38 Kitchen Gadgets You Probably Never Realized You Wanted
When you find a new kitchen gadget that you love, it’s hard to remember how you ever cooked your favorite meals without it. Just when you think you have enough, there’s always room for another cool kitchen find — for example, a smart toaster with a touch screen that allows you to choose the perfect crisp level for your bread. You’ll find that and so many others below. (Warning: You’re going to want everything.)
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A silicone grease container
Promising review: "After using just about anything that wouldn't melt, this is the best bacon grease container ever. Easy to use, easy to clean...love the piggy!" — Michael
Get it from The Grommet for $15.
An air fryer (from the makers of the Instant Pot)
Promising review: "I'd been contemplating buying an air fryer for quite some time, but it wasn't until I found myself cooking every night with my family due to COVID-19 that I finally decided it was the right time to get one. Friends of mine were raving about their new Instant Vortex Plus 6-in-1 Air Fryer, so after reading similar feedback on Amazon, I decided it looked like a winner. And it happens to be made by the same company that makes the crowd-favorite Instant Pot. I figured I would be using this appliance primarily as air air fryer, but as an added bonus, it can also roast, broil, bake, re-heat, and dehydrate food.
I've had this air fryer for about three weeks now, and I can honestly say it's become the hero of my kitchen. It preheats quickly, it's large enough to hold a good amount of food at once, it's easy to clean, and it makes food taste crispy on the outside and moist on the inside without any oil. I've been using my air fryer to make vegetables just about every night and it makes them taste so good. If you're cooking for kids, picky eaters, or you just don't get so excited about eating vegetables, the air fryer could be perfect for you. If you like chicken, the air fryer might change your life, and I don't mean that to be dramatic. The air fryer produces restaurant-quality chicken that tastes absurdly decadent, except there's no oil involved in the cooking — just air. We also tried making sesame chicken in the air fryer using boneless skinless chicken thighs. The sesame chicken tasted almost identical to my favorite Chinese takeout, and it had nothing to do with my cooking skills. Thanks to the air fryer, the chicken gets so crispy. I couldn't believe I made this at home!!" — Hannah Loewentheil
Get it from Amazon for $99.99 (available in two colors).
A milk frother
Promising review: "OMG, this milk frother makes my homemade latte taste like it was made by a barista. It was perfect. So perfect that I bought a second one for my brother who loves coffee to use. I've already recommended it to some coworkers. It has changed my coffee drinking life. This comes highly recommended." — Michelle Pirestani
Get it from Amazon for $19.99 (available in 32 colors).
A set of three fermentation lids
Promising review: "I am a first time fermenter and was very pleased with this kit. I made dill pickles and some mixed veggies (cauliflower, carrots, onions, and green beans). They all turned out yummy. I used half gallon jars and the glass weights, and didn't have any mold problems! I was not prepared for the smells though. Love this product as it makes it so easy to get some tasty probiotics into your gut." — Claudia Turner
Get it from Amazon for $25.99.
A pizza oven the entire family can enjoy
Promising review: "We've wanted a pizza oven for a long time. The regular oven only gets to about 550F and the BBQ doesn't cook the top of the pizza well enough. Then this amazing thing comes along. It delivers as promised. Read to launch pizzas in 20 minutes. In fact I found that lower than max temp worked perfectly and avoided the over-charred crust. The 16-inch size is nice to allow room to maneuver 12-13" pies around to cook them evenly. I used the provided dough recipe with success so far. I look forward to trying some other crust types. If you are on the fence about this, listen: Buy it! Nothing easier than gas. Pizzas on my second try came as good as the best restaurant pizzas I've had. Keep the toppings light and you will love it too." — matthekman
Get it from Williams-Sonoma for $499.95.
A tortilla press
Get it from Verve Culture or Amazon for $48.
A Nespresso Vertuo coffee and espresso maker
Promising review: "I like iced coffee with high caffeine. This fits the bill perfectly and is a joy to use and drink. My Starbucks monthly bill has come down considerably after buying this unit, and I'm ready to hit the ground running that much sooner in the morning. I especially enjoy the self cleaning feature and the ability to run it for smaller or larger cup sizes. Truly a premium product." — David T.
Get it from Amazon for $182.99 (available in five colors).
