.”, explains the Ministry of Ecological Transition. We hope that this new method of calculation will be more successful than its predecessor, which is therefore being replaced after only three years of existence.

Less waste for coffee capsules

Long singled out for the waste they generate, capsule coffee makers want to restore their image by now making themselves compatible with compostable or recyclable capsules. If the ESE pods (in paper) from Philips Senseo or Malongo, for example, were the opposite of plastic capsules (Dolce Gusto) or Nespresso (in aluminum), it was really Café Royal with its CoffeeB brand which put a kick in the anthill with its 100% vegetable and compostable coffee balls.

This pushed Nescafé Dolce Gusto and Nespresso to correct their course by offering greener consumables in turn. With its Neo, Dolce Gusto introduced new compostable paper pods while, for its part, Nespresso developed capsules made from compressed paper. In 2024, the path should continue with, we hope, the expansion of the compatibility of these capsules/pods with all coffee makers in each range.

More and more complete devices

Easy-to-empty stick vacuums

The household appliances market has its favorites and, in the year 2024, it is a safe bet that stick vacuum cleaners equipped with an automatic emptying base will be in demand. This category, of which the Samsung Bespoke Jet was one of the first representatives, was discreetly expanded in 2023 with LG and its CordZero A9. Above all, we have seen much less expensive models arrive, such as the Tineco Pure One Station launched at only €700, or the Shark Detect Pro.

Many other manufacturers have not yet released their models, but Electrolux, Xiaomi and Dreame will not be long. On the other hand, Dyson should not jump into the battle, more accustomed to inspiring the trend than following it.

Robot vacuum cleaners always better equipped to wash floors

It’s an underlying trend, robot vacuum cleaners are becoming more and more complete and versatile. While they only vacuumed, they are now able to wash the floor effectively by integrating a pair of pads or a vibrating wipe. Today, most models come with ultra-sophisticated docking stations which are not only used to recharge the robot, but also to ensure automatic emptying of the collector, humidification of the pads or the wipe, without forget about their cleaning and drying, all automatically.

As this market becomes more and more mature, new technologies are expected to arrive in 2024 on robot vacuum cleaners, including a system for connecting to a water supply to automatically fill the tank with clean water or evacuate the water dirty. This system once again makes it easier to maintain these devices, which is always very welcome. The Dreame L20 Ultra, in particular, will soon be enriched with a kit allowing it to be connected to the water drain.

Added to this is a new washing system which could see the light of day: alongside the pads and vibrating wipes, we could see a more massive arrival of a soft roller which, like on floor scrubbers (broom format), would clean the dirt. soil of its dirt. Switchbot’s S10 introduces these new features, which we would like to see become more widely available.

The new stars of the house

The future Dyson?

The British Dyson usually reveals its new model to the amazed world around April/May. The last Gen5 having benefited from a Hyperdimium engine this year, no new news is to be expected concerning a possible Gen6. The designers are probably working on miniaturizing the components to offer a device that is just as efficient, but less heavy and complicated to store. We can also dream of an improvement to the very handy (but aging) Omniglide with the addition of in-house technologies, such as the piezoelectric particle counter and the green laser on the brush which helps (theoretically) to identify fine dust.

What is certain is that we will finally see Dyson arrive in the field of the robot vacuum cleaner. In 2023, the British firm announced its resounding return to this market with a Dyson 360 Vis Nav which is still not marketed. Could its launch in our region reshuffle the cards and give Dyson hegemony in this very competitive sector?

A Thermomix TM7 in the pipeline?

If Vorwerk sticks to its usual schedule, we could imagine that a Thermomix will be launched in 2024. As a general rule, the inventor of the robot cooker waits five years to renew his model, and to the extent that the Thermomix TM6 was launched in 2019, our scientific calculations lead us to believe in a new version of the robot.

Technically speaking, the Thermomix TM6 is already a successful robot cooker which lacks nothing, except a larger bowl. Its offering even expands from year to year with accessories that come out at the end of each year (vegetable peeler, minute cutter, connected probe). Could the Thermomix TM7 be the family robot cooker? Answer in 2024.