Does Not Compute: Exploring a Digital Kitchen

As technology surges ahead, our ability to adapt it to our lives and living spaces often lags behind. For us, enamored with our new gadget, what it is often takes precedent over where it goes. A good example of this incongruity is the proliferation of personal computers in contemporary kitchens.

In many homes, the kitchen has become the social hub, and since computers support every facet of our daily lives, the overlap is inevitable. So what can a kitchen computer do? For starters: Online cookbooks replace their printed ancestors; video conferencing with family and friends reinforces and enhances the social nature of the space; music software eliminates the need for audio players; and web browsers provide access to information and entertainment, making TVs superfluous. The kitchen and the computer are an ideal match, but their pairing remains as awkward as sushi and milk.

Attempts at integrating the computer into the kitchen have yet to produce sophisticated results. In 1969, Honeywell offered a kitchen computer with a binary interface for $10,000 from Neiman Marcus. It’s unclear if any were ever sold. More recently, specialized kitchen computers built onto refrigerator doors may allow you to keep track of your grocery list, but they have little regard for spatial planning. Their only reason for appearing on appliances is because appliance companies developed them. The niche market for a kitchen-specific computer may never justify the research and development that a desktop computer does, so the latter will remain a better choice. The immediate problem is that kitchens are poorly designed to accommodate our regular computers.

A search through online images for “kitchen computer” turns up hundreds of photographs illustrating the challenges encountered when computers are ham-handedly introduced to this new environment. Desktops and towers take over kitchen islands, inelegantly divide space, and turn what is normally an active surface into a computer lab. Wall-mounted monitors 
appear in spaces where televisions are normally installed, while the keyboards and mice that operate them are placed on the nearest countertops by default. Kitchen office nooks, originally designed around land-line telephones and paper calendars, are now repurposed for computers and printers. Laptops are designed to do well in makeshift situations, but in kitchens they are particularly vulnerable to 
hazards. What each of these scenarios shares is an integration problem.

The issue persists even for those who wish to remodel their kitchen to support computer use. In interviews with four interior designers, each said their clients always request a dedicated computer space in the kitchen. It’s surprising then that kitchen manufacturers don’t offer any integrated solutions (although laptops do get plopped into their neatly styled photo shoots every now and then).  Nevertheless, counter and table surfaces are the basic locations for considering computer placement within today’s kitchen.

For a computer that is an integral part of the cooking process, a counter-height station, gracefully placed within the kitchen, is ideal. Steps away from an omelet that needs flipping or a pot requiring a stir, a countertop computer allows its user to stay engaged in food preparation and socializing while remaining plugged in. The kitchen designer’s hallowed “work triangle” refers to an ideal triangular configuration for storage, preparation, and cooking areas. To be useful during cooking, the computer should be located within this triangle. Unfortunately, kitchen companies have given this little thought. Even worse, when asked about accommodating computers on counters, sales representatives expressed enthusiasm for installations that place computers “safely” behind roll-top appliance garages. But appliance garages were designed for storing cereal boxes and blenders, not for computers that demand interaction.

Die-hard laptop users face another set of problems and possible solutions. As the laptop is brought in dangerous proximity of cooking it should be elevated above the range of most spills. Like cookbook holders that make reading easier, a small portable laptop pedestal would raise our electronic companions out of harm’s way, and a silicone cover will protect the keyboard from sticky fingers. Areas of kitchen islands and counters where cooking preparation doesn’t take place could also be raised, creating distinct levels for computing. Convenient stow-away space and well-placed electric outlets would complete the laptop integration.

Reviewing the floor plans of standard kitchen models, it seems quite feasible to redraw the kitchen work triangle as a quadrilateral. Solutions 
to our problem become clearer as we consider where our computer 
will sit in relation to the stove, sink, and refrigerator. Neighboring the sink is out of the question until computers are waterproof. Next to a stove, conditions improve slightly. Like the refrigerator, the computer’s backside should be against a wall, so it doesn’t create a wall of its own in the middle of the kitchen. These constraints leave our digital device away from the sink, on a counter, along a wall, and most likely fighting for space that currently belongs to cabinets and preparation surfaces. A monitor can be mounted on an adjustable arm that allows it to be flexibly oriented. The dilemma between preparation surfaces and keyboards and mice is irrelevant for those who favor touch screens. A wireless keyboard and mouse can be temporarily stored in a drawer, but this offers little solace to those who don’t unplug. It’s also likely that in the absence of cookbooks, radios, land-line telephones, and old office nooks, there is some surplus surface to be found.

The irony of many high-end kitchen designs is that many of the people who buy them don’t even cook. And we can be sure that there are people who don’t use computers either. Yet for those who do both, hope could be on the way. This past fall a dedicated kitchen computer named QOOQ was introduced in France. With a ten-inch waterproof screen, wifi connectivity, recipe subscription service (with video), and meal planning calendar, it’s an intriguing step into uncharted territory. The drawbacks are that it’s only available in French, and its dedicated software doesn’t allow us to do many of the things we have come to expect of our machines. It seems for now the ultimate solution has yet to come.