When you think of kitchen design, words like sleek, modern, contemporary, clean, and functional likely come to mind. And while you likely take steps to hide the garbage in your kitchen, Ikea wants you to put it on display with Kungsbacka, its new recycled kitchen cabinet collection.
Ikea paired up with Swedish design studio Form Us With Love to create kitchen cabinets made entirely from reclaimed industrial wood and plastic bottles. Twenty-five plastic bottles are used in each 15.75-by-31.5-inch cabinet, according to Form Us With Love.
While Ikea and Form Us With Love used trash to make a functional kitchen, you would never know it by looking at the design. The cabinet fronts, colored in matte, anthracite grey, are elegant, too. “We wanted it to feel like a black t-shirt, tuned to fit right, practical and still precious,” said John Löfgren, creative director at Form Us With Love.
The furniture giant also focused on longevity and affordability. ‘Today, applying waste materials in production is unfortunately still costly and the Kungsbacka kitchen fronts could have easily ended up too expensive. Overcoming the price was a milestone in the development. Sustainability should be for everyone, not only for those who can afford it,’ says Anna Granath, product developer at Ikea.
Some Americans drink bottled water like its some sort of magic potion. In the mid-1970s, the typical American drank about a gallon-and-a-half of bottled water during the course of a year. By 2015, each American increased their bottled water consumption to more than 36 gallons, National Geographic reports.
All of this bottled water produces massive waste; and, it’s waste that’s not always recycled. The average American throws away 600 times their weight in garbage, and a large portion of that waste is plastic products, Boston College reports.
While Ikea is keeping some of these bottles out of landfills at the moment, the cabinets aren’t built to last forever; the company expects them to stay in good shape for about 25 years, though.
Ikea’s Kungsbacka kitchen will be available in February 2017.
Outdoor security cameras are not always practical if you live in an apartment or rental. Drilling into an exterior wall may be off-limits, while pointing a regular indoor camera through a window can create another problem once reflections start showing up after dark.
Baseus is trying to solve both issues with the new PrimeSentinel W1, a $69.99 security camera designed specifically to monitor the outdoors through glass. It mounts directly to a window without drilling and uses a 4K Starlight sensor with an F1.0 aperture for full-color monitoring during the day and at night.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
Technology evolves every day, transforming how we live and work. Our devices are becoming more than tools we use. They are increasingly capable companions that help streamline day-to-day routines and spark creative ideas. If you have been waiting for the right moment to upgrade your tech setup, the Discover Samsung Shopping Event offers an opportunity to explore what connected, AI-powered living can look like.
With AI progressing so fast, it's only a matter of time before we start getting AI companions like the ones we used to see in movies like R2-D2, Wall-E, or Baymax. Now, Singapore-based OKA Technology has unveiled Mori, a cute little AI companion that looks less like a conventional home robot and more like someone turned the Pokémon Foongus into a table lamp.
Mori isn't meant to clean your house or control your smart home, but to serve as what OKA calls a "Nature Companion." It uses subtle movements, warm lighting, nature-inspired sounds, and small reactions to make its presence around the house feel calming rather than distracting. Mori can sit quietly while you read, sway along to music, welcome you when you enter a room, or encourage you to slow down for a moment without requiring a screen or a conversation.