A set of LED light saber chopsticks
Promising review: "I purchased these for a friend's birthday present (he is a sushi waiter) and these are flippin' AMAZING. I ordered two sets by mistake, but I am totally keeping the second pair for another gift (or for myself!). These are sure to be great conversation pieces and attention-getters. Way to go!" — T. Redwood
Get them from Amazon for $19.97.
A mini fridge/freezer with a retro vibe
Promising review: "Great fridge! Looks good. Runs efficiently and mostly silent (just a slight hum when the compressor kicks in). I purchased this one because I wanted a small fridge without a can rack on the inside of the door. Without it, this fridge has tons of storage for lots of non-soda can things! Freezer is also super roomy. This is a great product for anyone who wants a stylish appliance that works well and saves space." — REV
Get it from The Home Depot for $249.99 (available in four colors).
An automatic pan stirrer with a timer
Promising review: "My husband loves to cook. We have two very small children, so while his meals are mostly yummy, they are also sometimes burnt. :) This was perfect for him. He's able to turn it on, run into the next room to save the day with a plastic bag and a washcloth for whatever blowout-esque mess I'm dealing with, forget he's cooking, run back into the kitchen frantically when he remembers, and arrive only to find the meal practically cooking itself. Best. Gift. Ever." — Jake the ChefturnedDaddy
Get it from UncommonGoods for $25.
A handheld garlic press
Promising review: "Very sturdy and well-designed garlic press. The handle is solid and the metal used isn't cheap and presses well. The enclosed small knife scraper and garlic roller are very useful. It was extremely easy to clean three cloves and then press for fresh garlic instead of the old jarred stuff from a box store. Nothing is better than using it fresh for your marinades or cooking." — Leips63
Get it from Amazon for $9.99 (available in two colors).
A compact eight-in-one spiralizer
Promising review: "I recently purchased this because it was my cheapest option for making zoodles, and also because my apartment is the size of a shoebox and there was no room for anything bigger. I LOVE how easy it is to swap out the caps to do other things, too — I've started grating my own cheeses and feel very fancy. But mostly I just love that it's very safe to use (it comes with a finger guard!), super easy to figure out, very compact, and even has measurements on the inside of the cup if you're ever portioning things out for a recipe." — Emma Lord
Get it from Amazon for $14.99.
A Magic Bullet blender
Promising review: "I use this almost every morning. This was my savior during the quarantine part of the pandemic when I was working from home. I was able to easily make smoothies for breakfast or a snack instead of eating junk. Blended quickly and easily, easy to clean, and came with so many cups and travel options I was able to continue my healthy habit when I went back to work!" — Marissa Vitorio
Get it from Amazon for $29.99.
A cookie scoop
Promising review: "Why didn't I have one of these in my kitchen drawer before?! I bought the medium-sized scoop originally to make a large batch of cookies for Christmas, but today it came handy when I had leftover batter from my banana bread recipe and it made the perfect scoop to fill a regular-sized cupcake liner! Now I'm thinking about getting the small size for my mini-cupcakes! Super easy and they came out perfectly uniform and totally beats trying to use a spoon! Handles have a nice silicone grip too and help with hand fatigue. :-)" — Michi K
Get it from Amazon for $13.99+ (available in three sizes).
An AeroGarden
Promising review: "I purchased this as a Christmas gift for my boyfriend's sister-in-law who lamented not having a green thumb. In the two months that the sis-in-law has had the AeroGarden, the growth has been tremendous. I'm constantly in awe when she sends me pics of the new growth." — Mary A. Walls
Get it from Amazon for $119.99 (available in three colors).
A mug warmer
Promising review: "I'm a chronic coffee forgetter. I can't drink it straight from the brewer (too hot for me) so I set my mug down to cool slightly and often get distracted. Of course I then come back to my coffee to find it's already cold. I've currently got the warmer at my office and it's working great. I can sip my coffee leisurely over the course of an hour and it's still nice and warm." — Elle
Get it from Amazon for $10.99.
A Cuisinart Griddler
Promising review: "Excellent addition to our kitchen. Good build quality, You can use this for a lot of different food but it is great for grilled cheese sandwiches. The griddle works well on pancakes and has plenty of heat to do the job. Easy and quick to clean." — Jazzperk
Get it from Amazon for $77.51.
