What I learnt while trying the Rotimatic NEXT for a week
This device, which launched in India recently, earns the ‘matic’ in its name with a smooth, idiot-proof setup process. Does it produce the perfect hot roti? Let's find out
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not exactly a master of the culinary arts, with my arch nemesis, the humble roti, often looking like pre-Pangea landforms and not the circular staples many of us have grown up on. But I do love a warm, perfectly puffed roti, particularly when its fresh off the tawa, and the idea of being able to eat garma garam roti is highly romanticized, often to the point of exaggeration, for many.
Now, one had heard of the Rotimatic roti-making kitchen gadget when it first shipped to customers in the United States and Singapore back in 2016, but a lack of local availability and an upwards-of-$1000-pricing ensured that while it piqued the imagination of many in India and made for many WhatsApp forwards, it remained out of reach and limited in appeal.
Fast forward to 2025, and the Rotimatic NEXT launches in India and arrivea at my doorstep, promising to make perfect rotis and other assorted flatbreads at a press of a button. That’s either magic…or marketing—either way, it’s time to find out if the Rotimatic NEXT can bridge the gap between my love for eating and my lifelong struggle with dough.
Speaking of dough, though—I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the rather princely cost of admission right up front. The Rotimatic NEXT lands at ₹1,65,999 (MRP), although discounts on the brand’s site bring the price down to ₹1,14,999. This is without the extended warranty, though. It’s a steep price for convenience, no matter how you paint it.
Once you’ve lugged the nearly 20kg device out of the packaging and found a place for it on the kitchen countertop, you’ve got the hard part sorted—at 28x37x46.5cm, it takes a fair bit of space, extra if you account for sufficient ventilation. You could even set it up close to the dining area if that’s your thing, the design is sleek and well-built, and it has a bit of a modern 3D printer vibe to it (which it is, if you think about it).
The unit I had had an all-white body with rounded edges, with a black almost-mini-fridge-esque door to access the dough catcher/cooking plates, but you could pick the black/grey variant if that suits your décor. Of course, there’s no mistaking this for what it is, with the transparent flour, water and oil containers on the top making its purpose rather clear, although the design does make them practical to access and refill. Likewise for the dough kneading compartment, which is easy to detach for cleaning at the end of each session.
Now, unlike other kitchen gadgets which expect a certain degree of kitchen prowess, this device earns the ‘matic’ in its name, with a smooth, idiot-proof setup process. The onboard touchscreen and the companion app walk you step-by-step through the pairing and Wi-Fi network configuration with detailed video walkthroughs, and you don’t really need the internet or the app for regular operation, just for firmware upgrades and new recipes (more on this later).
Once paired, core controls, such as adjusting the roti thickness, oil consumption and roast levels and choice of flour, are all available on the machine’s touchscreen, which means you’re not tied down to a smartphone to start cooking.
There’s a bit of a learning curve the first time you start the cooking process, just not on my end, fortunately. The machine needs to adjust and calibrate to the brand of flour being used, and so the initial batches may end up either folded/under-cooked, partially cooked on one side or even worse, with a badly formed dough ball. In such cases, the machine offered to adjust roti quality by guiding me through a set of questions to best describe the issue in the roti, and soon enough, it had self-corrected and was rolling out thin, evenly roasted rotis with the confidence of a cook who’s been doing it for years.
You’ll need to remember that it takes about 6-8 minutes for the machine to warm up sufficiently, but once it does, it starts dispensing the dough, oil and water, kneading each dough ball, flattening them into perfect circles and cooking them, about a roti every three minutes. Just select how many you need, and away it goes totally unsupervised, perfect for busy mornings when all you need is a couple of rotis to pack a tiffin and can tend to more pressing matters instead. It does get a little noisy as it goes through the motions, but no more so than a smoothie mixer.
Interestingly, the device aims to be a bit more than a one-roti wonder, with future firmware updates promising pizzas, wraps/tortilla, bhakri and parathas, all of which were listed as “coming soon" at the time of this review. One did try the poori option, but the machine rolled out a generously sized uncooked poori, which of course had to be deep fried thereafter, and I suspect a lot of the upcoming recipes will focus on getting the bases ready for you to cook elsewhere.
After a couple of weeks of giving the rolling board and pin a break, Rotimatic had not only churned out more rotis on average per meal (not a good thing if you're counting your macros and avoiding carbs), it did so without any wastage of flour and with just that short ‘Blinkit delivery’ wait time (about 7-8 minutes) for the warm up before each meal.
It also gave me time to mull over the most important question: would I spend this much for the convenience?
The answer is it depends. If you’re the sort with a lot of disposable income and want freshly cooked rotis without taking the hassle (either directly or by employing someone to do it for you), Rotimatic has you in its crosshairs. For others who view cooking as therapy or roll out a dozen rotis without batting an eyelid, or even those who default to frozen rotis occasionally, the upfront investment is prohibitive, particularly in the Indian context. One can see why this machine could be popular with Indians living abroad, or with smaller commercial settings, but for now, Rotimatic is an ambitious appliance which reimagines how one views one of India’s staple foods, taking a mundane everyday act into something that feels futuristic while feeling altogether familiar at the same time.
Other kitchen robots
Kitchen gadgets aren’t just relegated to fancy mixers and air fryers anymore – devices like the Upliance 2.0 Smart Cooking Companion ( ₹39,998) and the WonderChef Chef Magic All-in-One Kitchen Robot combine functions such as stirring, sautéing, chopping, steaming, mixing and automatic frying into one compact machine, all supported by scores of guided recipes.
These devices promise convenience, repeatable results, and modern features like WiFi/app control or built-in weighing scales. It’s a nascent market, but fast-paced lifestyles mixed with an increasing interest in diverse cuisines will drive early adopters to invest in “one-machine‐does‐all" kitchen solutions.
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