In 1969 it was actually possible to buy a futuristic-looking kitchen computer in the Neiman Marcus Christmas catalog.

Called the Honeywell Kitchen Computer, the device was impossibly hard to use (it came with a two-week computer programming course). You had to enter data in the form of numbers, and it gave you answers in the form of blinking lights, which you had to learn how to "read."

It cost $10,000. Nobody bought one.

Today our phones and tablets have vastly greater computing power, massively better user interfaces and easy-to-use software custom designed for kitchen use. But the one thing kitchen computing tasks have in common is that none of them needs the latest and greatest devices. They all function on the low end of high tech. Which is great news.

The mobile revolution has got us buying new phones and tablets every two years or so on average. We upgrade not because the old gadget is broken, but because the new gadget is awesome. So instead of recycling, why not turn that old phone or tablet into a kitchen computer? Although it's an old device to you, it will be thousands of times more powerful and infinitely more useful than the Honeywell Kitchen Computer of the late '60s.

The great thing about smart phones and touch tablets is that thousands of apps, or small software applications, are available free or at low cost. It's these apps that can turn an old phone or tablet into a new kitchen information appliance.

The best phones and tablets for kitchen duty are those made by Apple, and also devices that run Google's Android operating system. The reason is that these two gadget types have by far the biggest selection of kitchen-friendly apps.

So, for example, if you're upgrading to the newest iPhone or iPad, you can put your old one to work by permanently installing it in the kitchen near an electrical outlet, so you don't have to think about recharging it all the time. Likewise with the latest Samsung or ATC Android phone or tablet.

One phone-mounting option, if you have kitchen outlets in the right place, is to buy one of several outlet docks that are available. These place the phone right in front of the outlet, so they're always charged and also displayed in full view.

Finding apps on either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store (where the Android apps can be found) is very simple. Simply search for "kitchen" or "cooking" or "recipes."

One of the best recipe databases comes from the BBC, of all places. The BBC Good Food app is an adjunct to the website of the same name and is available for both Apple and Android devices.

Ultimately, phones and tablets are computers, and computers are literally nothing more than machines that do calculations. In the kitchen, there are so many calculations to be made. Cooks often find themselves wanting to convert cup measurements to tablespoons, Celsius to Fahrenheit and weight to volume, for example.

A new generation of voice-command services from both Apple and Google will do these calculations for you. You simply say something like, "How many tablespoons in a quarter cup?" and both Apple's Siri and Google's Voice Search will speak the answer back to you, as well as show you the answer onscreen.

Apple's Siri feature comes with the latest Apple phones and Tablets, and Google's Voice Search has been a standard feature of Android devices for some time. The most recent news, however, is that now Google Voice Search (which is much faster than Siri at these kitchen calculations) is now available for Apple devices, too.

You should also note that both Siri and Google Voice Search are incredibly useful for those random kitchen conversations with another person. Answers to just about any trivia question you can think of — from the names of actresses to the population of Iceland to which movies are playing at the local theater — are available instantly from both these services for the asking.

Just download the Google Search app from the App Store.

Serious cooks need timers. If you're making that complicated holiday meal, you may have several things going at once. A good timer app can literally save your bacon.

There are two things to look for in a good kitchen-timer app. First is the ability to time several things at once, name each of them and save those names. For example, if you like your soft-boiled eggs done just so, add the perfect time in the app and label it "soft-boiled eggs." In the future you can just choose that option and tap to start the timer.

Another important feature is ease of use — you don't want options and features buried in the interface.

Most timers for both Apple and Android devices are free, so you can download a bunch of them, try them all and pick the one you like best. One of the best Android timers is called QTimer. It does everything a good timer does, plus it keeps a history of recently used timers (similar to how a smart phone keeps a history of phone calls).

More: Why Your Kitchen Wants Its Own iPad