So I’m going to tell you how two different ways to setup your smart home so that the moment you wake up, you can automatically start your kettle so that you can have a piping hot cup of coffee, tea or just water the moment you’re in the kitchen.

To do this automation, you’re going to definitely need a smart plug as well as a smart LED bulb or smart light switch.

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Now you might scoff at this automation but I’m making this video to show you what can be done with Apple Home. Hopefully by going through this how to video, you’ll have other ideas on how to automate your own house.

So I’m going to step through the setup process and then talk about some of the pitfalls of this automation.

1. Setup your Smart Plug

In this instance, I’d chose a smart plug with a larger power button like the iDevices Switch since the kettle might be something you use multiple times during a day and trying to press the small power button on other products will get annoying.

2. Setup your lights

The next thing you’ll need is either a smart light bulb or smart light switch. If you’re planning on using the smart light bulb to wake you up, I’d stick with a Philips Hue bulb since it integrates with other apps like Sleep Cycle. I would make the wakeup cycle quite short at 10 mins since you don’t want your water to cool down too much after it boils.

Another way for this automation to trigger is to have it based on a smart light switch, either in your bedroom or bathroom. The moment the light goes on, the Apple Home automation will fire and the smart plug turns on.

3. Setup your automations

The automation is quite simple to setup. All you need to do is use the "If something turn ons" automation in Apple Home. You're going to first select the light bulb or light switch that you are planning on using as the trigger device. Then you're going to select the smart plug to turn on if the trigger is successful.

Both these setups will work well though I personally would go with the smart light switch in the bathroom since the first thing I do in the morning is to evacuate my bowels for 10 mins which gives the kettle plenty of time to boil.

Now the first downside of these automation is the fact that you have to set it up at night. You have to fill the kettle as well as turn it on and plug it into a the smart plug turned off. In the grand scheme of boiling water, using an Apple Home automation doesn’t require any more steps, it just requires you to perform the steps at a different time.

The second downside of this automation is the fact that it will fire anytime you turn on your bed lamp. This is actually a pretty big downside and highlights the shortcomings that the current Apple Home app has since you can’t specify a time with this type of automation.

BUT it can be done if you have patience to work around it. You’ll have to turn on your bed lamp first, set the kettle and then goto sleep. To be doubly sure, you can have another home automation that shuts the smart plug off at 2 in the morning to ensure everything is set properly for the morning.

Again, you might scoff at this home automation but it is something that I wouldn’t have been able to do before with out any of these smart home gadgets so as the smart home platforms get better, these gadgets will as well.

Do you have a home automation you want to share? Leave it in the comment section below!