Skip to main content

In the kitchen of 2025, Ikea envisions tables that heat and cool, smarter sinks

Programmable coffee makers, sleek white cabinets, and islands are all cornerstones of the kitchen in 2015, but the space could look pretty different in 10 years, if Ikea has anything to say about it. The company collaborated with Ideo, students from the School of Industrial Design Center at Lund University, and the Industrial Design department at the Eindhoven University of Technology. The end result was Concept Kitchen 2025.

Over the course of 18 months, the groups worked together to create a concept kitchen to reflect what this space may look like in a decade. Concept Kitchen 2025 will be a part of Ikea Temporary, which opened on April 9 in Milan. The goal was to find out how people will be growing food, storing it, cooking it, and eating it in 10 years.

One of the key features of Concept Kitchen 2025 is its grey water system. This is essentially a sink with two drains. It can pivot one way for “grey” water for tasks, such as plant watering, and pivot another direction to send contaminated water into sewage pipes.

Keeping reuse in mind, the Concept Kitchen 2025 also has a compost system that utilizes organic waste from the sink. Additionally, there is a system for nonorganic waste that separates items according to material. For instance, a bottle can be scanned by the system to identify its contaminants and determine how it should be disposed of.

Concept Kitchen 2025: A Table for Living

In terms of food storage, the Concept Kitchen 2025 hints that we may get a bit more casual in the future. For example, we could lean toward more “open storage” and shelves that allow us to see our food. This type of storage can also help us keep healthier options in front of us.

However, the most impressive feature of Concept Kitchen 2025 may be its “table for living.” Centered above the table is a “smart light” that has a camera that observes the ingredients you want to cook with, such as tomatoes. Once it sees what you want to use, it projects information down onto the table to assist you with meal preparation. The smart light will help you create a meal based on how much time you want to spend cooking, and it can suggest tasty ingredient combinations, too. When you’re ready to cook, it will turn the surface of the table into a burner for you.

You can even charge your mobile devices on the surface of the table, thanks to its induction technology. You can also keep a plate of food warm or cool on a specific area of the table for freshness.

While the Concept Kitchen 2025 is just that — a conceptit’s hard not to get excited over this prospective technology. Bring on the future!

Krystle Vermes
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Krystle Vermes is a professional writer, blogger and podcaster with a background in both online and print journalism. Her…
Samsung’s new ‘Lite’ cordless vacuum is as powerful as Dyson and has AI smarts
Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Lite

Samsung announced a number of new products during its World of Samsung event in Frankfurt in the middle of march, including new fridges where Bixby can open the doors, and the world's most powerful cordless vacuum. With the dust having settled on those launches however, the company has thrown another offering into the mix after announcing the Bespoke AI Jet Lite on its newsroom. 

Matching the same suction power as Dyson's flagship Gen5Detect, the Bespoke AI Jet Lite has 280W of power within its lightweight build thanks to Samsung's HexaJet Motor, which is the same motor the company also put in the top-of-the-range Bespoke AI Jet Ultra. The motor is said to rotate at 140,000rpm, which is in fact 5,000rpm more than Dyson's offering, though we're not going to count so we're taking Samsung's word for that.  

Read more
Dreo reveals new smart home devices to help you beat the summer heat
A fan from the Dreo Summer 2025 lineup.

Summer is just around the corner, and Dreo is gearing up for its arrival by launching several new smart devices. Some products are available now, while others will arrive within the next few months, though all are specifically designed to help you stay cool and improve your indoor air quality.

The Dreo Summer 2025 lineup includes fans, portable air conditioners, air purifiers, and humidifiers, most of which are bundled with useful smart features to improve their performance and give you easy ways to control their settings. The most premium of the bunch is the Dreo Portable Air Conditioner 319S -- its 10,000 BTU system is powerful, quiet, and drainage-free, making it an excellent way to cool your home. It also works with both Google and Alexa, and voice controls are supported for ease of use.

Read more
This smart display alternative just added a powerful new feature to help track your chores
A person using the Skylight.

Skylight is responsible for a variety of smart display alternatives with a focus on organization and schedule planning. Last summer, it launched the premium Cal Max -- a 27-inch smart calendar that we called a “streamlined smart display alternative.” Since its arrival, Skylight has continued to roll out new features to the device, and now you’ll find a powerful feature called Routines available across the Skylight Calendar lineup. Designed to simplify chores and build good habits for the entire family, it’s a unique new feature that changes how you interact with the display.

The idea behind Routines is simple -- offer visual feedback and an easy-to-use interface to make it easier than ever to keep track of (and complete) all your chores. These can be set up on a recurring schedule, allowing you to program in everything from a quick 15 minutes of reading before bedtime or a few minutes each morning for your kids to brush their teeth. Routines can be customized with various emojis and color-coding to help keep track of them, and a fun confetti animation is triggered once they’re complete.

Read more