I just saw this TV documentary featuring an academic who had a prototype
kitchen with just about every item wired up with monitors, cameras and
computer links. Some of the things I recall:

- large audio-visual warnings if you leave the stove, tap etc turned on
[yes]
- colour indicators of tap water temperature [maybe]
- hydroponic box in the room to keep vegetables alive and fresh [only if I
couldn't grow my own]
- an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so you
don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]
- a spoon that tells you the temperature, pH and salinity of whatever you
are stirring [no, my finger and tastebuds are better]
- the sink is silicone which is (almost) unstainable, not damaged by hot
pans, soft and impact absorbent [yes if it was not damaged by knives]

Assuming we are 20 years in the future and that these things are accurate,
hygenic, reliable, affordable etc would you want any of them? My view is in
[brackets]

David

David Hare-Scott wrote:

> I just saw this TV documentary featuring an academic who had a prototype
> kitchen with just about every item wired up with monitors, cameras and
> computer links. Some of the things I recall:
>
> - large audio-visual warnings if you leave the stove, tap etc turned on
> [yes]
> - colour indicators of tap water temperature [maybe]
> - hydroponic box in the room to keep vegetables alive and fresh [only if I
> couldn't grow my own]
> - an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so you
> don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]
> - a spoon that tells you the temperature, pH and salinity of whatever you
> are stirring [no, my finger and tastebuds are better]
> - the sink is silicone which is (almost) unstainable, not damaged by hot
> pans, soft and impact absorbent [yes if it was not damaged by knives]
>
> Assuming we are 20 years in the future and that these things are accurate,
> hygenic, reliable, affordable etc would you want any of them? My view is in
> [brackets]
>
> David
>
>

Somedays the kitchen already seems complicated enough. It is certainly
more complicated than the kitchen I grew up in. I'd like the hydroponic
box and the spoon would be useful for canning.

I saw this too this evening. The vegetable storer took my
interest.


-- Bronwyn

"David Hare-Scott" > wrote

> - large audio-visual warnings if you leave the stove, tap etc turned on
> [yes]

I can't really picture that. Yes, the stove is on, I'm
making pot roast. How does it know I'm not cooking.
Sounds like way more trouble than it's worth.

I am one to wander off and forget I'm making hard boiled
eggs, I admit it. Stupid. I should get one of those timers
you wear around your neck. Going to order one right now,
as I'm thinking of it.

> - colour indicators of tap water temperature [maybe]

They have that available for some time now, never felt the
need for it.

> - hydroponic box in the room to keep vegetables alive and fresh [only if I
> couldn't grow my own]

Hmmm, I don't think so. I'm okay with the vegetable drawer,
I'm not thinking to have live lettuces/whatever growing.

> - an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so you
> don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]

Wouldn't look too nice in my house, one reason I don't have
a glass front refrigerator. Only one reason. Heh, I can't find
stuff when I have the door open sometimes, don't know if a
picture would really help.

> - a spoon that tells you the temperature, pH and salinity of whatever you
> are stirring [no, my finger and tastebuds are better]

You know what I would like? A spoon that would tell you the
food has gone bad. That's something I could get behind. Is this
chicken bad? Touch it with the spoon, turns color. Now we're
talking.

> - the sink is silicone which is (almost) unstainable, not damaged by hot
> pans, soft and impact absorbent [yes if it was not damaged by knives]

I've seen those, interesting. Wonder how long they'd last.

nancy

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:

> "David Hare-Scott" > hitched up their panties and
> posted :
>
>
>>I just saw this TV documentary featuring an academic who had a
>>prototype kitchen with just about every item wired up with monitors,
>>cameras and computer links. Some of the things I recall:
>>
>>- large audio-visual warnings if you leave the stove, tap etc turned
>>on [yes]
>
>
> Nuh-uh... I want nothing else that warns me about anything.

Agreed! The mw and stove are more than enough. We put a new engine in
one of out vehicles that resulted in a red warning light contantly
flashing. DH fixed it by covering it up with electrical tape. I'm
almosted tempted to do the same with the mv and stove!

