When I was younger I was always a fan of the Jetsons. Technically I knew that the Flinstones was better written and probably funnier, but for me the appeal with the Jetsons was always the future setting. I loved technology even as a child and I loved imagining ways it would improve our lives. One particular aspect of the Jetsons that I really liked though was the imaginative use of technology for everyday tasks. That is the technology that I’m interested in and that will genuinely change the way we live – the kind of thing that makes life that much easier by handling routine jobs for us so that we can get on with the things we enjoy.

Many innovations have already made cooking and maintaining the kitchen much easier and there are many high tech gadgets and smart little ideas that accomplish this. Dishwashers for instance are something I can’t live without – many people still resist the idea of using a dishwasher, but being able to just stack all the dishes and press go makes life so much easier and literally saves you hours a week. And it does a better job than I can too.

Another little gadget I love is my electric can opener. Until recently I actually avoided eating tuna because I hated opening the tins so much and spilling brine everywhere, now though I just clip it on and press go and the can opens up for me. Of course many other people have things that and if you’re very wealthy and tech savvy then you might be laughing at how enamoured I am with a simple can opener – maybe your fridge has automatic stock rotation or you have a robotic vacuum cleaner that is self-operated (the closest we’ll come to Rosey from the Jetsons for a while).

So what’s next? What else might we expect to come along and make life easier in the kitchen? Let’s look at the facts.

The Kitchen of the Future

To accurately predict the future it’s important to think about it from a commercial aspect – what will sell, as well as looking at the past and seeing what’s been popular in the past.

Based on the things that I listed above then we should expect the near future to hold more little gadgets that take care of boring chores for us. How about a dish washer that also dries your crockery for you with hot air? And one that you don’t have to stack but rather can just pile your things into?

Likewise I’m expecting to see countertops that can act as chopping boards, and that clean themselves. You could chop straight on the surface, and then perhaps a jet of air would blow all the peel and crumbs down into a small gutter at the back that would send it for the compost heap. Or how about an automatic potato peeler that actually works?

Something else I’d like to see is a cooker that lets you set the temperature of the food rather than the ring. This would work like the thermostat in your home by sensing the temperature and then adjusting accordingly. This way you’d never burn anything, and it could accurately tell you when the food was cooked. And tell you through your phone wherever you were in the house…

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source
•  License: Creative Commons image source

Janie Jones is a kitchen specialist who in her free time blogs about various all kitchen related issues and how to solve them. In order to get a kitchen renovation done she recommends approaching only well-known and accredited kitchen designing companies specializing in custom kitchens at affordable prices.