What if a smart blender could suggest the perfect smoothie after a great workout?
Given the rise in smart home popularity, it was only a matter of time before your kitchen would actually be able to make meal recommendations and then walk you through the preparation process. Particularly for those lacking the Emeril Lagasse or Gordon Ramsay culinary gene, this comes as great news.
Developed by Orange Chef, who some may recall from their 2013 breakthrough Prep Pad scale, Countertop is a connected-kitchen gadget not only capable of offering up nutritious food suggestions but assisting cook those items as well. With it, users can even know exactly what they ate and drank during the day.
Aesthetically, the accessory essentially combines a traditional cutting board and kitchen scale with next-gen technologies. The device consists of a Bluetooth LE-embedded base that can weigh and track ingredients, along with an accompanying iOS app that dishes out step-by-step instructions and monitors nutritional intake.
What really sets the Countertop apart is its ability to recognize existing kitchenware, such as Vitamix blenders and Crock-Pot slow cookers. In other words, a user won’t need to replace an entire appliance, but simply retrofit them with dedicated Countertop adaptors. The location-aware gadget is also capable of recognizing how much of something is being added and adjusts the recipe accordingly — all in real-time. Meaning, even the worst cook can’t mess up a meal.
Beyond that, Countertop syncs with fitness trackers like Jawbone’s UP and Apple Health, and uses the data from workouts, activity and sleep patterns to serve up personalized meal and snack recommendations. Once a meal is suggested, a user can either swipe-left to see additional options or swipe-right to select a meal. Countertop learns meal likes and dislikes based on user selections, and as the app learns, it gets smarter and the meal recommendations become more precise. Since it can pair with wrist-adorned wearable devices, this also frees up a home chef’s hands.
And for those wondering, yes, it is dishwasher safe. Countertop is currently available for pre-order in the U.S. with shipment expected to begin later this year.
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