The kitchen isn’t solely a space for prepping food anymore…it has evolved into a social space where hosts and guests get to sit together, chat and interact in various ways. This transformation brought with it not only a change in ambiance but also in the individual design of the furniture pieces involves. That being said, it’s time to rethink your kitchen, to take advantage of the new technologies available on the market and to simplify your life. These cool tables and cooktops can help you do that, whether you have a small kitchen or a large and spacious one.

The SmartSlab dining table solves a small but very real issue – the fact that the food gets cold in the plate and that drinks get warm on the table while dining. that’s the way it’s always been and it’s normal but, as always, we’re constantly working on improving our quality of life and on increasing our everyday comfort. This table does that by featuring hidden circuitry embedded into its top which by the way is very thin and sleek. The circuitry creates induction rings which allow the ceramic top to act as a cook top and plate-sized heating elements ensure that the food maintains the perfect temperature. Other parts of the table are designed to maintain a cool temperature so the drinks can stay fresh. How cool is all of this?

Nowadays there’s barely any difference between the kitchen and the dining area….sometimes they’re even one and the same and it’s entirely possible to actually have an eat-in kitchen and no dining space. But what if the opposite were also possible? What if the dining area could become the new kitchen? Naturally, that would mean that the cooking appliances would have to be somehow transferred into the dining room. That’s just what the Cooking Table makes possible. As the name suggests, this is a dining table that you can cook on. It’s designed by Moritz Putzier and it’s a piece of furniture which reimagines the act of cooking, translating it into a structure better suite for the modern lifestyle, with an emphasis on the experience of cooking and dining and not on the food itself or the equipment involved.

Just look at this island? Can you believe that it actually has a functional sink and a cooktop built right into it? We looked at it from all angles and we’re still not convinced. This is a kitchen island designed by i29 for an apartment in Paris. It’s made of stainless steel and its design has been reduced to the absolute minimum. The top is only two centimeters thick and there are no pipes or wires anywhere to be seen. It’s all embedded into the island. The sink is placed at one end and the cooking hob at the other, leaving the central portion of the top empty and perfect for prepping food on. Since the island is so thin and simple and so much like a dining table, you can actually use it as one.

The Oikos cooktop table is also a cool hybrid designed to suit the open floor plans of modern and contemporary homes. This is a kitchen island and dining table combo made of stainless steel and oak wood. It has two wheels which allow it to be pushed around to wherever it’s needed and this features goes well with its overall modularity and flexibility. The nice about this piece is that it can feature a regular table top one moment and a cooking surface the next one. The induction hob can be concealed beneath the wooden top and uncovered when needed along with the storage compartments.

This is another intriguing and inspiring design meant to transform the way we perceive kitchens in general and to transition from purely a functional space to a social environment. What you see here is a product designed byStudio Gorm. From what we can tell, it’s meant to simplify the kitchen and that makes it great for small spaces. This is an all-in-one kitchen table which has a built-in sink, a cooktop, storage drawers for dishes, glasses, utensils and everything else, hooks and racks for hanging stuff on and a series of containers with tops that double as chopping blocks. You don’t really need a kitchen when you can have this table.

With a name like ChopChop it’s hard to ignore the playful nature of this kitchen table. This is a product designed by Dirk Biotto which is meant to address the difficulties that everyday tasks pose to the elderly and disabled when using a regular kitchen. There are many cool and useful features included in this design. First of all, the counter’s height is adjustable which allows the station to be customized for each individual user. Also, the backplate is perforated so utensils can be hanged there for convenience. There’s also ample storage for everything else usually needed in a kitchen. Further more, the sink has an extendable hose and a slope that makes it easy to pull heavy pots onto the work surface without lifting them. There’s also a built-in grater and a milled slot for slicing bread.