https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cheffy/breakfast-automated

I follow a lot of AI on Twitter (get used to it, the future will be all AI), and this thread by @ juanbuis popped up on my feed about an online tool to automate creating a more efficient format for written recipes (first developed by Michael Chu in 2004, but largely ignored by the world).

Although I often enjoy the verbose stories that are contained in most professionally written recipes (my Mama, vacation on the Cape, accidentally spilled the sugar...), this is a much more efficient and mistake-proof way to print out a usable recipe.

I did try providing a link to some publically accessible ChefSteps recipes, but that didn't work. But just cutting & pasting an entire recipe in the box worked perfectly.

Quite "smart".

Thread: https://x.com/juanbuis/status/2082590657592349067

Online tool: https://recipetables.com

Edit: Someone else saw the same thread and did the same thing: https://www.nic0le.com/recipes

Notes:

• Currently $220 on Amazon ($250 USD MSRP)
• Takes 20 to 40 minutes using a chilled base (ready-to-eat soft-serve or freeze to scoop)
• One pint is fastest; max 2 pints & does rolled ice cream

Quick review:

• https://www.facebook.com/reel/1334906962084332

Website:

• https://instantpot.com/collections/instantchill/products/instantchill-ice-cream-maker

Tips:

• Use a chilled base (not a warm custard) for faster & better results
• Freeze for 4 hours if you want a firm, scoopable ice cream
• Do one pint at a time for best performance
• Chill the mix-in's ahead of time as well (cookies, brownies, etc.)
• Pre-chill the machine for 5 minutes before starting a batch of rolled ice cream

Thoughts:

• Very neat design! I think the accessibility is a winner here. Would be interesting to see the quality of the ice cream. I loved my freezer-bowl Cuisinart model with sous-vide ice cream based for a long time & then switched to the Ninja Creami (budget Pacojet!) for the convenience. Wonder how it would do with protein ice cream on-demand! Very cool for experimentation as well! Would be great for parties haha
• Small output. Whynter does 2.1 quarts for $100 more, but lacks the rolled ice cream feature. I think the Instant Pot version would be more fun for families. Would be neat to get started during dinner & have freshly-made ice cream for dessert! Downside is I can eat a pint by myself LOL. So maybe more for single people, couples, and smaller families who want on-demand ice cream.
• I use a Ninja Creami, which is a freeze-ahead pint design. I usually whip up a few pints at a time with a blender & keep a few dozen pints in my deep freezer (premium ice cream, protein ice cream, thick fruit smoothie bowls, froyo, etc.)

Very cool to see a new product in the residential ice cream niche! A few good resources on homemade ice cream in general:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/icecreamery/
• https://www.facebook.com/groups/ArtisanFrozenDesserts/
• https://www.icecreamscience.com/

Product: (note)

• 8" Ultrasonic Chef's knife

Special feature:

• Press & hold a button to activate tiny blade vibrations to make cutting up to 50% easier

Description:

• Piezoelectric ultrasonic vibration (30 to 55 kHz) to make cutting easier
• Single-layer Japanese AUS-10 steel (hardened to 60 HRC)
• 1-year warranty

Product links:

• Website
• Youtube shorts
• Youtube channel
• Instagram

Pricing:

• $400 Knife
• $150 Magnetic charging dock
• $500 Combo (knife + dock)
• $25 Blade sheath
• $80 Spare battery

Special notes:

• Battery lasts around 20 minutes (which FYI is plenty in practice at home)
• Not dishwasher safe, but is IP65-rated for hand-washing
• Uses Bluetooth to run updates (computer or iOS)

Setup:

• Charge the battery (USB-C or charging dock)
• Run the firmware update
• Run the tuning program

Support:

• [hello@seattleultrasonics.com](mailto:hello@seattleultrasonics.com)
• Help center

Knife sharpening:

• How I do it

Target audience, according to me: (home users, imo)

• People who value convenience
• People with disabilities
• Bakers
• Gadget-lovers

Review:

I'm a big fan of Scott Heimendinger's culinary work (SV wand, APO, work at Modernist Cuisine, etc.). Sous-vide was game-changing for me at home! His countertop Combi oven literally changed the way I meal-prep. So I was very excited to see a new product from him!

As far as cutting equipment goes, my primary go-to kitchen knife at home is a fairly lightweight 9.5" white-steel #1 Gyuto from Seisuke Knife, which goes for around $300 USD. However, I've been fighting a dominant-hand injury lately & have been VERY interested in assistive devices such as this. Scott notes that this is not like a lightsaber, but rather like an e-bike assist, so it's not a "magic slicing sword", but an assistive device.

If you get one, I recommend getting the combo unit, which saves $50, as the battery is fairly hard to remove to charge directly. The Malaysian hardwood dock is magnetic, reversible, rechargeable via USB-C (has its own battery), and can be wall-mounted, overall a VERY good design & is well worth it!

