Fast forward to 2040 – how will kitchens of the future function, look, feel? This surreal kitchen sculpture outside the Barbicon Art Gallery in London, is part of The Surreal House Exhibition and is called Surrealistika. It has garnered lots of attention, but I’m more interested in hearing about what was said inside at yesterday’s debate hosted by IKEA on the future of kitchens.

IKEA yesterday presented a study commissioned from The Future Laboratory and Jill O’Reilly, head of IKEA Kitchens for IKEA Dublin had this to say,

In this world of the future, the kitchen will be a thoughtful, considerate friend, steering between being the health hub of the home, a cultural and social structure cradling human connection, and a technological yet animate force making life easier, cleaner, sustainable and enjoyable.

Via Irish Examiner

Click through to see innovations in kitchens: a Food Printer and Digital Chef from MIT, a conceptual hydroponic refrigerator from Hyundai and more potential products of the future…

The Future of the Kitchen Study

The study, which surveyed approximately 2650 people in The Repubic of Ireland and the UK about their desires for the future of kitchens found that the study participants desired a change to more concientious rather than conspicuous consumption. The conclusion of the research states,

Scarcity is on the consumer agenda as the major factor driving the depiction of the future kitchen. Water and land scarcity, climate change and urbanisation will make excessive lifestyles extinct not only out of necessity, but a collective outlook on living within means.

Three themes emerged from the study that were highlighted by O’Reilly at the debate held at Barbicon were ‘Back to Nature,’ ‘Smart Kitchens’ and ‘Emotionally Intelligent Kitchens.’

The Nature-Based Kitchen

This theme evolves from the grow-your-own movement and focuses on the production of organic, non-processed, natural foods. Idea of the future? How about this:

Hyundai’s Nano Garden

Nano Garden is a vegetable garden for the apartment kitchen, using hydroponics, so users don’t need to worry about pesticides or fertilizers. Instead of the sunlight, Nano Garden has lighting which promotes the growth of plants. The amount of light, water and nutrient supply is also controllable, so users can decide the growth speed. It lets users know when to provide water or nutrients to the plants, and Nano Garden functions as a natural air purifier, eliminating unpleasant smells.

Via FastcoDesign

Conceptual Vertical Garden

Image credit www.odesign.com.au /Oliver Foster via Guardian.co.uk

The Smart Kitchen

This theme is based on the idea of technology and appliances that use artificial intelligence to inspire and create recipes. Try this on for size:

MIT’s Cornucopia: a Food Printer and More

Cornucopia is a concept design for a personal food factory that brings the versatility of the digital world to the realm of cooking. In essence, it is a three dimensional printer for food, which works by storing, precisely mixing, depositing and cooking layers of ingredients.

Cornucopia’s cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user’s favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate combinations of food. While the deposition takes place, the food is heated or cooled by Cornucopia’s chamber or the heating and cooling tubes located on the printing head. This fabrication process not only allows for the creation of flavors and textures that would be completely unimaginable through other cooking techniques, but it also allows the user to have ultimate control over the origin, quality, nutritional value and taste of every meal.

MIT’s Food Printer

MIT’s Virtuoso Mixer

MIT’s Digital Chef

Via Cornucopia

Emotionally Intelligent Kitchens

This theme came from the idea that rooms will be more ‘tuned in’ to the inhabitants, responding to mood and emotion by changing the lighting and therefore, the ambiance of the room. SmartHome technologies already exist, however this future technology would respond to human emotions rather than being pre-programmed into a computer.

SmartHome Electric Flicker Candles

Via SmartHome

Yesterday’s Kitchen of the Future

See what engineers at GM and Monsanto thought the Kitchens of the Future would be in the 1950’s. See the Frigidaire kitchen from General Motors’ “Design for Dreaming,” a promotional film for the 1956 Motorama and film coverage of the Monsanto “House of the Future.”

What do you want to see in the Kitchens of the future?

Tags: IKEA Ireland, IKEA Kitchens, IKEA UK

This entry was posted on Friday, August 13th, 2010 at 3:40 AM by Susan and is filed under IKEA Related News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.