This year the halls of the IHHS 2016 in Chicago were packed with shiny new small appliances of every shape, size, color, and function. These are the products though which really caught our eye as we roamed the show floor.
Within the long halls and vast show floors of the International Home and Housewares Show 2016 were plenty of smart, innovative, and interesting small appliances and home gadgets.
The Coway Airmega is a smart air purifier which also links to smartphones and tablets to provide remote control and monitoring.
Think of the Bartesian as the Keurig for cocktails. The machine will supposedly create alcoholic drinks using special flavoring packs along with spirits you provide.
The makers behind the new $800 Bobsweep PetHair Plus robot vacuum plan to push aside the competition using advanced cleaning algorithms and powerful suction.
Bodum displayed a prototype siphon coffee brewer powered by electricity.
Bodum also showcased a revamped version of its Bistro Pour Over drip coffee maker.
To suppliment the standard thermal carafes of its BV1900 and BV1500 coffee brewers, Bonavita will sell an optional glass carafe accessory.
Pay no attention to that little Lego coffee man, the new glass carafes from Bonavita will also have lids to keep their contents hot.
There was plenty of graphically branded merchandise, too, including these waffle irons sporting Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
Star Wars-bedecked appliances were in full force at the show, too, including this gathering of humidifiers.
Designed to cook pasta or rice, blend, chop, whisk and even walk you through recipes, the $600 Gourmia GKM9000 claims to be quite the smart kitchen multitasker.
Gourmia also had this protoype product on hand at IHHS 2016, a high tech hub that scans grocery items to better track household supplies.
KitchenAid launched a new, smaller version of its iconic stand mixer. Called the Artisan Mini, the appliance is now designed to occupy 25 percent less space than its larger sibling.
In a bold move, KitchenAid also unveiled plans to sell what it describes as the most powerful blender made for home cooks, the KitchenAid 3.5 peak HP Pro Line Series.
The KitchenAid Burr Grinder combined with a Digital Scale Jar accessory help home baristas grind then weigh their coffee at the same time.
The most accurate way to measure coffee is to weigh it, and the most consistent method of grinding beans is to use a burr grinder. The Scale Jar paired with KitchenAid's burr grinder lets you do both.
Built to handle different types of tea leaves at different temperatures, the KitchenAid Glass Tea Kettle has modes for preparing oolong, herbal, black, white or green teas.
The Krups T8 Moka Brew was at the show as well. This design has been around for decades, but it's always a treat to see the machine that uses steam and vapor pressure to make coffee.
We caught up with the new Nespresso Prodigio connected coffee maker, which talks to smartphones and tablets over Bluetooth to make espresso on demand.
This gadget claims to make pizza good enough for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to enjoy.
Sculpted in the clean and efficient design Oxo is known for, the company's latest creation is the $120 Cordless Adjustable Temperature Kettle.
Microwave ovens are so yesterday, at least compared to the new Panasonic Countertop Induction Oven. This prototype has an induction stove on the bottom and infrared broiler up top.
The final shipping version of the $299 PancakeBot was at IHHS 2016.
One of the tasks I gave the PancakeBot was to print my face into a pancake using a digital image.
It may seem low-tech, but the Reduce Cold-1 Cooler is actually quite sophisticated. It's essentially a vacuum-walled bottle koozie that accepts cans as well. The steel Cooler can even be uses as a standard cup.
Another product from Reduce is the 64-ounce Vacuum growler. It also sports vacuum steel walls to keep the heat at bay plus a tight seal to lock in carbonation.
Kitchen appliance outfit 3 Squares showcased its latest gadget, the $200 Pasta Machin3. Just put water, flour, eggs and even veggies into its hopper and the machine takes care of the rest.