Currently wrapping up a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, the Shelfy sort of looks like a misplaced Apple device. It’s a minimalist white pod that you tuck onto one of your refrigerator shelves to let it do its magic. Taking up less space than a gallon of milk, the Shelfy extends shelf life up to 12 days, reduces bad odors by 80 percent, and results in up to 10 times less bacterial load inside the refrigerator.

To use it, you just select the mode you want (eco, standard, or boost); place it in the fridge wherever it fits best, including in a drawer or door; and reap the benefits. Shelfy’s makers claim the device can keep some vegetables like zucchini good for as long as 22 days, and extend the lives of fast-rotting foods like strawberries by up to a week.

Food waste is a major contributor to environmental crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, requiring tons of resources and land to grow food that people don’t end up eating (and emitting methane gases when it rots). A single family spends an average of almost $2,000 a year on food that they end up throwing away. Shelfy cites studies that show one out of every two refrigerators has an above-average proliferation of mold and bacteria, contributing to the problem.

The Shelfy uses an advanced ceramic filter, a silent fan, and a battery to take in air inside the refrigerator through mechanical ventilation, passing it through a photocatalytic filter that destroys pollutants. After a while, it’ll notify you that it’s time to remove the filter and wash it under running water, or charge it via a USB-C plug. You can control it with the Vitesy Hub app and connect it to Amazon Alexa and Google Home via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The Shelfy also monitors your refrigerator’s energy consumption based on how many times you open the door.

The designers explain that they “conducted research at CSI SpA – FPM Laboratory (Food Packaging Materials), an Italian and European technological hub with a team of about 400 experts including engineers, physicists, chemists,and microbiologists who have made quality, safety, and sustainability the backbone of their professional role. They’re recognized as a center of excellence, especially for companies in the food, packaging, construction, and automotive sectors, in which every day, for more than 25 years, they have been working to enhance quality companies and protect the market.”

“Shelfy uses an innovative and sustainable nanomaterial-based photocatalytic technology since the filter doesn’t need to be replaced, just washed under running water. Photocatalysis is a safe chemical reaction that absorbs air pollutants and turns them into harmless elements. The use of this technology guarantees safety, better performance, and less consumption. In this way, we make Vitesy technology sustainable and effective.”

If you missed the Shelfy’s Kickstarter campaign, you’ll be able to pick one up soon for the retail price of €169 (about $175).

The post Fight Food Waste in Your Fridge with the Shelfy Smart Purifier first appeared on Dornob.

Meade, who’s best known for painting directly onto the human body, chose to splash her panels with textural brushstrokes in a gorgeous shade of cobalt blue.

Vittoria, an artist and a poet whose pieces are often inspired by femininity and the female form, created a graphic work of art in which voluptuous curves cascade across the panels.

Illustrator and designer Brown wanted her panels to bring the relaxed feeling of being on vacation into the kitchen. Her colorful design is complete with a sunset, a rowboat, and turquoise water.

The panels can be mixed and matched with Samsung Bespoke’s portfolio of panel colors and finishes so you can truly design the fridge of your dreams. Pair Meade’s blue brushstrokes with dark blue and white for a more subdued effect, or contrast it with an unexpected pop of bright contrasting color. Vittoria’s design pulls right from Samsung’s available colors, so it’s easy to get a beautifully complementary effect. You can punch up Brown’s bright scene with clementine orange, yellow sunrise, or emerald green, or make it moodier with navy, charcoal, and morning blue.

“Lowe’s is the No. 1 home appliance retailer, and our customers know they can trust us to deliver on quality and innovation. But we also know they’re looking for the total home style package, with products that don’t just offer performance, but style and personal expression, too,” says Jen Wilson, Lowe’s Senior Vice President of Enterprise Brand and Marketing. “Through this collaboration with Samsung, a trusted leader in innovation, we’re thrilled to be bringing these one-of-a-kind panels to customers who are not only looking to upgrade their appliances, but are also craving a unique way to express their personal style through art.”

