Drinking

The Kohler Karbon Articulating Kitchen Faucet is something like a hybrid between your standard, kitchen, spray nozzle and an elegant, metal faucet spout. It's made out of a series of solid pieces, each connected by an articulating joint. The result is a faucet that can move into any position and then stay put.

Wouldn't ever need such an adjustable faucet, you say? I'm living proof that we dlo: I put a water filter on my faucet that has now … Read more

My mother-in-law has been visiting for nearly seven weeks. (Why, yes, I am the world's greatest wife, thank you!) And every morning she watches me prepare my cappuccino and winces as I fill my cup with boiling water and dump it out. It makes her crazy to see me waste my 6 ounces of water, but it makes me crazier to put my lovely espresso into an unheated cup.

Although family harmony may not have been Haier's goal with the HPE20SS Espresso/Cappuccino Maker, it could work wonders in my home. The machine has a dome-covered warming and … Read more

The water cooler is a standard fixture in many homes and offices. It provides an easily accessible supply of pure, clean water--until the jug is empty and someone has to replace it. You know the drill: you either con a friend into helping you lift and lower the jug into position, or you do it on your own and deal with the backache that inevitably results. And then you grab a mop and clean up the spilled water that's all over the floor.

Haier's Aqua Fontana could be the solution to your problems--well, at least your water cooler … Read more

I used to have four ice cube trays shoehorned in my freezer along with everything else. When I wanted to make certain that I would have extra ice cubes, I'd put ice cubes into a plastic bag so that I could make more. It wasn't exactly a great system.

The Iceorb offers a few benefits, though: it can freeze 21 ice cubes at once, and it does so on a vertical wall, so that I can still get other stuff into my freezer. The ice cubes also won't freeze to anything I stack on top of the … Read more

We thought latte stencils were pretty cool, but this really takes the cake--er, foam. A new company called OnLatte has grabbed the attention of food blogs (and mainstream press like The Wall Street Journal) with its tech-centric approach to the practice of latte art.

The project began last year, when inventor Oleksiy Pikalo saw a video on latte art and decided to make a machine that would decorate his lattes for him. Using a hacked x-y flatbed plotter and edible brown ink, he built a prototype and jokingly filmed it printing a Starbucks logo on a homemade latte.

Pikalo demonstrated … Read more

The perfect table might be harder to describe than you thought. Opinions would, of course, vary; design, structure, shape, and size would likely be the most contentious factors. c But once those were agreed upon, color, usage, and placement might then be brought to the table, so to speak. Regardless of how deep the debate can get, you would at least expect the perfect table to have four legs.

Until now. Here is the min 2 table, having no legs at all. Designed to be placed on the knees of table-sitters, the concept makes sharing a meal more of an … Read more

Once upon a time, I worked with elementary school children. For special events, we'd have snacks and soda out of giant 2-liter bottles (they're so much cheaper than cans). Invariably, one of the children would try to pour a glass of the fizzy stuff and wind up with soda all over the floor. I got in the habit of grabbing a couple of rolls of paper towels before these parties, but I think there might be a better solution.

The 2-Liter Pour Thing is a stand that you can put any 2-liter bottle in, with a grooved top … Read more

A couple of months ago, I wrote about my introduction to coffee pods via my sister's one-cup coffee pot, and since then, I've seen the pod machines all over the place. If you would have asked me then how I felt about the pod invasion, I would have told you that pods are meant for peas and aliens, not for coffee. With my arms tightly clenched around my french press, I would have enthusiastically argued against keeping coffee grains captive against their natural instincts to swim freely in a pool of hot water on the way to becoming … Read more

I've seen a lot of combination appliances, (which for one reason or the other seem to love to utilize toasters in any way they can) but rarely do I see an appliance that removes an element. However, that is exactly what the BoilingPoint kettle has done: left the cup and threw out the kettle.

The gadget warms up water directly in the cup. A heating element is attached to a plunger mechanism, (sort of like a toaster after all) so no kettle is necessary. Simply fill the cup with water and place it under the element. When the water … Read more