Testing the Smartest Kitchen Gadgets – Are They Genius or Gimmick?
“Remember, sometimes the smartest gadgets are the simplest.” With that mantra in mind, our ever-curious team—chef Ben and regular kitchen enthusiast Jamie—set out to test four quirky, tech-infused kitchen gadgets. But the question is: Do they actually make cooking easier, or are they just novelty items looking for a purpose?
1. Umbra iSpoon – The Double-Ended Dilemma
The first gadget under the cloche looked deceptively simple—a wooden spoon. But this wasn’t your average utensil. This was the Umbra iSpoon, a kitchen stylus designed for navigating your tablet mid-recipe without greasing up the screen.
The premise? Stir with one end, swipe with the other. Sounds handy—until you try it. While the stylus side worked eventually, it was finicky and required holding it at an awkward angle. Worse, flipping between stirring and swiping just left your hands more covered in sauce.
The team concluded: it’s a poor spoon and a worse stylus. At £4.99, it's an amusing novelty, but hardly practical.
Verdict: Pain in the neck.
2. HidrateSpark Pro – The Hydration Hustle
Next up: the HidrateSpark Pro, a smart water bottle that tracks your intake, glows when you need a sip, and syncs via Bluetooth to your health apps. Sounds like a hydration dream, right?
Well, sort of. The app lets you set goals, sends reminders, and integrates with Apple Health and Fitbit. But real-world testing showed that it lagged behind in tracking and was sometimes off by a noticeable margin. Not ideal if precision is key.
It costs £69.95, and while the technology does work, Jamie summed it up perfectly: “Just drink some water.”
Verdict: Hydrate fizzle.
3. Evebot Food Printer – Print It, Eat It?
The third gadget was the Evebot Portable Food Printer. This handheld device promises to print custom text or designs directly onto food—from burger buns to coffee froth.
Unfortunately, reality didn’t live up to the promise. While it sort of worked on paper (after a lot of fiddling), it failed on food. Inconsistent printing, smudging, and tech that felt more fussy than functional made it feel like a relic of an outdated personalization trend.
At £170, you’d have to really want to print on your cookies to justify the spend.
Verdict: Not good on anything.
4. Lavazza A Modo Mio Voicy – Alexa, Brew Me a Coffee
Last but not least: a sleek, compact Lavazza coffee machine with built-in Alexa. You can ask it to make an espresso, play music, check the weather, and reorder capsules via Amazon.
Sure, it makes a great cup of coffee (thank you, Lavazza), but it doesn’t actually save you much effort. You still have to load the capsule, place the cup, and press buttons. Voice activation almost complicates the process rather than streamlining it.
At £150, it’s essentially the cost of a decent pod machine plus an Alexa. It’s fun, but the innovation feels forced.
Verdict: Nice idea, but not essential.
Final Thoughts: Do We Need These Gadgets?
What these tests reveal is something every modern home cook should consider: Just because it's smart, doesn’t mean it’s useful. Some of these gadgets had potential but fell short in practical execution. Others just didn’t solve problems that really needed solving.
As tech keeps marching into every corner of our homes, it’s worth asking: Is this gadget helping me, or just taking up space on my counter?
Sometimes, the smartest gadget in the kitchen… is still just a really good spoon.
Let me know if you'd like this formatted for Medium or a specific blog platform, or if you'd like to add images or headings!
0 Comments