“Samsung’s Bespoke appliances embrace emerging home customization trends that express personality and style using bold colors, new materials, and artful designs,” adds Gary So, Vice President or Marketing and Digital Appliances at Samsung Electronics America. “Lowe’s limited-edition Bespoke refrigerator panels inspire more ways for consumers to personalize their living spaces and show off their style like never before.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISwK9Y2pXk&feature=youtu.be

The Lowes x Samsung Bespoke Artists Series can be seen on display at select Lowe’s stores, and the entire line can be ordered and customized online as part of Lowe’s House of Style. Each panel is sold separately and can be switched with the other Bespoke panels. These artist panels will only be available for a limited time, but you can shop the whole Samsung Bespoke series as part of Lowe’s regular selection.

The post Samsung Partners with Lowe’s to Offer Exclusive Artist-Designed Custom Refrigerators first appeared on Dornob.

This sleek table is packed full of helpful lifestyle hacks. Not only is its main drawer a refrigerator with an adjustable temperature range from 37 to 54 degrees Fahrenheit and lots space for ice-cold beverages, but it also has dual Bluetooth speakers on each side that can connect to your TV or smartphone. LED lights mounted underneath allow users to set the mood in a variety of flashy colors. It also has two USB charging ports and four standard electrical outlets on the side for charging laptops or other devices.

All of these cool features are controlled by a touchscreen panel on the table’s righthand corner. The panel can also change the volume and playback of music or show and customize the array of LED colors.

The Sobro coffee table has two additional drawers for remotes and other handy entertainment items. Its top is a tempered glass plate that allows light to reflect from all around the room, while the minimalist-style base comes in white, black, or wood finishes.

Setup is designed to be plug-and-play. Users simply have to screw in the table’s feet and connect the cold-drawer cord.

This coffee table revolution all started with an Indigogo campaign back in 2017 that raised over $1.6 million. Following that success, the New York-based company launched a second campaign for a Sobro Smart Side Table that garnered over $2 million and “broke crowdfunding records.”

The inspiration for the design came from observing today’s rapid pace of technological transformation. “Technology has changed over the past 20 years. These days we’re looking for quick solutions to solve our problems and ways to simplify our lives. This got us thinking, while everything around us has advanced, why hasn’t furniture? This is why we designed the Sobro coffee table: furniture reinvented for your modern lifestyle,” explains an official promo video.

“The Sobro team works from the ground up to develop innovative solutions for contemporary home life,” the company website says. “Every Sobro design starts by asking how we can improve and streamline the connected home. From there, we spend months tuning and refining the features of each product so it’s perfect.”

The tricked-out party table went viral on TikTok last December during the height of the pandemic when @ritzypabla posted a video showing off her ultramodern drink and snack space, racking up an impressive 2.1 million views. it makes sense that consumers in lockdown would be enthralled with a piece of furniture that promised to make life at home a little more fun.

The Sobro Coffee Table and Side Table are available in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. In the U.S., fans can find them from retailers like Amazon, Target, and Wayfair. The MSRP is $1,499 for the coffee table and $899.99 for the side table, but most sites offer frequent deals for a few hundred less.

The post Chill Out with Sobro’s Smart Coffee Table first appeared on Dornob.

Spacious Island

Many kitchens, especially in older homes, just don’t have enough counter space. And let’s be honest — it’s hard to devote a lot of time and energy to healthy home cooking when you feel cramped. If possible, add a central island, even if it’s just a compact butcher block surface on wheels that gets tucked away when not in use. Get some inspiration for small spaces at Apartment Therapy.

Convenient Chopping Station

Healthy cooking requires a lot of fruit and vegetable chopping. Make this process as easy and convenient as possible by setting up a chopping station with a large cutting board, sharp knives within reach, and your trash and compost bins as close by as possible.

Water Filter

Easy access to fresh, great-tasting water makes it a lot easier to stick to your daily hydration goals. If your fridge doesn’t have a built-in water dispenser, consider adding a built-in filter to your faucet or using a filtering pitcher.

