A few years back, I had the opportunity to give a presentation at the National Kitchen and Bath Association’s annual meeting in Chicago. Ever since that time, I have continued to scan the emerging world of technology looking for new ways RFID technology, sensors, advanced materials, robotics, and nanotechnology will transform our living spaces.
To this end, late last month The Economist ran an insightful article entitled ”Downstairs Upstairs: Women Have Not Escaped the Kitchen; It has Come After Them.” If you are at all interested in the field, I’d encourage you to give it a read because it does an excellent job of explaining how the kitchen has changed over time.
Two aspects of the article, in particular, caught my attention. The first was a quote from an article in a magazine from 1919 in which the author had the audacity to poise this radical question: “Suppose our servants didn’t live us?” It is hard to recall now but in 1919 even many middle class families had household servants. (In fact they made up 25% of the overall workforce in the United States.) Of course, as we now know with the benefit of hindsight, this future came about much quicker than most people would have imagined due to the amazing progress made during that era in the field of household appliances.
Let me now put a new twist on the above scenario. It is possible that in the future robotics will become kitchen appliances? It might sound a little far-fetched but, remember, in 1919 the idea that household servants would soon disappear also sounded far-fetched.
If, however, one tracks the exponential progress in the field of robotics, it is easy to envision how kitchens might soon utilize the devices. Why just earlier today the New York Times reported that hospitals are now using robots to mix up chemotherapy drugs. If we can trust robots to mix our drugs, why can’t we trust them with our cocktails and our cake batter? (Recall that it was only last fall that researchers in Japan demonstrated a robot capable of pouring tea and clearing away the dishes.)
The second prediction that struck was the idea that the kitchen of the future will soon become more utilitarian due to the fact that more men are now sharing the responsibility to make meals.
I know this trend to be true from first-hand experience, but I’d encourage people to go a little further. I’ve written extensively on aging demographics in the past and one thing we will likely see more of in the future is inter-generational households—that is kids, parent and grandparents living together under the same roof.
If true, the kitchen will need to respond to each occupant’s unique needs. Without wanting to stereotype people too much, men might want more audio-visual equipment in the kitchen; grandparents could want a better sense of where everything is; and kids may want access to a computer to do their homework. What’s the one technology that can tie all of these different needs together? In two words: flexible electronics.
I envision the kitchen of the future looking quite familiar to today’s but behind the facade will be multi-touch flexible electronic screens that can just as easily pull up a recipe as they can record a TV show or access the Internet.
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Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is also the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
