Transparent Toaster

I love it! I hate my toast being burnt. Very slick idea.

the transparent glass creates the sense of space..simple and high tech....out of the box :)

Thanks ZZ, have you posted any kancepts?

Safety is a bit of a concern here. How about a window or CCTV LCD image?

The glass is insulated (two layers with an air gap). So that if you touch the outside of the glass you wont burn your fingers.

great thing...but, we have actually built this thing recently at our company for testing. The result was, that it took about 20 min. to get the toast slightly tanned and the outsides got so hot, unable to touch for the next 15 min.

Really? What are your contacts? I would love to have a conversation with you! I wonder if you are using the same glass vendor as I am...

This is a neat idea and my roommate really likes it too. But considering Stephan said his company was unable to produce practical results, I thought I might throw a few ideas out there. If this coating is anything like what's used on the interior glass of the McClaren F1 as a defrost, I can't imagine it gets very hot. So maybe don't quite completely abandon conventional toasters and incorporate the heating wires on the innermost wall of the glass, sort of like a traditional car defroster. It may add a neat visual element to the toaster, depending on your taste, and the heating wires may also further illuminate the toast. Also, allow more of an air gap in the insulation so that the air between doesn't saturate so quickly.

Sorry Ozman, for being late. Our glass vendor has been a chinese company. They are just experimenting to get a good result right now, so I can`t say more.

DesignStudent - Thanks for the feedback. Your comments make sense. I like the way you are thinking about it.

I think it's a nice idea, I really like the aesthetic. Does the toast still "pop-up" so you can take it out?

Yes it does pop-out. Also, its not seen here but the glass parts can slide out to be placed in a dishwasher.

Brilliant! I would definitely buy this.

give me a break. Who got the time to watch the break getting toasted? The whole idea of a toaster, it to put it in, and have it done for you without any work or setting up a timer. If you want to entertain yourself watching the water boild, or video-taping your toast getting browned. Do it like what they use to do....over an open flame...

i'd love to buy it. how do i get my toast out?

nevermind, but it would be cooler if there were just a flipper on one end that flicked the toast directly onto a plate. powaz - @ SCAD

Nice job...very clever... Now just re-design it cause it looks like it belongs in a sharper image catalogue... the 90's are over my friend.... but slick idea

you would lose heat out of the sides surely?

Yes, but I dont think that would prevent it from toasting

Brilliant!!!!

I thınk the diferent ideas should be to prop up whıth us

Osman Bey ! Sizi canı gönülden tebrik eder başarılarınızın devamını dilerim. Selemlar

Wow!!! It could be considered a piece of art in the kitchen.

I love it!!!! perfect idea

this is a strong concept

It is a really cool idea. I have some comments on the conventional popping up mechanism. Although I honestly loved the whole idea, I believe that the side openings between the glass panels could be made useful to remove the bread instead of adding a conventional burden(the popup mech) on this truely innovative concept. I would definitely buy it.

condensation would pretty much render watching anything a moot point. the heating element is a bit odd as well as glass woulnd't tranfer heat evenly. a better glass would be the wire mesh kind seen in school door windows.

Emit Flesti - For condensation to occur, glass would need to be cold. The reason why condensation takes place when you take a shower is because the glass is cold. If you were heating the glass with this technology you would actually prevent that. About your second point - This is a glass that is already in the market and its being used as towel warmers and as architectural windows. The heat transfer is much more uniform than embedded wire type of resistive heating used on car windshields.

I think it looks cool when it is clean, but like oven windows that tend to get dirty, I think this would get dirty, too. How would you clean it?

Pam- thats a good point. Cleaning must be super easy. You can slide the glass heating elements out and put them in the dishwasher.

Excellent. My toaster is no good - it toasts unevenly and burns too often.

this concept has been done ages ago by IDEO..only the form of yours is different

Thats cool. Could you post the link here? I heard Phillips was looking into something like this too but I never found a photo.