A KitchenAid food chopper
Promising review: "This is a perfect size for a small counter. It stores both blades and the cord wraps nicely. It is large enough to chop a large onion. It has a variable speed which is great for controlling particle size. It seems well-made, very little vibration and is very attractive." — D Powell
Get it from Amazon for $44.99+ (available in six colors).
A culinary blow torch
Promising review: "This mini torch is easy to use with an adjustable flame. It's not too fancy shmancy, but it's not expensive either. It does everything I need it to do including lighting candles that have burned too far down to reach with a match. (although I know that's not its intent at all) Unfortunately it doesn't arrive with butane; but once you fill it, it lasts a pretty long time!" — Vero
Get it from Amazon for $17.99.
A Mr. Coffee drip coffee machine
Promising review: "I'll admit, I can be prone to coffee snobbery now and again. I have just about every appliance, tool, and gadget to make coffee this way and that, but there's one I always come back to — the Mr. Coffee. My dad has used a Mr. Coffee basically every morning since the beginning of time, so when I got my first apartment — finally free of the "no cooking appliances" rule ubiquitous to college dorm life — of COURSE I bought the cheapest 12-Cup Mr. Coffee drip pot I could find. That same pot has been with me ever since (for over six years!), quickly brewing up cup after steaming cup of coffee for my roommates, friends, and me, never failing to make my morning and little better. It has also survived many, many moves while packed in pretty precarious boxes. TL;DR: it's also durable.
If you've somehow never made drip coffee before, listen, it's really easy. Just pop in a filter, fill it with coffee, fill the machine with water, and flip the switch. Boom! You've got java. Most mornings, flipping literally one switch is all I feel capable of, and Mr. Coffee thinks that's just fine! Is it an artisanal cup of coffee? No. But is it delicious and plentiful and quick and easy? Heck yes. I fully support making a lil' pour-over as a treat, but for an everyday pot for yourself and every coffee drinker in the house? Unbeatable." — Rachel Dunkel
Get it from Amazon for $24.99 (available in two colors).
A coffee and spice grinder
Promising review: "Been using this for my morning French press beans, and it is so straightforward and easy to use to one's needs. I haven't done any super deep cleaning of it yet but the design makes me think that'll be easy — all the surfaces inside are easy to access and clean out as needed." — Erin B.
Get it from Sur la Table for $19.95.
A SodaStream
Promising review: "I got the SodaStream Fizzi last fall and started using it immediately. I like this version because it's manual, which means it doesn't require electricity, so it doesn't have to be plugged into the wall. It comes with the water maker, a 60-liter CO2 Cylinder, and a 1L slim carbonating bottle. Instead of having to buy cans or bottles of seltzer all the time, I can make it in seconds in my apartment and never run out. I also love how much better for the environment it is — I've reduced my plastic and aluminum consumption by a lot." — Abby Kass
Get it from Target for $89.99 (available in four colors).
A microwave popcorn maker
Promising review: "This worked really well, it popped all but a few kernels without burning any of the popcorn. I found that the time to pop was the same as what I use for the microwave popcorn packets, which is two minutes on our microwave. The popcorn tasted very good considering it had no oil, butter, or salt on it. I didn't think I would like it without butter. I still like movie theater butter popcorn the best but probably not best to eat that all the time, this popcorn is healthier. I tried adding butter to a batch after it cooked and it didn't taste much better, not like the taste of the microwave packets." — Derek
Get it from Amazon for $15.90 (available in 23 colors).
A pasta machine
Get it from Amazon for $36.99 (available in two colors).
A mandolin with 30 different cut options
Promising review: "This item is amazing for both its safety features and ease of use. I am a bit of a kitchen klutz and feel completely at ease and fearless with this device. I made my own potato chips — I sliced with my Dash mandolin and cooked in my Dash air fryer. The tasted just like the ones i get from my favorite Portuguese restaurant but I’m hoping they are much healthier. I honestly think this is a must have for all at home chefs." — Dawn
Get it from Amazon for $47.99+ (available in three colors).
A breakfast sandwich maker
Promising review: "FAM. I need you to lissssssten. I would give this product 87 stars if I could. You'd think it would be one of those gimmicky kitchen appliances that barely even works. EXCEPT you're wrong. It's amazing. It's quick. Look. Lissssten. You put the ingredients in and about two minutes later your tummy is all like 'oh yesssss.' Basically. Just buy it. Purchase the sammich maker. You're welcome." — Amazon Customer
Get it from Amazon for $23.47+ (available in five colors).
