The kudos of futuristic kitchens

Let's indulge for a moment in a more futuristic way of life. Devices are being developed that may lead to a kitchen that can look after your calorie intake and warn you about food going off - if you, like me, don't really want to be molly-coddled by a room in your house then the bonus is these sorts of applications can be controlled with buttons or, if that fails and it starts taking over, a big stick.

Having said this, I've recently witnessed some ingenious kitchen solutions at the Grand Designs Live Show where Samsung introduced us to their version of the kitchen of the future. Here's a taste of what may be available to people in the not too distant future.

Same oven, different temperatures:

The Samsung Dual Oven can cook two different things at different temperatures and the shelving inside is such that there's no transfer of smell between the two chambers. The Samsung spokesperson cites pizzas and muffins as two things you could cook at the same time. I'd call for more rigorous testing on this one with lots of garlic or fish curry although it's a fantastically practical application of technology and well worth investing in if it works properly.

Practicality rating: 5 stars
Kudos rating: 2 stars

A fridge in the middle of your dining table is set to be de rigueur:

Samsung have developed a fridge that can rise out of the middle of your dining table; this mobile, miniature obelisk rises from the centre of the table to create a talking point and a great way of halting conversation between you and the person sitting opposite.

Practicality rating: 2 stars
Kudos rating: 2 stars

The futurologists' culinary predictions:

Futurologists at Comet predict that in just 5 years time we'll have intelligent fridges that will be able to tell you when the food inside it is going off and there may even be systems that can write down your shopping list for you or email you with recipe suggestions whilst you're out and about.

Not only this, but you might be able to link up your bathroom scales to your kitchen computer so that it can tell you to cut back on the calories when you've overindulged. The thought of this makes me want to cringe but, Luddite tendencies aside, I can see the practicalities of some of these culinary features that would be useful if you're strapped for time.

Practicality rating: 3 stars
Kudos rating: 2 stars

Hot pans and cold hobs:

The new induction hob from Samsung makes the molecules in your pots and pans shake to such an extent that they heat up to cook your food, leaving the hob itself cool to the touch. I have to say that for me this is the ultimate in really nifty science and the safety benefit of having a cool to the touch hob is obvious. See the hob in action here.

Practicality rating: 5 stars
Kudos rating: 5 stars

Sophie Griffiths, Content Editor.