Healthy Items at Eye Level

On your counter or open shelving, arrange healthy food items right where you’ll see them every day. That might include fresh potted herbs, produce in bowls or baskets, and dry staples like brown rice, beans, quinoa, and nuts in clear jars. That way, you’ll feel inspired by these ingredients every time you enter your kitchen. (Image via Eat This, Not That)

Plenty of Storage Space

Adequate storage is essential to a functional kitchen, both to keep the counters clear and ready for use and to hide away less-healthy items you might otherwise find too tempting. Whether it’s the kids’ snacks or your cookie baking supplies, these items are best kept in a high cabinet so they’re not the first things you see when you go looking for a snack or a meal idea.

Lots of Room in the Refrigerator

It’s hard to eat healthy when you don’t have enough space to store fresh foods, especially greens and other items that need to be tucked into a drawer to stay crisp. If a large refrigerator fits your kitchen and your budget, great. If not, see if you can clear out some unnecessary condiments and add extra produce-saver bins, like this set of stackable containers from Amazon.

Magnetic Whiteboard or Chalkboard

Even the most die-hard health nuts occasionally let food go bad in the fridge. To stay on top of what needs to be eaten ASAP and inspire ideas for healthy recipes, keep an inventory of the most perishable foods in your fridge written on a whiteboard or chalkboard, either on or beside the fridge. This is also a great place to write your grocery list and have family members write their own meal requests. A big magnetic dry-erase whiteboard sheet is fast, easy, and cheap. (Image via No Ordinary Homestead)

A Bright, Open Feeling

You might have to get creative in smaller kitchens or rentals, but natural light (or a good facsimile) and connection with the spaces where your family hangs out can be a big motivator to spend more time cooking. Consider switching out any heavy curtains or opaque blinds with lighter, sheerer materials that let lots of light into the room. Eliminate obstacles between the kitchen and living rooms if you can, too, or at least tuck some bar stools under the island or a small table in the corner so you can chat with a loved one while you work.

Little Extras That Make You Happy

Think about what might make you want to linger in your kitchen a little longer. A bluetooth speaker, so you can play music or podcasts while you cook? An under-cabinet iPad mount? There’s no shame in a kitchen TV, either, if that’s what works for you. Similarly, if standing for long periods is hard for you, an anti-fatigue floor mat will go a long way toward making you more comfortable.

Main image via Nenad Stojkovic/Flickr Creative Commons

The post 9 Easy Kitchen Design Tweaks That Inspire Healthy Habits first appeared on Dornob.

When your entire house measures a mere 200 square feet or less, there’s usually no room for an abundance of normal-sized appliances. If you’re thinking about making the jump to living tiny, you’ll want to start by considering which items you can’t live without — and how you’ll slot them all into your floor plan.

Most tiny house residents find a few basic appliances to be absolute essentials: a water heater, a cooktop, a refrigerator, and a heater or air conditioner. Whether you decide to add on an oven, freezer, washing machine, clothes dryer, microwave, generator, electric ventilation system, and/or various additional kitchen gadgets is up to you.

Your setup will also vary depending on whether you plan to be grid-connected at all times, fully off-grid, or somewhere in between. For flexibility, many people choose appliances that are capable of running on propane or DC power as well as AC power.

Sized just right for tiny homes and versatile enough for most applications, these five essential appliances are a great way to jump-start your shopping list:

Atwood 3-Burner Cooktop

Drop-in gas cooktops are affordable, attractive, and easy to use, and you can find them in both two and four-burner models. This one from Atwood, measuring just 16 by 20 inches, runs on propane and doesn’t require connection to power for ignition — just use a lighter or a match. If you really need an oven, too, similar models include one without taking up too much more precious space.

SMETA 3-Way Refrigerator

Available in sizes ranging from 2.1 cubic feet to 9.4 cubic feet, this off-grid refrigerator can be hooked up to grid power, run on a solar panel system, or connected to a propane tank. The larger models include a freezer, and while they’re still not full-sized fridges, they hold a lot for their size. Dometic is one of the best-known brands producing refrigerators like these, but many tiny home residents say the lower-priced SMETA is just as good.

