An appliance having a drying chamber for performing a drying cycle, a capacitive sensing arrangement within the drying chamber and configured to generate an electric signal indicative of a degree of humidity of a load contained in the drying chamber, and a control unit arranged for carrying out at least one among: estimating a mass of the load; estimating a residual humidity of the load; estimating a residual time to the end of the drying cycle, and detecting an end of the drying cycle according to the electric signal.