Which items work together for a smart home? (In Europe)

Question

I'm trying to setup a smart home and I know that I need couple of plugs and 2 switch and some lamps. What I don't know is what extra do I need and how can I join them together?

After some research, my conclusion was that products marked as Zigbee can work with products from other producers.

So the first question is how?

Then after some other research, it seemed like xiaomi has the best collection so I could ignore the risk and just go for all from same brand but for some it still needs a controller and the controller itself and the plugs are all Chinese socket compatible and I couldn't find any adapter cheaper than $10 that is similar to Chinese (it says Australian to EU adapter, not sure if it works for Chinese). Meaning that the adapter is going to cost almost the same as the plugs and still not sure if it's going to work.

I thought of buying the plugs from another brand and so asked the question below some days ago. Still no answer. Can I use Xiaomi Smart Light Switch or other smart switches to control devices from other producers?

So now the question is if you know a combination of devices that you know will work and save me from this wondering 🙂

Answer 1

If you just want lights and sockets, IKEA have just added Smart Sockets to their Trådfri range.

They have a range of different bulbs and include on/off control, dimmers and multifunction (dim/on/off/colour temp). The whole system runs on Zigbee and can include an optional hub that allows control via an App/Alexa/Google Assistant/Apple Homekit.

The hub also provides a CoAP interface so you can add some DIY control.

Prices are (IMHO) pretty cheap.

They support US/UK/Euro socket types and threaded bulbs.

The bulbs are known to work with Philips Hue systems if neded.