The Smart Kitchen

I recently attended the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle on behalf of NXP who was showing its solid state RF cooking technology. As a colleague of mine describes it, “cook in microwave time but with oven results”. The show was well curated— all kitchen and nothing but the kitchen with everyone from technology providers to chefs. There’s incredible innovation occurring in the kitchen right now. Aside from RF solid state cooking, here are a few things that caught my eye:

Sous vide — An increasing of number of people I know are adding a sous vide cooker like Anova to their kitchen arsenal. Sous vide is hitting the sweet spot of getting superior results with very little cooking effort. As an Anova user, I can attest to this.

The K-cup approach— Several companies are providing products that are based on the purchase of a pack which when added to their appliance with the appropriate liquid produces beer, hard drinks, soft drinks, juices etc. Some of these companies are using RFID technology in their packs which allows the appliance to apply the corresponding recipe with minimum user intervention. Add pack and hit go — no menu navigation required. Great convenience for the consumer and nothing like RMR/MRR (which is all the rage) for the vendor too.

Start-ups abound — A big hit at our booth was one of our customers — the Loki meat thermometer. In addition to this product, there were startups doing 3D printed food, smart knobs for oven safety, juicers, coffee grinders, spice blenders and many more. The challenge for the many of these devices will be stickiness. We all have items in our kitchens that we use continuously like the refrigerator, stove, and oven but how many of us have devices that were used briefly never to be used again? Apple peeler, anyone? I haven’t seen a Bluetooth connected one…yet.

I look forward to next year’s summit. Kudos to Michael Wolf and team.

Predictions for next year?

RF cooking products more readily available

Wireless connectivity will become increasingly commonplace — the wireless high end model is going to fade away.

Voice will continue to grow — not only via Amazon Echo/Dot or Google Home integration but native voice commands which don’t require the cloud will increasingly be included. Add a digital mic and go.

Intelligent replenishment for the K-cup generation — Amazon’s Dash Replenishment Service is getting most of the press here but you’ll continue to see innovation in this space making it easier for customers to get their consumables replaced.

My stretch pick? Gestures and motion sensing. Control the flow rate and temperature of your faucet without touching it. Hot stove tops beeping upon detection of a hand close to a hot surface. Radar could work well here.

Appliance I’d like to see next year? Connected coffee maker with integrated roasting, grinding and temperature controlled brewing together with notification based which uses RFID tagged environmentally friendly coffee packs. Over the top? Maybe.