Your kitchen is undoubtedly one of the most important rooms in your home where you spend countless hours preparing that oh so delicious pork roast, or that succulent roast turkey that everyone so patiently awaits for Thanksgiving dinner. What about grandma’s heavenly cookies and that sensational gooey chocolate within…yum!

What would you consider your kitchen essentials in making these delicious goodies? A few cookbooks might come in handy, along with your kitchen timer, your white board for keeping up your grocery shopping list and maybe a nice music player so you can listen to your favorite tunes.

What if you have a smart device that can do it all? Something that you can use to browse your favorite chicken recipe while your hands are full, or check the weather forecast so you can plan your day ahead? Introducing, the Amazon Echo Show, a smart WiFi enabled device with Alexa, a voice assistant powered by Amazon, which I would consider the perfect companion for my home kitchen. Think of the convenience and the time you’ll save by using just your voice. Here are some of its practical applications and commands that you might find handy in your home kitchen:

While looking into your refrigerator, you found out that you need to buy eggs and butter to make cookies. All you have to say is “Alexa, add eggs and butter to my shopping list.” to add these items to your grocery list.  When you get to the grocery store, you can open up the Alexa App to check your list. Pretty neat feature to have.

Setting up multiple timers is a breeze with Alexa. You simply have to say “Alexa, set pasta timer for 10 minutes”. She will then start a 10-minute timer for timing that perfectly cooked al dente pasta you crave. While doing that, you can also set a second 3-minute timer for that perfect sear on your steak without taking your hands off what you’re doing. Now, that’s convenience at the power of your voice.

AllRecipes.com is one of the world’s most popular website for the thousands of recipes they have on their database right at your fingertips. Or in this case, with a simple voice command, you can tell Alexa what you’re making and she will browse through AllRecipes.com and find that perfect recipe for you. She will read through the ingredients list and give you step-by-step instructions. The 7” touchscreen really comes in handy as you can also look at the screen for instructions while you listen.

Amazon Alexa is more than just another smart voice assistant. With the Echo Show and its built-in dual 2” stereo speakers, you can stream your songs on Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Tunein Radio, and other music streaming services available on the Echo Show. Sound quality is pretty decent for the size and is loud enough to fill several rooms.

You’ve found a great recipe online, but the ingredient measurements are in metrics. Sure you can grab a pen and paper, a calculator and remember the conversion factor you learned from 4th grade, or you can simply ask, “Alexa, how many cups are there in 500ml of chicken stock?”. She will be more than willing to help you out and provide you with a quick answer.

With the Amazon Echo Show, you can use your voice to make coffee in the morning, preheat your oven, cook a steak sous vide style or start your crackpot. This truly brings to light what a smart kitchen should be. Here are examples of smart kitchen devices you can buy on Amazon that are fully compatible with Alexa:

With the Amazon Echo Show’s 7” touch screen display, you can video chat with anyone with an Echo Show or anyone with the Alexa App installed on their smart phone. Thanks to the drop-in feature of all Amazon echo devices, you can engage in a hands-free conversation with any of your contacts by asking Alexa.

The Amazon Echo Show can also make phone calls with the Alexa Calling Feature.  Alexa Calling is a service you can use to make calls to your Alexa-to-Alexa contacts, and most mobile and landline numbers (in the US, Canada, and Mexico) at no additional cost. When you sign up for Alexa Calling and Messaging from the Alexa App, all of the contacts saved to your mobile phone are linked to Alexa automatically.  So if you accidentally burned dinner, you can use your Echo Show to order pizza instead.

Gone are the days when you can watch YouTube videos on the Amazon Echo Show since Google, which owns YouTube, blocked the service to all Amazon Echo devices with a screen display. But with that aside, you can still watch your videos from your Amazon Prime account, or search videos on Dailymotion and Bing. Just don’t get too distracted watching your favorite clips because you might end up having to order that pizza.

Ever had a time when you run out of a certain ingredient and wonder what you can substitute to still make the recipe work without having to go to the store? Alexa has a skill called Ingredient Sub. You can simply ask “Alexa, ask Ingredient Sub what can I use instead of brown sugar?”. She will then respond with a recommended substitute, with specific quantities and various other options.

Technology has gone a long way reinventing what is once considered science fiction, into a much needed reality in our world nowadays. With all the practical applications and ever expanding skills of the Amazon Echo Show, it is unquestionably the perfect companion for your home kitchen.