The *Smart* Kitchen Gadgets Gift Guide for the Techie + Foodie in Your Life
If you’ve got a tech-savvy foodie on your gift list (maybe it’s even you), shopping couldn’t be easier this year. There are a slew of cool connected kitchen tools hitting the market, some hot off Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdfunding. If the smartest thing you have in your own kitchen is that LED cocktail shaker you got from last year’s White Elephant party, it’s time to up your kitchen gadget game. We’re talking Jetsons-level tech inventions that do all the work for you. Here are 11 smart home gadgets — from a smart oven that connects to your iPhone to a dream cocktail mixer that’s like a Keurig for booze — that any foodie worth his or her salt (heyo!) wants to be the first to own in 2017.
1. Amazon Dash Button ($5): For the person who wants to avoid running out of essential grocery-list items, Dash Buttons to the rescue. Chances are, there is a WiFi-connected button to match all your most-used products — from Vitamin Water to Peet’s Coffee to Playtex Tampons, there’s an app for that. And at this price, they make a personalized stocking stuffer or unique White Elephant gift.
2. Supermechanical Ember Range Smart Thermometer ($60): Don’t stand there staring into your oven window when you could be mingling with your dinner guests. This colorful smart thermometer will alert you on your iPhone when your roast is cooked to juicy perfection.
3. Amazon HAPIfork Bluetooth-Enabled Smart Fork ($64): This connected cutlery picks up where food tracking apps leave you hanging, because it actually tracks how many mouthfuls of food you eat. There’s a dashboard to help you analyze your food intake. Plus you can set up alerts to warn you when you’re eating too much too fast.
4. Amazon Drop Kitchen Non-Slip Silicone Connected Kitchen Scale ($73): The Drop kitchen scale is a perfect gift for the newby cook, but even experienced chefs will love it. Not only does it make measuring goof-proof, but it will guide you through your fave recipes on your iPhone or iPad, ingredient by ingredient, step by step.
5. Indiegogo SmartPlate ($80): This is for the peeps in your life who are trying to eat healthier, but they’re not into inputting tedious details about their food consumption. SmartPlate uses advanced photo recognition and artificial intelligence to identify, analyze and track everything you eat in seconds and send details to an app on your phone.
6. Amazon Invoxia Triby Smart Speaker ($102): This portable speaker integrates with Amazon Alexa, so you can play music while you’re cooking. But it’s the cool whiteboard feature that makes it extra special. Since the Triby is connected to WiFi, you can send notes to your kitchen from anywhere, reminding you to pick up items from your grocery list or letting your roomies know you’re on your way home with pizza.
7. Pantelligent Smart Pan ($126): Pantelligent made a bluetooth-enabled frying pan that sends alerts to your iPhone when you’re away from the stove. Using their app, you locate a recipe you like, fire up the pan and the app walks you through step by step and alerts you when dinner’s ready.
8. Amazon WeMo Smart Crock Pot Slow Cooker ($130): Slow cooker recipes are SO on trend right now, and this smartphone-connected slow cooker takes it to the next level. Working later than you thought? Grab your smart phone and switch the setting to warmer until you get home. You can change the cooking time, temperature and even on/off while you’re out and about.
9. Target Mr. Coffee Smart Optimal Brew 10 Cup Coffee Maker With WeMo ($150): Connect this coffee maker to WiFi, fire up the phone app, and you’re ready to set your coffeemaker to brew from wherever you are. The app can also send notifications if you forget to refill the water or return the pot to the machine the last time you use it.
10. Kickstarter Somabar ($430): This WiFi-connected cocktail machine is like a boozy Keurig sitting on your kitchen island. Just download the Somabar app, fill the side containers with your favorite alcohol and mixers, then use your phone to place drink orders.
11. June Intelligent Oven ($1,500): Meet June, a smartphone-connected countertop oven that’s ready to toast your bagel, cook your steak (the way you like it) and text you when your blueberry muffins are finished baking. It basically takes the place of all other ovens. If you’ve got one of these on your counter top and a grocery tote full of Trader Joe’s appetizers, you’ve got an instant party.
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