This Award-Winning Foldable Microwave Oven Concept Turns into a Portable Carry Case

Posted on 20/10/2023 by Sarang Sheth

You’ve got portable grills, induction cookers, and portable stoves, but there’s no portable version of the microwave. Most microwaves today are heavy, bulky, and aren’t designed to be carried around… but what if they were? Designer Park Saun created the Foldwave concept to show what a portable microwave could look like. With a collapsible design that turns into a portable carry case when not in use, the Foldwave gives you the option of being able to carry your microwave around. Use it at home from one room to another, carry it to work, or even to a picnic. The collapsible design makes it easier to carry on your shoulders… and if you’re wondering whether portable microwaves are even feasible as a concept, a Japanese company developed the world’s first battery-powered microwave this year!

Designer: Park Saun

The Foldwave’s innovation, as a concept, lies primarily in the way it goes from cube-shaped to compact. The sides of the microwave buckle inwards, allowing the top and the bottom elements to join together into a smaller, more manageable carrying volume. A handle on the top makes it easy to carry the Foldwave around with you, and using the Foldwave is as simple as opening the door in front, adding your food, and turning the knob on top to run the appliance.

Even though conceptual, it’s important to really address how this technology would be feasible in the long run. Microwaves are usually sealed shut to prevent radiation leakage, and it’s important that the Foldwave keeps that in consideration too. As far as the components go, the microwave magnetron sits on the top, while the rotating platform can be found at the bottom. One would assume that the high-voltage transformer sit right at the top with the magnetron, powering the device, while a battery unit could be potentially stored at the bottom, allowing the microwave to balance its components and weight out while still being bottom-heavy enough to stay stable when open.

The Foldwave is a winner of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept for the year 2023.

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This Japanese portable microwave lets you have a hot meal on the go

Posted on 02/04/2023 by Ida Torres

As someone who likes having some food in her bag at all times, there are moments though when I wish I could still have it hot when I’m out and about. The solution though would be to just have food that you don’t need to reheat of course or to just stay in the office or at home where you could always microwave things. Trust the Japanese to think of solutions to problems like when you don’t have access to microwaves but you still want to have steaming-hot meals when you want to.

Designer: Makita

It’s surprising that portable microwaves aren’t a thing yet but the Japanese power tool maker now has one for those who like to go camping or are at construction sites. The cordless microwave uses the cordless XTGT system to help you heat your meals and snacks when you’re on the go. It has 40-volt rechargeable batteries and can use up to 500 watts for eight minutes and then 350 watts after that to save energy. If you’re worried about safety, there are things in place so it won’t blast anything when it’s not in use. It also deactivates when it’s tilted or when the door is opened.

When the batteries are fully charged, it will be able to warm up 11 meals or 20 drinks. But if you’re warming up frozen meals, it might take up more energy so you’ll be able to reheat less meals. It also has a USB port so you can also juice up your smartphone or a gadget, but of course you’ll probably have to choose between your meal or your device. The microwave also comes with a handle and a strap so you can carry it around with you. You may look a little weird carrying a microwave around with you but it’s a small price to pay for having a hot meal whenever you want to.

But of course, it’s not really a small price since you’ll have to shell out around $537 for the cordless microwave. It’s only available in Japan for now but who knows, it might become popular enough that an international version will eventually become available. This should come in handy for a lot of situations like construction sites, camping and picnic sites, vehicles, and even disaster-stricken areas.

The post This Japanese portable microwave lets you have a hot meal on the go first appeared on Yanko Design.

Apple Watch-inspired battery-powered microwave oven helps heat food while camping

Posted on 31/01/2022 by Gaurav Sood

When you’re out camping or enjoying a picnic, the convenience of preparing a meal and the ease of heating a beverage/food are two important aspects for a good time. Portable microwave ovens have to an extent made this possible for us, but the traditional options have their own demerits: Unappealing design and power consumption for instance. Stepping up with a stylish new form factor and battery-powered design, the Campo is a fine solution to our requirements in the great outdoors.

Portable microwave ovens that work without electricity have made a huge difference to how we travel and camp. They make it convenient to cook a meal briskly or defrost frozen foods and heat beverages during the outing. The market is flooded with low-wattage microwaves for camping that include all the important elements of making a camper happy. Despite their minimum power requirement, however, these ovens tend to drain your car’s battery quickly.

Designer: Siyun Bae

Before you plug your microwave into the vehicle’s battery and end up draining it down to the point where your vehicle refuses to start; spare a thought for the Campo microwave oven. This is microwave powered by a rechargeable battery to let you do the heating and cooking without requiring continuous juice up from your car. It would be a good idea to just carry your microwave like a helmet and place it on a flat surface to begin preparing the meal instantly.

The Campo, inspired by the curves of an Apple Watch and the concept of a portable EV battery, is made in nature-friendly colors. Its helmet-like design, where the visor (the lid in this case) can be rolled up with a handle. Inside you have a magnetically fastened plate, over which you can keep the item you want to cook or heat and set the timer (which is displayed on the handle you can roll back down to start the microwave). The ease of portability is ensured by a locking mechanism on the side of the unit, which locks in place when the handle is rolled up or pushed down flat.

