With 3D printed foods and meals that you just add water to, it’s pretty clear we’ve made it to the future. It’s time to smartify our kitchens and bring them up to date, too. Here are 29 gadgets for the tech-savvy chefs in your life. These kitchen tools are sure to capture any foodie’s heart (and appetite) immediately.
1. Genesis Seltzer Starter Kit ($90): Think of all the possibilities at your fingertips with this sparkling water maker. You could change up the kids’ favorite juices by adding a little bubbly fun to it or entertain guests with fun, fizzy cocktails.
2. Syphon Vacuum Coffee Maker ($85): Upgrade your foodie friends from their Keurigs to a Hario. The Syphon Vacuum Coffee Maker is designed to extract the best coffee flavors from your favorite beans, which will please the biggest coffee lovers.
3. Auto-Measure Spice Carousel ($45): No more fiddling around with the measure cups or digging up the drawers when you’re looking for the itty bitty ¼ teaspoon. Have 12 of your favorite spices to cook with and click the dial that perfectly releases your spices in ¼ teaspoon increments.
4. Digital Measuring Cup ($42): It may look like your typical measuring cup, but this baby is packed with great digital features that’ll have you cooking and baking with ease. It measures liquids and doubles as a scale for weighing meat. When it comes to measuring your milk, water, oil, sugar or flour, all get their own weigh setting. And when it comes to converting units, you can set it to pounds, ounces, grams, cups, fluid ounces and milliliters.
5. Prep Pad ($150): Get the nutritional information for fresh foods that don’t come with labels. The Prep Pad connects wirelessly to your iPad 3, 4, Mini or Air and tells you all the nutrition facts based on your food’s weight, measured by the Prep Pad and shown on the free Countertop app (iOS). The best part is that the Prep Pad can sync with your Jawbone UP so it can track your daily activity and recommend you the best post-workout meals.
6. Electric Salt and Pepper Mills ($40): Don’t you love it when you go to a fancy restaurant and the waiter offers you freshly cracked pepper? Well, these electric salt and pepper mills are a high-tech twist on the original. There are sensors that automatically trigger the built-in blades when you flip them over, and after you flip them back to their upright positions, the blades stop whirling.
7. Plated ($12): This subscription service brings fresh ingredients straight to your door along with gourmet recipes that you can make using exactly all your ingredients. Yup, the ingredients are already packaged in perfect portion sizes according to the recipes provided.
8. Egg Minder ($50): Ever been at the grocery store and wondered, “Do I need more eggs?” Yeah, we’ve totally been there too. With Egg Minder, you can just check your phone via the Wink app to see how many eggs you have left in your Egg Minder tray. The tray also signals you to eat the eggs that are beginning to go bad first.
9. The Smoking Gun ($100): Finally, a way to get that smokey flavor into all types of meats without all the heat.
10. One-Touch Tea Maker ($250): Your tea leaves and tea bags will never be over-soaked in the kettle ever again with the One-Touch Tea Maker. This magical tea kettle lowers the tea basket, dips it in boiling water and raises the tea basket — leaving you with perfect cup of tea.
11. Nomiku Sous Vide ($299): The Nomiku is a sous vide immersion circulator that cooks food at a precise temperature in a water bath. No more overcooked meals.
12. Mellow ($400): While we’re on a sous vide roll, we thought we’d mention Mellow. This smart sous vide allows you to always have perfectly cooked food on the table when you get home from work. Through the Mellow app (iOS and Android), just set the time when you need your food to be done, and you’ll be able to come home to a gourmet meal.
13. Drop-Connected Kitchen Scale ($100): We all have our favorite Food Network stars who we love for making crafting in the kitchen easy. The Drop-Connected Kitchen Scale is your personal Anne Thornton because it will walk you through each step of creating delicious pastries. All you need to do is download their Drop recipes app (iOS) and choose what sweet treats you want to make.
14. PowerPot V ($150): When you’re going camping, this charging pot is a must-have. This pot gathers energy from any heat source and has a USB port so you can use that energy to juice up your phone.
15. Tactical Laser-Guided Pizza Cutter ($15): With this tool, you can tell everyone to call you Cutter — Pizza Cutter. Yup, this pizza cutter is totally 007 status. You’ll get laser-precision cuts so that everyone gets an equal share.