Mirage Ventus 12,000 BTU Ductless Mini-Split

Diminutive wood or propane-powered marine stoves are a popular choice for heating tiny houses, and they can offer a lot of cozy ambiance, to boot. But a more versatile option, if you have the electricity to spare, is an energy-efficient ductless mini-split air conditioner and heater combo. The condenser can be mounted to the tongue of your tiny house trailer while the indoor unit is mounted to an interior wall, high up out of the way. Models like this one from Mirage make temperature control easy throughout the year and use a lot less power than a conventional A/C unit.

Camplux Tankless Propane Water Heater

On-demand hot water is a beautiful thing. This tankless, space-saving unit by Camplux runs on propane, offers a digital temperature display, and puts out 2.64 gallons per minute. While a lot of similar compact propane water heaters must be used outdoors for safety, this one comes with a horizontal venting pipe, exhaust fan, and safe electronic ignition system. Even better, it actually doesn’t look half bad hanging on the wall.

LG Compact Washer/Dryer Combo

Few people have time to wash their clothes by hand these days, and laundromats aren’t so fun either. If you really want the ability to do laundry in your tiny home, a combo washer/dryer is the way to go. LG’s 2.3-cubic-foot model gives you almost the same capacity and all the same functions you’d get from standard washers and dryers in a single package measuring 24” x 33 1/2” x 25 1/4”. Is it a bit of a luxury in a tiny house? Yeah, but it’s worth it.

Top image via New Frontier Tiny Homes

The post 5 Appliances You Need in a Tiny Home first appeared on Dornob.

While their newest innovations include two ground-breaking refrigerator models, a revolutionary induction stove, a stackable cube cooling system for multiple rooms in your house, and an incredible shoe storage system, the real star of Samsung’s newest line this year was the futuristic Family Hub.

Family Relations Made Easy

John Herrington, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Home Appliances for Samsung Electronics America, was brimming with pride and enthusiasm as he introduced the 2020 Family Hub to the CES crowd. “In the five years since we launched Family Hub, we have introduced innovations that reflect the new ways that busy, modern families are managing their daily lives,” he said. “The latest Family Hub is the most innovative yet, with more personalized, intelligent features that enable busy families to stay better connected to one another.”

Indeed, the 2020 Family Hub not only simplifies meal planning and grocery shopping, it also includes communication features that enable family members to share events, interests, and milestones from remote locations. No one misses a thing, regardless of whether they’re out of town or just stuck in traffic and unable to be home in time for dinner.

The Family Hub Refrigerator

AI-improved cameras inside this smart refrigerator scan what you have on hand, plan meals around those ingredients, and provide smart recipes based on a set of dietary guidelines you customize. It can plan meals for up to a week and prepare a shopping list of food items you need to replenish. In addition, Whisk, an AI invention recently attained by Samsung NEXT, adjusts recipes based on how many people are on your guest list, compiling a shopping list with items that can be used in multiple recipes.

Family Affairs

Besides making meal planning and shopping easier than ever, Samsung’s new “Family Board” display allows every member of the family to share audio and video favorites from their personal devices on a virtual bulletin board.

Safety and security are huge concerns for most families, and Family Board also lets any family member observe and have power over more than 1,000 SmartThings-compatible products throughout the house. Inside and outside lights can be turned on or off, the inside of any room in the house can be monitored, and you can even remotely adjust the temperature of any room.

More Life-Enhancing Appliances

Samsung continued to wow at CES with more a couple more home systems that make life better and easier. The BESPOKE refrigerator is not only customizable to meet your practical needs and aesthetic tastes, it also boasts a “Flex Zone,” which is easily adaptable to chill or freeze, depending on your needs. The unique new Cube Refrigerator series includes three mini-refrigerators in multiple colors made to store Wine, Beer, and Beauty Products. They can be stacked or stowed anywhere in any room and are so quiet you can have one next to your bed with no sleep interruption.

The Portable Slim Double Induction system lets you prepare meals anywhere in the house. The two induction burners have nine different settings and can be used separately for smaller pots or as one large cooking surface for grills or oversized pans.

Samsung’s Shoe Care System pampers those pricey shoes of yours so they last longer, feel fresh, and always look brand new. It also deodorizes, dehumidifies, and dries whatever types of shoes the members of your family might wear.

The post Samsung Debuts Pioneering Lifestyle Home Appliances at CES 2020 first appeared on Dornob.

