Kitchen

May 22, 2007 This is a technology with a wide range of application beyond its most obvious function of keeping food warm. Methode Development has developed a lightweight and portable food-warming storage solution that uses its own carbon fiber heating technology to maintain a consistent temperature indefinitely. This food-warming storage product is available in a convenient size for holding catering pans, and is powered through a standard vehicle cigarette lighter plug, facilitating use in food delivery or catering situations. Standard AC/DC wall plug accessories are available for use in restaurants and in-store environments. Read More

November 17, 2006 Now here’s a must have for any self-respecting, caffeine-powered technophile – a coffee maker with real-time weather forecast information and the ability to brew a cup of coffee from either whole beans or ground coffee. The US$200 Melitta Smart Mill & Brew with MSN Direct incorporates Microsoft's Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) and automatically detects current weather conditions, the day's forecast, probability for precipitation, and sunrise and sunset times, without the need for outdoor sensors, through MSN Direct. Read More

October 20, 2006 Liebherr is well known for its high quality wine cabinets and also makes a range of superb refrigerators so it was only a matter of time before someone got the bright idea for combining them. If you’re a regular wine drinker, it’s heaven sent as the wine cabinet holds 32 bottles and has two zones for storing and/or serving wine at the exact temperature desired, ranging from +41°F (+5°C) to +64°F (+18°C). In all, the SBS 24I5 unit has five different climate zones and ensures everything is kept as it should be. As such, we figure it qualifies as a new and innovative appliance that allows you to store all food and drink under perfect conditions. Read More

October 19, 2006 When something makes the pages of i4u, Kitchen Contraptions, Gizmodo and Shiny Shiny in the same fortnight, it’s obviously got something going for it – and it has. It’s a small timer which keeps track of how long a jar has been open so you know when to throw it in the trash without having to stick your nose into an olfactory minefield. DaysAgo counters have a simple LCD display and can attach with either a magnet or suction cup and although it’s a ripper device, we can’t help but feel that at US$12, it’s a bit exey to be used in a large household – doing a rough count of open jars in our household, we’d need US$250 worth of daysagos. Read More

October 12, 2006 Like it or not, no matter how much you try to avoid it, there are some things that run to a very strict schedule. It might be the personal trainer every Tuesday morning at 6am when on all other days you can sleep to 7.30am, or it might be that the exquisite meal you wish to prepare needs military precision in coinciding the readiness of the hollandaise sauce with the Chateaubriand. American Innovative is a company which specialises in creating “products that make sense” – interestingly it’s key successes so far have been related to solving timing issues. The company's first offering, the Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock is a bedside clock radio designed with a variable schedule in mind and the company’s latest product is a kitchen timer for the serious home chef, the avid entertainer and the modern multi-tasker. The Chef's Quad-Timer provides four countdown timers with indicators arranged to look like a 4-burner cooktop -- what's on the stove and what's being timed are intuitively linked - green lamps indicate which burners are still cooking, red lamps are done. Though both products are available in some countries other than the U.S., the company is seeking international distributors. Read More

September 12, 2006 It might seem a trivial and highly specialised application for a robot, but the task of getting another beer that seems to be one that is ideally suited to a robotic servant and that’s exactly what the Asahi Refrigerator Robot does. The little fellow holds and chills six 350 ml cans and at the touch of a button will dispense a can, rip the top off and pour a perfect beer every time. Japan’s Asahi Breweries held a special promotion earlier this year and gave away 5,000 robots via a lottery for participants who had collected 36 seals from special Asahi beer cans. There’s no sign of the robot hitting the market just yet, but there is a video which shows the little tyke doing its stuff. We suspect a 12 can version will be required for foreign markets. Via Gizmodo Read More

September 5, 2006 Man has been making wine for more than 10,000 years but never has it been this easy. The WinePod is a new domestic device for artisan winemaking – a US$2000 micro winery just being readied for launch and seeking international distributors and we see this as a winner because it is just sooooo sophisticated. The insulated, self-cleaning, fully computerised, three foot tall, metallic urn-shaped appliance includes everything required to make 75 litres of the wine of your choice and is above all, easy to use. It wirelessly connects to your PC/Mac, which monitors Brix, pH and temperature to keep things happening exactly as they should and the WineCoach software mentors you through the wine-making process to obtain the best results for the particular variety of grapes you choose. Wine Coach enables you to collaborate with professional winemakers who are dedicated to the different wine types so you can learn the fine art of winemaking from your own personal consulting enologist. The software also enables you to compare notes and interact with fellow wine enthusiasts using the system and it can all be self-contained in an apartment or in a cupboard with the obvious rewards that the final product will bring. The waiting list already runs to April 2007 but a few orders might prompt an increase in production and we’re very bullish about the prospects for this baby. Read More

August 6, 2006 When disasters happen, be they natural (hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes etc) or man-made (war), three essentials top the list of must-haves: water, electricity and refrigeration. Now two University of Florida engineers have created a single unit that can provide all three. With further development, it is expected that the unit will be made compact enough to fit onto a large truck. The system marries a gas turbine power plant to a heat-operated refrigeration system. The refrigeration makes the gas turbine more efficient, while also producing cool air and potable water. The turbine can run on conventional fossil fuels, biomass-produced fuels or hydrogen. Read More

June 6, 2006 One thing that all fine culinary artists have in common is a love of their knife collection. The knife is the primary tool of food preparation and a fine knife collection is sure sign of someone who takes pride in what comes out of their kitchen, be it a professional pastime or otherwise. The Messermeister Magnablock Pro will probably find its way into the homes of many master chefs as it’s the best way yet that we’ve seen to artistically showcase cutlery. While traditional, bulky knife blocks store knives in slots, the Magnablock Pro securely holds knives on its exterior in a beautiful fan-like shape. Cooks can easily identify each knife for the specific task at hand. Shaped at 90 degrees, the inside of the solid beech wood block consists of strong magnets that securely hold up to 10 knives, with five on each side. Read More