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Manage Kitchen Chaos With Alexa's Named Timers


Alexa and Google Home both allow you to set multiple, named timers, and they will save Thanksgiving.

You just have to say:

Alexa, set a [thing] timer for [time]

...and it will start that timer. (Google Home works the same way, but my own kitchen is an Alexa shop.) “Alexa, set a turkey timer for four hours,” you can say. “Alexa, set a potatoes timer for 20 minutes.” Then, you can ask:

Alexa, how much time is left? 

...and it will helpfully answer something like: “You have 15 minutes left on your potatoes timer and three hours and 55 minutes left on your turkey timer.”

When time is up, Alexa will ring an alarm, interspersing the words: “Your potatoes timer is ready.” It will keep ringing, and keep identifying the timer, until you shout over the din of the kitchen, “Alexa, STOP!”

You can also cancel or pause the timers by name. If you don’t want an alarm, but just a brief, polite reminder, you can say:

Alexa, remind me to put the bread in the oven at 3:45pm.

or

Alexa, remind me to baste the turkey in one hour.

For all of Alexa’s fancy features, about all I ever do with my Echo Dot is turn on music when I’ve just plunged my hands into dish water, and set timer after timer when I’m cooking a multi-part meal. Both of those features are lifesavers on Thanksgiving, so crank up the holiday tunes, if you’re ready, and get cooking.