Refrigerators have been an increasingly centralized component of the kitchen for decades now. Offering more than a cool space, refrigerator design has changed dramatically over the years, making room for gallon jugs of milk while adding temperature-controlled meat and vegetable drawers into the mix. But the most recent advances go well beyond condiment holders in the doors or built-in water filtration systems.

Today’s refrigerators have entered the realm of smart appliances, and today they’re quickly reaching kitchen assistant status, with the ability to inventory the contents inside and even make dinner recommendations based on the food you already have.

The Casarte IoT refrigerator does all of this and functions as a family health consultant. After providing your taste preferences and dietary restrictions, the fridge will automatically compose a weekly nutritional meal plan and customize recipes for you and your family. Shopping and cooking are streamlined with insightful information about the contents of your refrigerator available around the clock.

For example, you can manage ingredients through the refrigerator’s large front screen. When ingredients are about to expire, your fridge will let you know so you can consume or remove them to avoid waste and spoiled food.

The technology is based on the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which basically means that the refrigerator is equipped with smart technology that allows it to connect with the internet, internal programs, software, and networks in order to exchange data. This human-free system makes the refrigerator more responsive to the needs of the user than any other model currently on the market.

The IoT concept has a variety of applications, and refrigerators are just the beginning, with the Haier Smart Home program dedicated to offering smart services in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and balcony. Haier wants to use the technology to provide users with conveniences and solutions covering clothing, food, housing, and entertainment.

According to the company’s official website, the Casarte brand is set for continued innovation well into the future, with the goal of eventually providing luxury products aimed at improving the user experience. The company explains that: “Casarte is an international premium brand fashioned after Italian elegance, and its core product lines include artistic consumer electric appliances and integrated kitchenware.”

The brand name “Casarte” is derived from the Italian words “la casa,” which stands for “home”, and “arte” meaning “Art.” Casarte is thus a combination of both words: “art of home.”

The CES Innovation Awards is an annual competition at the show that honors outstanding design and engineering in consumer technology products. Judges recognize honorees in a number of categories and highlight the top-rated products in each. The selected products are judged on specific criteria attached to each category, including engineering design, usability, aesthetic appeal, and uniqueness or innovation.

In addition, the products entered in the competition must be available for sale to the public in U.S. retail outlets or online between April 1, 2019, and April 1, 2020. Entrants must have a product sample available for judging and complete an application, pay an entry fee, and provide photos.

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GE Kitchen Shift

This design concept sees a “shift” in the kitchen to suit the needs of all cooks. With countertops that raise and lower automatically, the kitchen easily accommodates people of all heights, including kids and chefs with walking disabilities. Even the upper cabinets in this system slide down for easy access.

Sepura Automatic Composting System

Composting is nothing new, but Sepura makes the process a lot easier and less messy. Replacing the traditional garbage disposal, Sepura cuts down on food waste with a two-part unit that sits below your kitchen sink. The upper portion diverts liquids as they head down the drain, while the lower portion collects solid foods. The system also provides an alert when the food bin is full so it can be taken to your backyard compost or streetside bin.

Smart Fridges

No CES would be complete without a display of the new advances in refrigerator technology, most of which center around convenience. While Bosch showed off their two-camera system, LG promoted its InstaView clear front door. Several companies now incorporate inventory management, too, creating alerts and automatically reordering foods as needed. Samsung even premiered software that will suggest recipes based on what’s currently in your fridge. It’s safe to say the marriage between smart tech and refrigerators is here to stay.

PantryOn Food Inventory Control

Speaking of inventory management, PantryOn keeps an eye on your pantry inventory to keep you stocked at all times. By installing the app, you’ll always know if the kids took that last box of cereal or if you’re out of flour. It’s a bit of a luxury, of course, but that doesn’t make the technology any less interesting.

Julia the Assistant Chef

An all-on-one product by CookingPal, Julia can weigh your food, chop, steam, knead, and perform many other functions. The blending component even works as a self-cleaning mechanism at the end of the meal. Julia also comes with a separate tablet screen that allows you to control your smart appliances, find and adapt recipes, use voice commands, and monitor your meal through a central hub.

