Our dens and offices are filled with hip tech, but our kitchens and utility rooms lag far behind those in Europe. For one thing, with strict EU energy efficiency standards, they are all about power and water savings. Here are examples of Europe's appliance superiority from last week's IFA in Berlin.
How about a refrigerator that tells you (or lets your smart phone tell you) what food is inside, if you're running low and need to resupply or what to pick up if you're already at the market, where the food is located in the fridge, alerts you when fresh foods reach their expiration date, it'll even suggest recipes based on what you've got left. If something goes wrong, the fridge sends diagnostic signals to the service center so the repair people can tell if a service call is needed. The icemaker is built into the door to increase storage space, and it has a smaller, small door-in-door to more easily reach frequently accessed items. If it's so smart, can it write a product blurb?