$10,000 Honeywell Kitchen Computer from 1969. No units were sold. You can visit it at the Computer History Museum.

One era’s flop is often another era’s success. The typical excuse given for failure is something vague like, “the market wasn’t ready for it” or “the product was ahead of its time.” I dislike these phrases, as they shrug off our responsibility to predict what customers will accept, and they shift the blame to the vagaries of customer behavior and psychology.

Yes, sometimes it’s true that mainstream customers need plenty of role models around them before they’ll even entertain the possibility of trying a new technology. It took some convincing to get people to try out the first microwaves, mobile phones, email and the Web.

But just as often, the early attempts at a product fail simply because they do not meed important customer needs at a realistic price.

It shouldn’t have been a stretch for Honeywell to realize that a kitchen computer that cost $10,000 in 1969 dollars, that required the housewife to take a two week course to learn to program the device, using toggle-switch input and binary light output, might not be a blockbuster. Despite its integrated cutting board.

3Com Audrey of 2000

A more recent attempt at a kitchen computer was a quick flame-out by 3Com called the Audrey in 2000. But that was before widespread broadband and WiFi, before large, cheap LCD panels and many other enabling technologies. For the price, it too was not about to earn its place under the cupboard.

We now we have enabling technologies lined up to make a device plausible: cheap computers, thin LCDs, fast, wireless Internet connectivity. Is the time right to make place for a computer in the kitchen?   There is anecdotal evidence of the demand: no fewer than three of my friends remodeling kitchens are designing a place for a kitchen computer. Lead users often portend larger trends (see von Hippel, The Sources of Innovation).

The need is apparently there, the technological ingredients are in place.  There is no external barrier, so now we await a major manufacturer to introduce a well-designed device and establish the category. (Waits like this are hard to predict. They could take months or years.)

Users can, of course, get by nicely today with a laptop in a cubby.  Many do.  But for high-end remodels that kind of retrofit won’t do.  So here are some specs that we can compare against the next wave of kitchen computers. These specs describe a relatively full-feature devices for big, fancy kitchen. They would be pared down for lower-end products.

Key scenarios for a kitchen computer

1. General lightweight web surfing
2. Family information appliance
3. Follow a recipe while cooking
4. Possible homework & surfing station
5. Audio controller, for background music and talk while doing kitchen activities
6. Decorative element, as a digital photo frame

Features of a kitchen computer

1. Attractiveness, since it’s part of the décor. Designed for a kitchen, not an office.
2. Different finish options to match with different décors. People remodeling choose from hundreds of tiles and paint colors and one style does not fit all.
3. Touch screen for most common tasks.
4. Wireless keyboard and mouse, normally stored, can be pulled out for more serious use.
5. Resilient to spills, oils, greasy fingers. Durable for kid usage.
6. Unobtrusive, since there is enough clutter in the kitchen.
   • Only a thin display is outwardly visible. The main unit is concealed within cabinetry, along with cabling.
   • Display takes up no precious counter space. It is mounted on an arm and, when not in use, folds under a cabinet or rotates flush against the wall. In use while cooking it hinges out. When used for homework or sit-down surfing, it lowers to a work surface.
   • The main unit (if there is one, apart from the display) is small like the Mac Mini to minimize consumption of precious cabinet volume.
   • Speakers are built into the display to further reduce footprint.
   • Quiet, fanless operation. Does not contribute to the background noise.
7. Central control – Display can completely control the device including powering it on. There is never a need to dig into the cabinets to fuss with the device.
8. Media playback, particularly music.
   • Hidden main unit includes amp for speakers and speaker output.
   • Remote control to control playback while across the room or in adjoining room.
   • If IR is used for remote control, the display includes the IR receiver, to allow for line-of-sight.
   • Display matches ambient light in room. When the room is dark, the display turns itself off.
9. Always on, or instant on. As an appliance it must have instant availability.
10. Low power consumption since it’s always on.

Special Software

The kitchen computer should be a standard, full-function personal computer for when it is needed for homework or general usage. For key tasks it should revert to a minimal, streamlined appliance mode with highly tailored apps that don’t require the keyboard or mouse.