Given its appealing shape and design, the Campo could easily fit in the center console of your vehicle, so you can even enjoy a piping hot cup of joe while driving. In addition to its application in the outdoors, a microwave of this sort can come in handy during unexpected power outages or an uncalled backyard party, which turns a normal day into a surprising camping event.

The post Apple Watch-inspired battery-powered microwave oven helps heat food while camping first appeared on Yanko Design.

This futuristic-looking cooking device promises shorter cooking times and smaller electricity bills

Posted on 25/01/2022 by JC Torres

They say two heads are better than one, so it might make some sense that combining two cooking methods might help cut down on your reluctance to eat healthy.

Many health and fitness experts explain that healthy living really starts in the kitchen, implying that carefully prepared healthy meals are the gateway to that goal that eludes so many. Not everyone, however, is keen on cooking the food themselves for many reasons, and one of the biggest excuses is the lack of time involved in preparing and cooking healthy meals. While you still have to undergo the process of preparing the ingredients you’ll need, this rather hefty cooking device promises you won’t have to wait too long for things to cook, which, in turn, helps reduce power consumption.

Designer: On2Cook

The idea behind On2Cook sounds so simple that you’d probably be left wondering why no one has thought of it before. It basically combines two of the most common methods of cooking, namely stove or induction stove and microwave, to cut down on the time that food needs to cook. It offers the best of both worlds with almost no drawbacks, or at least that’s the premise.

Conventional flame or induction cooking cooks the food from the bottom and outside, which leads to the familiar brown color that stove-cooked foods have. The microwave part, on the other hand, cooks from the top and starts from the inside, yielding in a more evenly cooked and often moist dish. This “Combination Cooking” technology also manages to retain the juices and nutrients better than either cooking method in isolation.

On2Cook says that the device is able to cut down cooking times by 50% to 70%, depending on what is being cooked. In addition to halving the waiting time, this also implies that you will use less electricity while cooking. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the device itself won’t consume more power in the long run.

One important design detail is that the On2Cook is a rather large device, and you’ll definitely have to make room for it in your kitchen, alongside the stove and the microwave, which you are unlikely to throw away. The idea, of course, is to have a single cooking device to replace those two, but its design may make certain dishes unsuitable for it. Unsurprisingly, there is an app that will suggest meals and dishes that are a perfect fit for the On2Cook, though there might be a bit of data sharing with the company involved to make this AI-powered system smarter over time.

The post This futuristic-looking cooking device promises shorter cooking times and smaller electricity bills first appeared on Yanko Design.

This space-themed kitchen appliance merges a microwave and air fryer for your home fast food cooking needs!

Posted on 20/10/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

Fooding is a new kitchen appliance concept from Yifeleing that combines a microwave and air fryer into a one-stop shop for all your at-home fast food cooking needs.

Air fryers are like the microwaves of the 21st century. Over the span of sixty years, new designs have transformed the way we cook fast food at home. While new products have come out, the classics aren’t going anywhere. The air fryer is like the shiny new toy on the playground for trendy snacks like kale chips and low-cal vegan wings, but nothing beats a Hot Pocket straight out of the microwave.

Fooding, a new kitchen appliance concept from Yifeeling Design, combines the best of the microwave and air fryer. Turns out, we can have it all. Inspired by the bulbous shape of an astronaut’s helmet, Fooding merges the microwave’s traditional rectangular shape with the air fryer’s modern rounded edges.

While air fryers heat up some tasty meals, they typically take up a lot of counter space which makes them less user-friendly. By combining the air fryer with the microwave, Fooding takes up less space in the kitchen and merges two appliances into one for a one-stop-shop.

Similar to conventional microwaves, Fooding features an internal, rotating heat plate and a heat-strengthened glass covering so users can always keep an eye on their food. On Fooding’s left-hand side, a control panel features all of the different cooking options, including thaw, roast, air fry, heat, and slow cook, along with varying degrees of temperature.

We can all agree the microwave is one of the best things to come out of the 1940s. We’ve relied on them for after-school snacks and late-night dinners since they hit the market. Then, air fryers changed the game and made cooking fast food at home a little healthier. Fooding brings both to the kitchen and saves counter space at the same time.

Designer: Yifeeling Design

This microwave’s swinging front door carries your MasterChef-worthy meal, hot and ready to eat!

Posted on 02/06/2021 by Shawn McNulty-Kowal

The ‘50s were home to some of the most innovative pieces of design and technology for their time. Invented just before the boom era in 1946, microwaves have changed a great deal since their debut, and still, designers remain inspired by the microwave oven’s convenience and timelessness. Bringing his interpretation to the table, designer Keereem Lee designed Waiter, a 3D visualization of a microwave that features a swinging door with an attached glass plate so users don’t have to bend down to place their food inside.

