39 Types of Modern Kitchen Appliances (Design, Cooking & SMART Technology)

This is your ultimate modern kitchen appliances guide where we break down modern appliances into design, cooking technology and SMART technology. Then we provide excellent suggestions and ideas for each category.

The interesting aspect of the word “modern” when used in relation to appliances, is it can mean one of three things, all of which are very different. Our aim with this extensive modern kitchen appliance guide is to provide information for every meaning.

Here’s what I mean. When someone wants to learn more about modern kitchen appliances, it could mean any of the following:

Modern appliance design,
Modern appliance technology such as smart appliances, or
Modern cooking technique appliances such as sous-vide.

Hence this article is broken up into those 3 topics, each of which we cover in-depth and provide a nice collection of examples for all major appliances as well as some small appliances.

Chances are, you’re looking for modern kitchen appliance design ideas, so that’s our first section.

1. Modern Kitchen Appliance Design

Refrigerator

I watch the TV show Silicon Valley. There was one episode where one of the coders bought a smart fridge for the house where it actually scanned products and automatically generated shopping lists as food items were consumed. It was super cool. Of course, TV being TV had to make it more interesting by another of the coders in the house hacking the fridge making it do some funny stuff with memes on the screen etc.

Stainless steel fridge with glass door to see inside — What genius finally came up with a glass door for the fridge? How often have you opened a fridge just staring trying to decide what to eat or drink. This is awesome, but it’s hardly SMART Technology.

Stainless steel refrigerator with freezer on the bottom.

Black modern side-by-side fridge with freezer on left and refrigerator on the right.

Stainless steel smart fridge with full screen-style control panel. Freezer on bottom.

Toaster

Toaster design is awesome as you’ll see below. I think designers are coming up with some great ideas after decades of being stagnate. Also check out our different types of toasters article here.

Red modern retro toaster. This is so cool for the right kitchen. It wouldn’t work in a rustic style kitchen but it totally works in a modern or midcentury or industrial style kitchen.

Modern stainless steel retro style toaster for 4 slices of bread. — Here’s a retro style stainless steel toaster that would work in most kitchen designs.

White modern toaster with curved design. — This thing hardly looks like a toaster. It’s awesome with its curved design. I also really like the white exterior… who says appliances need to be stainless steel in order to look great.

Toaster Oven

Toaster oven design is pretty exciting. There are lots of options. You can go with a standard look or use the toaster oven to accent your kitchen. Yes, you can use small appliances to add accent design elements in your kitchen.

Dark stainless steel modern toaster oven with glass face. — This is a cool space-age looking glass-faced toaster oven with blue screen.

Microwave

Microwave technology hasn’t changed too much over the years. At the heart of it, they microwave food. Even the designs haven’t evolved much. However, we chose a few modern microwaves and set them out below. Keep in mind that there are different types of microwaves that I discuss here.

Microwave designed to fit in the corner — Sure, this doesn’t have some cool space-age look to it, but it has a new design in that it fits in the corner. Corner spaces are often wasted so this microwave solves that problem by fitting in the corner. I like it.

Red modern retro microwave — I’d be remiss to not include a modern retro style microwave in our list. This is a great design – flashback from the 1950’s. Ironically, microwaves weren’t available to the mass public back then.

Oven

French door oven

Apart from being stylish, the unique Old World door configuration of these ovens makes them a great choice for kitchens in which space is limited. The latest models such as the new General Electric Monogram features Wi-Fi connectivity, so you can control its function and baking regimen remotely with your smartphone. The racks that glide effortlessly on stainless steel bearings are designed to remain inside during the oven’s steam self-cleaning cycles.

Stainless steel oven with french doors — It looks great, but I’m not so sure a french door oven is the best design for functionality. It’s harder to open up the oven with one hand. The plus side is you don’t have lean over a large drop-down door. I guess has pros and cons. We don’t have this type so I can’t comment from personal experience.

Regular Ovens with a Modern Design

Black and stainless steel modern wall oven — Most houses get wall ovens these days. It’s the norm. Here’s an example of a modern design in black and stainless steel.

Solid stainless steel minimalist oven — I love the minimalist design for this oven. It’s simple and sleek.

Coffee Maker

I think there are some very exciting designs for coffee makers. The thing with this small appliances is that there are many coffee maker options based on the type of coffee you like to make – drip, percolator, espresso, single cup, etc. Below is a collection of various coffee makers with a modern design.

Stainless steel single cup coffee maker — I love this coffee maker. I bought it and tested it. It makes single cup as well as other beverages. It looks fabulous too.

Modern stainless steel drip coffee maker — This is definitely a cool drip coffee maker. Who knew a drip coffee maker could look so up-to-date. I like this design and I love the huge water reservoir.

Modern looking Nespresso single serve espresso machine — I love Nespresso coffee as well as their designs. They put as much effort into design as the quality of their espresso.

Flair Signature Espresso Maker with extreme modern design — How’s that for a modern espresso maker design-wise?

Dishwasher

Our dishwasher is a boring white, inexpensive thing that gets the job done. In our former house, we had a spectacular sleek, stainless dishwasher that did a spectacular job. We inherited our current model and can’t be bothered to shell out $800 or more for something better so for now we stick with boring.

However, if you’re buying a dishwasher, you don’t have to settle for boring. You can get something exciting and modern. Here are some examples of the latest in modern dishwasher design.

Stainless Steel built in dishwasher — This is a standard modern dishwasher design that would look good in most kitchens.

Modern portable countertop dishwasher — Our first dishwasher was a portable type on wheels that hooked up to the sink faucet. It was cumbersome and got in the way, but it sure beat washing dishes by hand. Here’s something that’s a better design because it sits on the counter.

Stainless steel dishwasher with a glass window — This is about as innovative as dishwasher design has come – they added a window in the door. I’m not sure I get the purpose of being able to look inside except that 3-year-olds might find it interesting for about 2 minutes.

Matching cabinet panel front microwave — While not modern, the concept is relatively new and that is to make appliances blend into cabinet design. I don’t think this is as popular as some people expected it to be. There’s something cool about appliances having a bold appearance within the kitchen – hence the current popularity of stainless steel. Source: Monogram.

2. Smart Appliance Technology

The acronym SMART is short for “Self-Monitoring Analysis And Reporting Technology.” Our lives are more and more influenced and intertwined with SMART technology and we are becoming dependent on the benefits it provides us with.

The main purpose of SMART is to make our busy lives run smoothly and relieve us from the troubles of dealing with all those techy stuff and dedicate our precious time to something else. It helps us save energy, save money and it gives us a sense of security.

Just by using a smartphone app we can adjust the temperature of the fridge, tell the oven when we want our lunch to be ready and make the cup of coffee just the way we want.

Those smart appliances can really improve our lifestyle and allow us to prepare more healthy and delicious food for our families and ironically, maybe this is how all this new technology is finally going to help us become more human after all.

In the age when HAPI cutlery is Bluetooth enabled to track your eating stats in real time, it shouldn’t surprise that the refrigerators feature giant tablets packed with mobile apps like StickiBoard and Shopping List. Even the Basics Microwave connects seamlessly with the Alexa home integration device, ready to take your orders. Using the free WeMo-app, the Wi-Fi enabled Crock-Pot Slow Cooker lets you adjust setting from wherever you are.

Far from being a hype or novelty that will expire till the next Christmas, the smart technologies implemented in these appliances can truly improve your lifestyle and allow you to easily prepare delicious and healthy meals for your family with a large chef’s hat.

Below we set out some examples of SMART appliances.