I dont care about my toast that much to spend more than I have to on a toaster.

very good idea and I like it...sure

bir gereç bu kadar kullanışlı olabilir... sen hayalin ta kendisisin teşekkürler OSMAN

That was not from IDEO but Frogdesign Mr. Noname. The name of the product is Sunbeam/Oster Toast Logic Toaster. In that concept they just placed a small window on a conventional toaster(which was also cool). So the glass doesn't have an additional function other than transparency. In this concept the glass panels have a heating function. in other words glass panels do the whole job. http://householdappliance.com/3802.html

Gercekten inanılmaz bir urun... Seffaflıgın ve gri tonların cekiciligi on planda, kullanım acısından kolaylık saglayan bir urun olmus... Tebrikler

Tesekkurler!

I back up berdan cercioglu, the product already exists. A wand waves over the toast to heat it and is placed between two plates of glass...

If it exists, pls prove it with a photo.

hipnotic effect. We'd be just staring as the toast goes brown

Looks nice though i am not sure I would want to pay much more for it. A few Ideas: Not sure of the feasibility but it might be worth trying to find a glass that is reflective in the IR region for use in the outside glass so that it is more efficient. If the outside glass keeps getting too hot, use the heating of the air in the main chamber to induce an air current that draws cool air down the gap between the outer and inner glass, keeping the outer glass cool.

Russell Hobbs glass toaster is similar, although it's not transparent: http://www.russell-hobbs.com/toast.shtml

Guys? I would rather take my toast on a FORK over the flames of my gas stove than buy this ridiculous waste of money. You are obviously sooo talented, why not create something that will help save mankind??? Next thing you know, you will have it be an irritating little toaster with neurosis such as on Red Dwarf asking everyone why they don't WANT toast. Sheesh. ~Cirese

One step closer to super toast. Good work

Sorry I think it's a bit pointless, I mean, it's just toast, it's not rocket science. You can use the timer or, just check it.

helal olsun osman!!!!!! helal ossun!!!! :)))

Toasters are one of the bulkiest appliances on our counters, I love the slimline approach and the glass idea. It really becomes light and very pleasing to look at, I am looking forward to purchasing one...

This is an excellent product. I really hate my toast being burnt.

A guy I studied with came up with exactly this idea a couple of years back. His design was way better though. A half cylinder and two squares. Not very interesting.

That's ill...

how much ?

It will require cleaning very soon and frequently

Looks slick, but with kids, being able to only toast one piece at a time is impractical. I think it would quickly become unsightly with crumbs.

iToast. So, I use my USB port on my laptop to power it, or is there a separate outlet adaptor I have to buy?

This is not a safe device,hot glass plates are quite dangerous for kids and careless people like me :) And render quality of product just a little bit poor .It's a concept proposel anyway.

Ipod and a toaster had a kid....

Hahahaha...that`s funny:)

good idea but poor design ...why ıt's symetrical.It'll need a designer touch.

Another designer without a bleeding clue about reality. One piece of toast - try making brekkies for 3 kids with that, bet you go back to your trusty old toaster quick. Anyway, looks pretty and would make a good CD warmer

It looks like an APPLE product to me. stevie ur toast is burnt

WOW, That is cool. Make it now. I don't like my toster because all the toast crumbs get stuck inside. This seems like it would be easy to keep clean. I would sell the clean look with it more then the you can see it toast. Reason I say that is beacause you might down play your timmer does it have one does it work. kind of thing. SELL it as easier to keep clean and you will do good.

This is a really neat concept. I can see tons of people buying this as a clever gift

do you people really think that this will work. i think this guy is kidding.

Cool! I would buy one

This wonderful device has the potential to cure world hunger by making toast for everyone. (Could I use it in the bath?)

How about making panels out of toast to warm up glass?

you could use that in the bath.

This is amazing. I love this website. Great work Ozman. Any Idea how much this would cost?

ebu4aya xyinia eta vasha pizdnia!!!

