Fund this: Meld turns your stove into a smart appliance
Meet the world's first "smartknob," an app-powered temperature control designed to improve your cooking.
The "smart" stove is not a new concept, but most of the efforts to date have centered around firing up the oven at a set time so your casserole is ready when you walk in the door.
This one's a little different. Meld is a smart knob designed to fit your existing stove and adjust burner cooking temperatures automatically. It's a Kickstarter project that's currently a little better than halfway to its $50,000 funding goal.
The Meld actually consists of three components: the knob itself, which "fits virtually all stoves," according to the developer; the Meld Clip, a temperature gauge that attaches to nearly any pot you own; and the Meld app, which is used to automatically adjust burner temps based on whatever you're cooking.
The system won't help with everything, of course, but it's designed to make all-important temperature changes during simmering, slow cooking, sous-vide cooking, poaching, frying and candy-making. (Any candy maker will tell you how crucial it is for heating to stay consistent.)
The app, which will run on Android and iOS, monitors both the knob and the clip, and comes with several hundred Meld-friendly recipes. You can also add your own, and of course you can manually control the knob as well. This could prove helpful when you know you need a specific cooking temperature (as opposed to, say, "medium high," which can vary dramatically from one burner to another).
Meld has just three reward levels, and there's only one left that gives you the actual product: $129 for the Meld Knob and Clip. Delivery is scheduled for October, after which the system is expected to retail for $149.
OK, chefs: What do you think? Would something like the Meld prove an asset to your kitchen? Or are you perfectly capable of turning knobs on your own?