Wi-Fi in the kitchen: fridges, ovens and other obstacles
The recipe video stalls, the smart speaker loses the timer. The kitchen is the most metal-heavy room in the house, and it's often in the way of every other room too.
The kitchen is where the tablet shows recipes, the speaker runs timers and the fridge may want an update. It's also the room most hostile to Wi-Fi, and, because of where it usually sits, it can hurt the rooms behind it as well.
What's in the way
- The fridge. A large metal box full of water. Few objects in a home block Wi-Fi as well as a refrigerator.
- Ovens, dishwashers and washing machines. More metal boxes, often built into a wall of units.
- The microwave, which interferes with 2.4 GHz while it runs. See microwave and Wi-Fi.
- Tiles and splashbacks on masonry walls, plus metal range hoods and pipes.
- Metal-framed cabinets and appliances in a row that together act like a wall.
The kitchen as a shield
The kitchen often sits in the middle or at the back of the home, between the router and the bedrooms or the garden. When the signal's straight path crosses the fridge and a wall of appliances, the rooms behind suffer too, even if the kitchen itself seems fine.
Fixes that work
- Never put the router in the kitchen, and especially not behind or on top of the fridge. It's a common spot because the line or a free socket happens to be there.
- Plan the path through doorways. A router placed so its signal passes through the kitchen door or an open plan area, rather than through the appliance wall, reaches the rooms beyond much better.
- Put kitchen devices on 5 GHz where they support it; the microwave doesn't touch that band. See 2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz by room.
- Mount smart speakers and displays away from the fridge and metal hood, with a clear line toward the router.
- Add a node beyond the kitchen if the rooms behind it are weak, placed where it still hears the router through a doorway rather than through the fridge. See where to put a mesh node.
Smart appliances
Connected ovens, fridges and dishwashers usually have small 2.4 GHz radios buried inside a metal body. If they keep dropping off, it's rarely the appliance's fault; it's the spot. See smart home devices dropping off Wi-Fi.
See the shadow
On a map, a kitchen often shows up as a "shadow": a weaker patch behind the fridge and the appliance wall, extending into the next room. WiFi Heatmap draws that map on your iPhone, which makes it obvious whether you need to move the router a few meters or add coverage beyond the kitchen. See also what walls and objects do to Wi-Fi.