Why not just use a grill? So that's a No.

One piece of toast at a time!? Don't plan on having any friends over for breakfast. This is obviously for people who don't have anything better to do in their lives, except to impress eveyone else. I think the can opener that doesn't make a sharp lid is a better idea.

The brilliance is in it's simplicity. <a href="http://www.seoslap.com">Optimized</a>

Great Idea, a great piece of theatre for the kitchen.

A student in 3rd made a fully operational version of this: he seperated the glas and element, meaning that a conventional toaster element does the toasting, whilst a slick glass outer shields the user from the heat. Obviously the element was redesigned to look more slick: it was wrapped around a type of glass instead of that other horible stuff you find in toasters.

*3rd Year

What about a toaster that butters bread too?

or one that you could text from your bed and it would be ready by the time you get downstairs.

or both.

Quarts tubes would do the job and look nice too. They are currently used in some toaster ovens and space heaters.

cool! never have burnt toast again

if you texted it, you could have breakfast even when late...

IamWhimsical: you have been watching too much Wallice and Gromit

classic films

in fact i was thinking about a bread bin that shuffles bread to the front, toasts it and then butters it and lets it fall down a tray onto a plate. The whole thing could be rigged up the flushing mechanism on the toilet so it begins after your morning pee.

Judging by the pic it only seems to toast one piece at a time...Cooking Breakfast for a family calls for a 4 piece toaster in my household...2 piece minimum (then I'd buy 2).

The problem I have with it is that over time I think the glass would become brown and stained. Clean the glass would seem very difficult to do.

BEST THING SINCE SLICED BREAD!

I wouldn't buy it because in the mornings I have better things to do in the morning than sit down at my kitchen table and watch bread turn into a toast, such as catch the news, gather my briefcase, etc... Find a decent cheap toaster, find the perfect setting for your taste, and leave it there :)

How about creating a thing with smooth edges that means we can push things along?

ofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofofof

strong concept timmy

Smell of the burning finger while smashing with the carbon bread :) what a lovely idea ..display design looks like 1940 radio concept, finally ıt's more than concept idea, more than a fantasy ıt's chines fancy joke.Have you ever been heard something about the "user safety".

GREAT IDEA!

What heat-transfer technique is used here? Total internal reflected IR with multistage reflection prisms?

Buzzed!

From the picture, there may be a problem with the thickness-of-slices variable (do the glass walls reposition themselves when you have a thin slice of bread?). Like many have already suggested, a conventional toasting mechanism enveloped in glass instead of metal would probably be a possible product.

Timmeh you got me totally wrong man! On the contrary, I tried to say that this design works on a different principle. I believe that both are really clever and inspiring designs.

FEJK!

the glas must look like shit after some tosting...

stylish and nice, but if it lowers costs and toasts bread faster, you can just line the inside glass with a traditional heating element. Still, if you put the two panes of glass on a hinge so it opens up like a book when your toast is done.... very cool!

The Philips concept mentioned above was part of their 'Culinary Art' project (done back in 1998)http://www.design.philips.com/assets/Downloadablefile//Glass_toaster_low-13274.jpg

Thanks Frank! This looks really interesting. What do you think does the toasting? It doesnt seem like the glass heats up in that design. It could actually be better because the goal is to see the bread so who cares if the glass actually does the toasting.

Frank - look into different transparent materials e.g. sapphire. I'm assuming your heating element is in the base and you are simply conducting that head through the glass? Consider fan-forced heat, or complete the glass enclosure while the process is running - essentially making a glass oven.

who is the sponsor of this site ! Osman :) tell the truth ...we 're waiting.

