It connects, simplifies, collects and exchanges data, managing it for us and with us. This is the technology presented this year at the Salone del Mobile.Milano 2024 at EuroCucina / FTK, Technology For the Kitchen. In the kitchen, technology meets design to create pure innovation capable of simplifying, improving and innovating not only the preparation of food, but also the room itself, which can be experienced as a place of pleasure rather than a service space. Technology integration marks the turning point, and design acts as a mediator. Because, after all, this is what designers have been doing for almost 200 years, since the first industrial revolution. They seek and seek to understand technology, to tame it and transform it into innovation, to bring it back to the world in practical and exciting ways and forms. In the kitchen and, above all, in household appliances, design gets the best of itself by designing technology. It does so by adding functionality where none existed.
The innovations presented at this 62nd edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano follow two main directions. The theme of AI is central, being present in the event’s products and booths, combined with the increasingly intelligent connections between appliances, along with the theme of technology used to simplify and improve work and our lives.
Artificial intelligence and intelligent objects
In the recent past, objects were only connected; today, moreover, they are becoming smarter. We are only at the beginning of what we may discover in the coming years, when the development of artificial intelligence will reach such heights as to substantially change our habits. Today, we are witnessing a learning phase; companies are using machine learning algorithms to collect data on the habits of those using systems in which artificial intelligence is present.
At its large EuroCucina / FTK booth, Technology For the Kitchen, Samsung presents an entire ecosystem of today’s smart and connected devices through its secure Knox platform. On this basis, it has created the Bespoke AI system, a series of household appliances, including ovens, washing machines, refrigerators and dishwashers, capable of understanding our habits and helping us in the kitchen and with household chores. This series includes the new Bespoke Dual Cook vapor series 7, an oven equipped with a camera and an artificial intelligence algorithm capable of recognizing the dishes entered and recommending cooking times and methods. In addition, the oven comes equipped with internal web-connected sensors. It can send notifications to the user in case of problems or changes in the preparation of the dishes. The Family Hub Plus refrigerator is equally intelligent, able to understand the opening and closing habits of its users and to set up energy-saving programs. And, being equipped with a camera, it records incoming and outgoing food, reporting expiration dates and recipes for food consumption. The Anyplace AI worktop belongs to the same line, which has a seamless surface capable of continuing to cook dishes wherever a frying pan is placed on its surface. In addition, it is equipped with a tablet screen, so you can control cooking in the oven, watch a TV series, read recipes and listen to music from its speakers.
Tubes Radiatori also speaks through AI. At its booth, designed by the Palomba-Serafini studio, it installed a video work created by Alessandro Gomiero, who used AI algorithms to make it. The work fuses technology and design from the world of Tubes radiators, playing with shapes and creativity.
Technology that simplifies
Technological development is here for a reason, clearly to simplify our work and our lives. Here’s how companies and designers exploit it for this purpose.
For this edition of EuroCucina/FTK, Miele brings the best of its offer to a space of 900 m2 and presents a series of novelties. One of them is Laundry Aerium, an innovative walk-in closet that sanitizes and eliminates odors from clothes.
Whirlpool uses sensors and inserts the Food Sensing Probe into its new WCollection oven. It is a probe capable of monitoring the cooking of foods, mixtures and liquid bases such as cake or lasagna, and solid foods such as meat, fish and much more.
LG Electronics takes advantage of technology-mediated personalization, and this year introduces LG InstaView with MoodUP, a refrigerator that can change color. The refrigerator door has a large display that can change color via the LG ThinQ app. And if that’s not enough, the refrigerator can change its mood to the rhythm of the music playing through its built-in speakers. Just knock on the door, without opening the fridge, and InstaView technology uses a built-in camera to show you what’s inside. No more wasted energy.
Haier presents its ovens with Bionicook technology, equipped with a camera that recognizes food, advises recipes and allows remote cooking control with the hOn app.
Bora takes its cooktops with integrated extraction system to the extreme with M Pure, a plate equipped with a “bridge” function that allows you to extend the cooking surface for large pots and pans.
Elica focuses on the miniaturization of technology to present Lhov, an appliance containing hob, oven and extractor hood. A unique combination in the market that clarifies the company’s new positioning.
Caimi Brevetti’s latest product, the Oversized lux panel equipped with air purification technology, speaks of technology at the service of well-being. In keeping with the company’s tradition, a sound-absorbing panel is equipped with an LED light source, which allows the dissipated heat to create an upward flow of air passing through an anodized silver ion filter. Integrated technology at the service of people’s well-being.
It’s not just digital technology that Nobili Rubinetterie adds to its new Sorgente faucet. A kitchen mixer in four different alternatives: Filtra, Bolle, Frizza and Frizza & Bolle. The first version of Sorgente filters the water, the second automatically heats it to 90°, thus saving time and energy. As if that were not enough, Frizza allows you to obtain sparkling water directly from the blender, and thanks to the built-in app you can choose the desired degree of carbonation and keep the components under control.
