Setting aside the refrigerator and range, you don’t need all that many gadgets and gizmos in your kitchen. Humans have been preparing food and cleaning up for millennia, and for the vast majority of that time, they haven’t been using waffle cone makers or panini presses. The truth is you can make almost any kind of food — even haute cuisine — using regular kitchen tools, so cramming your kitchen cabinets with every appliance you can find is a major waste of money and space.
A cluttered kitchen isn’t inviting, and often, it isn’t particularly functional. You only need five small kitchen appliances to find success in your home culinary adventures, and those appliances are:
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Blender
Source: Breville
Blenders are good for smoothies — but they do so much more. As suggested by https://www.juicersplusblenders.com/, you can make soups, dressings, nut butter, and nearly anything else that needs to be smooth and creamy. If you are a smoothie person, you should opt for a high-powered countertop model, but if you are low on space and don’t blend that often, you can make do with an immersion blender, sometimes called stick blenders.
Food Processor
Source: Engadget
You might be thinking: If I have a blender, why do I need another appliance that does nearly the same thing? True, food processors and blenders overlap in functionality, but food processors lack the power to blend as smoothly as a blender, and they can do way more than a blender. A food processor grates, chops, shreds, and grinds, making cooking prep so much easier. If you are often feeding more than yourself, you should spring for a 12-cup (or higher) capacity.
Electric Mixer
Source: Walmart
There are two types of electric mixer: stand mixers and hand mixers. Stand mixers are more powerful and they are hands-free; hand mixers are smaller and easier to store. Stand mixers tend to be the number-one splurge for home bakers, who frequently need a large, robust mixing tool to get their doughs together. However, if you are a cook more than a baker, you can get away with a hand mixer for the occasional mixing task.
Pressure Cooker OR Slow Cooker
Source: Ricardo
Pressure cooking is a bit of a cult — but it is a cult that you might want to join if you are short on time and devoted to home cooking. The Instant Pot is a small and hardworking kitchen appliance that guarantees you can have a healthy meal on the table after a long, tiring workday. However, if you aren’t ready to hop on any cooking trends, you might prefer the slow cooker, or Crock-Pot, which has long been a friend to those in need of large, hearty meals.
Toaster Oven
Source: Business Insider
A kitchen isn’t a kitchen if it can’t make toast. Yet, instead of wasting counter space on a single-function toaster, opt for a toaster oven. These smaller and more energy-efficient ovens can do it all: turn bread into toast, bake cookies, reheat leftovers — the works. That means you have more cooking space when you need it, and when you don’t, you won’t heat up the whole kitchen with your regular oven.
How to Find Top-quality Appliances
Source: T3
When you buy an appliance of high quality, you are more likely to gain a longer appliance lifespan, and you will probably find the devices easier to use and more attractive than bargain-basement kitchen tools. Because these five are the only kitchen appliances you need, you can afford to devote a larger amount of budget to each item. This will give you a greater opportunity to acquire a top-tier device and enjoy the benefits that bring.
While price tags will often tell you what appliances are manufactured with better components, sometimes they only tell you which brands are most popular. Thus, you should always do your research before committing to one appliance over another. Websites like HouseMethod.com have trustworthy appliance reviews from experts and consumers, so you can find exactly the make and model you want before you waste your money on something worse. You might also talk to friends and family, if you know someone who is a whiz in the kitchen, or consult with sales staff in high-class appliance stores like Williams Sonoma.
Of course, you don’t have to have only these devices— you might add a coffee maker or a wine cooler to your toolset if you are particularly fond of coffee or wine. However, if you are just beginning to assemble your kitchen, you should know that you don’t need all the bells and whistles to function effectively as a home cook. Just a blender, food processor, electric mixer, slow cooker, and toaster oven will do.
