“The Jetsons” one of the most popular animation comedies is based on a futuristic world which features all sorts of robots including Rosie, a sweet and caring robot maid, and a kitchen every kitchen enthusiast dreams of.
As recent technological developments show, the world that “The Jetsons” envisioned is not too far beyond the grasp of human beings. Indeed, as 2019 goes into its final months, electronic devices are getting smarter and ultimately, changing the way people undertake their day to day activities in the kitchen.
One area that has particularly benefited from the emergence of smart technology in the kitchen, which many consider the heart of the home. The surge in the availability of consumer smart kitchen appliances and devices is evidence that human beings are edging closer to the self-cleaning kitchen of “The Jetsons.”
Benefits of A Smart Kitchen
There are numerous benefits to using smart kitchen appliances:
1. Convenience
Convenience can be described as a state that allows one to perform tasks and activities with little effort and little difficulty. This is exactly what smart kitchen appliances do; making it easier for people to perform tasks within the kitchen with minimal effort and energy required.
2. Improved Kitchen Skills
Many experts are in agreement that far from making life convenient, smart kitchen appliances also help to improve an individual’s kitchen skills significantly. For example, some appliances may help people measure ingredients with greater precision, while others may simply help to give easier access to thousands of recipes available on the internet. All these go a long way in helping people perform their tasks with greater accuracy and with better outcomes as well.
3. Reduced Risks
While the kitchen is often the source of joy and satisfaction for many, it is also a potential danger zone. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear of houses burning down because someone forgot to turn off the stove. Similarly, it is not unusual to hear of food burning or back-firing greatly.
All these are different types of risks, each significant in its way. Smart kitchen appliances give people better control over the kitchen and in so doing, help to reduce kitchen risks substantially. For example, some appliances have features that allow their users to control them remotely.
The growing dominance of the internet in human life coupled with increasing technology developments has led to an increase of smart kitchen appliances in the market. Unfortunately, the relative newness of the industry also means people are still relatively unaware of which appliances are best suited for their kitchens and which ones are more of gimmicks.
The Best Smart Kitchen Appliances
1. GeniCan
($149 on the company website)
Having a well-stocked kitchen is an important precursor of a smoothly running kitchen. However, many people would agree that one of the hardest tasks in the kitchen is keeping track of one’s grocery needs and remembering the grocery list when going shopping.
Enter GeniCan, a smart kitchen appliance that is easily attached to the kitchen’s garbage can, recycling bin, refrigerator or even a wall simply to keep track of items as one throws them away. To add items to the grocery list, one simply has to scan the barcode or where none is available, use their voice to add an item before throwing it away.
GeniCan also syncs with one’s phone hence allowing easier and relatively unlimited access to the shopping list. This ensures that people no longer have to worry about forgetting their grocery shopping lists as long as they have access to their phones.
GeniCan also allows users to sync their accounts with an Amazon account which then allows it to optionally order items once one has thrown them away and have those items delivered right to the doorstep. Aside from that, GeniCan also helps to sort out one’s grocery list aisle-by-aisle when at the store; this makes shopping easier. Additionally, GeniCan can help in matching coupons to their corresponding products.
2. Perfect Bake Pro Smart Kitchen Scale and Recipe App
($99.99 on the company website)
One of the most important kitchen skills is baking. But for many people, baking is also a strenuous process whose success depends on one’s precision in measuring and mixing ingredients. For example, accidentally adding too much baking soda may ruin a whole recipe.
The perfect bake pro smart kitchen scale and recipe app is a kitchen appliance built to make baking easier and less terrifying for people. This smart kitchen appliance allows users to choose a baking recipe from over 500 recipes. This includes a Pantry feature that helps users identify a suitable baking recipe based on the ingredients that one has or where necessary, allow users to add ingredients they do not have to a shopping list. Users can also add their recipes and download new recipe packs.
When baking, many people also get confused when they have to scale down or scale up measures of servings and even for different pan sizes and pan shapes. Perfect Bake Pro allows users to automatically scale recipes based on what they have and what they need. This takes away the uncertainty that often comes with having to scale down or scale up recipes.
Further, Perfect Bake Pro makes it almost effortless to measure ingredients. One only has to pour ingredients into a bowl, place on the scale and wait until Perfect Bake Pro signals when to stop pouring. What’s more, the auto-scale measures to the nearest 0.1grams.
This smart kitchen appliance also includes built-in timers that are responsible for guiding users on how long to mix ingredients, bake and even cool the baked product for the best results consistently.
3. Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
($4,699 on the company website)
(Source: Digital Trends)
There is a reason the kitchen is known as the heart of the home. Refrigerators are an important part of the kitchen, and in many cases, refrigerators have often acted as holders of calendars, pictures, to-do-lists, reminders and of course, food and cold drinks. The Samsung Family Hub fridge is a smart kitchen appliance designed to perform all these tasks and more, albeit with more efficiency and more convenience.
