Appliances

For this coffee maker, the crystals aren't sugar

If we were to ever give it much thought, we probably would have ventured to guess that coffee makers and Swarovski crystals probably wouldn't make a great combination. But that's what happens when one works for Crave: The irrational exuberance of some gadget makers forces the most unthinkable thoughts to the surface.

Indeed, the mere sight of the hideous "Nespresso Crystal Coffee Machine" from the U.K.'s infamous Goldstriker is enough to cause temporary blindness, but the $4,000 price tag will afflict the digestive system too. There is some amusement to be had, however, … Read more

Pandigital debuts kitchen TV with extra perks

Pandigital, which is making a name for itself in the digital photo frame market, is branching out into kitchen televisions. As part of the upcoming International Home and Housewares Show in Chicago, the company will be showing off a new 15-inch LCD HDTV that can display digital photos and act as a digital cookbook.

Here are the highlights and specs from the news release:

TV's resolution is 1280x720. Preloaded recipes are included. Plus, additional recipes can be copied onto the frame's internal memory. Copy digital photos onto the frame's memory via the memory card reader or by … Read more

You cook, Readybot cleans

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for domestic robots. I own a Roomba. I professed my admiration for the Robot Chef. But the humanoid dish-washing robot we saw last year creeps me out. (Blame it on watching too much Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.)

Fortunately, that doesn't mean I have to give up hope of ever having robotic help in the kitchen. Readybot, a proof-of-concept kitchen-cleaning robot built by a club of Silicon Valley engineers, looks totally non-threatening, like a boxy R2-D2. Because it's put together by a group of enthusiasts, the robot uses common, mass-produced … Read more

Stink-free compost right in the kitchen

The quest to make kitchens around the country more eco-friendly just got a little easier. NatureMill, a San Francisco-based company founded by an MIT grad in 2004, is adding to its lineup of indoor automatic composters.

NatureMill's composters speed up the process of composting by heating, mixing, and aerating the waste that gets put into it. After two weeks, fresh food waste can be turned into nutrient-rich fertilizer for the garden, according to the company. They're small enough to fit into a regular kitchen cabinet (20 inches long by 12 inches wide by 20 inches high), and to … Read more

Do androids dream of electric toasters?

Sometimes watching sci-fi shows can be depressing. On the one hand, the imagination blossoms with all the possibilities the future holds. On the other hand, everything you see? You can't have it. Because you know what? You don't live in the future. Sorry. No gagh for you.

So it's with mixed feelings that I point you, dear readers, over to io9, who has put together a list of the best sci-fi kitchen gadgets. The list of neat things you can't have includes such wonders as the knife that toasts your bread while it cuts, and the … Read more

Microsoft pairs surface computing with wine

Like every year, the Consumer Electronics Show is jam-packed with gadgets, from shiny new cell phones to giant TVs.

But this year, reporters scouring the CES show floor found a few goodies for the foodies too.

CNET News.com's Ina Fried sat down Wednesday with Mark Bolger of Microsoft's surface computing team to see what types of applications the tabletop technology could be used for. One of the ideas they've come up with is a system called Wine Bar that would allow restaurant-goers to select from a restaurant's wine list based on their taste preferences. So … Read more

How to become a high-tech barista

If you have a caffeine habit that even remotely approaches ours, you've probably given at least a fleeting thought to trading in those Starbucks gift cards for your own espresso machine. And this latest model from De Dietrich is sure to make the idea all the more tempting.

Built-in espresso makers are nothing new, but the DED700X's technology seems to elevate the process to an art form. For starters, it has an LED screen, touch controls, and all kinds of digital indicators to help keep you from messing up. Just imagine: As many venti soy chai lattes as … Read more

A tiny dishwasher for a tiny kitchen

While most people in the tech sector are watching what's going on at CES in Las Vegas, some of us still have our eyes on what's going on in the kitchen.

Apartment Therapy's Kitchn blog today points to a half-size dishwasher that could start popping up in apartments around the country. The Smeg dishwasher comes in three sizes, the most interesting of which tops out at just less than 24 inches tall. On the outside, it's a standard, stainless steel appliance. Inside, it's basically like the bottom basket of a regular dishwasher.

This design works … Read more

The Internet fridge is back

The Internet fridge I saw at CES doesn't do what I want it to do. It does not know when I am running out of milk. It does not sniff out the moldy cheese hiding behind the mustard to tell me it's time to throw it out. What the Internet fridge does is this: It has a mounting bracket and a power port on its front so you can install fridge-centric devices.

Stay with me here.

Whirlpool makes the refrigerator in question. I really don't expect you're going to buy one. Another company, Data Evolution, makes … Read more

Mixer attachment stops senseless spatula death

After a long break for the holidays, I returned to work Wednesday to an even longer list of things I'd intended to write about way back in 2007. In the spirit of living up to resolutions for at least the first week of the new year, I'll attempt to get some of those things published in the next few days.

The SideSwipe Mixer Blade is an accessory for stand mixers (which were being pushed hard by retailers over the gift-giving holidays and no doubt turned up under quite a few trees in December). It's a blade similar … Read more