Taurus' Wi-Fi-enabled cooking appliance tries to do it all

The Taurus Mycook Touch is like a small-kitchen-appliance Swiss Army Knife. It's designed to chop, whip, blend, emulsify, fry, and knead, and there's an accessory kit that lets you do all sorts of other stuff, too. But, unlike all of its multigadget predecessors, the Mycook Touch is smart.

No, it won't cook your food for you, but you can access a Wi-Fi-connected recipe book on your device of choice (phone, tablet, or PC). From there, you can customize your recipe book, make a shopping list, and share ideas with other users. Assisted recipe mode walks you through the cooking process step-by-step, including video tutorials, but you can always switch to manual mode any time.

The Mycook Touch relies on an induction system and proprietary tech to reach its designated temperature quickly. And, Taurus did away with buttons and remotes in favor of a 7-inch touchscreen display. The Mycook Touch has a scale that can display weight in pounds, ounces, or grams, and a temperature system that can be set to Fahrenheit or centigrade.

Taurus' Wi-Fi-connected creation sounds fairly gimmicky, but smart kitchen gadgets tend to be pretty hit-or-miss in general. We've seen our fair share of tablet-integrated fridges that let you awkwardly read your Twitter feed and connected ranges with counterintuitive apps that actually make it harder to complete a task. Some, however, have been pretty solid.

GE's Profile Built-In Double Convection Wall Oven (model number PT9550SFSS) cooked well and its accompanying app was well-designed. There's also the Crock-Pot WeMo Smart Slow Cooker that was developed out of a partnership with Belkin and integrates with the Belkin WeMo app. iDevices' Bluetooth-enabled kitchen and grill thermometers are also extremely useful. And while we haven't reviewed the Drop kitchen scale yet, its smartly designed iPad app and adaptable recipe guide might actually simplify the cooking process.

The Taurus Mycook Touch is also striving to improve your cooking experience and we'll see if its smart functionality really adds value. Taurus hasn't provided any pricing information just yet, but it is expected to be unveiled in October at the HKTDC HK Electronics Fair 2014 in Hong Kong.