I built the Dream Smart Kitchen

So we are about to turn this into our dream kitchen. We're going to find the absolute greatest appliances, machines and gadgets. We're going to buy them. We're going to fit them. And then we're going to test them to find out if we've made a big mistake. So quite a few of the big things are already done. We've got the hob. We've got the oven. We've got the tap. So what do we need? I guess we still need a toaster. So you might have seen I'm semi obsessed with this Japanese brand called Balmuda. Yeah, it's literally like the first thing you make anyone experience when they come into the house. But I thought if we're going for the most high tech kitchen, is there a more high tech one? And then I found this one. Revolution Pro. Why didn't you just scream it on the toaster? Tap your toastiness level one to seven and watch it toast in half the time. So this is actually an interesting dilemma. It's either we go for the slow, methodical Balmuda experience or the really, really fast toaster. I think we need to test the Balmuda against this. That's a fantastic idea. Winner stays. Yeah. I'm actually curious, like what's TikTok saying about kitchens? With the Ninja Creamy, you'll never buy ice cream again because it turns just about anything into ice cream. Freeze your ingredients and it does the rest. It's just asking to be tested. Let's try it. They also do a slushie machine, which is either a complete waste of space or a dream kitchen gadget. I can't actually tell. We also need a microwave. The microwave is no longer your kitchen's greatest eyesore. And then it shows us this. Interesting. That's a true share. This one's actually OK, you know. 1000 watt microwave, but then it does 1100 watts powerful steaming. We need a blender. Smart blend technology. I mean, they just added the word smart to what it is. 100 speed touch slider. 100 speeds is a lot of speeds. And a sleek, show-stopping design. I can't imagine many people are going to be stopping looking at this. This looks like the best one. £849 for a blender. So one other thing someone really recommended we try, Sonic Ice. So it's made with flaked ice, compacted into cylindrical nuggets and is loved for its soft, airy texture that makes it more pleasant to chew. What kind of psychopath chews their ice? Whoa, glacial pro. So this is what it looks like. Really tiny little pebble ice. Oh, yeah. Super fast ice nuggets in four minutes. Wow. I have bought a lot of gadgets in my time. But it's different when you're buying it for yourself. Another thing we don't have is a bin. But yeah, I mean, the mounting bags of trash in the corner reinforced our steam. So what about the one you have outside your studio right now? Yeah, it's a really good bin, to be honest. It's got a little sensor and anytime you wave over it, it opens straight away. And it's really quiet as well. I wonder if there's anything else. This is a pretty cool site. Yeah, simple humans. Really nice, actually. It's very much the vibe of this house. This is interesting. Is that what they think it is? That's like a paper towel hub. And you take out the middle and that's a spray bottle. That's minimalism. Sensor pump for your soap. Yeah, that does make a lot of sense, doesn't it? So you can control how much you get based on where your hand is. Put your hand up close to a small dab or further away from the wall. I feel like it's going to be a little bit of a learning curve there. Like a couple of times at the start, you're going to put your hand here. That'd be an entire canister. I think it's just a standard dish rack. I really like it. It's clean. Oh, yeah, I just remembered. Robot vacuum cleaner. One of the big reasons why we actually bought this house is because every single floor is just concrete floors with no seams between the rooms. So one robot vacuum cleaner will cover the entire floor. And this has to be the one. So now that we've got all the basics, it's time for the weird and wonderful. So the only other things then are dining table, dining chairs, barstool. And we had a very productive time at the furniture shop finding all of them. Oh, ah, this one looks padded. This is the moment we realized swivel was an absolute must for us, even for a dining chair. Oh, oh, oh, oh, my God. Yeah, that's incredible. I feel like we found something in this that we did not know we wanted. Like the idea of this rotating dining chair. Anytime someone talks on the table, you're looking at them. Now, in order to have a swiveling dining chair, we also needed to make sure that we found table legs that were high enough so the chairs don't get stuck and tucked away enough that your legs aren't banging into them as you move around. I quite like the angular ones. Plus, we also found our dream table top to go with it. I love the feel of it. I love how thin it is. The legs don't interfere for me. It's made by a company called Reflex. And what I found absolutely fascinating about it is that it looks like marble, but it's actually tempered glass, thanks to a