The future of cooking is just getting started. In the last few years, we’ve seen a surge in smart kitchen technology. From voice-activated appliances to connected ovens, nearly every aspect of cooking is being updated with high-tech features. And while all of these advancements aren’t quite ready for prime time just yet, there are plenty of exciting new developments that are on their way. Here are five exciting innovations in kitchen tech that are sure to change the way you cook.
Intelligent Dishwashers
Dishwashers are the kind of household appliances that people tend to take for granted. After all, you’re probably not all that interested in the nitty-gritty details of what goes on inside your dishwasher. That is unless it breaks down.
Then all of a sudden, you’re faced with the reality that you can’t wash dishes. Instead, they sit in a reeking pile. In the long run, you’re probably better off not knowing what goes on inside your dishwasher. But in the short term, you’ll probably appreciate the ability to diagnose problems remotely.
This is where the latest generation of intelligent dishwashers comes in. These appliances will soon be capable of monitoring their own performance, allowing you to troubleshoot remotely. Better yet, intelligent dishwashers will let you choose when to run your dishwasher, meaning you won’t have to wait for your dishes to be done. To do this, dishwashers will connect to your smartphone, allowing you to start, stop, and pause your dishwasher.
Voice-activated kitchen appliances
If you’ve used a voice assistant like Amazon’s Alexa or Google’s Assistant, you know how convenient voice control can be. You just have to speak a few words, and your devices spring to life. This is especially helpful in the kitchen, where you might wear an oven mitt or have flour on your hands. Even so, it seems like appliances have been slower to adopt voice control than other products. But that’s starting to change. In 2019, select refrigerators began featuring Alexa built-in, allowing you to use your voice to control your smart appliances. That means you can now ask your fridge to start a timer, set the oven, or check the weather forecast.
Smarter stoves
When you think of the kitchen of the future, you might picture an open-concept kitchen with connected stoves, refrigerators, and ovens. It’s not exactly a far-fetched idea, considering we already see some connected stoves.
However, we’re still a ways off from having an integrated smart kitchen that talks to each other. That’s because the world of connected appliances is still a pretty fragmented space. There are many different ways to connect your appliances, with each manufacturer using its own standards. That means you can’t plug your oven into your refrigerator just yet. However, we are starting to see major players enter the smart kitchen space.
Smart kitchen utensils
If you’re really excited about the idea of a connected kitchen, you’ll be happy to know that smart kitchen utensils are on the horizon. This will allow you to use special utensils that can detect when food is done, adjust the temperature of your stove, or even turn on your oven. That’s right, you’ll soon be able to use a smart fork to check the temperature of your food. And who hasn’t wanted to do that at some point?
3D food printing
If you’re anything like us, you’ve probably spent a lot of time daydreaming about what you’d like to eat next. It turns out we’re not the only ones. There are actually many chefs and inventors who have been dreaming up ways to create a food printer.
Over the last few years, we’ve seen a few different food printers come to market. Unfortunately, they’ve been pretty pricey. This is to say, they’ve only really been accessible to restaurant chefs who are willing to spend a few thousand dollars on one. But that’s all changing. In 2019, a company called Foodini released a 3D food printer that cost just under a thousand dollars. That’s still a lot of money, but it’s a lot more accessible than what we’ve seen in the past.
Conclusion
The future of cooking is exciting and full of potential. While we’re not seeing the most advanced kitchen technologies in our homes, we’re getting there. In the next few years, we’ll see an increase in smart appliances that can be controlled through voice assistants and an influx of new connected devices. The kitchen of the future is coming to fruition sooner than you might think. These are exciting times for kitchen tech and for cooking in general.