New iceless ice bucket pitched as luxury must-have

Highlights

It's taken seven years and 'about a million prototypes', but a UK start-up company has launched an iceless ice bucket and claims it is already being installed in expensive London homes.

Kaelo iceless ice bucket uses cold, dry air to chill wine
One bucket costs £1,890
Start-up targets luxury homes and private jets

Full story

Wine geekery knows few limits and innovators have long been keen to take bog standard wine paraphernalia and update it.

The bottle (interactive), the barrel (intelligent), the cork (air-sucking), and now the ice bucket, which, in one fell swoop it has been rendered void – that is to say iceless.

‘Kaelo’ used cold, dry air to chill the wine more consistently and provide a drip-free pour. Cold voids are costly however.

The starting price of a hand carved Kaelo is £1,890.00 ($2,500). Each is hewn from three kilos of stainless steel for the rim and three kilos of aluminium for the chamber, according to inventor and product designer Kevin Jabou.

He said that he spent seven years perfecting the chamber following a frustrating Champagne cooling experience in a restaurant.

‘It should have been elegant, but it wasn’t. The ice bucket nearly fell over, nearly tipped the table over, and there were drips everywhere.’

So, Jabou locked himself in his garden shed and built ‘about a million prototypes’ – working at anything from manual labour to bar tending to fund the project.