Simplehuman Voice Activated Trash Can

Sometimes the best ideas are the simple ones. Anyone who’s attempted to throw something away with greasy fingers understands the struggle of traditional garbage receptacles. Although the convenience will cost you $200, the Simplehuman 58L sensor can opens with an easy wave of your hand or voice command.

GE Kitchen Hub

Everyone knows that the kitchen is the hub of the household, and now GE is launching a smart system to help cement that status. The Kitchen Hub mounts above the cooktop and features a built-in microwave and exhaust fan. It also allows you to look up recipes, monitor ingredients, turn the oven up or down, play music, identify when the meat is cooked to the proper temperature, and even connect a camera to your meal to share with others.

The post Our Favorite Kitchen Appliances from CES 2020 first appeared on Dornob.

The question is whether it’s a coffee table, refrigerator, smart home hub, or a charging station. The answer is yes. Coosno is an all-in-one piece of living room furniture that will entertain guests, provide refreshments, and listen when you talk.

Refrigerator

Sleek and modern by every definition, the Coosno hides a big surprise inside. With a simple voice command or the push of a button, the upper portion of the coffee table lifts to reveal a built-in refrigerator section, whose rounded interior can fit a wide assortment of beverages and snacks. Even better, the table’s Lazy Susan-style design allows you to rotate the selection within to deliver your drink to you without having to get up and walk around it.

As a matter of fact, a coffee table with a built-in fridge just might keep you from having to get up at all. Especially one that holds up to 68 cans of beer.

Stereo System

You can also connect your favorite Spotify playlist to Coosno via Bluetooth and hear your tunes through an impressive six-speaker system. Plus, the tempered-glass tabletop lights up to the beat for an eye-catching club-like vibe.

LED Tabletop

The Coosno app actually controls all types of lighting effects to create the ambiance of your choosing. Colored LED lights can be set to flash, ripple, or remain solid or slow moving. You decide. Just open the app and drag the settings to fit your mood. The app also controls the refrigerator, so you can turn the temperature up or down from anywhere in the house.

Charging Station

There’s no need to fuss with wall chargers and charging cords any longer. Coosno has a built-in charging chip that keeps your phone or computer at full power whenever its placed on one of the tabletop’s two charging stations. Of course, there are also outlets tucked inside the table for your additional electrical needs.

Voice Control

Coosno connects to Google Home so it’s always ready to recite a cocktail recipe, share the weather, or give you a sports update. It can even solve the debate you’re having with your friends by running a quick internet search for you.

Along with the Google Home features, Coosno is also ready to listen whenever you tell it to open or close the fridge or turn up the music.

Storage

Like any good piece of furniture, the Coosno also offers some storage in the form of a pull-out drawer located below the refrigerator section. The drawer is compartmentalized for easy organization, too, so you can decide whether it’s the best place for the remote, the dog treats, or your cocktail straws.

Coosno is currently trending on Indiegogo, with a campaign that’s open until the third week in August. It’s currently in the prototype phase, but the company hopes to move into production with the funds raised from the campaign. The final product is expected to be available in two sizes and two color options with a ship date of February 2020.

The Coosno Home is 19.7 inches and can be used as a coffee table or small office assistant and snack bar. The Coosno Bar measures 27.6 inches. Both models come complete with no assembly required. Simply plug them in and set up the app to get the party started.

The post Coosno: The Smart Coffee Table That Does It All first appeared on Dornob.

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Their two newest artistic expressions come to life in the form of “RISE” and “NOIR,” collections that pride themselves on strength, beauty, and a seductive sense of darkness.

RISE to the Occasion

The slogan for “RISE” reads: “Seize the kitchen, seize the throne.” These bold words do a perfect job of encapsulating the passion and drive that the company has for their designs. They also embody the designs themselves, whose presence is almost impossible to miss.

