For decades, an Indian kitchen has been shaped by two realities: the wider availability of meagrely paid domestic helps or toiling homemakers and the cultural insistence on fresh, hot food. While that remains true, the Indian kitchen has been quietly going electric over the years.

The mixer‑grinder was the first sign of changing times. The microwave arrived with the promise of a cooking revolution, but is mostly used for reheating leftovers. And then the air fryers for guilt-free grub, coffee machines for a discerning coffee ritual, induction cooktops for emergencies, and OTGs for experimental baking followed—each adding a little more steel and glass to the countertop.

But the next wave of kitchen technology promises to be very different.

I tried three smart appliances that are trying to automate the parts of Indian cooking that are repetitive, time‑sensitive, or simply too messy for a weekday evening. Plus, unlike the first generation of smart appliances, these machines can handle Indian cuisine: our ingredients, our masalas, and our cooking styles. And with the conflict in West Asia tightening LPG supply lines, electric cooking suddenly feels less like a lifestyle choice and more like a practical hedge.

The Multi‑Cooker That Gets It Right

The OneChef is Philips’ most ambitious attempt at a do‑it‑all cooker—especially for an Indian dinner table. It looks like a pressure cooker that has been upgraded to a full-stack cooking device with a touchscreen and a sense of purpose.

OneChef’s strength lies in its Indian approach is important—instead of generic “rice” or “stew” presets, it offers dal, idli, sambar, biryani, etc. Plus, the temperature control is tuned for tadka (tempering), hitting the required high heat without burning it into a sticky brown regret. And the app‑guided recipes are practical, if not revolutionary. They tell you when to add ingredients, when to stir, and when to leave the machine alone.

Of course, OneChef won’t replace the gas stove in most homes as yet. But it can definitely replace the second burner, the one that’s always occupied by dal or a sabzi that’s just working on its own. Despite some limitations, for a typical dal-sabzi-chawal household, OneChef is a dependable weekday workhorse. And since, it packs an air fryer as well, at ₹19,995 it’s a great addition to a modern kitchen.

An ambitious kitchen gadget

The original Rotimatic was a cult product in the West—loved and mocked at the same time. It was expensive, temperamental, and ahead of its time. The Rotimatic Next is a calmer, more mature version. The rotis are softer and more consistent. The noise levels are lower; still not comfortable to have it on a counter next to the dining table. The cleaning process is less intimidating.

The idea isn’t misplaced. Kneading dough and making fresh rotis twice a day is labour intensive. In performance terms, it is the single biggest time-saver for households that eat rotis daily. And it becomes an important insurance policy in the context of LPG uncertainty.

It doesn’t save time, mind you. Rotimatic Next requires 5-10 minutes of initial warming up time and then produces one roti every three minutes. And if you want a couple of more rotis done because you aren’t feeling satiated, you’ll have to restart the process.

Also, you can’t make rotis without oil (which is what we do at our home). If the oil container is empty, the machine throws an error. The company says at least one drop of oil is required for gluten formation and for the dough to be rolled into a ball.

The multitude of bread options like bhakri, pizza bases, and tortillas are currently listed as “coming soon”, and are expected to be rolled out later this year. While there’s a companion app for initial setup, you can't yet use it to also operate the machine. Rotimatic Next is quite expensive at a whopping ₹1,19,999, and occupies significant counter space. You’re essentially paying for convenience and the promise that you’ll get something extra down the line. Acquiring one isn’t seamless either. The product is currently out of stock, with a 4-6-week delivery timeline once inventory returns.

A true AI cooking system

upliance 2.0+ is the closest India has come to a Thermomix, the popular German multi-functional “kitchen robot”—but with a recipe library built for Indian kitchens. It chops, sautés, blends, kneads, cooks, and cleans. But its real differentiator is the AI‑guided comprehensive recipe engine that adapts to Indian cooking styles. The guided workflows reduce the cognitive load of everyday cooking.

The machine handles multi‑step cooking with surprising competence, moving from chopping to sautéing to simmering without supervision. But high‑heat searing, dry sabzis, and dishes that rely on intuition still sit outside its comfort zone.

It works best if you stick to the recipes on the device. A little bit of experimenting works okay, especially if you know your way around the kitchen, but try anything beyond that and the device might produce a dish that isn’t to your liking.

You don’t actually cut down on the cooking time with this device; you just cut down on your time in the kitchen. In the mornings, you’ll still need to wake up at the same time, get the ingredients ready, and be present whenever you have to move to the next step.

At ₹34,999, there a market for upliance 2.0+, but it is limited. It’s for those who don’t have time to supervise in the kitchen, want a stress-free meal without the heavy lifting of cooking. Plus, for beginners, it’s the first device that can genuinely teach someone to cook Indian food.

There’s also Chef Magic ( ₹32,999), a similar product from a mainstream brand like Wonderchef, but upliance 2.0 remains the more advanced system, especially for multi‑step dishes.

The future of the Indian kitchen

While Indians might resist automation because of set patterns of behaviour or simply because they enjoy cooking, the primary resistance comes from the fact that our food is complex. Indians believe that their cooking is a choreography of heat, timing, and texture, and machines simply can’t keep up.

These new age devices though represent the early architecture of the future kitchen. They aren’t replacing the cook, and mostly not saving time as well, but they’re replacing the routine. The final tempering, or tadka, still matters. The LPG shortage could act as a nudge in this direction, not a crisis in Indian cooking itself. These gadgets signpost a gradual shift in a country where the kitchen is both a cultural anchor and a logistical battlefield.

Abhishek Baxi is a New Delhi-based tech writer.

