Awarded at the 2007 Incheon International Design Competition, this innovative kitchen concept dubbed ‘Alight Kitchen’ was designed by Altera Design Studio, as a project whose main focus is dealing with global shortages of clean water, food and resources in general. The kitchen is designed to minimize waste materials, and also make you aware of how much food you eat.

                       

                        
 Here is how it works:

• “Only ready-made food and beverages are consumed in sheet-metal packaging so people will be conscious about what and how much they eat.
• Food and beverages packs will be kept inside the cooling unit of the system. It only allows storage of 3 days’ worth of food.
• A Smart oven warms up the food in groups to minimize how often it’s used. It arranges the ideal time and temperature for the packs by reading their barcodes.
• There are 4 hollow plates located on the main dining table. Each of them can rotate on its center-axis so you can eat on the either side of the plate. The center of the table houses a small flatware station.
• The integrated dishwasher conserves water by filtering and reusing previous wash water.
• All plates are stored underneath in their own compartments.”  via
  

via Yankodesign

Ladies, cooking for your man is wonderful, how about doing it and feeling good about yourself at the same time. Yep! with this new line of sexy aprons from Carolyn’s kitchen your spouse/mate will be yearning for more than just the meal. The Dorothy apron [$38.00] is white with black horizontal and vertical stripes and bright pink accents, with white polka dot straps, it also has a bow, a waistband, and a ruffled pocket.

Also available at Carolyn’s kitchen, (Carolyn’s Kitchen is a designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of retro aprons, vintage inspired kitchen aprons, glamour hostess aprons, sexy aprons, kitchen faux fur gloves, leopard kitchen gloves and sexy romantic gifts) to complete the look is the matching white rubber gloves [$18.00] with pink bows and the beautiful garter [$12.00]

If the Dorothy Apron is not sexy enough for your man, get him the Candy Cane Apron (above). It’s made of less material so its more revealing, comes in red with white polka dots, and just like the Dorothy apron it has a bow, a waistband, and a ruffled pocket. The straps are white with red stripes. The Apron is $38.00 and matching gloves $18.00. Note “Each apron is carefully constructed with 100% cotton fabric and eyelet lace trim. One size fits most.”

This simple, sleek carafe from Eva Solo will fit just right on most refrigerator doors. It’s ideal for liquids like milk and lemonade. (I would use it for cool-aid and mixed drinks). The mouth of the carafe is large enough for ice cubes and a sliced lemon, and it features a flip-flop lid that opens automatically when you pour. The carafe is dishwasher safe and can be fitted with insulating cover to keep the contents cold. The insulating covers are made of neoprene, have a zip for easy removal and are available in five bold colors: black, orange, red, blue and lime.

Also available at Eva solo is this bread bin. It consists of a folded stainless steel bin and a flexible plastic cover. keeps the bread fresh by keeping moisture out. Available in mother pearl, grey, and black.

 

 

A couple things make up a special dining experience, like beautiful settings and good smell. Now add touch to the list. This porcelain dishes will give you that warm and fuzzy feeling like a box from the jeweler would. You can comfortably hold the bowl without feeling the extreme temperatures of whatever is inside.

uncommongoods

If you are a parent tired of always buying ice cream bowls, these color-rimmed bowls won’t shatter if dropped. Yeah…. they are unbreakable and ideal for birthdays and picnics. Made of polycarbonate, they won’t chip, fade, cloud-up like ordinary bowls, they last long and are top-rack dishwasher safe. Available on-line at Frontgate. (Price $20 for a set of four).

Outblush

Ten days left! Whether you’re looking for the last stocking-stuffers or haven’t even begun your gift list shopping, bloggers and ThisNexters are generous with their recommendations on kitchen gadgets, tools and other goodies.

Straight outta the Wine Country, Jack and Joanna of Fork & Bottle have a comprehensive list of their recommended kitchen gadgets and gifts. This shiny copper kettle caught our eye, not just for its gorgeous luster, but because it actually boils water faster on gas ranges than standard kettles. And who could’t stand to save a buck or two on their gas bill these days?

