Not long ago, we thought that the smartphone would be the biggest technological invention of our times. Well, just over 10 years later, our phones are only one of the many “smart things” that are part of our lives.
In recent years, our homes have become smarter and in spite of how tech savvy we are, all of us are progressively leaning towards connecting everyday devices in our homes to the internet and to each other to make our places more comfortable, convenient, entertaining and safe.
I dare to say that what we have seen up to now in terms of smart home appliances and applications, is just the tip of the iceberg. The tsunami is yet to come.
Times seems to move faster, technology is revolutionizing the way we live and we can certainly expect home automation to offer more and more help in new and innovative ways.
Home automation is a really vast subject involving the automatic control of many electronic devices in our homes such us lighting, HVAC, outdoor lawn irrigation, appliances in general, security systems and more. So here I will just focus on kitchen and cleaning appliances.
The role of the kitchen changed enormously over the years. That’s a fact. Open floor plans and more socially welcoming kitchen furniture designs have transformed the kitchen from a simple service area for food preparation to being the hub of our home. Lately, cooking has become a social activity and it is accompanied by many others: entertaining, socializing, dining, working, laundry etc. As our kitchens change, the technology in them has been evolving to fit our needs.
From major appliances to small gadgets, here is a my own point of view of what are the most complete products already available out there.
1.-Family Hub Refrigerator
In a nutshell, Family Hub refrigerator is basically like having a tablet screen built into your last generation fridge door that ends up working as a memo board that all the family can access from their phones. Cool, right? Plus, the fridge has a built-in camera, so if you’re ever out at the grocery store wondering if you have enough eggs at home, you can just take a peek inside right then from your phone.
If the kitchen is the family hub of our home, the fridge is becoming the hub of the kitchen, this is why this fridge is improving so many families’ lives.
2.-Intelligent convection oven
The June oven. Calling it an oven is a huge understatement. This amazing compact countertop cooker can perform seven culinary tasks (convection oven, air fryer, dehydrator, slow cooker, broiler, toaster and warming drawer). It also features a built-in HD camera that allows the chef to watch their roast cook from across the apartment, house or even from any place in the world, via the accompanying June app.
This camera also performs a not minor secondary role: it can recognize over 50 common food items and automatically suggest an ideal cooking program for that dish. If that instant food-recognition ability was not enough, June comes equipped with 100-plus one-tap cooking programs, developed by accomplished chefs, to make a variety of foods to your exact liking.
I really don’t know if cooking can get much easier than this.
3.- Smart Wi-Fi Instant Pot
In case you have not used a multicooker, they are electric kitchen appliances for automated cooking using a timer. A typical multicooker is able to boil, simmer, bake, fry, deep fry, grill roast, stew, steam and brown food, in other words, it performs pretty much all kinds of cooking possibilities you can think about. All this in one appliance, saving you not only time but a lot of counter/cabinet space so, it is ideal for kitchens with few storage options.
The Instant Pot Smart WiFi is a programmable multicooker that you can control from your mobile devices: cook, schedule, adjust and monitor the progress of your meals on the go.
4.- Connected Kitchen Scale
One of the biggest rising trends in kitchen activity during the least years has been the effort to adopt more healthy practices while eating. In order to do so, a decent digital scale became a wise investment to keep track of quantities and prepare somewhat more elaborated dishes.
Well, now digital scales went a step further: with accompanying phone apps you can monitor intake, calculate calorie, and store nutritional diary.
5.- AutoDos Dishwasher with integrated Power Dish
Okay, so you can’t have a conversation with this dishwasher, but it does automatically dispense the correct amount of detergent for more efficient cleaning every time you wash, which is pretty amazing. And you can also get alerts about wash cycles, set timers, and control it from anywhere in or out of the home. So, don’t tell me this is not handy.
6.- Smart Toaster
Yes, smart toasters really do exist! This particular toaster from Revolution is the first-ever touch-screen toaster. It also features smart cooking sensors that perfectly toast bread, bagels, waffles, toaster pastries, and English muffins to your liking in a fraction of a time. It even has a 15-second reheat function for when your toast gets cold.
7.- Cleaning Robots
Well, this list would not be complete without the cleaning robot. This is a category that has been evolving for some time. This high-end robotic vacuum is made to reach corners more easily via a set of lengthy brushes. Two cameras help it “see” and plot its path, and you can use a remote to teach it to maneuver tricky areas in your home, so every time it encounters them afterward, it knows where to go. Plus, you can start, stop and redirect the cleaning from anywhere using your smartphone. Now you can actually clean your home when you are not home.
I hadn’t been born when the creative minds of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera gave us the Jetsons, that loving cartoon family that back in the 60s detailed how we might live in the future but I grew up watching the beloved cartoon. Well that future has definitely arrived. And though we still do not have flying cars still, we have been zooming each other quite a bit lately and having robots like Rosie to help us out with our house chores has become a more familiar scene.
The appliances might be a little different to Rosie, but technology is transforming the way we cook, the way we store food, the way we interact with our homes and each other. Smart appliances are changing how we eat, cook and live, giving us more time to focus on being healthy while also preserving the environment, and even helping us save money. It is important to do our own research before any purchase and understand that we need to adopt new technologies at our own pace and needs.
I have to confess, I am generally not the earliest of adopters myself, some technologies have looked overwhelming to me at first. But slowly and surely I am seeing the benefit of choosing some that can help us at home. We may not be the early Jetsons, but we are not the last Flintstones either. 😉
What about you, have you adopted any of these technologies with any success at your home? Drop me a quick line. Let’s share our stories.
