These are ten initial concepts we’ve brainstormed for the future of cooking — ideas for opportunities in sustainable energy, smart utensils, and food storage. They’re not definitive solutions, simply design-oriented prototypes that seek to reframe the way we bring technology into the kitchen.
- General storage: Whenever we’re unsure about how to store food, we usually just seal it and stick it in the fridge. The thing is, a lot of our food doesn’t actually benefit from that treatment, but it goes to show how much we rely on the fridge as our central storage unit. We imagine something different, that brings together all different types of storage into one. It could be a modular system, made up of different containers, each with different storage settings — from temperature, to light, to ventilation — automatically adjusted according to the contents. Containers could even be taken out and about, to keep food cold throughout the day, then warming themselves up when you’re ready to eat.
- Cleaning assistant: We all know cleaning up as we go is best, but in practice it takes a lot of discipline and effort. The way we wash our things today hasn’t evolved much in the last hundred years, and still isn’t optimal. Right now it’s either put it in the dishwasher or wash it completely by hand. We want to change how our cleaning areas look, even change the whole cleaning process, to make it easier and faster to do the dishes. We imagine a kind of a ‘car wash’ for your dishes, combining the ease of the dishwasher, and the immediacy of hand-washing.
- Energy recycling: Ambient thermal and kinetic energy could be harvested to power other processes in the kitchen, charge devices, or even be returned to the grid as electricity. Instead of an ugly, technical box, we could turn it into a decorative, interactive element in the home. Incorporating gamification, making the collection of energy a challenge in itself, could make recycling energy fun and raise awareness around the topic.
- Designed for all: ‘Extreme users’ have very specific needs, and when designing to meet them, we often uncover new approaches that a broader audience can benefit from too. For example, draining a large pot of hot water isn’t just a hassle for a lot of people, it’s a hazard. We’re interested in creative solutions to improve this, along with other common processes in the kitchen.
- Reimagined cookware: We’d like to create a range of cookware that saves space, while extending functionality. With removable, interchangeable handles, pots and pans would be easier to stack and store, and could even be suitable for putting in the oven or the fridge. Besides different handles for frying and boiling, special handles could extend the pot’s functionality further — from a handle with a scale function, to adapted handles for people with arthritis.
- Lifecycle of the frying pan: Using our contacts at EPEA, the scientific institute of cradle to cradle, we’d like to explore how a frying pan could be designed as part of a circular production system. Removable handles are a step in the right direction for design for disassembly, but how do we make sure each bit of the pan can go back into either the technical or biological cycles? One idea could be a biodegradable, even edible, non-stick coating, to be scraped off and reapplied as necessary.
- Recipe playlist: We imagine an app that could give you personalized recipes, with intuitive, human-feeling suggestions enabled by cognitive computing. The suggestions would be based on what ingredients you have on hand, with data collected from sensors in your fridge, cupboards, even your (micro) garden. This service could respond to real-time information, such as your location, the weather, or even extrapolate from your calendar to see how much time you might have. With an understanding of your skill level and taste profile, it can refine its suggestions, or even broaden them to introduce you to new things based on recipes you loved.
- Utensils in passive mode: Sometimes plastic utensils just feel like a downright pain — when they’re not dripping all over your clean surfaces, they’re melting onto the frying pan! We want to make these tools more practical in their ‘passive mode’. How about adding a suction cup to the end of a spatula or spoon? That way, a spoon covered in sauce could be stuck over the sink, or even over the stove so that drips fall back into the pot.
- Smart pot: We’d like to create a pot that can self-regulate the stove temperature, keeping the contents boiling — but never boiling over. This could be more of an analogue solution, or could be part of a wider digital infrastructure. The pot could also incorporate a self-stirring function, to prevent your dinner catching on the bottom of the pan, while an ‘air guard’ could prevent the pot’s contents from splattering all over the stove top.
- Home-grown: The idea of producing your own food is becoming increasingly popular. But for idea to become reality, we have to design products that people would genuinely, actively want in their homes and kitchens. It could be an autonomous vegetable growing system. It could be a lamp that can be used to grow micro-algae. Or a box specifically for growing edible insects. Whatever we do, it has to appeal to the general public, taking into account time and space constraints, and of course good looks!
The need for change is right in front of us, but how do we turn our shifting needs into opportunity? Of course, we’ll be incorporating new tech-enabled and digitally-driven solutions into the kitchen of the future, but how exactly will we bring these into your regular, family kitchen?
People need technology that is wrapped around them — their needs, their lives — not the other way around. Designing the future of cooking is about making products that are sustainable, high-quality, and available for everyone.
Revisit: Future of cooking, part I: change drivers, and Future of cooking, part II: opportunity spaces.