If you wanna look sharp as a gift-giver, then give something sharp. The inimitable Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini has not one, not two but three expansive gift guides. Among the products she just loves is one near and dear to our hearts, a mandoline. If you’ve never used one before, you’ll be amazed how quickly and efficiently you can slice things to perfect thinness. But mind your knuckles, and always use the guide!

Everyone needs good knives, whether they know it or not. Eddie Caraeff’s list of things he can’t cook without includes the mightiest knife of all, the Henckels Chinese Cleaver. Now that’s a knife.

...continued: Last-minute Gift Guide: Kitchen Fixin's

If I had the cash, I would buy this refrigerator for Kristopher Dukes to house her soy milk and vintage fur…

Born Rich discovered a new swarovski embedded refrigerator designed by Korean painter Seung-rim Ha for LG Electronics’ Art home product line. According to this article, LG plans to continue this beautiful product line with washing machines, air conditioners (could you DIE?) and other household appliances, as well as future collaborations,

The Art home appliance is the first product developed collaboratively with world renowned artists to be mass produced in Korea. LG has invested more than $30 million in this project that brings together digital appliances and art. LG plans to introduce its next masterpiece developed with Young Se Kim, who is the hottest industrial designer in Korea and CEO of Inno Design. More aesthetic appliances are on the drawing board.

“Design is part of LG’s overall philosophy for creating better products for our customers,” said president and CEO of LG Electronics Digital Appliance Company Young Ha Lee.

Lovely. 

 

Kristine (user name: grenadefishing) from GrenadeFishing.com & diamondites.com has started a major kitchen over-haul just like she said she would…read her Q&A…and she’ll tell you that “I am about to start a full-scale kitchen remodel… So here’s the list, if you really want to know. Wolfe range, Wolf stainless steel oven, Wolf heater oven, Samsung refrigerator, all-custom cabinetry, industrial strength hardware, metal accordion in/out door, and industrial polyethelene floor coating.”

To follow her improvements, check out her list “Kitchen Make-Over” which is filling up quickly with details on all the modern appliances she’s adding to what I can only surmise will be the coolest kitchen ever.

Another list full of sleek, modern and creative home finds by Kristine is “me like. me want. me have.” which features this awesome garbage bin available at UnicaHome.  Like Kristine says ” I have difficulty accepting the fact that my trash can is the best looking item in the room.”

She’s on to something there.  That is one good-looking garbage bin. 

For anyone else gearing up to re-do that kitchen, or if you’re just adding on to your someday wish-list - Kitchen Make-Over is a great growing list with a bit of feng shui philosophy.  Says Kristine of her Wolf Gas Cooktop, “According to feng shui philosophy, the fire is one of the most important elements of the home. It signifies abundance. The stove should be the one item not under budget scrutiny.”

Once again we have a food blogging meme that’s a shopcast in the making. The exceedingly prolific Cate from Sweetnicks wanted to know just what kitchen tool food bloggers everywhere simply could not live without. Food bloggers love their tools, and now we have a comprehensive shopping list to punch into turn into a super shopcast, with everything from microplane graters to ice cream scoops to food processors to Kitchenaid stand mixers, not to mention a selection of knives and the all-important oven mitts to go with those dual ovens we all wish we had.

Le sigh … I thought I was all stocked up, and now there’s a whole new universe of things I didn’t even know I needed. That is, until Cate and her cadre showed me the way. 

 “I would like to see a world where permaculture, green building, energy-efficiency, gardening, eco-groovy crafting, art, thrifting, environmental sustainability, and social justice are normal, everyday stuff,” says mimulus of Greenjewls.  “I want a world where healthy children can grow up to inherit a healthy planet.” And sustainability often means finding the perfect piece of equipment, investing in it, and even celebrating it…like the Aeternum Ellipse Pressure Cooker. 