Take a stand with your refrigerator and feel the impeccable chill of your freezer by utilizing free-standing or columnal pieces. Alternatively, you might prefer an under-the-counter or built-in unit. Boasting obsidian interiors, custom Italian leather front panels, three precision sensors, and smart home integration, none of these pieces come cheap, ranging in price between $6,000 and $7,000. Even so, they work hard to keep food as fresh as it can possibly be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ3Y76XRWn8

The collection also consists of several pieces that can be used enhance smaller spaces. Breathtaking woks, cooktops, and griddles have all been created with minimal impact to your workstation in mind. If all that piques your interest, then you’ll love the collection’s Hush-technology dishwashers, spacious but secretive trash compactors, stylish ventilation systems, and boundary-pushing microwaves, any of which is sure to beautify your kitchen as soon as you bring it home.

Kitchen NOIR

The perfect intersection of sensuality and geometry, JennAir’s “NOIR” collection allows appliances to stand in “stark contrast” to the average kitchen interior, appealing to the provocateur in us and providing a form of entertainment in and of itself.

From dual-flame gas ranges with precision-drilled burners to ultramodern built-in coffee systems, NOIR revolves around an unruly, unmatchable material palette of sleek obsidian and anodized brass. The “Burlesque” interiors of the column refrigerators in this collection boast dark red leather and slick glass and chrome fixtures, all of them designed with sharp angles and clean lines in mind. At $30,000 per pair, these columns are unquestionably items of both grandeur and fantastical visual stimulation. Their details, such as the lace patterns on the outer handles, are said to inspire, allure, and beckon intrigue, while the seamless, crisp surfaces facilitate practical utilization.

Jon Hall, the company’s Marketing Director, says of the collection: “NOIR embodies our brand mission as we abandon stale standards and false influences of how luxury is supposed to look, feel, and act. Moving toward unexpected and individualized expressions, we welcome consumers to experience the freedom that comes with building a space that’s uniquely theirs. Beginning by making the kitchen a place to dwell in and dream about, NOIR leads the luxury kitchen appliance industry forward on a fearless, uncharted path.”

The post JennAir’s New RISE and NOIR Collections are Keeping Appliance Design Fresh first appeared on Dornob.

Sink this spaceship-like prefab pod into your yard and you’ll have an instant electricity-free refrigerator that can keep foods fresh and chill your wine thanks to insulation from the soil. ‘Ground fridge’ by Floris Schoonderbeek for Dutch brand Weltevree is based on traditional root cellar designs. Bury it just three feet deep, and it’ll stay between 50 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit year-round, the ideal temperature for most produce, wines and cheeses.

The whole thing weights 661 pounds and measures about 7.5 feet in diameter, and boasts an aesthetically pleasing arrangement of curving wooden shelves. There’s no permit required to install it, and you pack the soil displaced by the unit on top to create a little hill from which the door will emerge.

The storage capacity is equal to that of about 20 standard refrigerators, up to 1100 pounds of food or the bounty of a 2,690-square-foot garden. Crafted from laminated polyester, it’s strong enough to resist the intrusion of tree roots and other plants, as well as pests.

“The transition to a self-providing food chain showed me the loss of storage facilities,” says the designer. “I set out to solve this in a sustainable and comfortable way. The Groundfridge is a combination of old and proven techniques in a present-day application.”

The post Subterranean Fridge Pod: Keep Food Cold Without Electricity first appeared on Dornob.

For a very long time, the only “space saving” solutions for kitchens were pint-size dishwashers and itty-bitty stoves. What if your space is so limited that you don’t have a dedicated room for cooking and food storage at all? The Tower Kitchen by famed French designer Philippe Starck packs everything you would normally put in a kitchen into two tall columns that take up a mere square meter of floor space each.

In one tower, the heat: oven, steam oven, and optional microwave oven. In the other tower, the cold: the fridge and freezer. Additional components like a dishwasher and extra storage space can easily be integrated where needed or desired.

Three sides of each space-saving modular kitchen tower are closed off with sleek wood-grain doors that hide the components inside. On the fourth side, the surface is covered with a chalkboard or a mirror, providing a functional space to leave notes or fix your outfit before important company arrives.

Because these all-in-one kitchen towers boast a beautiful, sophisticated exterior, you won’t be embarrassed to have them sitting out in a combined living/sleeping/dining/studying area. Moreover, they can be placed in the middle of a room rather than in a special corner, unlike traditional refrigerators.