Explorer - My self, Zack Kaplan and Keith Schacht started the website...it`s a spin-off from www.inventables.com. I always wanted to have a website where people could post future product concepts and work together to realise them. It might be cool if a Fortune 500 company sponsored the site too. (On a side note - click on "Innovation" on the Inventables website. We just started a blog. I would love to hear your comments about it...)

real nice concept, But again physics kicks in and makes this difficult to implement. And when it does get implemented, you might have a tough time selling a toaster for 100$

I was wondering whether the the "Would you like to buy this?" is a good indicator of whats good or bad. There is no way for me to scroll to another Kancept without clicking yes/no to something i have already seen. Maybe a menu to just click next so that if you have already voted for it once you dont vote for it again (it can get frustrating voting for the same object a few times until you find the one you wanted to show ur friends) Also the comments should be in an ascending order (the latest goes on top). These are just a few suggestions. Good toaster though.

Juvenco - If you click rankings on the right you can scroll down to any kancept you want.

Could it be enlarged, and then used as a capital punishment device? Come on, think outside the box, people!

It is a great spin on an old contraption. Visually stimulating and useful, however, whether I bought it or not would entirely depend on how much it cost. I like it..but not enough to pay an exceeding amount of money.

It's a great idea, though with out a broader description, I would have to say it may only sell as a novelty. Yeah, I'd buy one though...

I just love it! And as for some of the objections, of course this device is not for families, just as a Dodge Viper is not. The worry about cleaning: in an owen it's tyhe burnt fat that makes a mess, a bread only gives away water vapour when toasted, so it should be enough to clean it once a month or something. Oh yes, I can see this toaster sitting nicely on a bar desk in a designer kitchen, and 100 bucks would be no problems. Gimme now!

Looks like something that my wife would stuff things into, like the newspaper, Looks nice but would probaly lead to my house being burnt down.

You don't happen to have read Timbuktu by Paul Auster. One of the main characters, Willy G. Christmas, talks about one of his unfulfilled projects: The transparent toaster.. The toaster, he says, would become a beautiful work of art, and it would transform toasting into a religious act; a kind of prayer. Maybe he is right..

Will it work for pop tarts? It would need to, then I would buy it.

I would buy it if it made more than one piece of toast at a time

I work in an aerospace transparencies company, vacuum-deposited-clear heating films can certainly provide the watt density needed to toast bread. Would need bus-bars along each edge for even heating, current technology even allows you to decide exactly where you want the heat to concentrate. I.E. "pilot eye" de-ices faster than the rest of the windshield..

If it toasted evenly (hard to find a toaster that does) and it didn't look dirty with every slice of toast, I'd buy it. Lots of toasters out there for over $100. Finding one that toasts evenly is tough.

Hey man, if "think outside the box" isn't on that list, it should be. We road that horse to death four years ago. I like the toaster, I would buy that (as long as it works) from Sharper Image. And that is NOT a place I shop.

If i get it, this is a concept, not the finnished product. Some just nuked it right away with comments like "only one toast", make a version that is longer. And some said "would be dirty and messy" and CLEARLY havent read the thread. Make it longer to fit two toasts, or maybe wider so u can have two rows of glas making it fit 4 slices. I would buy it if u get it to work. Maybe make double rows and in the middle put regular heatlines to heat inside of toasts, would make a neat effect to. As i said, make if work, i'll by it.

A thin layer of aerogel between the glass sheets should provide enough insulation to keep the outside cool while still being transparent.

Crap. I thought I came up with this! I've been telling people how much I've always wanted a clear toaster and here you've gone and done it. If you become rich and famous, can I get a cut?

I agree with what someone said earlier, in response to the comments of this not working for a family. This isn't somthing that would be marketed to a family, it'd be marketed for people who are either single or live with just their significant other, probably in an apartment where space is at a premium, ergo, the small design would fit perfectly on the counter. I'm not 100% sure, but I THINK Teflon or whatever can be applied to clear surfaces and have them remain clear, and it's designed to be heated, so coat it with Teflon, and voila, non-stick = semi-easy cleanup. Hell, if they're removable, it'd be no harder than wiping off a plate, and if you're too damn lazy to do even that, you need to be slapped around a bit.

