Door opening and closing system

A home appliance including a cabinet and a door hingeably connected to said cabinet and closeable against a door frame said appliance including a door state changing apparatus for assisting a user to move said door between a closed state and an open state where said door is positioned adjacent said door frame and an open state, said door state changing apparatus comprising:

• permanent magnet means on or attached to said door to provide a permanent magnetic field,
• electromagnet means on or attached to said door frame adjacent said permanent magnet means when said door is in said closed state, which electromagnet means is energisable to provide a magnetic field in a first direction to reinforce said permanent magnetic field and energisable to provide a magnetic field in a second direction to oppose said permanent magnetic field,
• door position detection means are also provided to detect the state of said door,
• user interface means to detect the presence of a user attempting to alter the state of said door, and
• control means which receives input from said door position detection means and said user interface means and provides a control signal to energise said electromagnet means to provide a magnetic field in said first detection if said user interface means indicates a user is attempting to alter the state of said door and said door position detection means indicates that said door is in said state and provides a control signal to energise said electromagnet means to provide a magnetic field in said second direction if said user interface means indicates a user is attempting to alter the state of said door position detection means indicates that said door is in said closed state.