For those with truly limited home space who do not have the luxury of distinct food prep/dining areas, the matching “Trumpet Table” does double duty as a food preparation island and dining table. Taking up a minimum of space but containing a stovetop, sink, countertop, dining table and storage area, the table is the perfect complement to the multi-sided spinning towers.

“Philippe Starck refers to his ‘towers’ as the secret ingredient of his design combinations. This is where kitchen design is turned completely on its head by reducing it to just two towers and a functional table. The ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ tower units have a footprint of just 95 x 95 cm each and a height of 2.3 m. They rotate through 340°and constantly change the way the room looks depending on whether a chalk board, a wine rack or a flat screen television is integrated into the rear wall. The hot and cold appliances are integrated behind the tall unit doors. Next to them is additional storage space comprising specially designed shelves, crockery racks and food storage.”

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Think of all of the activities revolving around this single kitchen appliance – cooking, eating, drinking, then finding things to reheat and eat later, then shopping for fresh food to replenish it. ?What if your fridge did all of that for you?

This clever all-in-one digital refrigerator design from Ocado proposes to take the mystery out of your meals, suggesting recipes based on what ingredients it contains and even placing orders for new foods when something is running low.?Moreover, and perhaps more importantly for people with particularly busy lives, it keeps track of dates, watching for what is soon to expire to reduce waste and save money. Oh, and it cleans itself, too.

Right, but how does it work? It has built-in product scanners inside that help identify what is in stock and how aged a given ingredient may be . The internal computer is hooked into (you guessed it) the Ocado supermarket chain, letting it know what you are lacking (and what you like). Whether the digital system can beat your secret family recipes is another question, though. As with many concepts, it may be a while before we start seeing these on the appliance store shelves. Also, while users may be beguiled with touch screens and the like, it is hard to say whether people will be prepared to let a large corporate chain know their daily dietary habits.

Not everyone thinks it’s terribly brilliant. Over at The Guardian, columnist Susie Steiner opines (in a piece entitled “Smart fridge? Idiot fridge, more like”):

“Truth is, no one wants to communicate with their fridge. No one wants the obligation of keeping their fridge informed unless they’re seriously short on inter-personal relationships. You want to open your fridge to get the milk, preferably while chatting to someone else or listening to the radio. You don’t want to scan its barcode or let it know that you’re thinking about cooking with smoked haddock next Tuesday.”

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It is this kind of truly remarkable invention can (and did) get a student designer like Emily Cummins an invitation to visit with the Queen of England. It looks like an unassuming mixed-material cylinder, but conceals the astonishing ability to transform rays from the sun into vital food-chilling air … a simple but world-changing technology. This solar-powered fridge design is so simple, but so cool. Literally.

Refrigeration is a tough technology to make mobile, let alone solar-powered and suitable for the developed and developing nations of the world alike. A few years, now, since its creation, and already this little fridge has changed the lives of thousands of rural Africans who have heretofore relied on less convenient, cheap and healthy methods for keeping edible commodities fresh and safe.

Better than the best cold basement, this device is capable of keeping milk and meat cool for days in most climates – not quite as long in serious desert conditions. Not yet, anyway. A new model is already in the works to carry both food and medical supplies). This is not an entirely new concept – locals have been doing this in various countries for ages, but in low-tech, less-efficient and less-effective ways.

The outer shell of the device can be made with whatever materials may be handy (including wood or plastic), while the inner drum is crafted from metal. Soaking the layer between both cylinders with water (dirty works just as well as clean, since the inner unit is sealed) begins and evaporative cooling process that keeps the contents cold as long as it remains wet. Beyond making for a neat piece of camping gear, it can help preserve food for people in places without electricity all over the globe.

About Emily Cummins

“My design philosophy involves a back-to-basics approach which keeps an eye on the past as well as the future and combines the best of both. I’m motivated by human need as well as sustainability principles. My creative thinking has, amazingly, led to a string of commendations including being named as one of the Top Ten Outstanding Young People in the World 2010, The Barclays Woman of the Year Award 2009 and Cosmopolitan magazine’s Ultimate Save-the-Planet Pioneer 2008.”

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