Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets

What goes into an oven isn't necessarily what comes out. One may think they are placing a pizza in the oven, but the dough, cheese and sauce combination that comes out quite often is not pizza. Sure, it may be that the dough, cheese and sauce will have been cooked and transformed into crust, melted cheese and cooked sauce, but that doesn't mean it deserves to be called pizza. Pizza is more than the sum of its parts.

The Teka wall oven (model: HL 45.15) looks to turn the home kitchen into a pizza parlor. The two-compartment … Read more

All the cool kids are getting their munchies by air these days.

South African music fans are getting beer from the sky. A research group developed and tested the Burrito Bomber. Domino's UK drafted an octocopter to deliver a couple of pepperoni pizzas. Now, all we need is sushi in flight to make this a bona fide trend. Looks like our order is up, up, and away.

Sushi chain YO! Sushi has introduced a "burger" made with rice patties and sushi-style ingredients like prawn, tofu katsu, and nori seaweed. The chain's London restaurant in the Soho district decided the delivery method needed to be just as unusual as the food. Thus the "iTray" was invented. It's a flying waiter outfitted with a special food tray and controlled by an iPad.… Read more

Grilling is an active endeavor that requires making choices. Like any other cooking method, decisions must be made about what to prepare. For the grill, the options are seemingly endless. This is how it should be: a versatile heat source should be capable of producing versions of almost anything. However when looking to cook a quality meal on the grill, the list of choices to make usually do not include whether to go outside or to stay inside. Or if one should mortgage the house.

The Lynx Downtown Electric Grill ($1,499.95) is rated for indoor or outdoor use. … Read more

In addition to raising $5.4 million in Series A financing led by investors Voyager Capital and Crosslink Capital, Ayla Networks announced collaboration with the Chinese online media company, Sina, in creating the Wi-Fi Weather Station. The device is designed to deliver targeted weather information for wherever one of the devices is located. Sina customers will be able to access these personal weather reports through their smartphone or other device.

It's another step forward in the "Internet of Things."

Buzzwords aside, this is a real thing.

It doesn't matter what you call it, it is happening. … Read more

Beverage and food coolers come in all shapes and sizes. And for good reason too; a nation with hearty appetites needs somewhere to put all that food (before it settles around the waistline, that is). Lugging delectable foods from point A to point B requires planning. Since there will no doubt be need to bring something to wash it all down, the big cooler will be required. But what about the little stuff?

A large cooler filled with ice makes for a great transportation device for beer and soda cans, but can wreak havoc upon foodstuffs placed within. Battered and … Read more

The hunt to find contrast in the kitchen is a never-ending one. Luckily, it is also a delicious one. Well, usually. For every wonderful taste combination that is uncovered, chances are a few mistakes litter the path that was taken to get there. That's OK, though; meandering away from bland and homogenous food is worth the effort. All it takes is a little imagination and a willingness to take an extra step -- but that doesn't have to mean traveling very far.

The small confines of the average home kitchen don't embrace excessive maneuverability, but that doesn'… Read more

It's not hard to come across a serving of well-lit food. After all, we eat with our eyes first, as they say. Following this line of logic it might make sense to peer a little deeper into the process. No, not the process of food styling, but food prepping instead. If all the world's a stage, all the players need to start eating the props at some point. Best to have the props well lit.

Hidden under the weighing stage of the Mastrad Electric Backlit Scale ($29.99) lurks three LEDs just waiting for the curtain to rise. … Read more

If sharing fluids strikes you as icky, Coca-Cola's shareable can may be just the thing. A simple twist and the 330-milliliter can splits in half, one for you and one for a friend. Ideally, you should only do this with one buddy, as the can doesn't multiply any further.

The idea of this shareable can originated with ad agency Ogilvy & Mather Singapore, though the group that came up with the idea has since left the company. The concept was based on a Pepsi can that had been cut in half to be used as an ash tray. Passersby in Singapore recently could grab a shareable can from a "happiness truck," though we reckon it's unlikely the can will end up being made as a real product that's widely available. … Read more

Kitchen gadgets come in all shapes and sizes, but it's the ones that try harder that stick out. The importance in that can be found in what they try to do. Sometimes it makes sense: think food processors with differing blades and stand mixers with attachment collections. But occasionally one comes along that tries to integrate two seemingly disparate tasks into one package. Yet, when an everyday gadget gets paired with a not-so-everyday task, everybody wins.

The Mastrad Mortar and Grater Combo ($80.00) is a kitchen tool perfect for some, less so for others, but curious all around. … Read more