Wave your hand to open this Sharp microwave drawer
You don't have to touch this $1,750 microwave drawer when it's time to heat up your tater tots.
A new microwave drawer from Sharp wants to give you a hand if yours are too messy to press a button. With the $1,750 Sharp Micro-Wave Drawer, you wave your hand in front of the microwave, and it opens automatically. The microwave began shipping to customers this month.
The wave-to-open feature on Sharp's microwave would be a welcome addition to the kitchen, the one place where you really will have your hands full or covered in food. But I'd like to see Sharp extend this technology beyond the built-in microwave drawer and into more traditional countertop or above-the-range microwaves -- and preferably at least a few that don't cost quite so much.
Microwaves have been at the center of some interesting innovation. At CES this month, Whirlpool introduced a Wi-Fi-enabled microwave that can take voice commands and learn your cooking habits. And the Germany-based Miele remixed the microwave with the Dialog Oven, an appliance that cooks your food with electromagnetic waves (microwaves also use this same type of energy), along with traditional radiant heat from the top and bottom of the oven and a convection fan.
Features
- 24 inches wide
- Stainless-steel finish
- 1.2-cubic-foot capacity
- LED interior lighting