16. Amazon Dash: We all hate that moment when you’re at the grocery store, but the grocery list is not. Amazon Dash is a way to avoid that scenario and even avoid the grocery store altogether. When you run out of something, scan the barcode off that product, and Dash will remember for you. If it doesn’t have a bar code, then just use the voice recorder to say what you ran out of. You can restock all your goodies via Amazon Fresh which brings all your fresh produce to your door. Currently, Dash is free by invitation only.
17. Mr. Coffee 10-Cup Smart Optimal Brew ($150): Have your morning coffee ready for you without getting out of bed. Through the WeMo app, you can set a schedule for those times you know you’re going to need a caffeine fix. You can even change your coffee schedule last minute or turn it off remotely.
18. Range ($70): The Range app (iOS) and thermometer not only let you see the temperature reading on whatever it is you’re cooking, but it also comes with USDA-recommended presets for meat and — our fave — candy!
19. Electric Blue Push Button Corkscrew ($30): Having a glass of wine just got classier. Pop open your favorite bottle with this rechargeable electric bottle opener. It even lights up!
20. GKILO ($123): This block of wood may seem ordinary, but it’s a smart kitchen scale by day and a clock by night. When you want to use the scale, simply put your ingredients on top of it and the hidden LED display will appear through the wood. When you’re done using it, just flip it over and it turns into a clock. The GKILO can connect to other Thingk products like the CLOGK (half clock, half timer) or it can connect to your phone via the Thingk app. On the app, choose the type of food that you placed on your GKILO, it will tell you the amount of time that you need to cook it and it’ll automatically set your CLOGK timer to remind you when your food is all done.
21. Crock-Pot Smart Slow Cooker ($130): Slow cook your meats and veggies to perfection — even when you’re not home. This smart slow cooker is connected to the WeMo App (iOS and Android) so you can monitor your food and adjust temperatures if needed.
22. HAPIfork ($99): Eating too fast can lead to gaining weight or digestive problems. This smart fork slows down your eating to an appropriate speed. The HAPIfork mobile app (iOS and Android) helps you monitor your eating speed. If you end up eating too fast, then the fork will vibrate.
23. Smart Tools for iPad Set ($160): This three-piece set comes with a Bluetooth speaker, a stand and a removable screen protector.
24. Lapka Organic ($79): These beautifully designed blocks have probes that can measure nitrate levels on raw food. If the levels are high, you know your local market isn’t as organic as it says it is.
25. TellSpec ($150): This helpful device originally started out on Indiegogo and immediately took off, raising almost four times their $100k goal. TellSpec is a food scanner that tells you what’s inside the food we eat, such as any hints of pesticides or any tracks of unhealthy levels of certain artificial food coloring chemicals. It’s great for people with dangerous food allergies, because the TellSpec app quickly and easily reveals all the main ingredients that make up the food you scan.
These last few gifts are products that are not on the market yet. They’re currently out on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, but if you find one that is perfect for your BFFFL (Best Foodie Friend for Life) then you could totally make a cute gift card for them so they can pledge for their favorite soon-to-be kitchen companion.
26. B4RM4N ($99): Become a “cocktail hero” with this smart cocktail shaker that helps you make perfectly mixed cocktails every time. No more eyeballing or measuring — the digital display shows a bar that’ll fill all the way up when you’ve poured in the correct amount. There are also a variety of cocktail recipes on the B4RM4N app (iOS). Check out their Kickstarter to see how you can become a “cocktail hero.”
27. Ricewise ($730): Cook your rice in a smart rice cooker. You can skip the steps where you need to measure the rice and water. You don’t even need to wash those grains anymore. Put your rice and water in and input how much rice you want to make. It’s great for parties because it can cook up to 18 cups of rice.
28. MAID ($449): Have your own personal sous chef with the MAID smart oven. This oven doesn’t just bake goods — it comes with a touchscreen that shows you step-by-step instructions of how to bake delicious pastries that’ll have all your friends asking for your secret.
29. Foodini: Alrighty, so we’ve seen this guy give it a go on Kickstarter and not quite reach its pledged mark, but that doesn’t stop Foodini from reappearing like magic. This food-printing 3D printer is still currently unavailable to purchase (for now at least). On their website, you can sign up to be one of the first to find out when the Foodini will be available. We’ve already added it to our next year’s wish list.
Which gadgets immediately went onto your must-have list? Tell us in the comments below!
