What a few weeks it’s been! In light of recent events and limits on touching things, we are exploring and updating ourselves on current available smart technologies and how the kitchen and bath space may incorporate more of these in coming times – with focus on the tap.
In kitchens, the tap is one of the frequently used items – think back to how often you’ve opened the kitchen tap today! Yes, that’s right!
Though mixer taps that use hands-free, infrared technology are a common sight in bathrooms especially in public areas such as hotels and airports; as a step to foster a hygiene culture, this has been adopted and becoming prevalent in kitchens as well.
Image: Oras
Inevitably, when you’re cooking, you’ll need water, but your hands are full or dirty, or you just finished cutting up some chicken and need to wash-up? A touchless faucet is excellent for those occasions, as you just wave your hands in front of the sensor or touch any part of it with an elbow and the water turns on.
A voice-enabled tap takes that convenience one step further. With Google Assistant or Alexa integration, you say things like “fill two cups of water” or “turn off.” You can even set custom measurements, so if you regularly fill a container to a certain amount, you can make the process easier with a dedicated command.
Imagine saying “fill kettle” every time you need to boil some water. You can set the kettle in the sink, use the voice command, and walk away to gather other items without worrying about an overflow.
Image : Kholer
Smart taps thereby not only help with hygiene but also save water, control temperature and maintain a smudge free shiny tap that doesn’t require as much cleaning.
As designers we are rethinking a lot of things in relation to hygiene and sanitation and kitchens and bathrooms are one of them.
