Hi there! I am Karoline. I am an Accessibility Tester and Assistive Technology Coach. I live in Toronto with my husband and a sweet little black lab guide dog named Raven. Raven tries to help me with my work by typing with her nose.

I am blind and love tech of all kinds. I am always on the hunt
for the next life-altering piece of accessible tech to come along. For my first post here, I thought I would talk about the thing that has revolutionized my kitchen. In 2017 I heard about this smart pot that seemed to be sweeping across Amazon and every other store. It was called the instant pot. I asked for it as a birthday present. In case you want to know, it was in early August.

Back then, my husband commented that he did not want to have another thing on our already cluttered kitchen counter. I just had a feeling that this would not be the case. Fast forward to now, there are 2 of them in our kitchen. He has started to use our oven as a storage unit. He is not quite ready to part with our pots and pans, but maybe soon.

The instant pot from 2017 was Bluetooth enabled. I could direct it from my phone, and for the first time, I could ever get full use of a device. Through this simple app on my smartphone, I could direct the pot to steam, pressure cook, make broth, or a roast, among other things. Tip for you, it makes fantastic wings and ribs.

The second one is WIFI smart. It, too, can be controlled by my smart devices, including the Google speaker. More importantly, it makes cake. Not just any cake, but the super moist and fluffiest of cakes. It also makes heavenly cheesecakes. Bacon cheesecake, anyone?

You may ask why two of them? Unfortunately, when IOS 14 came out, the wonderful app that supported the Bluetooth pot was no longer available, but I became so reliant on my IP that I just had to replace it. Of course, my husband is still using the first one to make yogurt, and we often use it to cook one part of the meal while the new Instant
Pot is cooking the rest.

So, if you’re after more home-cooked meals and want your kitchen environment to help you rather than distract you, you can give it a go and be on the lookout for other accessible kitchen appliances that now, fortunately, increase in number.

Take care!

Karoline