Tag Archives: kitchen essential

A hidden induction cooking unit is the best part of this modern, tech-savvy kitchen!

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This kitchen’s secret sauce is a flexible, hidden, induction cooktop – and it is flexible! Lapitech, an Italian company, created a cooking system that could be fully concealed under a modern sintered stone kitchen counter! It is activated by a technological cooking mat and the innovative system features an electrothermal part developed in collaboration with the University of Padua. Lapitec Chef was brought to life after years of research and is patented.

The induction cooking system is seamless and very easy to operate. All you have to do is place the Lapitec Chef silicone mat on your worktop to activate the touch controls and switch on the system. The mat is key, without it the induction unit and controls will be inactive and the worktop is like any other kitchen counter only distinguished only by small engravings that align with the mat’s controls.

Lapitec Chef allows for easy cleaning and storage so the counter can be used for other activities like preparing food, plating dishes and hosting social occasions. Interestingly, Lapitec is a 100% sintered stone and it is also non-porous, non-absorbent as well as resistant to chemicals which makes it ideal for both indoor and outdoor kitchens. You can choose to have either two or four cooking rings for your induction system.

The one-of-its-kind cooking mat looks like a normal silicone mat but comes equipped with magnetic sensors and a hidden coil. Lapitec Chef is compatible with all induction cookware and the best part is that it is also dishwasher safe! For additional safety,  it can be configured to work in bridge and child lock mode. You can choose from different finishes to match the induction system with your kitchen’s aesthetic while integrating the technical potential of sintered stone to elevate your cooking game!

Designer: Lapitec

This minimal electric kettle’s design has been inspired from iconic Roman architecture!

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People travel across the world to see Roman architecture, especially the linear columns that are so iconic! Drawing inspiration from the popular historic style, SeungHyun Lee designed HYGGE – a modern, minimal, and sleek hybrid kitchen appliance.  HYGGE is an electric kettle but also functions as a jar to store your drink. Although it is inspired by Roman architecture, its name comes from the Danish word ‘hygge’ which is a cultural attitude that implies well-being, coziness, and contentment.

HYGGE’s design embodies all the emotions behind the Danish lifestyle practice which is all about making choices that lead to satisfaction and happiness by finding the magic in small, everyday things. Pronounced “hoo-gah”, the defining cultural practice celebrates mindfulness and joy in tiny things like drinking a cup of hot chocolate in winter.

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“The curve comes from nature, and the straight line comes from humans. The man-made Roman column, while blending with the natural sunlight, is balanced between man-made and natural, and finally becomes a work of art between sky and ground. I hope that users who use the health kettle can find their own balance in work and life, and become themselves,” explains Lee.

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The kettle’s top is designed to create an interactive experience with the product, a kind of communication between designers and users across time and space. The best part is that this method avoids the situation where your hands are scalded by steam! The sleek aesthetics help it perfectly stay on your counter or table, unlike the outdated plastic ones that we all hide too often in your cabinets. HYGGE lets you enjoy the simple practice of boiling water in an electric kettle and adds elegance to the otherwise mundane task – it elevates the experience of brewing and drinking tea into a cozier, beautiful moment!

Designer: SeungHyun Lee

This portable Samsung oven concept is designed to warm or cook your food on the go!

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Designs like these are born when people are incredibly hungry and then go “Aha! I wish I could just heat my food here while waiting for the bus!” – boom! Samsung Cuisine is a conceptual all-in-one portable oven made keeping the Samsung design language in mind. It allows you to heat up your food anywhere anytime. Think of it as a lunch bag and a microwave having a high-tech kitchen appliance baby!

Samsung Cusine features the built-in inductive heating technology of Samsung that can go up to 300-degree F and it will heat up anything you put in the oven. Sullivan explains that this portable appliance is perfect for any trip – camping, hiking, or picnic!

The portable oven has clean lines, minimal form, a smooth surface, and that iconic pill-shaped button. It is divided into two sections: top and bottom. The top heating container is perfect to cook or keep your food warm, while the bottom container can be used to store fruits or desserts.

It not only warms your food anywhere, anytime but can also cook it on the go. Anything that goes into the oven or the slow cooker can be cooked in the Samsung Cuisine. So maybe put a roast in it before you set out on your road trip!

Designer: Ben Sullivan

The post This portable Samsung oven concept is designed to warm or cook your food on the go! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This coffee maker let’s you master the pour-over technique and is a portable brewing kit!