“In the beginning I used it rarely,” she says, “scared off by mom’ s horror stories of exploding bean pots and terrified of the hiss. But the last few years it has become one of my favorite kitchen tools.  With the ohsawa pot and pressure cooker you can have great brown rice in 20 minutes…a few more minutes for steam fluffing, and presoaked beans take 10-15 minutes. Cooking with these tools vastly reduces the amount of natural gas/and or electricity needed to cook food. Pressure cooking helps to tenderize cheap cuts of meat and cuts down on the amount of time in the kitchen.”   As good as all this is, Greenjewls wishes there was an even cheaper way to go, but “unfortunately I have never seen a good pressure cooker at the thrift. This is definitely one tool that is worth the splurge.”

Check out Ganda of Eat, Drink, One Woman’s running series of interviews called You Are What You Eat. Ganda profiles real-world people on what’s in their fridge, where they like to eat out, what their last meal on earth would be … but perhaps most significantly, she asks about a favorite kitchen item. Take, for example, Marysella Castillo’s pick, a Kitchenaid garlic press.

Ganda understands that what you shop for speaks volumes about who you are. We think we sense a kindred spirit here.  

And this is why we love the web.

…because at 5:00 in the afternoon you can check in on one of your favorite blogs and discover the
Coolest. Cutting Board. EVER.

 

Kensal & Gretal Chopping Board via Print & Pattern 

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a thousand times: Better products make for better living. Even the humble citruc juicer can be improved upon, and Elise at Simply Recipes’ Krups model is a very evolved gadget indeed. The motor is pressure-activated and auto-reversing, and it can hold up to four cups of fresh-squeezed juice. So, Elise, when are we coming over for mimosas?

Lock and load, ladies. Like Meg at Megnut, we’ve tried our share of pepper grinders over the years. So we’re very curious about this snazzy device, the Peppergun. The one-handed action come sin convenient when you’ve got one mitt all covered in raw meat or other unsavory goo. It conveniently also comes in white, for coarse salt. Now that’s better living through better products, no doubt about it.

It happens even to the best of us. You’re happily cooking along, everything seems to be going just fine, and then somehow, something goes horribly, terribly awry. What happened?

Remember that in Chinese the words for “crisis” and “opportunity” use the same characters. Kitchen F#!% Ups is where one experienced food blogger can post the things she’s less than proud of, to help others learn from her errors. And learn we shall.

We like to have fun in the kitchen, so we are enamored with these snappy, punny kitchen linens from Wearable Vegetables. We love the bright colors and cute (if slightly corny) snarkisms emblazoned on tea towels, aprons, napkins and all manner of other things. A perfect gift for the jokester chef in anyone’s life.

Sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands. Handmade pasta is one of life’s sublime pleasures, and when it’s made with your own two mitts, your guests can taste the love. Barbara at You Gonna Eat All That? broke out her Atlas pasta maker to whip up some tender  linguini. Sure, you could invest in the mechanized version yourself, but we think the hand-crank version does wonders for the pasta’s texture and your handshake.

If you’re going to be serious about cooking, you need some serious equipment. Daniela at Never Trust a Culinary Student opens the kimono to show us her professional kit — knives, tongs, whisks and all. Not sure you need to invest in ten pounds of culinary gear? Well, that just depends how much you love your own tools, doesn’t it…

We know that, sometimes, there’s no improving on a classic. Take for example these Indian flour sievers. Different gauge screens allow you to control the fineness of the sift, and there are no moving parts to throw flour all over the kitchen. (No doubt you still have one of those old models, perhaps inherited from your mother.)

We love blogs that connect the dots between product and culture, and Mahanandi fits the bill. 

The combination of the terms “fat-free” and “vegan” might cause many to curl their lip and slowly step backwards away. But a visit to Fatfree Vegan Kitchen will demonstrate that the absence of added fats or animal product does not necessarily mean the absence of flavor. With tempting recipes for a fabulous fava bean dip (pictured) or a colorful Turkish tomato salad, you may not notice what’s missing for enjoyment of what’s there.