'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
Labor Day represents a great opportunity to grab a bargain during the summer months.
The holiday has arrived and vendors ranging from eBay to Target are offering deals on technology, home products, and more.
This includes a huge range of appliances, where you can take advantage of cut-price, high-ticket items including fridges, washing machines, kitchenware, vacuums, and outdoor products including barbeques and grills.
Labor Day is taking place on September 5 this year. We've rounded up the best deals on appliances available online. Check out our top picks below.
Must read:
The iRobot Roomba i2 is on sale over Labor Day. Over at Amazon, you can pick up the smart, Wi-Fi-connected device with a $150 discount. The robot vacuum is able to tackle carpets and hard floors, as well as pet hair, and can be controlled via a mobile device or Amazon Alexa.
If you're in the market for an air fryer, consider the Instant Vortex Plus over the Labor Day sales. Available at Amazon, the 6-quart oven has a single basket and is able to fry, roast, bake, or dehydrate. An accompanying mobile app contains over 100 recipes.
The Ninja Foodi 4-in-1 indoor grill is also on sale. In constant use in my own kitchen, this smart kitchen device takes the guesswork out of cooking meat and vegetables and has four useful functions -- a grill, air fryer, roaster, and baking functionality -- to cook everything from steak to roast chicken.
This handy gadget is currently on sale for $137, saving you over $60.
A deal not to be missed by BBQ enthusiasts is 20% off the Pit Boss Sportsman 820 pellet smoker. If you're ready to up your game and go beyond direct, on-flame cooks, the Sportsman 820 offers enough space to cook multiple ribs, chicken, pork shoulder, and more, and uses wood pellets rather than gas or charcoal. You can use standard probes to monitor your cook or hook them up to the inbuilt digital control.
The Pit Boss Sportsman 820 pellet smoker is currently on offer for $607, a saving of over $150.
An appliance deal suitable for large households is for this Samsung washing machine, a large -- and smart -- machine with 4.5 cu. ft. capacity.
Samsung has included an AI-based Smart Dial feature for learning and remembering your preferred cycles, mobile connectivity, and a rapid wash function to manage a full load in under half an hour.
The front load washer is available for $799, a saving of $325 based on the machine's usual $1,124 price.
Brava is offering $200 off its smart cooker line over the Labor Day holidays. You can pick up the starter set, bake & breakfast, or chef's choice for a $200 discount using the coupon code LABORDAY200.
The smart oven uses six light lamps to cook, sear, bake, and control heat, with sensors and mobile technology included to take the hassle out of preparing meals or desserts.
A discount of over $100 on the Shark ION robot vacuum is worth considering.
The Shark ION robot vacuum is a Wi-Fi-connected device, also compatible with Google Assistant, that can be controlled through your smartphone. You can start or schedule cleans and the vacuum will map out your home, using sensors to stop itself from bouncing into walls or other obstacles.
While not every deal is a doorbuster, we have also found other Labor Day sales in 2022 to consider:
Taking place on the first Monday of September every year, Labor Day is a US holiday set by the federal government designed to celebrate "the social and economic achievements of American workers." Ordinances were first passed during the late 1800s to secure the date as a national holiday.
The date changes marginally every year due to the calendar. However, in 2022, Labor Day is taking place on September 5.
It really depends on the retailer. If you're looking for a major appliance, you can expect those to ramp up closer to September 5 -- usually around one week before, which would be around August 26.
However, there are multiple factors at play this year. First, there are issues in the supply chain and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic to consider. Additionally, a lot of stores ended up purchasing items in bulk, and with people still spending, albeit less, they have a lot of extra inventory that they will need to get rid of. That's where the savings come in. While, traditionally, they usually start sales around August 26, we expect them to start as early as today to encourage shoppers to purchase.
In the past, we've seen Labor Day deals get extended for up to a week after the holiday, so you can expect the deals to go through at least September 12. Anything after that is not guaranteed.
We comb the internet across multiple retailers and take into account a multitude of factors. First, If the product is less than 15% off, it is usually not a good deal. There are exceptions to that, such as Apple products, which are very popular but not usually on sale.
Our general rule of thumb is that it has to be at least 15% off. Additionally, we check over the past six months on any item we think it's a great deal to make sure that you truly are getting a great deal. Anything that has been price-gouged to appear like a deal, where they raise the price a few days before and drop it back down to the "deal" the day of, has not been included on this list. We want to make sure that you get the best deal for these items.