A device 15, 2 to 6 and 10 to 14 for controlling appliance functions and for communicating with a user need not stay switched on during the entire operating time. These mostly include optical indicating means 10 to 14 whose lifetime can be increased if a motion detector 19 is arranged on the household appliance and is operatively connected to the device 15 for controlling and/or the device 2 to 6, 10 to 14 for communicating and if the device 10 to 14 for communicating can only be switched to active on receiving a signal from the motion detector 19.