In many ways, the connected kitchen is very much a pipedream. There have been a lot of experiments and a lot of Kickstarter projects, but not a ton of big successes. I can see a future in the distance where the kitchen is as smart as the living room has become, but right now it’s a handful of signposts pointing into the fog.
However, Thanksgiving is right around the corner—and the holiday season in general—so if you’re planning on spending a lot of time in the kitchen over the next couple of months, now’s the time to add in some fun, helpful gadgets to the mix.
These five gadgets probably won’t change your life, but they’re definitely fun to try out if you have a love for both cooking and tech.
1. Pantelligent Smart Frying Pan
This one was one of those Kickstarter projects I mentioned earlier. It successfully raised over $80,000 last Fall and is now available for purchase. From afar, the Pantelligent Pan looks like pretty much any other frying pan. It’s a 12-inch, non-stick pan—however, the two big features here are the temperature sensor and Bluetooth connection in the handle.
So when you’re cooking something in this frying pan, it connects with your smartphone via Bluetooth and the Pantelligent app. The app monitors whatever you’re cooking and even gives you some step-by-step instructions as to when to add your oil and when to flip your steak. It also has a collection of recipes to get you started and lets you save your recipes you’ve used for future meals.
2. The Drop Connected Smart Scale
Next is something that is great for baking. Unlike some of the other gadgets on this list, the Drop Connected Smart Sscale is incredibly easy to use. As you can see in the video above, you set up your iPad with the connected app and immediately get the weight reading on it from the scale. I know what you’re thinking—can’t any scale do that?
The part where The Drop gets really helpful is in the recipe part of the app. It’s beautifully designed and gives you quick access to unit conversion, as well as scaling for different serving sizes. When it comes to baking you want to be precise with your measurements, and this scale helps you do exactly that.
3. LG Smart ThinQ Electric Oven
Okay—so this one might not be something you want to just go and pick up on a whim, but if it’s time to replace your oven, the LG Smart Oven is worth a look. The big feature here is the ability to control your oven when you’re away from home via your smartphone. That means you can get the oven preheated for right when you can get home and turn it off as well.
4. Palate Home Smart Grill
The Palate Home Smart Grill is similar to the famous George Foreman grill that’s dominated the market for the past twenty years. Like many of the other devices on this list, the Palate Grill is loaded with sensors and has a connected app, of course.
The grill itself is extremely simple with just a single dial for adjusting temperature. Everything is done on the app, which is really well designed. It will send you notifications when your meal is done and lets you adjust pretty much everything from afar. If it’s time to replace that old George Foreman grill, the Palate Home Smart Grill is pretty nice upgrade.
5. Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Stand
The center of any smart kitchen is your smart mobile device—and a nice big tablet is always going to be ideal. The Williams-Sonoma Smart Tools Kitchen Stand is an attractive and little stand for your iPad to keep it away from messy ingredients and propped up so you can follow your recipe or watch videos.
You can also purchase the corresponding Bluetooth speaker base (shown in picture), which connects to the stand and adds in some better speakers to make listening to music in the kitchen that much better.
[“source-pastemagazine”]
