ie8 fix

stove

Now we're cookin' and it's a sound idea, too

Two billion people around the globe still depend on open wood fires for cooking. That method is 5 percent efficient in using energy. The smoke is unhealthy for all those who must breathe it. And in some areas it's depleting forests that can't grow fast enough.

Now the University of Nottingham is going to try to build a thermoacoustic kitchen. And that's my new word for the day. No, not "kitchen," but "thermoacoustic." Instead of using the usual wood fire, this device would generate "sound waves through the nonuniform heating of gas.&… Read more

A stove for Roger Rabbit's kitchen

If current design trends hold up, kitchens of the future could end up looking like sets from Mickey's Toontown. For a while, refrigerators seemed to be the more popular fashion targets, but designers are now applying their color palettes to neighboring appliances.

Treehugger, for example, highlights some neon-hued stoves in Japan that could be heading west. The reason for their popularity is as much practical as aesthetic, because these are wood-burning pellet stoves that are far more environmentally friendly than their traditional counterparts.

Call us old-fashioned, but we still prefer our kitchen fixtures in neutral finishes. But if they … Read more