printing technique that they've developed. And that has two major benefits. They can make it way thinner and they can add this frosted matte finish, which seemingly makes it pick up zero fingerprints. Do you mind if we grab one of those moving chairs? This could be the perfect combination. Are we getting it? Yeah, we're getting full rotation. Look at that. So that's our table, our base and all dining chairs locked in. But there is scope to add swivel to one more product. This is far beyond what I expected from a barstool. I've used barstools before, but they do not have the cushioning of this, the stitching of this, the piping of this. And it's when you sit on it, it just... Ah, I don't think we're going to get better than this. What do you think? Yeah? OK, let's do it. Now, this was surprisingly the most fun room to put together so far, because this is where it really dawned on us that this is going to be our kitchen, that we cook every meal in every day, that for the first time we could optimize every single micro aspect of it perfectly for us. Everything down to the theme we wanted to create, the perfect little reading nook, the programming of the lights to be able to create the exact scenes we wanted. And so I am buzzing to show you the final product. Welcome to the Dream Kitchen. Today, we find out what is the absolute best kitchen tech in the world through a combination of things that we've already tested very thoroughly and things that we're about to test together now. Starting with this. I've seen people raving about this ninja slushie machine probably once a week for the last eight weeks on social media. But then equally, that's never stopped us eventually finding that something is still a stupid idea. So we got one, we set it up. And the idea is that you can put anything in here so long as it's got some sugar in it. So I'm actually going to say something rogue here, but Red Bull is probably my favorite tasting drink ever. So can this preserve that flavor while actually making the texture even better? It'd be so cool if it's also able to keep its fizz. Although judging by the amount of effervescence in here, I'm guessing it won't. Whoa. OK, this is really exciting. But now right next to that is the Nugget Edible Ice Machine that we bought earlier. The way that we planned this kitchen out is this is one of LG's We got it with the house. But, you know, there's only so much wine two people can drink. So it's actually also kind of the perfect place to store everything you'd need for a cocktail or a mocktail. So then that makes this the ideal place to store the two gadgets related to drinks. But there's a dilemma with this one, because when we first bought the house and we were deciding what gadgets to get for it, we didn't have a fridge here. But then in the process of trying to find the best fridge, we ended up with this, the LG InstaView. The key thing for me just being that it's very space efficient. You can store stuff right up until the edges. I do find it really funny, though, that their entire marketing and product name centers around how you can knock to see what's inside this one section. Like, gee, I wish there was a fast way of seeing what's inside a fridge. But my point was that this, like many fridges nowadays, has an ice machine baked in. This is clearly the easier option. It has a filter on the inside and even disinfects its nozzle each day with ultraviolet light. So is Nugget Ice from this machine here so good that it's worth buying and keeping around this extra pretty bulky machine? OK, so water goes in the top here. So apparently, if I just click Quick Start, it's going to start churning out ice in four minutes, which needs to be tested. And so what it's doing right now is freezing, but also combining that frozen water with air to create a lighter, more textured ice cube. Well, something's just dropped into here, but we are five minutes 30 in. So I'm feeling a little misled. Oh, it kind of looks like the thing ate too much Indian food last night. It's been 19 minutes and we now have a sizable portion of Nugget Ice and then normal fridge ice. OK, aesthetically, I actually don't think that looks any better. OK, so you add water to normal ice, then water to the Sonic Ice. It practically disappears on the inside. It's just not appetizing, is it? It kind of looks like I've stuck a load of cotton wool inside my glass. Now for the big question. Is it more pleasant to ingest? Oh, it doesn't stop you getting brain freeze, that's for sure. It just tastes like crushed ice. Not impressed. Does that mean I have to chew this? Well, there is a difference, but there's only a difference if you decide that you're going to eat your ice, at which point, if this is a 9.5 out of 10 on the pain scale, then this is still an eight. All right, well, this was actually a fairly easy decision. You get a 3 out of 10. On the bright side, though, this looks completely transformed, like not in the slightest bit like Red Bull anymore, which is both very exciting and concerning. It's