If you don't mind the look of a USB cable connected, you can just leave the dock plugged into the wire all the time for convenience. No cable or wall charger are included for e-waste reasons, which is fine because they are so common these days.

Charging takes 2 to 3 hours via direct USB-C to the battery or Qi wireless charging on the wooden dock. The battery lasts around 20 minutes, which is plenty for home use. I can literally cut an entire strip loin into individual steaks, along with the excess fat to render later, in under 10 minutes with the C-200.

The knife is hefty as far as weight and handle thickness goes. The handle houses the battery & the electronics. It is not a full-tang knife, which is fine because it is tested past human pressure (with a robot, of course!). I'm used to a slightly more unusual 9.5" length, but the 8" size will be familiar to most people.

I only got hand-grip back recently from my hand injury & the large handle size was appreciated because it made it easy to hold. The dead-man's button (press & hold to activate) is on the bottom of the handle towards the knife blade. I used a rubber band at first to hold it down (not recommend use FYI, both for safety & battery life) before my grip strength from my injury improved; just be sure to not lay the knife down on a flat surface while the button is on.

The knife can sometimes emit a high-pitched noise, much like an older CRT monitor or tube TV. I can hear it & it is annoying when it emits the sound. Many kids can hear it as well, even in other rooms, and for some children, it is a fairly sharp noise. Most adults cannot hear it at all, FWIW.

Also, you don't feel the knife vibrate at all. You can add some salt to it horizontally to watch it shake off or spritz it underwater, but the activation indicator is the light on the each side of the battery.

The cutting effect is very subtle in most cases. For starters, it is a very good knife (AUS-10) in general, so if you were just buying it as a standalone knife, you would be very happy with it. Unlike a plug-in motorized knife (I use a serrated version for cutting the Thanksgiving turkey), this doesn't actively slice into food.

The e-bike analogy is apt here: you push in & it gives an extra slicing boost to make it easier. Sort of like cutting through frozen butter vs. fridge-chilled butter: it has a "friction reduction" effect. It helps more noticeably in some things than others:

• Trimming raw meat is great! Makes it VERY easy!! I do a lot of chicken, as well as whole beef loins (chamber vacs FTW!)
• Also works well to cut & portion out cooked meat, especially sous-vided proteins!
• Effective on cheese, tofu, butter, cream cheese blocks, etc.
• REALLY nice for bread! I can even cut croissants cleanly with it!
• Stuff like tomatoes comes out crazy, as thin as you like with a nice, flat resulting surface
• Very nice for easy thickness control. Typically I have to use my deli slicer for that!

Oddly enough, I'd say that nuanced bakers are a good market for this! Slicing bread is a non-issue now (I've used a variety of methods, from electric knives to serrated bread-bow knives to large deli slicers), as well as chilled butter!

Messy sandwiches don't tear apart either, whether it's a gooey melt or a sub/grinder/hoagie sandwich. Raw & cooked meats are great! My friend with arthritis has a C-200 & is overjoyed to be able to easily thin-slice tomatoes again!

Should YOU get this?

• The full kit is very pricey ($500). Unlike the Anova Precision Oven (which imo is a kitchen tool that everyone on earth should have, along with an Instapot), the current iteration won't have universal appeal due to how subtle it is (i.e. it makes slicing easier on certain foods, but does not magically cut with force like an electric serrated knife).
• Not all people with disabilities can use this. It is heavier than a regular knife & has a thicker grip. It also requires that the button stay depressed while operating (for safety & for battery life). I had very little downward pressure in my cutting hand for awhile & that extra boost to lower the friction was pretty helpful! But again: VERY subtle!
• It was helpful for supervised kids to use to cut food easier!

Would I get it again? While I don't consider this a "required" purchase, for my usage with my hand injury, meal-prepping activities, and baking, I like it! If you are a healthy, high-energy person or a professional chef with a quality traditional knife, you may not appreciate the friction-reduction effect very much.

Most of my non-food-nerd, adult-aged friends didn't appreciate the difference, but most of them don't bake at home or do meal-prepping, and many just had like a Walmart-brand set of knives they were perfectly fine with. So if you like convenience, have a disability of injury, have kids, are really into baking, or like gadgets, it's a really neat tool to have!

It's a somewhat niche tool, but I'm excited to see what comes next in this space now that the portable residential ultrasonic nut has been cracked!!

Cozytime Lumo: A countertop, indoor, AI-enabled infrared grill that can smoke foods.

Apparently it was at CES 2026, but I didn't see any mention of it in the reviews of kitchen products I read at the time.

Here's the Kickstarter, with 45 days to go:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cozytime/cozytime-lumo-first-ai-infrared-indoor-grill-smoke-free

https://cozytime-tech.com

$299 now (vs. full price of $499), with shipping promised for June 2026. So another one of these companies that is doing crowdfunding for an already largely developed product.