Wow, that is pretty sweet. I would buy it.

I agree with what someone said earlier, in response to the comments of this not working for a family. This isn't somthing that would be marketed to a family, it'd be marketed for people who are either single or live with just their significant other, probably in an apartment where space is at a premium, ergo, the small design would fit perfectly on the counter. I'm not 100% sure, but I THINK Teflon or whatever can be applied to clear surfaces and have them remain clear, and it's designed to be heated, so coat it with Teflon, and voila, non-stick = semi-easy cleanup. Hell, if they're removable, it'd be no harder than wiping off a plate, and if you're too damn lazy to do even that, you need to be slapped around a bit.

I agree with what soen that, you need to be slapped around a bit.

I think its fabulous. If it was under 100 it would be great. There are people out there that dont blink at paying 4 times the amount for a sink that is all glass that might not look (or even function) in a traditional manner. The sleekness of this toaster is what is going to be its attraction. It should however function fairly well (at least as good as an average toaster) and I definitely agree that it should be elongated to accomodate more than one slice. If you could adjust the panels to also accomodate wider slices that would be a huge selling point. As long as you can EASILY slide out the panels for cleaning, you will have sold it on its own merits. I think the simple design of its base adds to the sleekness. You could always branch out into other designs and even colors later. Best of luck!

I'd buy this 6 times.

Its gotta have a remote to get my vote!

I would stick my toast in it and watch it change colors!

i would not buy it becous of this http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/323059

Great for reading letters written in lemon juice. Just watch the words appear.

I am an A level business studies student at Hilbre High School in the North West of England. AS part of our coursework we were told to attempt to market a new product I thought of a see through toaster. I was then quite upset to find it had already been invented although my teacher has allowed me to continue with this product. I was therefore wondering if any body has done any market research into this product and if possible I could obtain a copy for part of my research? Regards Julia Bond

Julia, as far as I know - the best market research you could find would be the statistics on this website.

Osman, what if you could put the bread and then after it reaches a certain temperature(indicated by an LED) you could take a stylus and draw/scribble anything from the outer side of the glass and see those drawing gradually appear getting toasted more than the rest of the area. Imagine you could see your signature on a toasted bread! Or a face you sketched? Won't that be cool and fun? Is such a technology possible?

Fantasy apart, the design(though no doubt a very cool idea) does not suggest how the toast should be taken out! Is it assumed that it will pop-out halfway after done? If not, there should be other 'clear' suggestions in design! Coz, I foresee that if a kid gets excited and inserts his finger between the glasses to take the toast out! Ouch!

On Duty - I love the idea of drawing on to the toast. Let me think about that. Youre right about the risk of people trying to take it out the design needs to suggest how the bread should be taken out so people dont accidentally put their fingers in.

increible...si se lo dijeran a mi abuela no se lo creeria

I love this idea because I hate burned toasts

please elaborate on concept in greater detail. For I believe your vision is flawed.

Here is another Transparent Toaster design that I just found on the internet: http://geekologie.com/2007/01/ultrason_toaster_is_seethrough.php

This is one of the coolest and best looking designs that I have seen. I wish you couild tell me how it works. It would be neat in a george forman grill

i use my toaster oven to make toast, i can watch it burn... but i don't... for the same reason i don't watch water boil. or paint dry. it's toast... do we really need to innovate toast?

o m g i want it! it would look silly in my home but i still want it! its simply beautiful!

That is freaking SWEET!!! I love toasters, and this one is awesome looking! However, how will the heat transfer to the toast? If it comes up from the bottom, won't it toast the bread unevenly? Are there some sort of heating units in the glass? Also, would like to see one for 2 slices at once...

Nice. 1 Q Does the glass get dirty after one use?

I love this toaster, i'm ready to buy it when do it go on the market.

make sure the base comes in different colors(hint i love red)

if its medium and easy to clean I would buy one