3Style Kitchens Blog

Kitchen Trends Monthly Blog – June

POSTED ON 1st June 2016

Kitchen tech – integrated kitchen gadgets you never knew you needed!

Integrated kitchen appliances have been around for some time now but beyond your standard fridge freezer, oven and dish washer have you ever thought about what other gadgets you could be building into your kitchen design? Well, we already offer quite a few useful appliances such as coffee machines and hot water taps but we thought we’d have a look around at some of the kitchen innovations that are out there – some are pretty nifty and others downright bonkers!

Let’s start simple and work our way up!

 

Instant hot water taps

Perfect for busy people who don’t have time to wait for the kettle to boil! These are also really good for conserving energy as you only boil what you need and how many times have you boiled the kettle only to forget and then boil again 10 minutes later? With an instant hot water tap you’ve made your cuppa before you’ve even filled the kettle!

 

Integrated coffee machine

We’ve slowly transformed from a nation of tea drinkers to gourmet coffee lovers! Counter top coffee makers, ranging from the pod systems to bean to cup machines are fairly commonplace in many kitchens now but for the dedicated coffee addict, a built in barista style coffee machine is the ultimate luxury (go easy on the caffeine!).

 

Slide and Hide oven

A nifty little oven where the door slides underneath, allowing you to get closer to the oven, reducing the risk of burning yourself on the door while reaching in and creating a bit more space for others to move around in a small kitchen while the chef is attending to their gastronomic creation!

 

Warming drawers

Food does stay warmer for longer when dished up onto a warm plate but how many people bother to do it, either because they don’t have a separate oven to warm in or just don’t have the oven space? A warming drawer rewards your efforts in the kitchen by keeping your meal nice and warm (useful for the kids who take their time to drift in to eat!) plus it can also be used to prove bread or warm baking trays before going into the main oven.

 

Built in steam cooker

This is really the stuff of a professional kitchen that has recently made its way to the domestic kitchen. A sous-vide oven is a little bit like a pressure cooker in that it uses steam to cook food in a vacuum sealed drawer or cavity. It’s a really healthy way to cook and benefits from slow cooking so you could leave something in there all day and come home from work to a ready-made, nutritious meal.

 

Drawers that do more-sers!

Some appliances are merely the same old upright appliances that have been reconfigured into a different format to save space, be more convenient/easier to access or just for aesthetics. Examples are fridges and freezers, ovens such as warming drawers and sous-vide ovens as already mentioned and even dish washers.

 

Bright thinking for drinking!

Many of us like a drink and we like those drinks to be at the optimum temperature. For the booze connoisseur it’s not quite good enough to keep our drinks in the fridge along with everything else, a bespoke machine is required! Wine coolers have been around for a while – dedicated fridges for our sauvignon blanc and pinot grigio at the perfect temperature – but now you can even get built in beer dispensers that pump beer from the keg on demand. One up on Jack Duckworth-style optics on the wall?!

 

An oven for every national dish

While we can all attempt to create international cuisine in our boring old standard ovens, a number of region-specific style ovens are becoming more popular for kitchens and for outdoor use. No self-respecting Italian restaurant would be without a wood burning pizza oven these days and you can now install them in your own kitchen. You can also get an indoor barbeque grill (why?!), a tandoor oven and a Teppanyaki grill plate – if you’re really committed to authenticity!

 

A hoover board?

Not a Back to the Future style hover board but a skirting board that vacuums the floor – kind of! A vacuum built into the skirting board that sucks up all the crumbs and mess that you sweep towards it, meaning no bending down with a dustpan and brush. Just don’t drop an earring or money near it (and keep an eye on the cat!).

 

We’re not sure who would make use of some of these technological innovations but some of these could be genuinely useful (and who doesn’t want a nice, freshly pulled cold one at the end of a hard day crafting international cuisine?!).

If you are remodelling your kitchen and feel you need some added tech in there (or even if you don’t!) please get in touch to see how we can help.