Subscribe by EmailInstalling a PC in the kitchen – going too far?
March 19, 2008 by Mark O'Neill | 14 commentsBy Mark O’Neill
I live in a pretty neat place. My girlfriend and I live in a small apartment which is connected to her parents house. Our apartment and their house is completely connected by a network that runs our internet, telephones and satellite TV.
When I first moved here years ago, I thought that it was amazing – how everything can be run out of one little room using a computer, server and network, how nearly every room in the house had a computer with internet connection. Every room that is, except the kitchen and the bathroom.
Well, two years back, we finally got a computer and internet access in the kitchen. Only the bathroom remains internet-free, although I suspect that may not last for long. I want to be able to instantly IM my girlfriend that we are out of toilet rolls and I can’t let the toilet get in the way of digging that all-important GAS article.
As MSN Tech points out in a post, there are definate advantages to having internet access in the kitchen. Here’s my advantages.
- You can ask when dinner is by sending an instant message to your partner. Useful if you’re in another room with the door shut and you don’t want to shout. You can also email or IM additions to the shopping list.
- Get instant access to recipes. I like to bake cakes as a stress-buster and I often need to look up cake recipes online. So it’s very handy to have online access in the kitchen to look up measurements.
- Keep an eye on email or IM. Sometimes I want to start making dinner but I need to wait for a client to get back to me on an important matter. By having my email and IM open in the kitchen, I can start chopping vegetables and still keep my ears open for that important “ping!”
- Play music. I have iTunes installed on the kitchen PC and while I am browsing recipes, I am sometimes playing something to get me energised to start burning the place down (my cooking leaves a lot to be desired). A little Marvin Gaye always gets me in the mood to start burning the beef or overcook the pasta.
But I have to admit my main motivation for getting a PC in the kitchen is to IM my girlfriend – when all is said and done, I am a lazy geek and I like to fire up Google Talk and send instant messages asking when dinner is ready. I know, all the feminist geeks will be outraged with me. Go burn your bra’s girls.
Do you have a PC in the kitchen? If so, what’s your primary reason for having it there? What other strange places do you have a PC? In the bathroom? The garage? Come on, shock us.
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I’ve got a few friends who have laptops in their kitchen.. mainly to find recipe idea, convert measures (pounds to kgs, etc..)
A very useful tool :)
I’ve had a PC in every room in the house (including the bathroom) for years… I believe it’s commonly known as “a laptop with wireless internet access”
IF you have a laptop and wireless access! :-) Not everyone is so fortunate! The photograph with this article is not mine!
Each of your reasons/bullet points can be accomplished with a cell phone and without the need for a pc in every room. Then you don’t have to walk over to the computer when you hear that “ping” as your phone can be conveniently located in your pocket or attached to your belt.
Hmmm…not really. We have a flat-rate DSL internet connection whereas cellphone calls cost extra money. Plus cellphone access to the web here is absolute daylight robbery (and VERY slow). On a pre-pay phone like I have, it can wipe out the entire credit in one swoop.
The kitchen is the hub of our house, I have to be sat at the breakfast bar with the laptop, otherwise, I’d never see the other members of my family!
Like Kiltak says, I also use my laptop for finding recipes, etc.
I also usually have a laptop with wireless connections, so I can be connected anywhere in the house (and yes I have chatted from the toilet before!) I also have a work laptop that requires a wired connection, but by convenient location, I can even take my laptop for work into the bathroom and talk to customers while sitting on the toilet or doing my hair/make up…
But my regular pc, aka paperweight, sits on it’s desk right next to my bed so that I can see what’s going on no matter what time it is!
we have wireless too, so our laptops are everyone EXCEPT the bathroom (ewww @ M). We have 4 wireless phones and one base, the phones can page each other. I’m a lazy geek too – I use them when I need my boyfriend to stop playing Xbox and help me with stuff and I don’t want to go all the way to the basement. He’s never on IM unless we are at work.
I think its a great Idea, people have TV’s all over the house now days, I think its pretty much the same concept but with a faaaaar better peace of technology; if it was up to me I would have a Computer every 4 feet all over my house. LOL
I wouldn’t mind one in the kitchen, but a flat screen thing that sits on the wall and not take up any bench space. Something that is splash proof would be great also (and food proof, maybe a clear plastic cover).
I reckon it is a much needed addition to the kitchen.
I’d put one in the kitchen for recipes, but I’d do it this way:
http://www.epiacenter.com/modules.php?name=Sections&sop=viewarticle&artid=2
I like being able to have my laptop in the kitchen and pull a recipe up on the internet. But I wouldn’t need a kitchen-specific PC.
Now, if it was built into the kitchen, that would be cool. Like into the fridge or something.
“burn your bra’s girls” – why would you advocate women setting their breasts on fire? That’s just weird.
Ha! Ha! Not breasts! I am not so educated on the feminist movement but I seem to remember a woman burning her bra as a statement of her asserting her femininity.
My pal, Mr Wikipedia, even has a section on it – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_brassieres#Feminist_protests.2C_Miss_America.2C_and_.22bra_burning.22