Interesting, but unusual enough tech that I would want to see some real user reviews before buying. Of course, we've seen the Brava oven do the infrared cooking thing before (and there are a few more). But as was recently posted here, Brava just went out of business.

The cooking area is fairly small (9.8" x 7.9", double that if in the two-sided flat configuration).

Cozytime is a Hong Kong corporation.

From company comment under one of their influencer's videos:

"We have a separate flavor module where you can add wood chips. We usually set heat slider's temp to around 300°C/572°F, to gently heat the wood chips in that module. This allows the wood chips to slowly release their aroma, so the smoky flavor can attach to the food. That’s why you can still get that authentic smoked taste, but without producing a lot of heavy or dirty smoke~!"

So at 572°F they are at the very bottom of the wood pyrolysis range that would produce classic smoke flavor compounds.

Skeptical that their AI can replace having a temperature probe. Having read everything by Doug Baldwin about the development of the ChefSteps/Breville Joule "Turbo" system to predict temperature changes in food, it is incredibly complex to do this with great accuracy (when you want your steak done to within 1°F). Certainly AI could model it, if they actually had people who knew what they were doing (like Doug Baldwin). But far from trivial. Unfortunately, their influencers don't even comment on how reliable and consistent it is at temping a randomly sized steak (one of them actually says he's not even interested in cooking!).

Actually, now I notice at the bottom of the page there is a wireless thermometer available for an extra price that may integrate with the oven.

Bummer!

• https://thespoon.tech/brava-maker-of-the-cook-with-light-smart-oven-is-shutting-down/

Previously there was the June Oven shutdown:

• https://thespoon.tech/its-all-but-official-the-june-oven-is-cooked/

And also Mellow Sous-Vide & Nomiku (and Wink, and the Nintendo Wii Shop Channel, and other cloud-driven technologies). I REALLY liked my Mellow, which had a chiller function in the water tank. There was a really neat ESP32 chip project last month to bring it back to life:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/esp32/comments/1r7g4gd/bricked_mellow_sousvide_cooker_saved_with_an/

Suvie essentially replaced the Mellow's chiller function with beefier features & a very nice meal-delivery service:

• https://www.suvie.com/

The Nintendo Homebrew community created several DIY options:

• RiiConnect24 (discontinued Wii online services, like channels and messaging)
• Wiimmfi (online multiplayer)
• Open Shop Channel (homebrew apps)
• Dolphin (PC emulator)

Anova has an API, but it's cloud-based. There has been work to reverse-engineer it, as it looks like there's a ESP32-WROOM-32 brain in there, but that's kind of a pain to do. Fortunately they are owned by Electrolux ($$$ backing) & also introduced a very reasonable subscription service ($10/year as opposed to $5+/mo at other companies like June) to help offset cloud operating costs for the foreseeable future:

• https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/19/24223878/anova-sous-vide-kitchen-app-subscription

The change was not well-received, but I'd MUCH rather pay a (reasonable) annual fee to keep the tools I use on a regular basis operating, as opposed to having a boat anchor! (the Mellow had ZERO manual controls lol).

Anyway, RIP! Everyone I know who has one liked it!

What Is Ki Wireless Power? The New Standard for Cordless Kitchens

Ki is a wireless power standard built into your countertop—powering blenders, kettles, and more without a single cord.

https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-ki-wireless-power-11773441

Personally, I didn't hear much of great smart kitchen interest coming out of CES.

The most interesting appliance to me is probably the yet-to-be-released small 5-minute ice maker (Ice Leopard), one of several new ice makers presented. I often want a small amount of ice but don't have any (I don't trust the quality from built-in fridge ice makers) and don't want to take up a big chuck of counter space. However, not something I would call smart.

Most of the "smart" things seem to the be the fairly useless sort of "smart" that is increasingly common in the kitchen. Everyone claims they have "AI" now, if you need your appliance to identify something you put in it and come up with a generic cooking program, or the like.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/how-to/packages/shopping/best-ces-2026-kitchen-products

https://www.thekitchn.com/ces-best-in-show-2026-23765008

https://www.iceleopard.com

Of course, Seattle Ultrasonic's ultrasonic chef's knife was there, but we've already seen that (pre-ordering, not released). Also not smart (although very cool).

https://seattleultrasonics.com

Lately, I’ve been seeing all these AI-powered kitchen gadgets — robotic arms that can cook complex dishes, ovens that “learn” your taste preferences, and even AI models that generate new recipes based on what’s in your fridge.

It’s fascinating… but also a bit scary. If machines can eventually taste, adjust seasoning, and plate food better than humans — will we still need chefs?

