Wireless appliances, a splash-resistant recipe reader, and an interactive oven were among the intriguing new home kitchen products we spotted at CES – the International Consumer Electronics Show – last week. Read on to find out which products are available now, and for a sneak peek at the technologies we'll be seeing in the new decade.
1 eCoupled Wireless Power from Fulton Innovation Of all the new technology at CES, we were most excited by this concept demonstrated by Fulton Innovation. By integrating RF technology with kitchen tools and appliances like a pan, blender, and toaster, the kitchen was made free of power cords. But that was just the beginning. We were amazed to see a pan of water boiling on a simple counter top, eliminating the need for a stove. The possibilities for future small space living and multi-use spaces are just incredible.
• For more information, visit Fulton Innovation or check out the video below
2 Convection Wall Ovens from Jenn-Air: Digital oven screens have been around for awhile, but these ovens, already on the market, go a step further with the addition of a 7-inch touch screen and an interactive, image-driven "Culinary Center." The Culinary Center provides guidance in areas such as food category, food type, doneness, and type of pan used. The ability to connect to the web or other devices would have made it even cooler, but we were still mightily impressed with the level of detail, intuitive design, and ability to customize preferences.
• For more information, vist Jenn-Air
3 Demy by Key Ingredient: Safer than bringing a laptop or smart phone into the kitchen, this digital recipe reader is designed to be splash-proof and easy to read and handle. Recipes may be synced from keyingredient.com or your computer, and the device also includes three timers, a conversion tool, and an ingredient substitution list. The Demy is already on the market, and we hope to test one and report back soon.
• For more information, visit Demy
4 NIMble Kitchen Center from Touch Revolution: This microwave features a web-connected touchscreen (running Google's Android), which enables browsing for recipes and cooking videos, timers, widgets, and even a bar code scanner for processed foods. It's just a concept right now, but we expect to see more web-enabled kitchen appliances like this in the future.
• For more information, visit Touch Revolution or check out the video below
5 Magic Kitchen Alas, we weren't able to see the debut of this concept ourselves, but it got some buzz due to its vision for the not-so-distant future. Texas Instruments, Whirlpool, and other companies are working together to design a high tech kitchen incorporating voice- and motion activated appliances, digital projectors, and other interactive technology. As an example, they say the future kitchen will be able to recognize a family member upon entry, start the coffee, and project the morning newspaper!
• Tech News World has an article with more information
Related: Design Friday: The Kitchen Sync
(Images: Emily Ho, Jenn-Air, Gregory Han, Emily Ho, Tech News World)
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In response to the future kitchen: http://www.faludi.com/classes/cmn/readings/Bradbury_Soft_Rains_1950.pdf
That future kitchen picture looks hilariously close to a similar future kitchen drawing from the 1950s that was featured in a textbook for a class I took on mid-century design.
I've been waiting for a digital recipe file to come on the market for years-something like the kindle only more durable and able to handle recipes from online or my computer.
$300 is still pretty steep for me, though. Have any readers here used it yet?
I understand that these kinds of "innovations" must exist, and only move us forward to some truly great ideas. But for now, I would much prefer just printing a recipe or quickly finding one from a book than standing in front of my microwave awkwardly waiting for tiny pages to load on the display...
Merry 123,
I like using my iTouch as a digital recipe reader. There are tons of great recipe apps where you can save your favorites to pull up when you need them. I have hundreds. I can even type my own creations into the Notes app.
My "recipe cards" are stain-resistant AND they play music.
I'm in the same boat as julieannwarner - I'm constantly in the kitchen with my blackberry, looking up recipes online or reading them from memos or emails. I also use it to play music over bluetooth to my stereo, so probably the biggest draw is the ability to switch up the music whenever I want without having to leave the kitchen. I've been using the same device to do this for probably a year now, and it's none the worse for wear. In my opinion, the problem of splashes on your electronics is overrated - just keep them clear of things that are prone to splashing.
Pertaining to The Demy, I've found a much simpler and cheaper solution if you already have your recipes on your computer. Just save your recipe files as JPGs (or take screenshots), and put them on one of those digital photo frames. Make sure the frame has a big enough resolution (800x480 or so) to display fine print, and you're set! I've been using the Sony DPF-D92 with great results. Put it on a wall in the kitchen, set the images to random, and you'll see all your recipes shuffle by to inspire you to make something that yuo haven't made in a while. Boom!