The Samsung Family Hub is a four-door refrigerator that includes one “FlexZone” compartment. This compartment allows users to use it as either a freezer or a fridge. The refrigerator features a 21.5-inch touch screen which acts as a command center. The touch screen includes widgets for time and weather as well as some apps including music apps, recipe apps, and even shopping apps among others. The touch screen is also capable of receiving voice commands.
This smart kitchen appliance allows users to keep track of their grocery use and needs. For example, users can keep food fresh by setting expiration notifications. In addition to that, the fridge features three interior cameras which take photos of what is in the refrigerator when the door is closed. This allows users to see the contents of the fridge from everywhere and improve organizational kitchen skills such as those of keeping and updating shopping lists.
Apart from that, this smart refrigerator also makes it easier to coordinate tasks and activities among family members. For example, one can share shopping lists with family members or even send real-time updates to family members as they shop.
Samsung Family Hub refrigerator also acts as an entertainment hub for the family. It is possible to play music through live radio apps and other music apps such as TuneIn. To add on that, users can mirror a Samsung TV in a separate room. This makes it possible for everyone to watch a movie even when some are in the kitchen.
4. SproutsIO
($799 on the company website)
Perhaps one kitchen skill that many people long to have is that of growing their produce in an indoor kitchen garden irrespective of where one lives or how much experience they have in gardening.
SproutsIO is a high-performance system that makes it way much easier to grow produce indoors, all year round and best of all, soil-free. It is the ideal smart kitchen appliance for those who desire homegrown produce but do not have much time, space or experience to plant their produce.
SproutsIO also features WiFi connectivity, a camera, LED lighting, electronic mister and even sensors that are meant to monitor the conditions of the plant and the surroundings. Also included are software services and seed refills worth six months.
Tests suggest that SproutsIO is up to 3 times faster than traditional methods when it comes to growing produce. Further, this smart appliance is eco-friendly; using half the energy of an incandescent light bulb and only 2% of the water often used in traditional soil-based planting techniques.
One of the best things about this smart kitchen appliance is that users can use it to customize the “conditions” they want their products to grow in and subsequently, have more control over the taste, texture, and color of the produce.
5. Hello Egg Smart Kitchen Assistant and App
(Basic – $120, Premium- $350 on company website)
People increasingly have busy schedules that make it almost impossible for them to plan meals, organize the kitchen and manage kitchen supplies and grocery needs. One of the biggest reasons cited for not cooking at home is the lack of time. It comes as no surprise that people often end up looking or longing for kitchen assistants.
Hello, Egg takes pride in the fact that it is one of the best voice-operated smart kitchen assistants. It is a sleek gadget which users can place on the kitchen counter and talk to. Many will find it particularly interesting that it has an animated eye that mimics facial expressions when it blinks.
Hello Egg smart assistant helps users in performing tasks such as;
- Planning weekly meal schedules based on dietary needs.
- Ordering grocery delivery
- Providing easy step-by-step videos of recipes and even including round the clock support from cooking experts.
Hello Egg can also stream music, read the news and even give weather forecasts and updates
6. June Intelligent Oven
($1495 on Company Website)
This intelligent oven is designed to improve the user’s cooking skills and is widely considered the only smart oven in the world. Everything about this oven has a positive impact not only on kitchen skills but also on the outcome of cooking.
The June Intelligent Oven features six carbon fiber heating elements and incorporates the use of C6 Convection technology. This allows it to preheat at least three times faster than traditional ovens and ultimately, ensure foods get cooked faster. Further, this technology allows the oven to maintain uniform temperatures in ensuring perfect cooking of food.
Moreover, this smart kitchen also features Adaptive Cook Programs which enable users to cook food exactly the way they want to. All one has to do is choose a doneness preference and let the adaptive programs do the rest. Users have access to over 50 different cooking programs.
Users also get more control courtesy of June’s iOS application. Users can control the oven from anywhere and even watch as the food cooks. The user also receives notifications when food is ready.
What makes this oven even smarter is a 1080p camera and a 2.3 GHz processor which work together in automatically identifying a wide variety of foods as soon as one places food into the oven. The oven then matches the weight and temperature of the food to its database of recipes and selects the correct Adaptive Preset Cook program to cook the food.
Other smart features include;
- Built-in digital scale
- Safe to touch exterior (even when cooking at high temperatures)
- Automatic software updates
- A precision dial and responsive 5-inch touch screen
7. Pico Model C Brewer
($399 on the company website)
This smart kitchen appliance is for all those who have always wanted to make their craft beer but did not have the expertise to do so. This device is sleek, easy to use, affordable and intelligent.
Users can brew up to 5 liters of quality craft beer effortlessly in approximately 2 hours. One can choose to brew using the grain-and-hops PicoPaks from recipes all over the world or use the FreeStyle web application to custom brew craft beers. In addition to that, Pico C includes the Pico C Brew Keg with a hose connection and which is dishwasher safe to ensure easier and faster clean up.