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Samsung's built-in smart appliances blend in with your decor
Smart home appliances are all well and good, but they're rarely options if you need or prefer that machinery built-in. What if your oven has to blend in neatly with the kitchen? Samsung wants to help. It's introducing its first-ever built-in smart appliances, all of which tout WiFi-connected features while integrating with your home. They're expensive, but just might fit the bill if conventional equipment simply won't do.
GE's touch-savvy induction cooktops double as griddles and sous vides
If you want to get elaborate with your cooking and try a griddle or a sous vide, you normally need either a dedicated machine or a bulky add-on to get things right. You won't have that hassle with GE's 2015 Cafe, Monogram and Profile cooktops, though. They're already pretty high-tech between their safer induction cooking pads and touch-sensitive controls, but the real stars of the show are their abilities to switch to other cooking methods with little effort. The Cafe and Monogram models have an integrated griddle (the first for induction), and all three can use a $150 smartphone-controlled sous vide accessory (also a first) that lets you get just the right water temperature without having to watch like a hawk. Just be prepared to pony up if you're hoping for the latest in culinary tech. GE's cooktops will start at $1,500 for a 30-inch Profile, and they scale all the way to $3,100 for the 36-inch Monogram.
Thermador Freedom full-surface inductive cooktop oven mitts-on
We'll admit it, cooktops aren't all that sexy as a rule. But Thermodor's Freedom full-surface adaptive induction unit we just happened upon at CES Unveiled this evening certainly takes some steps towards making that almost true. Touting a 6-inch touchscreen that displays the pot's shape and position and enables easy one tap control of each vessel's cooking temperature as well as up to 4600-watt maximum output power. A benefit of this seamless layout is that due to inductive cooking's magic, pots can be reconfigured while cooking without the need to wait for an element to heat up. While we weren't allowed to do any cooking tests, we expect the surface does get hot and can cook food. Thermador's flagship Freedom surface is due to ship in Jul 2012 for an sound about $4949. Hit the gallery for some pretty hot see-thru pics of the inner workings of the Freedom.
