Designer frozen yogurt machine wants a place on your kitchen counter

Single-use kitchen appliances can be divisive: Some folks want to reserve their counters for only the bare necessities, while others wouldn’t mind a device for every fancy, whether that’s coffee, smoothies, waffles, or ice cream. The latest addition to this scene and ready for your judgment is Wim, a 15-pound frozen yogurt machine with serious design cred.

Co-founded by entrepreneurs and former Google employees Bart Stein and Anthony Cafaro, Wim wants to be the Sodastream or Nespresso of frozen yogurt. The company has hired Jena Derman, alum of famed New York bakery Momofuku Milk Bar, as its chief culinary officer to develop the yogurt mixes that Wim would turn into fresh froyo in 10 minutes. But first, they needed an appliance.

For that, the company turned to Visibility, the New York City industrial design studio known for its simple but clever takes on everyday objects. Wim, the studio’s first foray into hardware, has a minimal white and stain stainless steel look and narrow footprint, designed to “meld into the landscape of kitchen products” and reflect the easy-to-use technology.

According to Bloomberg, Wim enlisted engineers from kitchen appliance company OXO, aerospace company Woodward, and Apple to develop the machine, which uses flash freezing technology to produce froyo without refrigerants or pre-cooling. To use it, you just put in a pre-packaged single-serve “Wim-Bowl” and push a single button. There are currently nine flavors, ranging from banana bread and cinnamon toast to passion fruit and good ol’ strawberry.

Intrigued? That will be $299 per unit, which comes with a five-pack of mixes. You can also purchase additional bulk packs of up to 20 mixes. Bloomberg reports that Wim will be available on Amazon in the fall.

What say you, Curbed readers? Does a design-forward froyo maker have a place on your kitchen counter?