Financial Wellness
New Kitchen Technologies for Smarter Cooking
The kitchen is the heart of the home, and the place where family gathers and spends time together. However, many of us want to spend less time preparing and cooking meals, and more time sitting around the table to enjoy them.
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES), some new kitchen technologies were unveiled that may cut back on time spent in the kitchen. Often, these state-of-the-art conveniences come with a costly price tag so whether they are worth the impact to your budget, only you can decide.
Technology to help you cook smarter and faster
Smart ovens. These new appliances can help improve your cooking experience by using WiFi connectivity to give you easy control over cooking functions and features. With smart ovens, you'll often be able to use a smartphone app for remote control and monitoring, which may also feature helpful cooking and maintenance information.
The KitchenAid® Smart Oven+ gives you the power of remote oven operation or monitoring via connected services like Amazon or Google, for a seamless appliance management experience. With mobile technology on select models, you can also leverage Scan-to-Cook technology to help you choose the optimal cooking settings for each recipe. And you get helpful cooking updates and notifications delivered right to your device. Approximate cost: $3,400.
Other popular smart oven brands/models include June, the Brava, and the Tovala.
High-speed ovens. Sharp introduced a high-speed oven with a grill, convection, and inverter microwave. The oven offers "AI cooking" technology that is touted to analyze what you're cooking and apply the appropriate cooking method, all while promising to reduce cooking time.
Similarly, the Seer Perfecta, essentially a two-sided toaster, claims to cook your steak in one minute, literally. The Perfecta uses infrared burners and sears meat at over 1,600 degrees. It's also pretty pricey, coming in a cost of $3,500, according to LifeHacker.com.
Technology to declutter your countertops
Multi-purpose cookers. Some new technologies help consolidate several appliances into one, so there's less clutter on your countertops and fewer cords to plug in. The new Revolution Macrowave, for instance, promises to eliminate the need for a microwave, air fryer, and toaster oven by providing all of those cooking methods in one tidy little countertop box. Approximate cost: $1,800.
Technology to take the guesswork out of grilling
Smart wireless thermometers. While wireless thermometers aren't new, they have definitely improved. Old models were notorious for their small range, and also for the cords between the probe and the base burning out. The latest generation of wireless thermometers have ditched the cords altogether. New cordless probes can go more places, and don't need a remote unit—you just receive information in an app on your phone, all handled via Bluetooth. The new smart thermometer models have also added AI to the mix, with predictive cooking times.
Smart barbecues. Weber is probably the most respected name in barbeques, and the new 2024 Weber Summit Grill offers a number of features, most notably an infrared broiler and a tuck-away infrared system. This six-burner grill can rotate a chicken, add a smoky flavor to any dish, or sear the perfect steak. Approximate cost: $3,800.
A more wallet-friendly option may be the Current Backyard Electric Grill, which is big and sears at 700 degrees—much hotter than most gas grills. It has two heat zones so you don't burn your veggies, and you can monitor everything via a companion app. Approximate cost: $899.
Smart indoor smokers. GE recently introduced its new GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker. This smoker brings the technology inside, so you can smoke meat year-round, and also have more control over the smoking progress. The smoker is large enough to handle multiple racks of ribs plus a big roast. Approximate cost: $999.
Technology to cool your kitchen down faster
Award-winning kitchen hood. Every cook knows that the kitchen can get hot quickly. The Secret Kitchen Hood, winner of a CES Innovation Award, is the first miniaturized downdraft kitchen hood with enhanced performance. Although the size of the product is 80% smaller than existing products, it has a 360 degree suction structure and power of 700m3h.
The Water-Peltier cooling system increases the efficiency of molecular adsorption inside the hood and suppresses the generation of odor. The hood is equipped with a real-time pollution detection sensor, so it can be used not only to remove smoke/smell during cooking, but also to remove odors and purify the air even when not cooking.
Technology to make your food last longer
Smart refrigerators with AI. To enhance the experience in the kitchen, the 2024 Samsung Bespoke 4-Door Flex™ Refrigerator with AI Family Hub™ + has been packed with a variety of innovative technologies. One impressive new feature is AI Vision Inside, which uses a smart internal camera that can recognize items being placed in and out of the refrigerator. It is also equipped with 'Vision AI' technology, which can identify up to 33 different fresh food items based on predefined set of one million food photographs.
With the food list that is available and editable on the Family Hub™+ screen, users can also manually add expiration date information for items, and the refrigerator sends out alerts through its 32" LCD screen for items before reaching that date. Approximate cost: $4,999.
Technology to add comfort and a modern feel
Heated countertops. Add heat to the area of your countertops where you sit most. FeelsWarm® ultra-thin heating mats are stuck directly under the overhang, providing enough heat to make sitting at your granite island more enjoyable. Plugging into a standard outlet in your cabinet, the mats can be customized to fit the exact shape and size of your stone countertop. Enjoy the luxury of granite without the cold.
Glass countertops. Glass is a very unique and modern selection for kitchen counters. The material is non-porous, heat resistant, highly customizable, and low maintenance. Not to mention, the ability to illuminate the glass from below is something different and fun. The only major downsides of this countertop selection is the cost as well as its ability to be easily scratched.
Countertop overhang lighting. Light doesn't just have to come from the ceiling. Adding under-the-counter LED lighting will brighten your kitchen at night and will make the room feel taller. This small detail can make all the difference to enhancing your modern kitchen.
Wireless charging countertops. Did you know that you can add wireless charging to your countertop? DuPont Building Innovations and the Power Matters Alliance have collaborated to embed wireless charging solutions for smartphones and tablets into DuPont Corian solid surfaces used in furnishings for homes and public spaces.
Simply connect a receiver to your smart device and put your device on the countertop charging spot to power up. No more having to use an outlet with your chargers on display, and also helps keep you countertop clutter-free for the next amazing new kitchen technology!
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