Kitchen Computer

Back in December Mary came to me and said “I want a computer in the kitchen.” On a certain level I’d been expecting this for a while. She has quite the cookbook collection and has been scanning her recipe cards for while now. Having to print a recipe to paper whenever she wants to cook something in the kitchen sort of defeats the purpose of scanning them into the computer in the first place. However, and she will admit this herself, Mary is a very messy cook. I love her cooking but I’m glad she does the majority of the cleaning up. (I take care of the dishes.) A computer covered various foods and other unnamed substances was not something I wanted to look forward to. Also, there isn’t exactly a lot of available counter space on which to put a computer, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. A-researchin’ I went.

What we ended up with is shown in the photo above, which if you click will take you to some other photos at other angles on flickr. (There have been some minor tweaks since the photo has taken like better cable management but nothing too significant.) The computer is an Acer nettop which is sitting inside the cabinet. The monitor has been mounted under the cabinet so that it can be folded up and out of the way when it’s not in use. The keyboard is foldable for easy storage and rubberized for easy cleanup. The computer itself is connected to the home network via WiFi (802.11n) and stores all the scanned recipe files.(And is also backed up across the network to an external hard drive in my office.)

Needless to say, Mary is happy with the results. It’s not a powerful computer but it does the job she needs it to do. All for about $300.

Here are the detailed specs and links for those interested:

• Acer AspireRevo AR1600-U910H Black/White Nettop PC
  (1.6GHz Intel Atom 230 Processor 1024 MB DDR2 Memory, Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader 160 GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive, No Optical Drive included Integrated NVIDIA ION LE Graphics, 6 USB 2.0 Ports, VGA & HDMI ports Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3)
• USB Mouse
• Coby TFTV1212 12-Inch Widescreen LCD Digital TV/Monitor
• LCD Mount Bracket Kitchen Under-cabinet DLP Hdtv Monitor 10-15"
• iConcepts Flexible Foldable Keyboard
• D-Link DWA-130 Wireless N USB Adapter
• CABLES TO GO : VGA270 VGA cable HD-15M – HD-15M 3 ft
• Windows Live Photo Gallery for indexing and displaying recipes.

Also needed: 1.25" hole saw

(There are now six computers in our house. The only two rooms without a computer are the bathrooms. Technically there’s no computer in Diana’s room but only because she has it with her on campus.)