a pretty big moment. Whoa. Why does everything look like it's taking a dump today? That's actually pretty slick, I have to say. So one thing I can tell, it's only been sitting here for 30 seconds, but the liquid has separated to the bottom. Mm hmm. Oh, my God. Yeah. That's the stuff. It looks like just really dry ice with all the liquid at the bottom. But this is actually melt in your mouth, perfectly shaped deliciousness. And whether this is because it was originally a fizzy drink or not, it tastes fizzy. It's that kind of micro ice texture. Fair play. Deserves the hype. That is a 9.5 out of 10. Now, onto the other side. I don't think we quite appreciated when we first got the house how crazy useful it is that it's been pre-fitted with two identical self-drying dishwashers right next to each other. So originally we bought a dish rack to keep up here. But actually having two of these means that we don't even need that because there's always one dishwasher that's ready to load used dishes into and one that makes sure that we've always got clean stuff ready. And then for the few things that are just too big for the dishwashers, you just hand wash them and you put them on this, which we got from Joseph Joseph. And it's such a clean little drying system. But cabinet two is the breakfast area. We decided that it's the most efficient route to get bread from the fridge, put it into your toaster and then work your way straight to the dining table. But which toaster? I think this is going to be such an interesting battle because these are both basically the most expensive toasters you can get. But they both do this toasting in completely opposite ways. So let's solve this once and for all. Which is the best toaster in the world? So the Balmuda is the way simpler machine. You put your bread in, you turn it on, you set a timer and you let it cook. With the one twist being that you can also fill it up with water, which coats the bread in a fine mist. And then because water heats up faster than air, it makes the outside crispy and the inside fluffy. The Revolution Pro is, well, it's definitely the more customizable toaster. So there's like 20, 30 different types of bread. You can pick which ones show up and what order they're in. You pick whether you're starting from fresh or frozen and then even what toastiness level you like. Oh, my gosh. The image actually changes depending on what you select. So you can preview what your toast is going to look like. Not to mention you can do paninis with this accessory and even becomes a warming rack using this one. OK, let's set it to a perfect three. There we go. Three, two, one, go. Oh, that is so slick. Now, I've got to say between the two, the Balmuda looks prettier. And also, we've only used this Revolution like twice and the entire finish is covered in fingerprints. It's just really hard to keep clean. But then counterpoint, it does also have a removable crumb tray and is even smart enough to tell you when it's full so you know when to remove it. Whereas the Balmuda is probably going to be a little higher maintenance. Wait, what? It's saying in five seconds to go. Are you kidding me? Wow. That said, while I am a great appreciator of speed, that doesn't look anything alike. Like if you're going to go as far as to program what every stage of bread should look like, shouldn't you first prioritizing making sure you can actually make the bread look like that? OK, so that took nearly three times as long. But tell me that is not a more professional looking piece of toast. I'm not exaggerating when I say I think the Balmuda's toast looks vastly more appetizing. Let's butter them up. Ah, it's the best part of my day. Hmm. This is a pretty average slice of toast. It's got a little bit of crisp on the outside, but it's also quite doughy. Inoffensive, but forgettable. Oh, got to make sure I eat an equal amount of this toast. You know, just just to keep it fair. Every time I compare the Balmuda to something else, I have the exact same reaction. It's just better. Every time I take a slice of toast out of that Balmuda, my first impression is, damn, that's really hard. But it's designed that way so that when you add a little bit of butter, it softens it to the point where it is perfect. Whereas that butter normally makes every other piece of toast a little too soft. OK, so there's two slices of toast in front of you. Can you taste them one by one and tell me which one you think is better? They're very different colors. Oh, I don't know. Oh. You're getting through a lot of bread to make this decision. This is a better done toast. This is this kind of feels like bread with butter. Skating. Yeah, off we go. You're toast, mate. Cabinet three is the lunch slash dinner area, hence the microwave, which has actually been really good for us. It's a microwave. We don't need to dwell on that. Got to say, though, one of the coolest things about this kitchen is that it not just has these hidden cabinets that you can make disappear when you close the doors, but