Amazon - Echo Dot Max (newest model), Alexa speaker w/ room-filling sound and built-in smart home hub, designed for Alexa+ - Glacier White

Sounds loud enough, certainly for a kitchen, and is now my home's alexa+ hub. It plays Jeopardy and takes random questions well, but I miss the echo show 15 it replaced (that crapped out after 1.9 years), but I cannot afford to pay (not subsidized prices) for its replacement! I plan to try Apple's rumored home hub soon, but likely keep this as a garage sound filler. I'm intrigued that it can be combined to make Dolby Atmos possible... but alas, only for FireTV setups. I did have trouble trying to connect it to a TV via Bluetooth about 30 feet away from the kitchen. Also, seems to play the voice assitant much louder (like a 6) than the service/music/game set to (like 4). Maybe a flaw to be fixed with upgrades?! Happy

Space saving, great sound, easy hookup and looks good too!

My wife has AMD ("Age-related Macular Degeneration"), and has difficulty seeing device control buttons. This is a particular problem with the black-on-black designs so popular these days, which are horrible for those who need high contrast and large fonts in order to see. The Echo Dot allows her to control devices by voice - we've started with a Toshiba microwave oven ("Alexa, microwave for one minute and thirty seconds"). As we replace appliances (we'll need a new oven and new thermostats soon), we'll buy things that Alexa can control. Once we had it in the kitchen, we found she can use it for other purposes: the time (she has trouble reading a clock from across the room), the outside temperature, etc. I think it can be linked to our Google calendars so it can remind us of meetings, although we haven't tried that yet. We get notifications when an Amazon Prime package has been delivered. We're just beginning to explore all the possibilities, but we are very happy with it so far.

It's easy to set up, and its sound and materials are of very good quality.

Great sound and fast response from alexa. Only down side is that you need amazon prime for the best version of alexa, but its only bad because im dont use amazon that much. Apart from that a great recommendation.