Can smart kitchen devices with a Wi-Fi chip make me a better cook?

June 21, 2026 — 11:00am

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I am a competent barbecuer and a reluctant everything-else. I can feed my family, but I wouldn’t call most of it cooking, and I definitely wouldn’t call it fun, even with a glass of red wine in one hand. So when three of the kitchen’s most-hyped connected appliances landed on my doorstep, I had one question: can a Wi-Fi chip and an app actually make me good at cooking? I gave them a month to try.

Broil King Regal Q 590 Pro: The smart BBQ that earned its keep

First, a warning. Assembling this thing nearly ended me. My dad and I set aside an afternoon and gave up after four hours, beaten by a flat-packed slab of stainless steel that fought us at every bolt. We called in a professional, who also found it a struggle. Budget for that, both the time and possibly the tradie.

Once it was standing, though, the Regal Q 590 Pro is a serious piece of kit for serious meat eaters. Five dual-tube burners push out 55,000 BTUs, with a searing infrared side burner and a rotisserie on top. The 9mm stainless grids feel like they will outlive me. The premium materials are obvious the moment you touch them, and at about $3900 to $5500 in Australia, you are paying for them.

The smart features sound like gimmickry, but they aren’t. The BBQ’s iQue system connects over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, holds a set temperature without me fiddling with knobs, and runs electronic meat probes through to an app so I know when the brisket is done without lifting the........

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