Next Hot Kitchen Trend: 6 Appliances that Are ‘Smarter’ than You
For the tech savvy and hungry, we find ourselves in an exciting age. It is a hyper connected world, with mobile devices to answer every question with a click or a voice command.
Tablets and phones have already conquered the kitchen, but the next wave of chef-ready gadgets have arrived.
“As technology gets more advanced, so do appliances,” says Paul Sikir, vice president of design engineering at Sub-Zero.
“We believe ‘smart’ appliances will continue to grow in popularity as time progresses and as long as the technology meets a real consumer need.”
There are already countless programs for meal planning and tracking, such as Menu Planner and MealBoard, and apps like Epicurious that guide you through recipes. Food apps are already an indispensable tool for many home cooks.
A survey taken by NextMarket Insights finds 24% of home cooks use a smart device such as a tablet or iPhone to cook “all the time” and 34% of them use it at least some of the time.
This survey, from Next Market Insights, shows that the use of mobile devices in the kitchen is becoming increasingly common. Photo: NextMarket Insights
Wolf and Sub-Zero are innovators in the world of “smart” kitchens, creating appliances that are connected to wireless home control systems.
The Wolf M Series oven line has the ability to sync to home automated control systems like Control4 or Crestron. Photo: Wolf
“Our products have the ability to sync to home-automated control systems like Control4, Crestron and Savant, which homeowners find extremely useful,” Doug Swank, vice president of design engineering at Wolf tells Yahoo Makers.
With these and other companies leading the way, it seems only a matter of time before ‘smart’ technology replaces the trusty analog dishwashers and washing machines of yesteryear.
Here are six products that will bring the future right into your kitchen.
1. The Smart Coffee Maker
It may be time to upgrade that old Mr. Coffee you’ve had around for the past decade, and opt for its smarter, more efficient new incarnation. The Mr. Coffee Smart Optimal Brew with WeMo allows you to set your coffee to brew from a remote location and will even send you reminders when you think you’ll be needing a fresh pot.
Coffee lovers are sure to fall for the Mr. Coffee Smart Optimal Brew. Photo: Mr. Coffee
At $149.99, it may seem like a bit of an investment, but for the coffee fanatic, being able to brew from anywhere could make it worth it.
2. The Smart Scale
The Drop connected scale and accompanying recipe app ($99.95) is the iPad user and cooking enthusiast’s perfect match.
The Drop connected scale helps you achieve the perfect finish every time. Photo: Get Drop
Once you’ve searched for an inspiring and hunger-inducing recipe on your tablet, the bluetooth-enabled scale syncs to your iPad and guides you through making the recipe, step by step. Not only will the scale weigh your ingredients as you add them, it will also adjust a recipe to fit your requirements, taking the guesswork out of cooking and ensuring a perfect finish every time.
3. The Smart Oven
If you want to turn up the heat, the Wi-Fi-equipped Discovery IQ 30″ Oven by Dacor could be just the thing. The oven is geared toward Android users and the built-in Discovery IQ Controller display is powered by a Samsung 1GHz processor.
Dacor’s Discover IQ oven will make you feel like you’re on a cooking course with your appliance as the instructor. Photo: Dacor
The appliance allows you to download cooking applications through Google Play and even watch cooking videos right on your oven’s display.
“With control features such as Guided Cooking, Quick Start Guide, Recipe Box, and Slow Cook Mode, home chefs are almost guaranteed to cook all their favorite dishes to perfection,” the company proclaims on its website. This oven will make you feel like you’ve signed up for a one-on-one cooking class in the comfort of your own home. Guests will think you’re a gourmet genius, and your oven will never admit the truth. If you’re interested, visit the Dacor website for a quote.
4. The Smart Precision Cooker
Been watching a lot of Top Chef? So have we! At this point, you probably want to sous vide just about everything. This method of cooking meat and produce in sealed bags and submerged under temperature controlled water is usually reserved for the restaurant kitchen, but Anova wants to give you the tools to do it at home. The Anova Precision Cooker ($179) is connected to your smartphone via bluetooth and the accompanying app gives you access to lots and lots of sous vide recipes, instructions and articles, and allows you to operate the device, with ingredient specific instructions, right from your phone.
Enjoy Top Chef worthy sous vide cooking at home with the Anova Precision Cooker. Photo: Anova
This method of cooking ensures succulent, moist and richly flavorful results with very little effort. Trust us, Padma will find your food anything but pedestrian when you get “smart” and add this clever gadget to your kitchen line-up.
5. The Smart Food Safety Checker
If you’ve ever wondered whether that “organic” steak or vegetable really is hormone and pesticide free, consider getting the Penguin Organic Food Safety Checker (price available upon inquiry).
The Penguin Organic Food Safety Checker is a reliable way to check if your food really is organic. Photo: Penguin Sensor
A big winner at 2015′s Consumer Electronics Show, the device syncs with your smartphone and uses samples of your ingredients to give you an exact reading of any pesticides or other potentially harmful chemicals that may be present. It allows users to take their health into their own hands, and though it is not yet widely available, we predict this device to be a welcome relief to those who are concerned with food safety.
6. The Smart Countertop
If you’re looking to be blown away by a little artificial intelligence, look no further than Countertop by Orange Chef. This cutting edge culinary technology will actually learn your preferences and work with your lifestyle to come up with the most appropriate gastronomical choices tailored specifically to you.
Countertop by Orange Chef may just be the cooking companion you’ve been looking for. Photo: Orange Chef
The device works with the small appliances you already have in your kitchen, such as Crockpots, Vitamix blenders and the like. It also syncs with the Jawbone UP fitness tracker, which means it knows when you’ve just finished a workout and will suggest a meal that gives your body what it needs, post exertion. Countertop will also learn your preferences and recognize consistent substitutions in your cooking. Always use cilantro instead of parsley? Countertop will notice and begin to suggest recipes that favor that ingredient. An appliance that listens and knows what you need? At $199.95, it’s pricey but worth consideration.
Related on Yahoo Makers: Beyond Stainless Steel: America’s Next Top Kitchen Trends
And while you’re in the kitchen, using all your intelligent devices and cooking up a storm, you want to make sure that trusty smartphone or tablet doesn’t die on you, so be sure to have a charge at the ready. Soon, you can get yourself a SnapPower Charger, a USB port that screws right onto your existing outlet. With a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, this innovation should be available soon, though the price is, as of yet, undisclosed.
The SnapPower USB charger solves the dilemma of having to find a converter when power is low. Photo: SnapPower
After all, how will the soufflé ever rise if your phone dies before you read the final step?
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