Cabinetry is one of the basic, functional forms of woodworking. It also offers customization options – although most people haven't gone quite so far as the Space Age-type of customization that cabinet company Anvil Motion has begun offering this summer. Wood is one of the options for cabinet construction materials, and the cabinets do include hand-carved details – but that's probably where most of the resemblance to any cabinets built way back in the "olden days" of, say, the 20th century ends.
Anvil Motion methods are certainly futuristic: wave your hands, graze your fingers, and the drawers and cabinets open. (Saying "open sesame," appears to be optional.) The cabinets can remember which ones hold, for example, baking supplies – and open everything holding the flour, the mixer, the cookie sheet, etc. at the same time to create a "baking scene." The drawers and cabinets will shut on their own accord as you walk out of the kitchen – and they can do it in the reverse order of which they were opened. Because they remember.
It's impossible to give a price for a generic example of Anvil Motion cabinetry, because everything is customized – wood species, drawer style and guides, moldings, control panels, finishes, sensors and more. Suffice it to say, "not cheap."
One of those options includes biometric controls: in other words, your cabinet will fingerprint you before it allows you to open it. While that might have some value for woodworkers who use their cabinets to store sharp tools and supplies they don't want any small fingers to get into, it's also, well, just a little creepy.
There is no word yet on whether any of the customization options include the voice of HAL, from 2001, A Space Odyssey – or whether, if your cabinets suddenly decide a "baking scene" is a danger to your diet, they'll refuse to open the doors and begin announcing, "I'm afraid I can't do that..."
Click on the photo at left to watch the Anvil Motion cabinets in action, and for more information, go to
their website.