Ikea Frother
Retail price: $2.79
The Ikea frother is a very simple and affordable hand-held device designed to froth liquid without the application of heat. To my surprise, the frother was very effective in producing foam. It was easy to use (just switch on and hold with the rod in the milk) and in the end achieved its task of frothing the milk. This product’s greatest strength is probably its price, as it allows for people to make their foamy beverages at home for less than $3. The only downside we experienced when testing this product was the loose rubber stopper’s mobility sometimes getting in the way. Because it is not securely attached to its base, it sometimes slides down the rod towards the whisk, which can be annoying.
Powerlix MilkPro frother:
Retail price: $18.99
This “high-end” frother costs almost seven times as much as the cheaper Ikea alternative. One thing I noticed immediately when we turned on the frother was the power level. Because there was more power/speed, the MilkPro was more effective at frothing milk. It also seemed sturdier and stronger than the Ikea one, with a longer rod and slightly larger spring end. The Powerlix features a button at the top of the handle that you press down on to turn on. To keep it functioning, you have to press down on it the whole time. This can be a nice feature for those who are looking for more control as they froth. While the MilkPro frother definitely has a higher build quality than that of the Ikea frother, its price seems a bit too steep given that it is still a fairly simple device with basic and cheap parts.
Our frother
The frother my partner (Sabene) and I designed was composed of a wire whisk ball placed in a plastic bag with milk. It was designed to be shaken inside another bag, which contained hot water. The combination of shaking (agitation) and heat (water) was in theory supposed to form the same kind of froth. While our product didn’t exactly fail miserably, we realized after testing it out that we could make numerous modifications to improve our design. One problem we encountered was that the bags we used had holes in them, making leakage a major concern when shaken. Also, it required a lot of manual labor and energy to shake the bag rigorously enough to produce foam (actually bubbles). Still, I feel like it was moderately successful and a good starting point.