2004 Housewares and Home Show Recap

The trends this year are – colors , colors, colors! What is old is new again with retro styling, and with new technology, appliances are getting smarter than ever. Here are some of the hottest kitchen gear out this year.

Cool Basics: Gotta Have Kitchen Gadgets

OXO Fat Separator
First separator that has stopper that prevents fat from going into the pour spot. Just pour all the broth from the pan into the separator and watch fat rise to top while lean broth settles to bottom. It’s strainer catches unwanted bits and presto you’ve got the perfect broth to make the perfect gravy. $15 Available June. Check www.oxo.com for store locations.

Le Creuset Cool Tool
Revolutionary new silicon material. It’s truly cool tool that is heat resistant up to 800 degrees. Use it as a surface protector for hot pots, as a pot holder, jar open or even as a garlic peeler! Just roll a glove from one end of the ‘cool tool’ to the other and presto you’ve got a clean glove. Available in red, white, blue and citrus. $8 Available April. Check www.lecreuset.com for store locations.

Chef n’ Pop Out Peeler
One of those: Why didn’t I think of that! Smart design holds its multi-directional, retractable blade in its tube when not in use (FYI: multi-directional means it can go back and forth!). Comes in celery, ice, (clear), sky blue and apricot. $6.49 Available now. Check www.chefn.com for store locations.

Progressive Color Changing Spoons
Just put this spoon into your soup, chili or whatever and it will signal when food is hot by changing color from blue to white at 120 degrees. Heat resistant to 250 degrees. Best used in microwave. Available in 2 sizes, 9-inch and 6-inch. $2.99. 1-800-426-7101.

Cleaning Products: No Fuss, No Mess

Electrolux Trilobite Robot Vac
From the folks who basically wrote the book on vacuum cleaners comes the Trilobite (named after a prehistoric dinosaur that cleaned the ocean floors and now they can clean yours). It’s quieter, uses state of the art sound waves (ultrasound) and infra red rays to measure the room and avoid obstacles plus automatically returns to its charger when done or needs recharging (60 minute capacity). Never bumps into anything and its ‘electronic brain’ will estimate how long it takes to clean. 3 cleaning modes. Normal, spot, and quick clean. At $1799 it’s not for everybody, but it would be nice to have its ‘electronic brain’ doing the thinking about cleaning instead of you! Available May. http://trilobite.electrolux.se

Tide Buzz from Tide &Black & Decker
No more sending your dry cleaner to Florida thanks to all your dry cleaning bills. This new gadget erases chocolate, wine, coffee, lipstick, blood and grease with an ultrasonic stain remover that uses same techniques dry cleaners do with a spray and wave of a wand. $49 Available May. Check www.tidebuzz.com for store locations. www.tidebuzz.com

Coffee Makers: This Brew’s for You!

Bodum Granos Automatic Espresso Machine This is for serious espresso lovers. Aside from its great design and Bodum’s reputation for making great products, this expresso machine is the only expresso machine that allows you to use your favorite bottled water or filtered water as its water supply. $500. Available June. www.bodum.com

Retro Product--Yeeha!

Hamilton Beach Muchas Margaritas Fiesta Blender
Jimmy Buffet here we come! This cool looking lean, green margarita machine comes with a cutting board, salt tray and a sombrero lid. Features eight speeds including Siesta, Andale, Ariba and Yee-ha! VERY CUTE AND FUN!! Available now at mass retailers and select department stores, just in time to fine tune your margarita- making skills for Cinca De Mayo Day on May 5th. $35 www.hamiltonbeach.com

Appliances: Smart and Sassy!

LG TV Fridge
This new product gives real meaning to the words “TV Dinner”. It’s the first one on the market. While last year’s internet fridge was just a tech piece the LGTV fridge is consumer friendly– it’s thin and takes up no extra space on the front of the fridge or inside. It’s 13 1/2 LCD (flat screen) TV is cable ready and comes with FM stereo radio and remote control. Should you want, you could make this fridge your home’s entertainment center since it has outlets for a DVD, VCR and CD Player. Comes in black, white, stainless steel and titanium. Plus, it has energy saving control features to regulate the fridge’s temp. $3000. Available end of May beginning of June at Best Buy. www.lgappliances.com

BEYOND MICROWAVE Oven
Smart technology is what the future of our kitchen is all about and this one takes the cake…so to speak! Thanks to a built in bar code scanner, this ‘smarty’ scans the package’s bar codes and cooks it accordingly. It has over 4000 UPC codes in memory from the most commonly used convenience foods (i.e. quick cooking, easy to eat foods like Lean Cuisine frozen entrees, Campbell soups and good ole popcorn!). And each has been tested to be precisely timed for this microwave so no more burning that bag of popcorn! You can also add your own codes. $150. Available June on Amazon.com. www.esalton.com