Kitchen gizmos

While you may not invest in a sous vide or commercial ice-cream machine (who has time to pre-freeze bowls these days?), there are some quirky, high-tech kitchen gadgets that you might like to add to your wish list.

Do you need an indoor, smoke-free marshmallow roaster? Maybe. How about a frying pan with built-in sensors to make sure the temperature is perfect? It’s a game-changer for the home cook. These are a few of our favourite kitchen gizmos.

Launched and fully funded on Kickstarter, the Barisieur coffee and tea-maker alarm clock is an ingenious millennial device for those who need their morning caffeine fix. It promises to ease you into the day by waking you up with the sound of bubbling water and the smell of freshly brewed coffee or loose-leaf tea.

Smarter Coffee is a bit different – you control the machine via an app on your smartphone or tablet. From bean to cup, this clever coffee-maker can even brew 12 cups at once; you just need to choose how coarse your beans should be ground and the strength of your brew. We particularly like the Welcome Home mode, which ensures your kick is ready when you are.

Forgot to take supper out of the freezer… again? If nuking your frozen goods in the microwave or watching them melt away in water isn’t working, this might: the 6 Minute Gentle Thawing Tray will defrost anything quickly – meat nearly 2.5 times faster, in fact – thanks to embedded heat pipes which dissipate cold and draw ambient warmth to the surface.

Meet Somabar, the world’s first app-controlled robot bartender. We’re not all mixologists, but that doesn’t mean we can’t appreciate a well-made martini. Another Kickstarted gadget, Somabar can make over 300 different drinks and works with Soma Pods – they hold the liquor and mixers and can be easily stored in the refrigerator for safe-keeping (and chilling).

From smart fridges that automatically update your shopping list to connected kitchen scales which make following online recipes simple, the smart kitchen is getting smarter, and the art of cooking is no longer a place just for chefs and fine dining.