Narrowly dubbed ‘America’s Golden Age,’ the ‘50s saw innovations like the transistor radio, hard disks, and the Barbie doll define an era. However, ushering in this impressive lineup of inventions was none other than the microwave. Lee’s microwave design, Waiter, takes the classic compact build of the traditional blocky microwave, rounds its edges, and revises the inside to enhance its usability. Microwaves are anything but inconvenient. Spurred to only up that convenience factor, Lee’s main door on Waiter opens up once its quick-release trigger is pushed and reveals an attached glass plate that swings out with the door. Conceptualized so that users wouldn’t have to bend down to place their food inside the microwave, Lee also outfitted the Waiter with a transparent hood so that users wouldn’t even have to bend down to check on their food’s progress.

Most of the operations on the Waiter are featured on the design’s top lid, where the main control panel to set the timer and function is located. Waiter’s heating methods are activated in the same fashion as traditional microwaves, users need only push the door open and set the timer. It’s Lee’s attention to details that sets his microwave apart from the rest. Moving the control panel’s and glass plate’s locations, Lee leans on this reconfiguration to help make the Waiter that much more efficient.

Designer: Keereem Lee

An attached glass plate allows users to place their dish into the microwave without bending their backs.

A clean design, the Waiter features minimal technological details, equipping its front facade and top lid with only the essential control panels.

Users need only push the front door’s quick-release trigger to open the door and place their food on its glass plate.

A transparent hood allows users to check on their food’s progress.

The minimal look of Waiter only adds to its ease of use.

The quick-release trigger on the Waiter swings the door open to reveal its glass plate.

A control panel uses an intuitive design to simplify the cooking process.

Sharp’s first Alexa-ready microwave ovens are optimized for popcorn

Posted on 09/12/2020 by Engadget

If you’d like an Alexa-savvy microwave but would like something more advanced than the AmazonBasics model, you’re in luck — especially if you tend to snack during movies. Sharp has unveiled its first Alexa-capable countertop microwaves, the mid-size...

Microwave redesigned to be rounder and hold condiments

Posted on 19/07/2019 by Radhika Seth

It’s been a while that someone has made the effort to redesign the microwave from the ground up. So far it’s only about adding features and technology. The Hybrid & Wide-Oven gives a whole new form for the oven – round! It also hosts four little pots to hold condiments and seasonings that you could use in the dish that you are cooking in the oven.

The purpose of the round design, is so that you can remove your dish with more ease and not burn your hands. I can live with that insight – and to be honest, most homes can do with the new form. My only worry is the stowing of ingredients on top of the oven. Typically you want to keep this space empty and for ventilation, but you never know … this concept could spark a debate or new thinking.

Designer: ZJ-DDG

Pop Popcorn with Your Voice on the Cheap with an Alexa-Powered Microwave

Posted on 06/02/2019 by Shane McGlaun

The 2019 Super Bowl sucked, and everyone but Patriots fans will agree with that statement. There were also no really good commercials, and the half time act was universally panned, leaving me wondering why I was even watching. I did like the Amazon commercials, and the one with the dude popping his popcorn with voice commands made me want a voice-controlled microwave. No one wants a microwave.

If you want one of those Alexa-powered AmazonBasics Microwaves, it’s on sale right now. The normal price is $59.99, and you can get it for 30% off right now making it just $41.99. You even get free Prime delivery if you are a subscriber.

The catch is that you need an Alexa device to make it work and it’s out of stock right now. More will be in stock around February 16, and you can bundle it with an Echo Dot for just $65.98.

Now you can tell Alexa to microwave you some popcorn

Posted on 26/09/2018 by Sarang Sheth

No, this isn’t some twist on the sexist “Go make me a sandwich” statement, because you can now, quite literally tell Amazon’s voice assistant Alexa, to make you some popcorn.

Launched at Amazon’s surprise hardware event last week, the Amazon Basics Microwave does two things. As a part of Amazon’s Basics series, it provides a reliable, competitively priced product that’s backed by Amazon’s brand name. It also comes with a dedicated Alexa button, making it probably the first microwave to be powered by Amazon’s AI voice assistant.

Microwaves have, over the years, grown incredibly complicated with a variety of functions that confuse people more than empower them. There’s a separate setting for grilling, for defrosting, etc… and even with these features, a majority of microwave users use the appliance primarily for re-heating food, popping corn, or to cut down on the cooking time of something. Either way, it amounts to just estimating the amount of time the oven needs to run for and the power setting. With Alexa, that estimation gets taken out of the equation as the microwave oven now does the guess-work for you. All you need to do is tell Alexa what to do in the most natural terms, and the advanced AI assistant gets to work, acting on commands like “Alexa microwave popcorn” or “Alexa reheat my rice/vegetables”. Being able to distinguish between food-types now becomes the appliance’s job, and it does so spectacularly. It’ll apply the correct heat setting for microwaving popcorn, versus cooking broccoli, or heating up your coffee, or even baking a mug cake. The microwave does also come with traditional controls, if you’re the technologically independent kind, but I must admit, there’s a certain sense of accomplishment in getting your microwave to cook your food for you by just talking to it!

Designer: Amazon

Click Here to Pre-Order (Available on 14th November 2018)

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