Kitchen Design
Why Your Kitchen Wants Its Own iPad
Cooking-school gateway, recipe database, foodie networking ... an iPad in the kitchen has uses far beyond being a message center
The Apple iPad is the fastest-growing consumer electronics device in history. But what's it for? Where do you use it?
As a hard-core iPad fan since day one and a certifiable foodie, I can tell you that the kitchen is the single best place to use an iPad. Sure, you can bring your iPad into the kitchen. But you really should buy your kitchen its very own.
Don’t think of it as a needless expense; think of it as the cheapest possible way to transform your kitchen into the futuristic smart kitchen of tomorrow. For less than $600, you can give your kitchen abilities that even the most optimistic futurists never dreamed of. It's a wonderful time to be a gadget-happy foodie.
As a hard-core iPad fan since day one and a certifiable foodie, I can tell you that the kitchen is the single best place to use an iPad. Sure, you can bring your iPad into the kitchen. But you really should buy your kitchen its very own.
Don’t think of it as a needless expense; think of it as the cheapest possible way to transform your kitchen into the futuristic smart kitchen of tomorrow. For less than $600, you can give your kitchen abilities that even the most optimistic futurists never dreamed of. It's a wonderful time to be a gadget-happy foodie.
The kitchen as culinary proving ground. The foodie revolution is bringing people into the kitchen to learn how to make food from scratch. And some of the best instruction is video. YouTube and, of all things, Google+, are revolutionizing how we learn to cook.
Search for any cooking instruction on YouTube and you’re likely to find it. How do you make asparagus soufflé? That knowledge is always just a YouTube search away.
A lesser-known option is full-fledged live, interactive cooking schools on Google+. That service offers a video chat service called “Hangouts,” which enable up to 10 people to chat at the same time. Some chefs are using the services to teach live cooking classes, with all the students cooking along in their own kitchens. One example is ChefHangout.com.
When you’re learning to cook, it’s best to have an iPad mounted near eye level somewhere, rather than taking up precious countertop space.
Search for any cooking instruction on YouTube and you’re likely to find it. How do you make asparagus soufflé? That knowledge is always just a YouTube search away.
A lesser-known option is full-fledged live, interactive cooking schools on Google+. That service offers a video chat service called “Hangouts,” which enable up to 10 people to chat at the same time. Some chefs are using the services to teach live cooking classes, with all the students cooking along in their own kitchens. One example is ChefHangout.com.
When you’re learning to cook, it’s best to have an iPad mounted near eye level somewhere, rather than taking up precious countertop space.
Fridge Pad
The App Store also offers thousands of kitchen-specific apps, which give you measurement conversions, kitchen timers, recipe organizers and more.
And there is incredible foodie content like Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything,” Martha Stewart’s “Everyday Food” and even an Epicurious app with 28,000 recipes.
The kitchen as home entertainment center. Kitchen activity isn’t just fun stuff like cooking. It also involves boring stuff like cleaning. An iPad mounted in the kitchen can bring you live television, news, podcasts, social networking, videoconferencing and more to inform and entertain you as you scrub the sink. You can even scan the Houzz iPad app to get ideas for home design.
It’s also for catching up on the news, weather and email in the morning while you’re getting ready for work. And nothing could be better for food-related social networking that an iPad-equipped kitchen. Take pictures of your creations and share them on Facebook, Instagram or Path. Monitor your social stream. Hang out on Google+.
How to install an iPad in the kitchen. There are dozens of options available for easy and affordable mounting or placement of your iPad in the kitchen. Here are a few:
And there is incredible foodie content like Mark Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything,” Martha Stewart’s “Everyday Food” and even an Epicurious app with 28,000 recipes.
The kitchen as home entertainment center. Kitchen activity isn’t just fun stuff like cooking. It also involves boring stuff like cleaning. An iPad mounted in the kitchen can bring you live television, news, podcasts, social networking, videoconferencing and more to inform and entertain you as you scrub the sink. You can even scan the Houzz iPad app to get ideas for home design.
It’s also for catching up on the news, weather and email in the morning while you’re getting ready for work. And nothing could be better for food-related social networking that an iPad-equipped kitchen. Take pictures of your creations and share them on Facebook, Instagram or Path. Monitor your social stream. Hang out on Google+.
How to install an iPad in the kitchen. There are dozens of options available for easy and affordable mounting or placement of your iPad in the kitchen. Here are a few:
- Woodford Design makes a $50 magnetic mount for placing your iPad on a metal refrigerator.
- A very inexpensive solution is the Original Kitchen iPad Rack, which is an innovative system with an acrylic rack that’s mounted under the cabinet and easily stowed.
- Belkin makes a range of mounting solutions for the kitchen, including a $40 Fridge Mount, a $50 Cabinet Mount and even a $40 Chef Stand, complete with stylus.
The kitchen is the one room in the house where every family member is likely to find themselves every day. So it’s very common to use the refrigerator door as a message center, art gallery and reference library. What’s on your fridge door right now?
There’s nothing paper and magnets can do that the iPad can’t do much better. Digital photos can display in a revolving slideshow. The iPad can photograph finger-painted words or anything else for the picture gallery.
Notes and notifications are easily shared. The iPad supports pen input, and styli of every description are available. (Plus, a finger works fine too.) Best of all, apps like Penultimate will let you write notes to family members and email them at the same time.
You can even use the iPad, plus an iPhone, as a kind of baby monitor to watch the kids while you’re in the kitchen. There are many apps available that do this, but a free set called Camera-A for the iPad and Camera-B for the iPhone let you set up an instant video monitor. Having an iPad in the kitchen makes it that much easier.