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22 | Kitchen & Bath Design News | April 2015 Design Technology { Eric Schimelpfenig, AKBD } A s usual, this year's KBIS ofered a lot of interesting things to see on the technology front. Touch screen and connected appliances and LED lights were everywhere. The really stand-out kitch- en for me at KBIS was the Virginia Tech FutureHAUS. Tucked away in the South Hall, it looked from a distance like a semi-nondescript white glossy kitchen. The kitchen is the vision of Joey Wheeler of Virginia Tech. With his vision and di- rection, he and his students came up with this very futur- istic and very realistic vision of the home of the future. MODULAR DESIGN While it looks as if it's as- sembled l i ke a ny ot her kitchen, it's actually a mod- ular design. Each part of the kitchen, from the foor to the cabinets, is its own separate module. Plumbing and electrical are connected through the back with quick connectors. The idea here is that each module can be designed and developed, and then easily in- stalled in the feld like a big Lego set. This really bucks the current idea where cabi- netry is ftted to each job site. SOCIAL ISLAND I don't think I need to explain the cultural phenomenon of online life. People of all gen- erations are now spending a lot of time on the Internet. Besides watching cat videos, they are constantly sharing information and ideas with fam- ily and friends, often via their smart phones. To get peo- ple's faces out of their phones, the Vi rg i n ia Tech team mounted a M i c r o s o f t Surface into the island top. The Surface is just a giant tablet. It's quite fantastic to use, too. You can watch videos, look at the news and bring up recipes. Instead of squinting into a phone, you can actually prepare food right on the huge tablet. This has great implications not only for the average kitchen user, but for those who see the kitchen as a social hub. SMART APPLIANCES The term "smart" gets thrown around a lot: Smart Watch, Smart Car, Smart Lights, etc. But just because something has technology doesn't make it smart. I recently came across a "smart" egg tray that has bluetooth in it. That's right, an egg tray that connects to your phone to give you information about your eggs. To me, that's not a smart appliance. The appliances in this kitchen, however, feature some pretty smart features. The oven can ask you ques- tions via its touch screen about what you're cooking. Instead of knowing exact tem- peratures and times, the oven just takes care of it for you. The kitchen also features sensors that look at how the kitchen is performing, and it can make suggestions about how you can make your energy usage better. The microwave and oven even have cameras in them so when you're in an- other room, you can monitor what you're baking. If you've ever video chat- ted with your parents for help on a family recipe, not only will they be able to see your face, but they can check on your oven from the other side of the world. This type of innovation is really smart. It makes things genuinely eas- ier, safer and more fun to use. Another element we don't think a lot about is the pantry. Inside this pantry is a beauti- ful metal pantry system from Hafele. While it's great for storage, it also has a built-in UPC reader. This pantry can know what it's holding. This way it can track your pur- chases for you, let you know what's running low and tell you what you can cook with FutureHAUS Model Illustrates Kitchen Trends to Come Despite being packed with smart and useful technology, the FutureHAUS kitchen felt normal, familiar and simple to use – which is why it is such a great, and very likely, vision of the future. This glossy white FutureHAUS kitchen hides plenty of smart features and technological extras. Motorized lift doors make accessing cabinet contents a breeze. In this depiction of the kitchen of the future, this surface doubles as a giant tablet. Continued on page 24 Photos: FutureHAUS "The idea behind Virginia Tech's FutureHAUS is that each module can be designed and developed, and then easily installed in the feld like a big Lego."