When it comes to cooking in your oven, things are pretty straightforward – you simply set the temperature to the exact number required. For stove-top cooking, though, you have to estimate if the saucepan is at more or less the right temperature. PanPerfect offers a way of knowing exactly how hot it is.
Developed by Silicon Valley-based entrepreneur Keh Ho, PanPerfect is a Wi-Fi and infrared-camera-equipped device that’s mounted on the wall behind your oven. When it’s initially installed, you angle it so that its downward-facing camera can take in all of the oven’s burners. Using the device’s touchscreen display, you then assign each burner as a distinct heat zone.
Once you’re ready to roll, you turn on the burner beneath your pan, then use either the touchscreen or an accompanying smartphone app to input the temperature that you wish it to reach before you start cooking. PanPerfect will proceed to monitor that zone, using its infrared camera to analyze the thermal signature of the pan’s cooking surface. Once it reaches the right temperature, you’ll be alerted via the app.
You can also access a collection of recipes on the app, which provide the cooking times and temperatures for a variety of foods. Additionally, if the pan should go on to get too hot once you start cooking, both the app and the device itself will sound an alarm.
PanPerfect’s battery life is a claimed three hours per 1-hour charge, although it can also be plugged directly into a wall outlet. It’s currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, where a pledge of US$99 will get you one, when and if it reaches production. The planned retail price is $189.