Over the past 50 years, the way our homes function has changed unrecognisably. Anyone in their 30s will remember revolutionary voice commands from 1980/90s TV shows depicting “the future” that is here with us today, albeit in a more refined way.
Smart kitchens come with different levels of technology and it doesn’t always mean every feature is an awe-inspiring departure from traditional kitchen features, but in some ways, subtlety can be more helpful. A great example of this is the ability to preheat your oven through an app on your phone on your commute home from work. It’s a simple feature that relies entirely on the fact that every device can speak to every other.
Kitchen Feature Integration
For many people, there’s value in creating preparation areas through integrating kitchen appliances and ‘gadgets’ into the unit and cupboard space. A great example of this is an integrated coffee machine giving you the ability to create various coffees and indeed other hot drinks without taking up any space that could be used for food preparation. This is one example of how advancements in technology allow us to benefit from a smaller amount of kitchen space without taking away any of the utility.
Voice Control in Kitchen Technology
Voice controls over the past 10 years have advanced remarkably well and as can be seen by the popularity of systems that are controlled through the likes of Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, debates about certain accents being misunderstood have been replaced with how much your background chit chat informs the ads you’re delivered the next time you open a web browser on your phone.
This huge leap into the future isn’t only an interesting feature but can be a lifestyle change that affords you significant time savings when you don’t have to use a hand to set a timer and being able to continue a task whilst asking for the last recipe instruction to be repeated back to you.
Inspiring vs Useful
One important balance that has to be reached when designing a kitchen is one between aesthetics, practicality and adaptability. Adding new technology and smart kitchen gadgets should be guided by your preferences and how you use your space. The integrated coffee machine sounds like a great idea for those who have early morning wake-ups and 10 minutes to enjoy a hot drink to start their day but this wouldn’t be as convenient when there are five drinks to make at the same time and one person cooking breakfast for an eagerly-waiting family at the
table.
When it comes to smart kitchen design, let the technology work for you and think carefully about how you want it to enhance your life, save you time and win back an extra 15 minutes sitting on the sofa after a long day at work.