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Anyone who loves coffee will know that making coffee brings you the same amount of joy that drinking coffee does. I am a coffee connoisseur (or a coffee addict as per my sister) and I have all sorts of equipment from an espresso machine to a french press so that I can choose the kind of brew I want to enjoy. One of them is a pour-over, it is a classic and trusted method which I love especially because this brewing process really heavily immerses you in the aroma as you slowly add the water – it is best for mornings because it will truly wake you up. That is exactly why I fell in love with the Eli Pour Over the second I saw it, it gave the set up a much-needed design upgrade!

Most of the pour-over coffee makers in the market focus on functionality rather than usability making it hard for beginners to make a perfect cup without knowing the techniques. That is where Eli comes in – it is a transformable, compact, and automatic pour-over coffee maker designed to make the brewing process easier and the taste more consistent. It is a brewing kit that divides the process into three phases – material preparation, brewing setup, and final brewing. Boil water and keep the grounds ready, then slide and lift the structure, followed by rotating it to lock the base – now you are ready to brew.

It has a smooth and stable rotating axis structure that elevates its minimal aesthetics. It also features an automatic rotating water nozzle so each ground can be evenly coated with water which results in the consistent quality/taste every time – this is usually done by hand with traditional machines and is a technique called blooming that baristas master to control the flow and pace that gives you the perfect pour-over. Eli’s body uses recyclable plastic for injection molding and stainless steel. It also has an electromagnetic heating pad to boil water making it truly portable.

The design also minimizes the tools and utensils needed traditionally to save space and make the brewing more intuitive. “Based on the pain points, I thought of a new approach that focuses not only on the brewing experience but also on usability. Eli combines the classic pour-over coffee brewing techniques with the latest technology,” says Fan who successfully completed the challenge of creating a portable pour-over coffee maker that allows users to enjoy the coffee-making process and perfect taste coffee anytime, anywhere.

Eli Functional Pour-Over Coffee Maker by Chenchen Fan is Winner in Home Appliances Design Category, 2020 – 2021.

Desinger: Chenchen Fan

This clay humidifier, filter, lamp and planter is inspired from sustainable Brazilian traditions!

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Clay filters are common in Brazilian homes and designer Lucas Couto brings the best of them to more household appliances. Clay is an organic and natural material used by many developing nations because it is cost-effective, versatile, and easily available. Terracotta earthenware in the kitchen is an ingenious practice that is finding its way back into our modern lives and Couto extends the benefits of this material to lamps, filters, and humidifiers.

“I intended to respect the heritage, avoiding an approach to simply “modernize” the filter. I wanted to create a unique form factor that takes advantage of the materials and manufacturing process while introducing new functional features, such as a handle to assist in lifting the upper reservoir and a base to support a drinking glass,” he adds, “The cooling property of the ceramic inspired me to design a humidifier. This is a much-needed item in my hometown of Belo Horizonte, where the air can get very dry throughout the year.” Clay filters are actually proven to eliminate toxins from water through its existing properties while also keeping it cool according to research published in the book The Drinking Water Book: How to Eliminate Harmful Toxins from Your Water. The efficient filtration is a result of the gravity process, where water passes through the candles and drips slowly into the lower reservoir.

Couto wanted to create a multi-sensorial experience fostered by the terracotta. He retained the color, the textures, and the gradient caused by water absorption for visuals and touch. The water drops inside the filter and the vitrified sound of the material produce a soothing sound. Terracotta naturally smells like earth after rain and it also adds a unique flavor to water. The cooling property of the ceramic is why Couto made the humidifier too. All components are placed in the lid, which also contains a level indicator to assist the user with keeping the humidifier filled. The lamp and the planter were additions to the series to showcase the material in various forms outside the kitchen use. The planter has a two-compartment design to take advantage of capillarity for petrichor! The inner part of the pendant lamp is covered with a white glaze to increase light reflection while the terracotta prevents it from overheating. The clay range is organic, warm, functional, and aesthetic!

Designer: Lucas Couto

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This herb garden was designed with smart monitoring tech & fits inside your kitchen cabinet to save space!

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We have all killed a plant or two let’s just admit it. Gardening isn’t for everyone but it is sure nice to have fresh herbs to add to your meals. Imagine making a bomb pizza and realizing you don’t have basil (gasps!). To avoid such catastrophes even those of us without green thumbs do our best to keep herbs in our kitchen. The only drawback is that having five small pots takes up a lot of counter space and also can attract bugs. Leaving herbs out on the window is not an option because they won’t survive extreme weather and maybe birds will get to it before you do. But this herb garden design takes care of all these minor inconveniences while making sure your plants thrive!

