KNHR's Top Drawer

Connected Home Appliances at CES 2011

Hey all! Hope you had a terrific Christmas and are looking forward to 2011! Here's the first thing I'm excited about for the new year (aside from testing out all my new kitchenware toys!). I'm heading to International CES next week, and the Connected Home Appliances TechZone is top of my list. It's co-sponsored by the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and Retail Observer magazine. The TechZone will be showing off innovative home appliance technologies, including interactive, energy efficient and Smart Grid enabled appliances. This is the first time home appliances are being shown at CES, and I am looking forward to seeing the future of kitchens. Exhibitors include GE, Kenmore and Reliant Energy.

There's no doubt that technology has integrated its way into every part of our lives, and I'm eager to see how manufacturers are integrating technology and home appliances. When I spoke to Kevin Gilboe at KitchenAid for the May issue of Kitchenware News & Housewares Review, he just talked up the idea of technology integration in the kitchen, and its ability to influence function and design. It's all a matter of time before our kitchens are smarter than us (but hopefully not better a better cook)!

Mealtime Returns Home

When I first started living on my own, I ate out a lot. It was easier than cooking, more fun, and was usually better-tasting and more interesting than my spaghetti (sauce from the jar) or mac and cheese (that blue box). However, I quickly realized that eating out constantly was also a fast way to go broke, and that yes, you do eventually have to pay your credit card bill. So I began to cook at home more, and along the way, learned that I love cooking. As our economy collapsed, and people began tightening their belts, the country as a whole has learned we can’t afford to eat out all the time, and research and trends indicate we’ve discovered the joys of eating at home around our own kitchen tables.

In a survey by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, they found that 65 percent of those surveyed have a sit-down dinner at home at least five times per week and more than half sit down to breakfast at home at least five times per week. People are seeking out recipes and meal ideas, mostly through television shows, magazines and the Internet. Mealtime responsibilities are being divided and shared among family members more, and people are also preparing food in larger batches to save time. Today’s consumer is focused on healthy and efficient ways to prepare meals at home.

I can definitely say that I'm one of these people, and cooking at home has created my obsession with kitchenware. I'm looking for, and I imagine others are too, the tools that will help me create healthier meals, faster meals, etc. Throwing dinner parties has encouraged me to look for more and more serveware, bigger pots and skillets, ways to organize my rapidly growing kitchenware collection. It is one connected cycle, and there are some days, I'd take my at-home, dinner parties with mismatched dishes and folding chairs over any restaurant dining experience. (Some days, because let's face it, I'm not making lobster for 15 people.)

Connect to NuWave

If there’s anything I love about the Internet, it’s probably these two things: 1) it contains the answers to everything and 2) it connects you to friends, family and strangers, near and far. As an avid, but amateur cook, I love to follow a number of foodie bloggers and foodie websites, and these sites have proved immensely useful in finding user-friendly, everyday recipes. That’s why I am totally behind Hearthware Home Products’ new interactive website, NuWave Cooking Club.

According to the press release, the website has recipes, instructional videos, and tips and tricks for the NuWave Pro Infrared Oven. The site will also be interactive, with a community board to encourage users to share their personal recipes, and the Chef’s Challenge section will give consumers the opportunity to ask Hearthware’s Executive Chef Jennifer Epker Dawes to convert favorite conventional oven recipes to the be NuWave Oven-friendly. The website will be available to all NuWave Oven owners. Suggested retail price for the NuWave oven is $149.99 to $169.99.

KNHR Has A New Editor!

Kitchenware News & Housewares Review welcomes Joanne Friedrick as its new editor. Joanne replaces Karen Martin, who is leaving to pursue other interests. She can be reached at joanne_f@oser.com and at 207-780-8656. As you’ll note from the telephone number, Joanne is also based in Portland, Maine. She is a former editor of Gourmet News and has wide-ranging experience as a free-lance writer.

Please join me in welcoming her to Kitchenware News.

Kelly Lewis continues as KNHR’s new associate editor. Kelly joined the magazine staff last month, and her first contribution will appear on the front cover of the January issue. You can reach her at Kelly_l@oser.com and at 520-721-1300.

Publisher Karen Taylor, based in Los Angeles, can still be reached at Karen_t@oser.com and at 323-512-5113.

 

Gourmet Housewares Show Moves To New York In 2011

GLM, LLC, owner of the Gourmet Housewares Show, has announced that the show is moving to New York in January, 2011. No Gourmet Housewares Show will be held in 2010. In January, 2011, the Gourmet Housewares Show will be co-located within the New York International Gift Fair. GLM is hoping that some of the 150 new exhibitors it expects at NYIGF as a result of the move will also exhibit in the fall NYIGF show.