Gen Z think the humble kettle could be gone from UK kitchens within 50 years, according to new research.

Design historian at the University of Portsmouth, Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan has conducted a study with home retailer Wickes to imagine the “kitchen of 2075”.

A survey of 2,011 adults, including 1,010 Gen Z respondents, found almost a quarter of 18–27-year-olds believe kettles will be obsolete by 2075. One in five say fridges and freezers could also disappear.

Professor Sugg Ryan predicts younger generations will ditch bulky, wired appliances in favour of seamless, hidden systems, and spaces designed as much for TikTok as for cooking.

The vision includes instant-boiling taps instead of kettles, AI chefs on screens, voice-activated cabinetry, hydroponic herb gardens under the counter, mood-responsive lighting, waste-to-energy worktops and even C-3PO-style robo-butlers if robotics progress.

Large standalone ovens and microwaves could also vanish, replaced by multi-mode cookers and more modular layouts.

Some futurists think 3D food printers, able to “print” pizza or pasta from raw ingredients, could hit the mainstream even earlier, by the 2030s.

On the plate itself, experts say climate pressure could shift diets too, towards things like cricket salads, lab-grown meat and aquatic-plant meatballs.

“For Gen Z, the kitchen of the future is effortless, sustainable and always ready for its close-up,” said head of kitchens at Wickes, Dan Ferrari.