The design lets you have access to fresh greenery 365 days a year without sacrificing any counter space or causing a mess. It is compact and works wonderfully for small urban apartments or big suburban houses. What makes this herb garden unique its compactness because it makes it invisible in your kitchen space. Designer Igor Abakumov drew inspiration from his own life experience for this. “My mom is a real culinary virtuoso and she often complains about the lack of specific greens in the store. And then I got the idea to design a home garden that will be built into the kitchen and will delight with greenery all year round,” he explains.

Simply named Home Garden, this nifty design is basically a herb drawer that is built into the kitchen. It comes with an integrated smart system that monitors the moisture and temperature of plants, as well as their freshness and readiness for use. It is 2021, so of course, all of this can be adjusted directly from your phone. Home Garden is one of the entries for the James Dyson Awards 2021.

Designer: Igor Abakumov

This modern indoor BBQ grill is inspired by the mechanism of an air purifier!

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Missing the BBQ parties during game nights and holidays in quarantine? This conceptual BBQ grill, Campin, makes it possible to still enjoy it indoors (perhaps with fewer people, and if it is just yourself then you won’t even have to share food!) while following the COVID-19 restrictions about outdoor activities and gatherings. BBQ parties are almost a cultural tradition to celebrate events big and small, and while traditionally one has to have a backyard for it, you can now enjoy it thanks to Campin within the comfort of your home without the need for the extra outdoor space – a huge blessing for the urban demographic who is cooped up inside in the pandemic.

It has two core parts – the BBQ bowl at the top and the bottom base. The BBQ bowl has a metal container that houses the whole setup including the intake vent, a charcoal bowl, a grill, and a lid. These pieces are modular and can be separated for easy cleaning and management. There is an LED located under the BBQ bowl that illuminates the lower side and making it look like there is a real fire for the ‘right vibes’.  Campin lets you grill with a charcoal fire by using the specific charcoal bowl for that authentic taste. The smoke is sucked in through the intake vent outside the grill and it is purified and discharged through the filter structure inside the body – the mechanism is similar to an air purifier. The lower part in front of the base includes an outlet to discharge the purified air.

Another thoughtful detail that saves space and reduces mess is the little storage compartment in the bottom – all sauces, seasonings, and dips can be put in here so there is no need for extra counter space or a runner who has to keep going back and forth to the kitchen. Campin can be charged when not in use via the charging port on the rear end of the base making it functional and portable. With this product, you won’t need an invite to a backyard BBQ anymore or have to wait for restrictions to ease up, just fire up that grill and celebrate that you made it through yet another day of 2020.

Designer: Jeong Kim and Weekend Works

This smart food storage device regulates temperature to keep your meals fresh in any climate!

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I lived in various different climatic settings and one thing that is a persistent small problem causing large amounts of waste is storing food. If it is a tropical climate and you leave the food outside it will go bad due to the heat and if you are in somewhere cold and dry then you have to reheat your food in the microwave multiple times which is bad for your health. So how do we cover and store our food to reduce waste and effort? This conceptual device called The Mother’s Heart has the answers…yes, just like our mothers in the kitchen.

There is a Korean practice of covering food with a cloth (Sang bo) which has been a tradition for centuries and has worked well – a ramie or silk fabric covering keeps it ventilated in the summers while a thicker fabric keeps it insulated in the winters. Inspired by this, the Mother’s Heart was designed to keep food fresh and retain its original nutrient quality. It is a simple device that is crafted like a dome food covering and an accompanying base plate. The covering has a dial on top and that lets you adjust the settings based on the food you’ve cooked. You can select between refrigeration or warmth and there is a timer feature that lets you select for how long you want to keep it running. The bottom heating coil can maintain an internal temperature of 60 Celcius or higher to store food like noodles and curry. The upper cooling fan can keep the temperature below 5 Celcius to store dishes like salads or sandwiches.

“When I came home and lift up the cloth to have my meal, I could feel my mother’s warmth in the warmth of the rice. This design is inspired by sang bo so that mothers can still give their children fresh meals infused with their love,” elaborates Seojoung as he recalls the nostalgia that led him to create the award-winning Mother’s Heart. This is not only a convenient device for mothers but also anyone who works and cooks their own meals. It has the ability to help us reduce food waste and consume radiation-free meals. While meal-prep is great, there is nothing like a freshly cooked meal after you finish your chores – no one likes a wilted lettuce salad or a microwaved mac-n-cheese.

Designer: Yu Seojoung