Kitchen table unites people, environment

The Phillips Interactive Kitchen Table brings it all, ehem, to the table.

(Credit: T3 via Born Rich)

For generations, the kitchen was the focal point of any domicile. Friends and family would gather 'round and relax, share tales, perhaps even help out with the cooking.

While the kitchen is certainly still a major destination in any home, it evolved away from social interaction as living room entertainment exploded. Understanding the trend, conceptual kitchens now integrate screens, monitors, and interactive features into their designs. The advancement of technology has certainly made for some interesting concepts, but there is at least one more thing besides community to consider about the kitchen of tomorrow: the environment.

The Green Cuisine kitchen was recently displayed at the Phillips Simplicity Event in Moscow. At the heart of this conceptual kitchen is the Interactive Kitchen Table. Designed as the centerpiece, the table serves as both a cook top and dining table, allowing for an interactive social environment that is also unobtrusively eco-aware. It integrates such features as a Bokashi Composter that produces soil tablets for use in the tabletop garden and a Smart Tap, which instantly provides water at the desired temperature without having to let the faucet run.

Besides the discrete, eco-friendly nature of the table, the most exciting is that it's truly interactive. There are no preset cooking zones. Instead, cooking, and cooling can take place anywhere on the table. A bottle of wine can be placed inside of an individual cooling bucket and shared among guests. The adaptable temperature zones work the other way also, allowing for the cook to pass along pots and pans to truly involve those around the table.

Responsible living is the theme of this arrangement, from both an environmental and social perspective. The design incorporates technology that may seem futuristic, but availability may be only a few years away.

(Via Born Rich)