Smart home controller working with a household appliance, or a household appliance with the controller installed, and in particular refrigeration apparatus with a controller. The appliance has an auxiliary operation initiated automatically based on user activity, and the controller provides an auxiliary operation suppression unit configured to prevent said user activity from automatically triggering said auxiliary operation. The controller may be connected to operate the auxiliary operation suppression unit based on a calendar and locally calculated daylight times. The controller is useful for preventing refrigerator lights and the like from turning on when not wanted.