A dryer appliance includes a cabinet; a drum rotatably mounted within the cabinet, the drum defining a chamber for receipt of articles for drying; and a controller provided within the cabinet and operably connected with the drum, the controller including a wireless communication module, wherein the controller is configured to perform a drying operation. The drying operation includes obtaining one or more washer operating parameters from a washing machine appliance pertaining to a washing cycle; selecting a base drying cycle time from a plurality of base drying cycle times, each base drying cycle time of the plurality of base drying cycle times corresponding to a different combination of obtained washer operating parameters; calculating an initial cycle time estimate using the selected base drying cycle time; and initiating a drying cycle according to the initial cycle time estimate, initiating the drying cycle comprising displaying the initial cycle time estimate.

One variation of a method for autonomously processing a garment within a kiosk includes: accessing a set of garment characteristics of the garment, the set of garment characteristics including a garment type and a fabric type; based on the set of garment characteristics, selecting a target processing temperature, a target processing humidity, and a set of steam-processing parameters including a steam nozzle path and a steam nozzle speed. This variation of the method also includes: heating air within the kiosk toward the target processing temperature; injecting steam into the kiosk to drive humidity within the chamber toward the target processing humidity; articulating a steam nozzle along the steam nozzle path at the steam nozzle speed to impinge a steam jet across an interior surface of the garment, tension local areas of the garment against the steam jet, and heat local areas of the garment above the transition temperature.

One variation of a method for autonomously processing a garment within a kiosk includes: accessing a set of garment characteristics of the garment, the set of garment characteristics including a garment type and a fabric type; based on the set of garment characteristics, selecting a target processing temperature, a target processing humidity, and a set of steam-processing parameters including a steam nozzle path and a steam nozzle speed. This variation of the method also includes: heating air within the kiosk toward the target processing temperature; injecting steam into the kiosk to drive humidity within the chamber toward the target processing humidity; articulating a steam nozzle along the steam nozzle path at the steam nozzle speed to impinge a steam jet across an interior surface of the garment, tension local areas of the garment against the steam jet, and heat local areas of the garment above the transition temperature.

One variation of a method for autonomously processing a garment within a kiosk includes: accessing a set of garment characteristics of the garment, the set of garment characteristics including a garment type and a fabric type; based on the set of garment characteristics, selecting a target processing temperature, a target processing humidity, and a set of steam-processing parameters including a steam nozzle path and a steam nozzle speed. This variation of the method also includes: heating air within the kiosk toward the target processing temperature; injecting steam into the kiosk to drive humidity within the chamber toward the target processing humidity; articulating a steam nozzle along the steam nozzle path at the steam nozzle speed to impinge a steam jet across an interior surface of the garment, tension local areas of the garment against the steam jet, and heat local areas of the garment above the transition temperature.

A method of operating a dryer appliance includes performing a first sensor cycle of the dryer appliance. The first sensor cycle includes rotating a drum of the dryer appliance and activating a heating system of the dryer appliance according to a first set of cycle parameters. The method also includes detecting one or more user interactions with the dryer appliance and inferring from the one or more detected user interactions that the dry performance of the first sensor cycle was unsatisfactory. The method further includes defining a second set of cycle parameters in response to the one or more detected user interactions. The method also includes performing a second sensor dry cycle of the dryer appliance according to the second set of cycle parameters after the first sensor dry cycle.