For decades, an Indian kitchen has been shaped by two realities: the wider availability of meagrely paid domestic helps or toiling homemakers and the cultural insistence on fresh, hot food. While that remains true, the Indian kitchen has been quietly going electric over the years.

The mixer‑grinder was the first sign of changing times. The microwave arrived with the promise of a cooking revolution, but is mostly used for reheating leftovers. And then the air fryers for guilt-free grub, coffee machines for a discerning coffee ritual, induction cooktops for emergencies, and OTGs for experimental baking followed—each adding a little more steel and glass to the countertop.

But the next wave of kitchen technology promises to be very different.

I tried three smart appliances that are trying to automate the parts of Indian cooking that are repetitive, time‑sensitive, or simply too messy for a weekday evening. Plus, unlike the first generation of smart appliances, these machines can handle Indian cuisine: our ingredients, our masalas, and our cooking styles. And with the conflict in West Asia tightening LPG supply lines, electric cooking suddenly feels less like a lifestyle choice and more like a practical hedge.

The Multi‑Cooker That Gets It Right

The OneChef is Philips’ most ambitious attempt at a do‑it‑all cooker—especially for an Indian dinner table. It looks like a pressure cooker that has been upgraded to a full-stack cooking device with a touchscreen and a sense of purpose.

OneChef’s strength lies in its Indian approach is important—instead of generic “rice” or “stew” presets, it offers dal, idli, sambar, biryani, etc. Plus, the temperature control is tuned for tadka (tempering), hitting the required high heat without burning it into a sticky brown regret. And the app‑guided recipes are practical, if not revolutionary. They tell you when to add ingredients, when to stir, and when to leave the machine alone.

Of course, OneChef won’t replace the gas stove in most homes as yet. But it can definitely replace the second burner, the one that’s always occupied by dal or a sabzi that’s just working on its own. Despite some limitations, for a typical dal-sabzi-chawal household, OneChef is a dependable weekday workhorse. And since, it packs an air fryer as well, at ₹19,995 it’s a great addition to a modern kitchen.

An ambitious kitchen gadget

The original Rotimatic was a cult product in the West—loved and mocked at the same time. It was expensive, temperamental, and ahead of its time. The Rotimatic Next is a calmer, more mature version. The rotis are softer and more consistent. The noise levels are lower; still not comfortable to have it on a counter next to the dining table. The cleaning process is less intimidating.

The idea isn’t misplaced. Kneading dough and making fresh rotis twice a day is labour intensive. In performance terms, it is the single biggest time-saver for households that eat rotis daily. And it becomes an important insurance policy in the context of LPG uncertainty.

It doesn’t save time, mind you. Rotimatic Next requires 5-10 minutes of initial warming up time and then produces one roti every three minutes. And if you want a couple of more rotis done because you aren’t feeling satiated, you’ll have to restart the process.

Also, you can’t make rotis without oil (which is what we do at our home). If the oil container is empty, the machine throws an error. The company says at least one drop of oil is required for gluten formation and for the dough to be rolled into a ball.

The multitude of bread options like bhakri, pizza bases, and tortillas are currently listed as “coming soon”, and are expected to be rolled out later this year. While there’s a companion app for initial setup, you can't yet use it to also operate the machine. Rotimatic Next is quite expensive at a whopping ₹1,19,999, and occupies significant counter space. You’re essentially paying for convenience and the promise that you’ll get something extra down the line. Acquiring one isn’t seamless either. The product is currently out of stock, with a 4-6-week delivery timeline once inventory returns.

A true AI cooking system

upliance 2.0+ is the closest India has come to a Thermomix, the popular German multi-functional “kitchen robot”—but with a recipe library built for Indian kitchens. It chops, sautés, blends, kneads, cooks, and cleans. But its real differentiator is the AI‑guided comprehensive recipe engine that adapts to Indian cooking styles. The guided workflows reduce the cognitive load of everyday cooking.

The machine handles multi‑step cooking with surprising competence, moving from chopping to sautéing to simmering without supervision. But high‑heat searing, dry sabzis, and dishes that rely on intuition still sit outside its comfort zone.

It works best if you stick to the recipes on the device. A little bit of experimenting works okay, especially if you know your way around the kitchen, but try anything beyond that and the device might produce a dish that isn’t to your liking.

You don’t actually cut down on the cooking time with this device; you just cut down on your time in the kitchen. In the mornings, you’ll still need to wake up at the same time, get the ingredients ready, and be present whenever you have to move to the next step.

At ₹34,999, there a market for upliance 2.0+, but it is limited. It’s for those who don’t have time to supervise in the kitchen, want a stress-free meal without the heavy lifting of cooking. Plus, for beginners, it’s the first device that can genuinely teach someone to cook Indian food.

There’s also Chef Magic ( ₹32,999), a similar product from a mainstream brand like Wonderchef, but upliance 2.0 remains the more advanced system, especially for multi‑step dishes.

The future of the Indian kitchen

While Indians might resist automation because of set patterns of behaviour or simply because they enjoy cooking, the primary resistance comes from the fact that our food is complex. Indians believe that their cooking is a choreography of heat, timing, and texture, and machines simply can’t keep up.

These new age devices though represent the early architecture of the future kitchen. They aren’t replacing the cook, and mostly not saving time as well, but they’re replacing the routine. The final tempering, or tadka, still matters. The LPG shortage could act as a nudge in this direction, not a crisis in Indian cooking itself. These gadgets signpost a gradual shift in a country where the kitchen is both a cultural anchor and a logistical battlefield.

Abhishek Baxi is a New Delhi-based tech writer.