Kitchens of tomorrow, changing our lives today

Technology has made this world a better place. It has added convenience to all walks of human life. Internet of things or IoT is becoming a more common term in the era of home-tech. Today, in this smart world, home appliances are getting connected with each other and they communicate as and when necessary – our smartphones being the primary link to everything, and this has slowly paved its way into our kitchens too.

Dynamic Cooktops

Many of us have switched to an induction based cooking solution as opposed to the conventional butane-based gas burners, and this has opened new avenues for engineers to inculcate new features into the cooking surfaces. Revealed at a Tech Show in Berlin, these dynamic cooktops now come with a built-in touch-screen display which helps you stay up-to-date with the cooking information, as well as tweak even the minutest settings on it. The best part though, is that a built in software lets you watch your favourite movie or TV show on the cooktop itself. The cooktops also have a light ring circulating the cook surface which flashes the light on the utensils, creating the illusion of the flame. This way the one cooking can gauge the amount of heat while cooking; something very difficult to figure out in induction based cooking.

In tandem with the cooking sensors

The cooktops work in tandem with newly developed cooking sensors that are placed on the ceiling. Perfect for new or careless cooks; these cooking sensors analyse the steam or smoke coming from the pan and controls the temperature levels on the cooktop, as a safety fail-safe.  For example, You’ve put something to boil and you’re busy on a phone call in the living room, if the water level starts to boil and is on the verge of spilling out, the cooking sensor will detect this and instantly lower the heat below, to prevent that. Similarly, while frying if it senses that the oil temperature is higher than necessary and can burn what you are cooking, it’ll bring the temperature down to safe levels.

Smart Refrigerators

Refrigerators today have gotten smart with power-effective cooling solutions as well as healthy cooling to retain the freshness of the vegetables, but a few brands have taken this to the next level. These refrigerators come with inbuilt cameras which scan what’s in it. It uses this technology to automatically update your inventory. For example, if it notices that you’re out of carrots in the vegetable shelf, it’ll directly add that to the to-do list on your smartphone, so you know what needs to be restocked. Similarly, the camera will also suggest recipes that you could try with the ingredients in the refrigerator, all on a ginormous 30-inch portrait LED screen that also doubles as a surface to take notes or display family photos.

Smart screen projectors

We love consuming content while cooking, whether it’s a new online series or a recipe on YouTube. However with dirty hands the display tends to get smudgy. To tackle this brands have worked on a new interactive projector, keeping the kitchen table in mind. This projector displays the contents of the screen on the kitchen surface, eliminating the need of any touchscreen. It has a bunch of sensors which notice your finger movements and registers your input accordingly. All you need to do is tap on the projected content and it will work on any surface just like a touch-screen. What’s more is that it can be resized to your liking, so if you want a bigger screen, all you need to do is just hit zoom and you’re good to go.

Although all these technologies are still in their early stages, it is fascinating to see what we have in store for us in the future.