An immersion blender
Promising review: "Amazing blender! I've had other (cheap) models of immersion blenders. While they did what they were supposed to do, they did not have quality that this Mueller one has. I absolutely ADORE that the piece that does the work is all stainless, not cheap plastic. I use mine mostly for doing soups, and it does a wonderful job even on 'tough' kohlrabi. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a GOOD immersion blender!" — Judy D.
Get it from Amazon for $29.97.
A nonstick microwave pasta cooker
Promising review: "One of those 'why didn't I think of this?' kind of things. It makes cooking pasta so easy and foolproof! No trying to bend/break pasta to get it to fit into a round pan. The instructions tell you exactly how long to microwave it for the different size proportions." — EQUUS
Get it from Amazon for $16.98.
A handy corn butterer
Promising review: "I purchased the corn butter knife early in the summer — just in time for corn season. Since it comes in a set of two, I gave one to my daughter and son-in-law; their comment was, "Why hasn't anyone ever thought of this before?!" It's a MUCH better solution than rolling the cob in a slab of butter!" — Anne
Get a pack of two from The Grommet for $13.95.
A Nespresso Aeroccino milk frother
Promising review: "Bravo Nespresso! I can't rave enough about this item. The simplest and best milk frother I have aver seen. Our lattes and cappuccinos are simply fantastic now with the heated, frothed milk from this machine. I have an expensive Jura coffee maker and it does hot, frothed milk well but not as easy to use or as well frothed as this thing. I can make only the amount of milk I need with this, where I would have a big bulky stainless-steel canister on the counter all day for the Jura with milk I would never get to use so would throw away. Well worth the price if you like perfectly frothed milk. Simple to use too! One of the best items I have ever purchased!" — Customer
Get it from Amazon for $86.99.
A SinkShroom strainer
Promising review: "I’ve been a fan of the SinkShroom and TubShroom, and this is the best product from the line so far. My kitchen sinks simply do not clog any more, so there’s no more reaching into a bunch of water to unclog anything with my hand." — Brady Amerson
Get it from Amazon for $11.99.
A rapid egg cooker
Promising review: "This egg cooker is some sort of insane magic. It is brilliant...totally changed my life and is my new best friend in the kitchen. Super simple to use, instructions are extremely clear, with pictures and some recipes to get you going, and the different types of eggs you can cook with this is incredible: hard boiled, poached (!!!) and an omelet. We didn't even have to try it a few times to get it right — first time the eggs came out the most perfect I've ever cooked them and all I did was follow a few basic instruction steps, then walk away and listen for the buzzer. Even the buzzer at the end is more than a sound...it's music that my son and I dance to in the kitchen. I'm in heaven. All for such a low price. I can die happy now:)" — Amazon Customer
Get it from Amazon for $17.46+ (available in five colors).
A BBQ tool
Promising review: "Bought it for my son in law for Christmas, a grill master! Loved not burning his wrist on the big grill, and can pick up all large cuts of meat and small pieces of vegetable without a problem. Very well-made. Extremely pleased with this purchase!" — Joyce
Get it from The Grommet for $17.95+ (available in three sizes).
A HyperChiller to cool your favorite drink in less than a minute
Promising review: "For those not fully familiar with how it works, what it's accomplishing is trying to surround your liquid with as much ice-behind-metal as possible. So, it has a center chamber of ice behind the metal, then an outer chamber of ice. The inner chamber fits inside the outer with about a cup's worth of space that's between the inner and outer chamber. This exposes your liquid to the greatest surface area of super-cold metal that they can, and since your liquid is only touching metal, and not the ice itself, it doesn't matter the temperature of the liquid poured in. You can pour in boiling water and while it may end up melting a bunch of the ice behind the metal, none of that water will mix with your drink. So, whether you're chilling a wine, dropping hot coffee to cool it off, or just wanting to rapidly drop the temp of that fresh lemonade you made without making it watery, this will get that done." — P. Eriksen
Get it from Amazon for $24.99.
A bicycle-inspired pizza cutter
Promising review: "So cute and beautiful at the same time!! Sharp and cut the pizza like butter. Bought as a gift and will definitely buy again!!" — Amazon Customer
Get it from Amazon for $22.88.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
