You’re starving after a big day at work, you have family waiting to be fed, or worse, dinner guests about to walk through the door. If only you had a virtual kitchen assistant to tell you what menu you could make, in the time you have, with what’s in your fridge? Oh, and suggest tips on preparation, plus weigh the ingredients while you’re at it. Perhaps a sommelier function would come in handy too?

It is about to become a reality. The kitchen of the future is here, according to Andreas Enslin, global design director for Miele (and Ralph Fiennes’ doppelganger). Enslin says Miele’s prototype for ‘The Invisible Kitchen’ (complete with a virtual assistant) is in development and completion is just around the corner.

In Melbourne for the launch of the brand’s new ArtLine series at ambassador Shannon Bennett’s restaurant Vue de monde, Enslin transformed the private dining room with a wall of smart appliances.

“We have so much input in our customers’ daily life,” he says. “And every single person has a household. The ArtLine series was about cutting down the complexity of daily life. It is a loud world. We need for everything to be seamless, to integrate into their home, to make life easier for them, so they can walk in the door and relax, not think.”

The appliances think instead. Highlights include no handles – part of “reducing complexity”, according to Enslin – as well as witty touches like a tiny popcorn icon that you press to make popcorn in the oven. Every night can be movie night.

Designing the ArtLine range was a five-year process, from a design team of 42. But Enslin is already looking to the future. “We are always thinking, what is possible? What do people really want, not for now, but in the future? We always work ahead.”

Miele presented its Invisible Kitchen at EuroCucina (an international kitchen trade fair) in Milan last year as the kitchen of the future. It starred a ring-shaped installation where two chefs prepared a three-course menu assisted by a virtual cooking assistant. The assistant compiled menus, weighed ingredients, supplied tips on preparation and on a sustainable approach to food. It takes into consideration the user’s level of cooking expertise and only intervenes when things threaten to go wrong.

On Facebook, the feature attracted more than one million visitors, which Enslin believes is evidence that people are ready for it.

“All the artificial intelligence – driving cars, phones – it’s coming to our kitchens. The possibilities of integration and less complexity are really exciting. You will accept it, have fun with it. It’s here,” says Enslin.