NBC TODAY: Live from the Housewares Show

Today's Corey Greenberg becomes the Gourmet Greenberg at the International Housewares trade show in Chicago. On display, thousands of new kitchen, home and cleaning products all vying for a coveted spot on retail store shelves in the coming year. 60,000 people are gathered in the Windy City to view over 2,000 new products covering 875,000 square feet of exhibit space. Here's a sampling of some of the new products from Corey's web site beststuff.com.


GE Advantium 120
This space age kitchen appliance uses high-powered halogen lights instead of molecules to cook full meals at speeds up to 5 times faster than traditional microwaves or ovens. Besides speed, cooking with light doesn't discriminate like a microwave with what food you can put in it. It can cook a steak or a pie just as well as your oven and do it in half the time. While light cooking products have been on the market for a couple of years, GE is introducing the first high speed light cooking oven to incorporate a standard 120 volt plug, instead of a 220v beast that required three electricians and a custom install. The lower voltage 120 reduces its speed from 5 times to 3X faster, but it adds three more cooking options: a microwave mode, a broiler oven function and a food-warming tray. It will be available later this year and sell for around $750.




If your clothes look more like a Sharpei than apparel, check out Rowenta's Steam Generator Steam Iron. The tethered iron features a super large 33-ounce water tank that generates enough high-powered steam to clean everything from suits to curtains.

For everyday ironing, Rowenta is also showing the ultimate (in price and performance) iron.

Spicy Avocados
Cooking gadgets are always the highlight of IHS and this year is no exception. Corey will have a collage of some of the more notable kitchen gadgets from the show floor including the world's best avocado slicer from Progressive International and a ergonomic spice grinder from OXO.

What's new in cookware? Italian Cookware maker Bialetti, the leading cookware producer in Italy for nearly 60 years, is introducing its first full line of cookware to the US market at the show. Its Spazio (OK, so it still has a goofy European name) Pro-Style line features a unique folding handle for space-saving convenience, fitting snugly and efficiently into cupboards, dishwashers and plate racks. The Spazio line-up also includes shockproof glass lids with stainless steel rims. Spazio saucepans come with a plastic storage-lid for easy transfer to the refrigerator. The lid is configured with a pressure-reducing knob to ensure cold-storage freshness. The Spazio System includes 8", 9.5" and 11" fry pans, 1.5-qt. and 2.5-qt. single-handle saucepans, 10.5" x13" grill pan, and a 11" stir-fry pan.

In other cleaning news Bissell introduced a stylish iMac look alike combo hand vac/mini canister vac with a powerful 6 amp two-motor system. It's bagless so it never needs vacuum bags. It has a see-through dirt container that easily removes for hassle-free emptying. It's power you can see. Best of all, the belt is permanent so it never has to be disconnected or replaced. Other features include an onboard stretch hose and crevice tool. Simply detach the unit’s power head from the stretch hose and insert the crevice tool to clean really tight spots. It will be available late summer with a suggested retail price of $49.99.