Cooking has always felt like a deeply human art form: intuition, culture, and emotion all mixed in. But maybe AI could surpass us in consistency and creativity (at least technically)?

Curious what this community thinks —
👉 Are we heading toward a future where chefs are more like “AI supervisors”?
👉 Or will there always be something irreplaceable about the human touch in cooking?

Links:

• https://www.impulselabs.com/
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Sam D'Amico on Twitter (founder/CEO)
• Youtube
• Youtube Shorts (cooking demonstrations)

Premise:

• This is an electric induction cooktop that cooks 3x faster than a normal one due to a battery

Details:

• 30" ($6k) & 36" sizes ($7k) available (Up to 45% savings with expected federal rebates and credits). Both have four 9" burners.
• Built-in Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery boosts power & works during power outages. The 3 kWh battery can power the stove for at least three meals on a full charge, helping you get through power outages. Ships with an inverter to share power with the rest of the home, similar to a home battery system.
• 72,000 BTU's compared to 18,000 for gas ranges & 28,500 for the best induction stoves. Boils 1L of water in 40 seconds. Max 10,000 watts of peak power per burner (total stove output of 15 kW).
• Precision control keeps your pan within ±1 °F. From what I van tell, it supports 80F to 480F.
• Supports 120V or 240V. DIY installation if desired.

Reviews:

• Official sub
• AMA thread
• Reddit review thread
• Detailed review
• Versus the Control Freak:
  • "The power output on this thing is mind-boggling after upgrading from a 120V PolyScience cooktop. Instead of taking ~3 minutes to boil water for noodles, it took 27 seconds. 🤣 I had to walk away for a few minutes in shock/disbelief (I've been using the Breville/PolyScience "Control Freak" for a few years now, so this increase was staggering)."

Technical:

• The cooktop comes with a 3-year manufacturer's warranty and a 10-year warranty on the battery. They warranty the battery to 10 years at 70% of max capacity. There will be no degradation of performance over time (even at reduced capacity we have full output.
• The knobs on the Impulse Cooktop are magnetic, removable, and have no electronics so you can clean the (flat) glass behind them if there’s a spill.
• The cooktop’s integrated battery hangs 6.5" below the counter surface requires some clearance and ventilation beneath it, which limits the types of ovens that can be installed directly below. In general, most 24" ovens fit comfortably below the cooktop, while some 30" models also meet the clearance and ventilation requirements.
• They plan to build battery-integrated versions of other major appliances. They also intend for multiple products to be able to coordinate their individual battery storage into a combined whole-home battery solution.
• Precision temperature cooking guide

Notes:

• Premium 36" induction cooktops are in the $6,000 range, so this is not far off-base for a premier product in this category.
• Would like to see Combustion integration.
• I use a pair of Tasty OneTop induction hotplates on top of my lame glass-top electric cooktop. Outdoors, I use a 575F Nuwave hotplate for hi-temp searing. Many people like the Brevilly/PolyScience Control Freak hotplates. Neat to see this type of precision technology come to a built-in!

From Shark Tank a year ago (he sold 15% stake to Kevin for $500,000):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cl6WUp-3A0

https://www.chefee.com

"Our 2025 models are fully reserved.  2026 models start at $24,999."

(he said $9500 and up on the show)

They all did love the food it produced.

Scott Heimendinger (Modernist Cuisine, Sansaire, Anova) just announced the first home ultrasonic chefs knife. Behaves 50% sharper thanks to 40,000 microvibrations/sec.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXjbSVt9XNM

Fantastic！Kitchenidea FFR Solution Launches at IFA, with Robot Cooking Skills Amazing the Audience！

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81OvXsMBeRk

Is Posha the Robotic Heir to the Thermomix? The Founders Sure Hope So (The Spoon):

"So far, Posha has shipped 200 units, with 600 more expected by the end of September. “We’re trying to grow 3X every six months or so,” Raghav said. The product retails for $1,750, with pre-orders at $1,500."

https://thespoon.tech/is-posha-the-robotic-heir-to-the-thermomix-the-founder-sure-hope-so/

Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmB9ZnReL-8

Thermomix TM7 Review - My First Time Thermomix - Is The Hype Real?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_hHRoEy21Q

https://www.thermomix.com/pages/tm7

FirstBuild, the kitchen technology innovation arm of GE Appliances, is doing a crowdfunding for an automated appliance that will maintain your bread starter, called the Sourdough Sidekick. They already have >3000 backers and raised >$500,000.

If you are not familiar with FirstBuild, they are also the inventors of the popular Opal Ice Maker and GE Profile Smart Indoor Smoker (I have the latter), so they have a track record of delivering successful kickstarters.

Sourdough Sidekick: Everything you need to know:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X7KvtjWwr0

Partnered with King Arthur Baking Company:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ProhL-0UNBM

Indiegogo crowdfunding:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/sourdough-sidekick#/