Can kitchen tech help me cook better?

AMatt Bolton replies: Yes, the smart kitchen market is booming. But the option you go with depends on how much space you have in your kitchen and how much money you’re willing to spend in order to become a culinary genius. The Neff C27CS22NO B Compact Single Electric Oven (£809, johnlewis.com) is fitted with CircoTherm technology, which enables you to cook completely different things in your oven at once. Bake a cake on one level and fish on the other and the fans will maintain different temperatures on each level without transferring any flavours. It’s also a great option if cooking tires you out because this oven will clean itself afterwards.

As an alternative to a new oven try the Tefal Cook4Me Multi- Cooker (£149, amazon.co.uk), which enables you to prepare meals for six people and keep the food warm until you’re ready to serve it. Unfortunately it’s not a robot chef and won’t do the cooking for you, but it will hold your hand throughout the process by automatically setting cooking times and temperatures. Crucially, you can monitor what’s going on through the app, so no more burning food!

Alternatively get an Amazon Echo (£89.99, amazon.co.uk). That way Alexa can help you cook by dictating recipes, and you can set timers using voice commands. Okay, so it isn’t a fancy gadget built especially for the kitchen, but it could take some of the stress out of cooking for you.