BurnerAlert: Improving kitchen cooking safety one stove at a time

BurnerAlert

Improving kitchen cooking safety one stove at a time

 How did an Architect help to improve kitchen cooking safety for his family and hopefully millions of other families around the world? This is the back story of a new product called BurnerAlert and how BurnerAlert was invented, patented, prototyped, manufactured and selling on the internet. It all began at home in a New Jersey suburb.

A New Jersey-based husband and wife team are excited to bring BurnerAlert (patent pending) to the market place. Their mission is to provide an essential safety product for both U.S. and worldwide households using gas and electric stoves and ranges that until now, has simply not existed.

Matt, a successful inventor, self-taught architect, designer and builder since 1989, is now applying his design talents to create a household product that solves a real problem for real folks. Always thinking beyond the paradigm, as a designer/builder, Matt fine-tuned the design-build process in an effort to bring a seamless, enjoyable home-building experience to his clients. Realizing the disconnect between many architects and builders, he and his company earned the reputation as the team that could deliver all that the clients wanted while staying within their budgets. Matt has said, “So many of my clients came to me, heartbroken, after they had hired an architect and brought their dream set of plans to different builders only to find that no builder could build the architect’s plan within the client’s stated budget. It always felt great to resolve this dilemma.”

A former New York City art and math teacher, whose love of art and design has remained an active practice throughout her life, Frances Caulfield has worked as an educational consultant since 1997, with clients such as the New York City Department of Education. “I was, essentially, a business consultant, who happened to be in the industry of teaching and learning. I worked with planning teams of failing schools, helping them write strategic business plans that improved academic performance. Our “profit” was student achievement. We had to be outcome oriented, finding, devising and using all the best practices that created a culture of continuous improvement.” She has also worked with other large, for-profit and non-profit organizations, such as The Gap, Inc., where she led a team of curriculum writers to create a management and leadership training program for high school students which was used in conjunction with Communities in Schools that was implemented in fourteen cities across the United States; and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, where she led a team of curriculum writers to create a multi-unit, anti-drug, tobacco, alcohol and pregnancy prevention curriculum.

Matt developed BurnerAlert while trying to find an existing product that could help to prevent the numerous incidents of burned pots, burned hands and near misses in his own home. This was the result of numerous times when his wife or mother-law had inadvertently left a gas stove on under a pot or kettle. Matt lamented, “It was so frustrating! I was tired of burning my hands after going to pick up a pot from the stove and finding it red hot because the burner had been left on low.”

Nearly all existing gas stoves have no indicator (light or sound) to alert the user that the burner is on. Most electric stoves only indicate when the burner is warm, not if it is on or off, and only with a light.

After extensive searching for existing products, he realized something was missing in the marketplace. Only a few options were out there. However, these were relatively expensive and complicated. They also needed special tools and a licensed or specially trained professional to install them. Motivated to find a simple and affordable solution for his family, he conceived, designed and created a prototype which he put on a knob on his stove. Thrilled with the results, Matt, Frances and their family continued to cook and enjoy the helpful reminders of the blinking lights and beeps coming from what they began to call “the burneralert”.

One day soon after, a neighbor happened to stop by. She joined Matt and Frances in the kitchen and noticed the disc on the stove knob blinking and beeping as Matt made tea. She exclaimed, “Oh wow! What is that? I need one!” This scenario began to happen over and over. Family and friends, upon seeing the prototype in use, all asked where Matt and Frances had bought it, all insisting that they needed burner alerts for their own stoves. Many added that they would like to get some for their elderly parents. It was at this point that Matt and Frances realized that this product really needed to come to market.

Matt and Frances feel strongly that BurnerAlert can potentially save lives, save millions of dollars in fire and smoke damage every year, and would love to provide this very affordable and simple fire-prevention product to households in both the U.S. and worldwide, with gas and electric ranges and stoves.

BurnerAlert can only be purchased on the web.

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