1. Family calendar/coordination center visible at a glance, with alarms and reminders.[Has anyone cracked this critical user need yet?]
2. Digital photo frame when idle.
   • Automatic, smart photo syncing with other photo libraries devices in the house. You don’t have to do any management for the images to remain fresh.
   • “Best of” photos from prior years appear automatically.
   • They match the current season, so you don’t get inappropriate winter wonderland pictures in July.
3. Music controller
   • User can stream music from other servers in the house or from Internet radio
   • Can be controlled by the display, either with physical buttons or a touch-driven on-screen UI.
4. Recipe software? This is maybe. Recipes demand flexibility and resilience, something paper excels at. But if a simplified touch-screen UI were to be layered on an outstanding cooking site like Epicurious we would have something. Also: recipe videos on demand is a killer kitchen app, since it’s so much easier to see cooking techniques demonstrated.
5. Standard info appliance stuff to check out while scarfing down your cereal: Weather forecast so you know what to wear. Traffic so you know what to expect during the commute. Top news & sports items so you are up to speed on what’s going on. RSS feeds from the school. Buttons to most-used websites. Number of waiting email or voicemail messages.
6. Quick & dirty email checker. Quickly skim & read email messages & compose short replies, even canned replies, without having to pull out the keyboard & mouse. For full-on email answering mode, pull out the keyboard or switch to your main PC.
7. Family message center? This is another maybe. It’s a traditional scenario envisioned for a kitchen computer. But introducing yet another messaging medium could be a stretch, given how inundated we already are with messaging solutions. If it were to happen, here’s a viable way: Mom presses a “record” button on the display and speaks a message for Junior. The audio is stored on a server, and a link to it is sent via email or text message to Junior, who can retrieve it on a PC or cellphone. A bright button appears on the kitchen appliance for Junior, until he retrieves the message from any means.
8. Videophone — no longer a futuristic scenario, especially for Mac users. Dad can see that Jane, who is away at college, is available for videochat. This is simply a different wrapper around iChat, still by far the best-of-breed for video calls.
9. Integration with other home automation: distributed audio, lighting & climate control, alarm system. [Home automation is another field that is under-developed for the times, in need of an Apple-esque kick in the butt.]

With computers once again at a plateau, new outlets tend to emerge. We should expect to see a trickle of kitchen computers come to market. If they are designed around the usage scenarios they will be a welcome addition to the kitchen, not just gratuitous technology.

[Update 8/22/08 - touched up wording]

Posted by Philip Haine on Saturday, September 15th, 2007 at 11:47 pm.
See similar articles in: Analysis, Commentary, Predictions, Visions to Steal.

6 Responses to “The Return of the Kitchen Computer”

1. greg freiherr wrote on January 29th, 2009 at 11:31 am :

   I’m particularly interested in the family Calendar. I’m going to put a flat screen TV on the wall across from the kitchen table. It will be PC compatible, so I just need to get a wireless connection and software to run on mhy laptop. Any suggestions?

2. skot0123 wrote on March 24th, 2009 at 7:51 am :

   Google Chrome or Google Calendar is what I use for a family calendar. Each member can have his or her own calendar shared with the “family” calendar.

3. Matthew Peters wrote on June 2nd, 2009 at 7:30 am :

   Sounds like a super thin iMac with a touch screen. There already is a company called TrollTouch that puts touchscreens in iMacs, it is expensive though. With a recipe software an iMac would be perfect(almost anyway). I for one am extremely please with my iMac, it suits my needs very nicely .

4. Doris wrote on November 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm :

   Very nice website and Article! Thanks!

5. Philip Haine wrote on November 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pm :

   Thanks, Doris!

6. Steve Murch wrote on March 29th, 2010 at 11:03 pm :

   Great article.

   At BigOven.com, we think the Apple iPad is one of the first devices that will really hit the sweet spot in the kitchen. We’ve got 170,000+ recipes, and a smart grocery list in the cloud (that allows you to get your grocery list from your iPhone or Android device) that’ll be very interesting to provide in-kitchen. Completely agree also about technique videos and more.

Leave a Reply