>

>>- an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so you
don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!] <<

I am sold!
I can remember decades ago being fascinated with futuristic ideas on
some regular Sunday program on TV. Not one single thing I was looking
forward to actually happened! My favorite was a sonic dishwasher in
the middle of the table that you just put your dishes into as you
finished the meal, it lowered, cleaned them and was ready for setting
by the next meal.
They did try selling fridges that hung on the wall like upper cabinets,
but it didn't take long for that to fail.
I was and am interested in futuristic ideas, especially in kitchens--
so how come I often cook in a 400 year old fireplace? If we knew that
answer, we'd have a clue why so many great ideas never fly.

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:

> My mother had a Buick Electra station wagon that screamed at you
> constantly. My friends and I basically destroyed it on the way to Daytona
> for spring break. I got soooo... tired of hearing it scream "The back
> passenger door is open"
>

Way back in the Dark Ages (high school) we hd a friend who
re-programmed his Dad's talking car. Picture his Dad's face when he got
in and heard the car say, "Well, bonehead,a re you going to fasten your
seatbelt?" and "You left the front door open, asshole!"

Dad wasn't too mad in the long run, though, becasue he figured out that
if we could RE-program the car, we could also DE-program the car, and
turned that nonsense off completely.

Nancy Young wrote:
> "David Hare-Scott" > wrote
>
>> - an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so
>> you don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]
>
> Wouldn't look too nice in my house, one reason I don't have
> a glass front refrigerator. Only one reason. Heh, I can't find
> stuff when I have the door open sometimes, don't know if a
> picture would really help.
>
How's a picture on the fridge door of a bunch of tupperware-like containers
or covered bowls going to tell me what's inside them?

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
> Nancy Young wrote:
> > "David Hare-Scott" > wrote
> >
> >> - an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so
> >> you don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]
> >
> > Wouldn't look too nice in my house, one reason I don't have
> > a glass front refrigerator. Only one reason. Heh, I can't find
> > stuff when I have the door open sometimes, don't know if a
> > picture would really help.
> >
> How's a picture on the fridge door of a bunch of tupperware-like containers
> or covered bowls going to tell me what's inside them?

RFID ? Radio Frequency ID tags are becoming very popular at the retail
level, so why not take it to the home ? Then you could even ask the
fridge what's inside, and it could tell you.

Besides, if you go to the trouble of having a screen on the fridge, it
would have other uses. Pull up your recipes on the fridge screen while
cooking, chat with the RFC people while in the kitchen, or even watch
the big game that you invited people over for, but ended up stuck in
the kitchen at a key moment.

(Insert George Carlin's "Refidgerator Man" monolog here.)

It looks like ... meat-cake !!

Dean G.

On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 09:35:51 GMT, David Hare-Scott wrote:

> I just saw this TV documentary featuring an academic who had a prototype
> kitchen with just about every item wired up with monitors, cameras and
> computer links. Some of the things I recall:
>
> - large audio-visual warnings if you leave the stove, tap etc turned on
> [yes]
> - colour indicators of tap water temperature [maybe]
> - hydroponic box in the room to keep vegetables alive and fresh [only if I
> couldn't grow my own]
> - an image of the contents of the fridge is projected on the door so you
> don't have to open it to see what's inside [yes cool!]
> - a spoon that tells you the temperature, pH and salinity of whatever you
> are stirring [no, my finger and tastebuds are better]
> - the sink is silicone which is (almost) unstainable, not damaged by hot
> pans, soft and impact absorbent [yes if it was not damaged by knives]
>
> Assuming we are 20 years in the future and that these things are accurate,
> hygenic, reliable, affordable etc would you want any of them? My view is in
> [brackets]
>
Think back to what our vision of kitchens of the future looked like in
the '50s and early 60s. It's probably not much different.
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

sf wrote:

> >
> Think back to what our vision of kitchens of the future looked like in
> the '50s and early 60s. It's probably not much different.

Except for the now ever-present microwave. Also, the food mill
transformed into a food processor, but functionally there is little
difference there. Oh, and the oven says it is "self cleaning", but I
can't say that without smirking a bit.

Dean G.