Four Appliances Needed for Even the Most Basic Kitchen Needs

You should have the right tools in your kitchen. Welcome to The Guide to Outfitting Your Kitchen series , where I help you outfit your space with all the small appliances you need (and ditch the ones you don’t).

Welcome to our kitchen appliance buying guide. I consider the kitchen to be a kind of laboratory or workshop. Just like a carpenter might need a new reciprocating saw, I want to keep you updated on the right kitchen appliances you could use to make your time in the kitchen easier and fill your bellies (and the bellies of those you care about) faster.

Just as there are basic tools every cook needs—knives, cutting boards, and pans—there are also key appliances that every kitchen should have. Whether you’re setting up your first kitchen or have that nagging feeling that cooking should be easier than it already is, these four gadgets will become essential tools for everyday cooking and will make life in the kitchen easier and less intimidating.

Fast fryer

You may have resisted that convenient countertop convection oven for years. This is nothing unusual; Me too. Cooking on the stove and in a regular oven is fine, so why buy another clunky appliance? Well, now I have a deep fryer, I’ll say this: you can try to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.

This machine uses a fan to quickly circulate hot air around the basket and cook food quickly. ( Read more about how air fryers work here .) They’re ideal for small portions of food and only take a minute or two to heat up. Compare that to a conventional oven, which might take ten minutes to heat up a relatively huge space just to cook a batch of fries, wings, or two roasted peppers.

Then comes the actual cooking time. While it would take almost an hour to cook a tray of baked potatoes in a regular oven, it would take 25 to 35 minutes in an air fryer. In the past, getting frozen fries to cook after they went limp required flipping them several times and constantly adding 10 minutes to the timer just to end up with dehydrated french fries. This is not my life anymore. Now I put the fries in the air fryer for 10 minutes and open the basket each time to get the fries crispy.

Besides potatoes, there are so many things you can cook in an air fryer that I dare say it would be useful for anyone. I love using mine around Thanksgiving to roast some veggies while the oven is busy, and the same amount on a regular day to reheat leftover pizza. Whether you live in a dorm, teach an after-school cooking class, or are someone who needs an extra oven for weekly dinner parties, dedicate space for an air fryer. You won’t regret it.

Air fryers worth considering:

• For oven design: Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer.

• For a basket design: Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart Air Fryer.

• For the window basket: Cuisinart 6-Quart Air Fryer Oven.

Classic toaster

Toaster. Really? Well yes, I came here to defend the humble toaster and everything it stands for. After all, this entire post is about the most important appliances that any kitchen needs, and it doesn’t get any more important than this one. The toaster is designed for one purpose: to ensure that your bread crisps and browns at its best. It does this job better than an air fryer, a regular oven, a frying pan, or any other appliance for that matter.

The toaster perfectly toasts the outside of the bread while leaving the inside moist. This works because of where the heating elements are located – close to both sides of the bread. Air fryers, regular ovens and toasters have eight to 15 inches of air space between the heating element and the bread, and let me tell you, air isn’t exactly known for its ability to conduct energy. Air fryers will blow hot air and the oven will take extra time to brown the bread. Both will turn your toast into a dusty cracker.

Whether you’re toasting sandwich slices, bagels, or simply warming up a biscuit on top, the toaster is the unsung hero of everyday cooking.

Here are a few toasters to suit your needs:

• For wide bread compartments: Breville Bit More XL 2-Slice Toaster

• For extra-long slices of bread: the Breville XL Smart Toaster.

• If you need a toaster: Black and Decker Oven Toaster

Efficient food processor

For some home cooks, a food processor may seem daunting—giant blade, feed tube spout, and heavy base—I get it. It can be scary. However, while slicing food with an old knife is effective for some cuts, it is simply not possible for all applications. When it comes to convenience, efficiency and versatility, the food processor wins.

A food processor is similar to a blender, but with a wide container instead of a tall and narrow one. It’s a simple difference, but it changes everything. The wider container shape and longer blades allow the machine to chop ingredients more evenly as the blades can access more of the container at once. A regular blender will first chop up what’s at the very bottom of the cone-shaped container, and if it doesn’t have enough liquid, it can process the stuff at the bottom. Additionally, many food processors come with multiple blades or discs, allowing you to replace the chopper with a heavy-duty grater, mandoline, or chopper. You can chop the carrots for the cake and then immediately replace the blade with the creamed cauliflower soup. Say goodbye to 20 minutes of chopping julienne by hand: your famous broccoli salad can now be made in five minutes.

Food processors have been around for a while now, so finding one that suits your needs is easier than ever. I live in a small apartment with limited cabinet space and almost no countertops, so I appreciate that my Ninja comes apart into pieces that can be assembled with other tools in a low cabinet. When it comes to budget, many brands offer models with fewer attachments or less power at a more affordable price. If you have a larger budget, you may want to choose a larger model, a more powerful engine, or more attachments.

Consider a food processor that suits your budget and needs:

• For a smaller footprint: Ninja Professional Plus 9-Cup Food Processor.

• Highly Rated at an Affordable Price: Hamilton Beach 10-Cup Food Processor

• High marks for a bigger budget: Breville Sous Chef Pro 16-Cup Food Processor

Convenient hand mixer or stand mixer.

Even though the stand mixer was overshadowed by the humble, clunky hand mixer a couple of decades ago, I think they’re both still relevant in our modern kitchens. Whether you make sourdough starter weekly or only use a mixer for a packaged birthday cake, you should probably have one of these (if not both) in your kitchen.

A stand mixer works independently of the table and can handle complex mixing tasks. It has a mixing bowl that is located under the head of the machine (it can be tilted or fixed). This is where the motor and controls are located, as well as where you connect the mixing attachments (whisk, dough hook or paddle). The shape and weight of the machine, combined with the design of the attachment, make this machine ideal for processing large batches or tough doughs.

They are good if you like to multitask. If there is no risk of overmixing, you can download it and continue doing other things, checking the result from time to time. They’re useful for doing jobs that are likely to tire your hands, like mixing eight pounds of Thanksgiving mashed potatoes, a triple batch of meatloaf, or kneading a double batch of pizza dough.

Average weight: 15 to 25 pounds.

Average power: from 350 to 500 W.

Average price range: from 100 to 700 dollars.

Stand Mixers Worth Considering:

• For tilt head design: KitchenAid 4.5 quart stand mixer.

• For fixed attachment: KitchenAid 7-quart stand mixer.

A hand mixer has a lower profile. The paddles are inserted into the base and the whole thing can be placed in a small box and stored in a closet. The entire motor is built into the handle, and it is light enough to be operated by a normal person. Unlike a stand mixer, you have to be present when using it as it doesn’t have a stand (ah ha!) to hold it and move it around the bowl. The small shape, light weight and long lever of the beaters give the hand mixer less leverage to create a thick batter. Instead, use it for light work and batters such as cake, whipped cream or egg whites.

Average weight: 3 lbs

Average power: from 200 to 300 W.

Average price: from 30 to 150 dollars.

Hand mixers worth considering:

• If you’re looking to splurge on a purchase: the Breville Handy Mix Mixer.

• Highly rated affordable model: Hamilton Beach 6-Speed ​​Mixer.

When deciding which one you need, consider the physical differences, price, and what you usually do. Are you the kind of person who whips up a single batch of pancake mix on the weekends, or are you thinking about starting a natural dog biscuit business? Do you have enough counter and cabinet space? If so, perhaps you can have both types. Either way, both machines will take the pressure off your cooking routine.

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