also that every single one of these cabinets has four main sockets so that we can keep every single appliance that we want to use permanently plugged in, ready to go without cluttering the main island, which, as you can see, brings me great joy. Oh, yeah. In terms of the smaller bits in this kitchen, by the way. So we bought our dining equipment from a company called Fable, and it's been amazing. Nothing has any seams for things to get stuck in. Everything cleans in one swipe. It's completely scratch proof and it's fine in the dishwasher. We also got our glasses from the same Fable company because, you know me, you know, I cannot resist bezel-less things. And these are probably the thinnest glasses I've ever used while being a lot stronger than they look. It's also just a really efficient form factor because you're not carrying any extra weight and your liquid literally starts from the very bottom. Cookware-wise, we settled on Carraway in the end. These things are like nonstick to another level. They look beautiful. And you can also tell that this is a company who thinks about the little things, like, for example, how they ship them with the magnetic holders that you'd need to store them. This thing has been an absolute game changer. It's a strainer that keeps your pasta or rice completely upright so that you can just pour away the water and then let it sit without leaking. And then these are the Man Kitchen salt and pepper cannons, which, to my disappointment, don't actually launch your pepper across the room. But the level of control you get here is insane. Most normal mills can grind between 12 to 28 mesh size. This can do 8 to 60. OK, so that's drinks, that's breakfast, that's lunch and dinner all done. Well, now it's time for my favorite automation, candlelight mode. So let's do it. It makes the blinds come down. It turns off all the room lights except the one right over the dining table. And it makes all of the Philips hues that we've hidden around the room go to this lovely, warm orange color. So cool. And that feels like a pretty good lead in to dessert. So this is the Ninja Creamy. It is their ice cream machine. And even though this one isn't as viral as the slushie machine, my prediction is that this is going to be the underdog. So here's my problem. Every night, like the moment I finish eating dinner, my body switches modes and suddenly just starts craving dessert. And so the thing that I'm most curious about is if I put into this just the standard ingredients that I use to make a fairly healthy chocolate protein shake. So this is just chocolate protein powder and milk. Can this turn that into an actually tasty ice cream? So you start by ejecting a canister and then you place in your pre-frozen ingredients. So in a sense, there is a little bit of prep because you have to do this the night before. This is actually just the world's most expensive ASMR machine. I feel like I want some crunch in here. Oh, oats. That's a pretty healthy serving of that. So you get three options over here and then ice cream. Oh, my God, it's going to take two minutes. Is that it? Now, as you can probably tell, this is not the cleanest video we've ever filmed. But the reason that my face looks this unbothered is because of what we have here. So we specifically asked Roborock if they were willing to sponsor this video because their Q-Revo Slim is the smartest robot cleaner I have ever used. Like the navigation on this thing is bordering on self-driving car levels. It's absolutely surrounded in 3D sensors that are all upgraded and all work together to form what they call the StarSight Autonomous System. And that means that this robot deeply understands your room. For example, with any other robot vacuum cleaner, before letting them go, you have to first pick up any obstacles, you know, a clump of cables or some shoes you left around. This robot is so aware that it will not just avoid those obstacles. Wow. But it will identify them. It can recognize 73 different floor objects and it will mark them on the virtual map that it builds of your room. So you know what it avoided and it knows that those objects are temporary. So they won't affect its understanding of a room, unlike something more permanent like a dining table would. It gets better, though, because it's incredibly thin and the mop and the side brush are extendable now. So it can fit under pretty much anything and it can also clean right up until the very corners. So long story short, we have set up one of these on every floor of the house. They send themselves out to clean while we're asleep. They head back to the dock on their own when they're done cleaning. They empty their own dustbin. They power wash their own mop. We don't really do anything anymore. So link below to check it out. And now final few finishing touches that take this from a great kitchen into a dream kitchen. So the first is Simple Human. So I have used a couple of products from this Simple Human company in the past, but it's actually getting more of