Revolutionary kitchen does afar with pots and pans

A cooker that doesn"t use pots and pans could one day be taking centre stage in your kitchen.

Fancy a bite to eat? Tea for the kids? All you need do is press your hand down on the softened surface to create a hole and in go the ingredients.

Setting the temperature and time is then another simple flick of a finger.

This is the future according to Electrolux and their new tactile design concept called "Heart Of The Home".

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The ingredients are placed on the mouldable surface which then heats up and cooks your food

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Although Electrolux have no immediate plans to create the device, they believe the technology should be in use within 40 years

The ingredients are placed on the mouldable surface and the same area then heats up and cooks your food.

Before it does this, it analyses what has been placed on it and offers you a range of recipe options to choose from.

If you need to cook larger amounts and need a wider surface then you simply press down on a bigger area.

And because there are no pots and pans, there won"t be any washing up.

Although the firm"s concept video doesn"t explain how it is cleaned,it presumably takes just a swish of a dishcloth to clear away anyremains.

In the video the user is shown creating a number of pans simply by pressing on the malleable surface.

Once a recipe is selected the user is able to move the "hobs" across the surface.

Electrolux said the design had been prompted by the need to createenergy-efficient devices that were of practical use for an increasinglyurbanised society.

It pointed out that 2008 was the year when, for the first time inhistory, more people were living in cities than in rural areas.

The UN believes that the number will rise to a staggering 74 percent in 2050. This compares with a mere 29 per cent living in cities in1950.

Pressures on space and resources will mean that homes will needappliances that can carry out a number of functions as opposed to onespecific function.

Although Electrolux have no immediate plans to create the device, they said the technology should be in use within 40 years.

The company said the design had been: "Created for the person drivenby culinary curiosity using new technology without removing the essenceof cooking."

Heart of the Home was presented for the first time at DesignBoost in Stockholm, last week.

A new kitchen concept has been unveiled by Electrolux