With all of the talk of smart home technology, sometimes the smartest innovations are simply engineered to hold up to everyday basic tasks.

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It was only a generation or two ago the kitchen?s role within a home was primarily defined as functional ? a utilitarian space hidden from view dedicated to the preparation of food and little else. Today, kitchens flourish as an extension of our living areas, hearth and heart of our homes, and where friends and family are most apt to be found congregating and mingling before, during, and after mealtime daily. If home is where the heart is, it?s most often located somewhere in the vicinity of the kitchen?a domestic home base increasingly expected to balance aesthetic impression with dependable function.
So it?s no longer enough to pick out the requisite premium kitchen appliances and cabinetry in planning the ideal kitchen. Discerning home owners, in partnership with kitchen/interior designers, now envision the kitchen holistically just as any other room within the home, demanding functional, aesthetic, hygienic, and ultimately livable spaces integrating the tangible and intangible to match their lifestyles and personal preferences ? a goal coined as ?Livable Design?.

Whereas web-connected smart appliances receive much of the fanfare in shaping the kitchens of the future, ...