We could all use a little extra help in the kitchen. Thanks to the Internet of Things, and some succulent startups, some innovative new cooking apps and appliances are emerging to lend a hand. From smart pans to smart toasters, all are being designed to make our cooking experience easier, healthier, more entertaining, and much closer to perfection when it comes to final product. If you are looking to smarten up your cooking and spring your kitchen into the future, here are 7 products you should give a sniff.
Smartypans
This smart pan and app duo, with a built-in ingredient weight sensor, allows you to track the number of calories in your meal in real-time. In addition to the nutrition tracking, the Smartypans app includes over 1,000 recipes and provides step-by-step cooking instructions. The device also has a built-in temperature sensor and can be connected to fitness trackers. The product raised just over $31K on Indiegogo earlier this year.
Price: $209
Pantelligent
This smart pan has a built-in temperature sensor that connects to an app so that it can act as conductor for the key components of the cooking process; temperature and time. The app will tell you when to flip, stir, or add ingredients to your meal. It will also notify you if the temperature is too high, or too low. Or you could just use the autopilot feature; the app will control heat and duration on its own and just send you an alert when it needs human intervention. This product raised just over $83K through it’s Kickstarter campaign a few years ago.
Price: $129
Cuciniale
Cuciniale consists of three parts: an app, a cooktop, and a multi-sensor wireless probe. The probe reads the temperature of your food, and will send you a notification when your input or action is needed. The cooktop automatically adjusts temperature as necessary. One differentiating factor of the Cuciniale system is that it allows you to use your own pan as long as it’s magnetic. So far the company has raised just under €20,000 on a fairly lofty €100,000 Kickstarter goal—there are about 3 weeks left in the campaign.
Price: €149 for backers (expected retail is 399€)
Toasteroid
Toasteroid is not your traditional toaster, and is great for people who want to have little fun with their breakfast; the toaster is designed to print images and messages onto your bread. You simply download the app, connect the toaster to your smart phone (via Bluetooth), add the bread, select an image or message (you can make your own on the app) and then tell it to toast. Next thing you know: you’re eating bread-art. You can also just make normal toast, and the app allows you to adjust the darkness. This product raised a whopping $187,849 through their Kickstarter campaign that wrapped up just last month.
Price: $79 for backers
Flatev
Meet the Keurig for tortillas. Flatev is an organic tortilla maker that allows you to enjoy homemade tortillas at the touch of a button. Simply insert a dough pod into a drawer, select the flour or corn option, press the cook button and your tortilla is ready within seconds. You can also choose whether you would like your tortilla soft or crispy. The dough pod method also eliminates food waste; each pod makes one tortilla. Another crowdfunding success, the Flatev raised $136,165 through their Kickstarter campaign that wrapped up this past spring.
Price: $199 for backers
The TasteTro Spice System
The TasteTro Spice System is an automated kitchen buddy that eliminates the need to mix and measure spices, and avoids having to dig through a cabinet to find the flavors you need. Loaded into the gadget are chambers for 20 different spices. Users can then concoct custom flavors or choose from a list of pre-programmed options; the machine combines and then spits out the blend, allowing users to experiment with new seasonings without the measurement margin of error. The spice compartments are also removable so that users can stock their own favorite brands and technically, any spices they want in any chamber.
Unfortunately, neither pricing nor availability seems to be listed anywhere. You may need to contact the company directly to figure out full release status.
SproutsIO
SpourtsIO allows you to grow fruits and vegetable indoors, year-round and without the need for soil. Growing your own produce gets going in four steps: place the basin under the lamp, launch the app, place the seed refill in the basin, and add water. The app will allow you to check on the growth of your produce and tell you when everything is ripe and ready to go. SproutsIO wrapped up a successful Kickstarter campaign just last week, raising $116,576. They plan to ship units to backers by the end of this year.
Price: $799 (SproutsIO system + 6 refills)
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Tortilla maker? I’m sold! Isn’t Christmas right around the corner 🙂
Wow, all of these are really great things to have around. Each of them would be nice to have for a person that is not well versed in cooking. Connecting to an app and things like that really allow you to learn better when just seeing what is happening is not enough.