Sharp has been one of the biggest names in home appliances for decades now, especially when it comes to microwave ovens, but they’ve never offered a complete matching kitchen suite until now. The New Jersey-based brand has just announced a new range of smart built-in kitchen appliances that look sharper than ever (pun fully intended).

Designed as a seamless solution for consumers, the suite includes SuperSteam ovens, induction cooktops, wall ovens, a slide-in range, microwave drawers and over-the-range microwave ovens, dishwashers, and refrigerators. That means you can basically have an entire kitchen full of matching high-tech appliances at the click of a button.

Like most of Sharp’s contemporary pieces, these ones will have black edge-to-edge glass and the ability to hide their controls behind a panel for a minimalist look. The company’s goal appears to be to appeal directly to interior designers, architects, and discerning homeowners who want both top quality and sleek modern looks for new kitchens and renovations.

Unveiled at this year’s Nationwide Primetime Show in New Orleans, Louisiana, the line appears clean and simple on the surface, but includes new features like connection to the Internet of Things (IoT).

“This line of kitchen appliances is rooted in Sharp’s rich heritage in cooking,” says Jim Sanduski, President of the Sharp Electronics Marketing Company of America. “We’ve taken our experience in the kitchen and created the recipe for a brand-new, end-to-end kitchen solution that is both technologically advanced and beautiful.”

“The entire team at Sharp Home is committed to delivering on our promise to service the dreams and desires of the home cook, and the introduction of our first-ever kitchen suite is another step in our commitment to Simply Better Living,” adds Peter Weedfald, the company’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

“Our revolutionary new products, such as the IoT-enabled SuperSteam+ Built-In Oven and IoT Microwave Drawer, are simple to use and help create great-tasting meals for modern, fast-paced families pursuing a healthier lifestyle.”

You’re not alone if you’re wondering why in the world you’d want your microwave to be connected to the internet, and Sharp has yet to release all of the details behind these new appliances. But generally speaking, smart microwaves are supposed to give you a new level of control over the cooking and reheating process, helping you target exact temperatures and control everything from other rooms via your smartphone. Some smart cooking appliances can even identify exactly what you’re cooking and switch to the appropriate settings automatically.

Sharp says its 24-inch IoT SuperSteam+ Built-In Oven and 24” IoT Microwave Drawer Built-In Oven will allow easy integration into new or existing smart home systems, and other features include “easy wave open” for quick, touch-free opening.

Weedfald also notes that the smart appliances will go hand-in-hand with an app powered by SideChef that lets you browse for a recipe and send instructions directly to your oven, which is pretty cool, especially for people who aren’t the most experienced home cooks.

The new Sharp appliance series is set to launch in 2020, so be sure to stay tuned for more information.

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Simply put, to dominate the smart home market.

Amazon is not a construction company, yet in 2018 it invested in Plant Prefab: a startup focused on building custom homes. More specifically, the company uses automation to expedite assembly, lower costs, and produce less waste. They are the first modular home factory in the U.S. to assemble sustainable homes. Thus far, most of their structures have gone towards urban infill projects with small, uniquely shaped plots of land.

Not only is Amazon not a construction company, but it also doesn’t specialize in interior design — which is why it tapped Jonathan Adler to help create Now House. Even though Adler already has stores set up around the world, partnering with Amazon will undoubtedly add a boost to his current reach. In return, Amazon gets to add another arm to its own reach.

2018 also saw Amazon infiltrating the home on a much smaller scale, starting with the creation of the AmazonBasics Microwave. A fully Alexa-integrated appliance, the microwave defrosts and cooks meals in response to voice commands, allowing us all to warm our TV dinners without missing a second of our favorite shows.

Then there’s the Amazon Smart Plug, which automatically syncs with one’s Echo whenever a product is plugged into it. Like the other dozen or so home products that Amazon has recently pushed, this plug may or may not be successful. After all, even the biggest and most popular companies miss from time to time.

You’ve probably noticed that all of these new collaborations and products fit pretty well into Amazon’s existing infrastructure. Although several companies have been rolling out smart home devices for over 10 years now, none of those companies has ever possessed am autonomous system that they could leverage to make their particular products more impactful — nor has any of them held a competition that allowed them to receive data on hundreds of cities across North America. Today, Amazon has all of that. They have the technology and the reach to go deeper into our homes our lives than any tech company before them.

In a way, we should have seen this coming once the Echo entered our homes. If you could ask it to turn the lights off, then why not ask the same of the microwave and DVR? Amazon wants your whole home to operate by voice command. If you don’t have a home, Amazon can now deliver that to you, too.

The post Why Amazon is Starting to Invest in Our Homes first appeared on Dornob.

The post Speedy Microwave Espresso Maker is Surprisingly Sophisticated first appeared on Dornob.

It was only a matter of time until someone found a way to bypass that over-priced coffee house process, right? Well, it all depends on whether the taste and texture stand up to the test.

Piamo claims it does, and that they have created a hold-in-your-hand device that makes complex high-quality drinks in just thirty seconds – an amazing feat if true.

Add the ingredients, stack and flip the device, pop it in the microwave, and your machine does the rest. Best of all, it is small enough to take with you to the office or while traveling so you are never far from your next brew.

The post Hand-Held Coffee Shop: 30-Second Microwave Espresso first appeared on Dornob.

For various reasons, microwaves have long existed as additive appliances placed into (rather than constructed as part of) home kitchens. They’re often bulky, sometimes requiring the purchase of a cart or other piece of furniture just to support them — which isn’t exactly ideal in a space-challenged compact kitchen. This interesting microwave in a drawer concept aims to change all of that, with a built-in solution that addresses aesthetic as well as functional issues.

Slotted alongside your other kitchen drawers, the space-saving Innowave unit by Anoush Mortazavi uses an existing commercial-kitchen innovation – the aluminum mode stirrer – to replace the typical rotating-plate approach to complete and even cooking of microwaved food (making it more like an oven than conventional microwave, and really, more functional as well.)

This slide-out compact microwave features a magnetic sensor in the handle to turn itself off automatically, should someone come along and accidentally open it while it is working. Finishing touches include hollow stainless steel structure, lightweight removable side shelves and slots as well as an exterior touch screen control panel and digital display (for viewing even when the device is in use).

While no single aspect is implausible, the finished product might take some time (and certainly some money) to make into a ready-to-manufacture fixture of modern households … and a lingering question remains: how do you begin to standardize the sizes so they fit below most (or many) kitchen counter tops? Maybe if this unusual kitchen appliance caught on, and demand started to rise, kitchen cabinet manufacturers would design their products around its inclusion.

Here’s what designer Anoush Mortazavi has to say about his slide-out microwave design:

“The major project of my undergraduate degree, this wad exhibited at Sheffield Hallam University’s Creative Spark degree show and the New Designers exhibition in Islington.”

“Innowave is a high quality, contemporary microwave oven with superior efficiency, designed for space-saving kitchens to either slide retrospectively into an existing standard sized drawer cavity or to be fitted into a new / refurbished kitchen, thereby freeing up the work surface for other tasks. It brings value to microwave cooking, so that it may be seen on the same or a higher pedestal as other fundamental kitchen appliances.”

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