them, setting them up properly in our own space that has given me a whole new appreciation for this company. So here's how I would describe these products. They're not cheap. They strongly incentivize you to lock yourself into the Simple Human ecosystem. But how do they make your life easier if you're willing to put up with that? So, for example, this Simple Human bin from the very first interaction, it's thoughtless. You just walk up to it and a sensor in front of it will make it open. There's a pod up here. Perfect example of something they want you to keep buying from them, but something that's also very effective at making your trash just smell like 90% fresh citrus, basically. Oh, and by the way, for the remaining 10%, we got the Briv 2 Pro air filter, which is pound for pound, not the best air filter you can get. And the app is pretty unreliable. But then when you factor in how much it suits the aesthetic of the room and how it also acts as the scent diffuser using essential oils, I think it's worth it. So then let's say your trash is full. They've made every part of the process easy. You pull out these pretty rip-proof bags. You pull the tags to fasten those bags. And then to put a new bag in, you don't need to go rummage around under your sink. You just reach inside, you grab said new bag. And the Simple Human bags even let you know when you're running low with a QR code that lets you order new ones to arrive just in time before they actually run out from, you guessed it, SimpleHuman.com. See what I mean about the ecosystem now? I'd actually go as far as to say that their paper towel holder, though, is even better. So the paper towel goes on the outside. Feet, Regina Blitz. If you know, you know. It's held in place by this arm, so it doesn't actually matter how much you've got left. And then this bottle that sits on the inside, it works even better than I expected it to. What an insanely intelligent solution to bundle together two products that often need to go together anyway. But then equally, they will try and sell you on their surface cleaning tablets, too, which you'll mix with water to form the solution that goes in here. But you can just fill it up with anything. But my number one favorite product from these guys has actually ended up being these sensor pumps. I was initially worried about buying another gadget that needs to be charged and also filled up with soap every now and again. But we've had like two months of heavy usage and we haven't had to do either. And it saves so much hassle while cleaning to just be able to wash your dishes with this and wash your hands like this. And then, of course, take off the lid. And this is how you order your refills. So on brand. Right, it looks like my protein shake has been creamed. What did he say? Now, we did have to run this a few times because I think at the beginning, the mixture was so rock solid that the blades inside of this couldn't actually cut through. Wow. Look at this. That scoops up so nicely. There's a little bit of roughness to it. I'm hoping that's my oats as opposed to it being icy. Oh, yeah. This is actually a game changer. I could actually see myself every night going forward, pre-making myself one of these and having a post dinner that actually guilt free treat. It's also not crazy messy. Like all we have to clean afterwards is one or two. This video was actually just an excuse to eat. You know, when I first saw this creamy machine and the slushy machine online, the very first thing that popped into my mind was surely that's pointless because you see so many gadgets like this, like that Bartesian that I reviewed a while back, where all the work is actually being done by the capsules or the preparation you have to do beforehand. And the machine is just a glorified mixer. But that's not the case with either of these. The end product would be almost impossible to achieve otherwise. I think this is a 10. And then the final thing is just we got really lucky with this kitchen. It's designed for 10 people to be able to prep food at the same time without bumping into each other. It's got one surface that we have to keep clean. There's no walls that you can backsplash onto. There's no handles on anything that you can get caught in your clothing. And so knowing that we had such a good base, the biggest thing on our mind was just how do we build the things we want into this without interfering with it? Like we wanted plants. So we've put those quite far back. We wanted smart Philips Hue lighting. And so we found ways of weaving that into this main island without adding obstructions. We got the Samsung Frame TV as well here to add to the earthy, green, fresh theme that we've been trying to create. But the box that you need to control the thing, we put it inside the wall so that you can't see a thing. And that makes this, for us, the dream kitchen. Beyond a dream, really. This is just wow, really. So I will catch you in the next room. Hint, I will be heavily relying on that one, especially over Christmas time.