The kitchen is a space where the principle ‘work smarter, not harder’ truly comes into play. Culinary endeavors, even the most casual ones, require a significant amount of preparation: peeling garlic, juicing lemons, filleting fish, and brining chicken, all before preheating the oven.
Not to mention the grocery shopping, constant stirring and simmering, and the clean-up that follows. Fortunately, there are ways to save time and reduce frustration using the right kitchen gadgets.
Our top pick for coffee brewing is the OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. This grinder is a Serious Eats favorite, known for its consistent grind and reasonable price under $100. It features a twist top for easy setting changes.
For a versatile kitchen appliance, the Instant Pot Pro 8-Quart 10-in-1 Pressure Cooker stands out. It can pressure cook, slow cook, sauté, and even bake cakes. Our tests show it sautéed and browned better and faster than competitors, with a pressure release switch and cool-to-touch silicone handles.
When it comes to blending, the Vitamix 5200 Professional-Grade Blender leads the pack. This workhorse is designed to last, with blades that can handle any food texture. It produces creamy results and is quiet and cool to operate, making it a worthy replacement for all your blending and food processing tools.
For precision cooking, the Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide is our top choice. It’s accurate and heats up water baths quickly. The machine also comes with an app full of recipes and helpful videos, including cleaning instructions.
Rubbermaid Brilliance Pantry Airtight Food Storage Containers, an 8-Piece Set, is perfect for dry goods storage. These containers have secure lids and narrow shapes that fit efficiently into any pantry.
The OXO Good Grips Food Mill is a hand-cranked device for puréeing and straining soft produce. It’s efficient at making fluffy mashed potatoes and removing skins and seeds, which is particularly useful for tomato sauce preparation.
Lastly, the Dreamfarm Garject Self-Cleaning Garlic Press with Peel Eject is a handy tool for any garlic-loving cook. It’s reliable and makes garlic pressing a breeze.
Throughout our testing, this Dreamfarm model proved endlessly low-effort to use and produced garlic that was comparable in texture to hand-minced cloves. Plus, in the interest of avoiding messy hands and sticky, difficult-to-clean utensils, it also has a scrape, loosen, and eject system built into the hinges.
Serious Eats / Jesse Raub Hamilton Beach Programmable Rice Cooker PHOTO: Amazon $53 at Amazon $53 at Home Depot $53 at Macy’s You’re either a rice cooker person, or you’re not—and for the latter folks, it’s likely that you just haven’t been converted yet. Yes, you can cook rice on a stovetop…but for low-effort, perfect rice, you simply can’t beat a rice cooker. Our favorite is this Hamilton Beach model, which punches far above its weight when it comes to price. Serious Eats / Vicky Wasik Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Pro PHOTO: Amazon $150 $100 at Amazon $100 at Williams Sonoma $150 at Walmart For sous vide or food prep (or even preventing freezer burn), a vacuum sealer is worth having around. Our favorite one has wet and dry settings and no refractory period. That’s the time between sealings, people! Serious Eats / Nick Simpson Cuisinart Core Custom 4-Cup Mini Chopper PHOTO: Amazon $50 at Amazon $50 at Williams Sonoma $50 at Sur La Table A full-size food processor can be a hassle if you’re short on storage space. But this mini chopper—which still offers a generous four-cup bowl—is perfect for mincing olives for tapenade, processing garlic cloves, or chopping nuts without encroaching on all of your counter space. Plus, this machine offers chop and grind options, both of which are as speedy as they are effective. Also, the bowl and blade are detachable and easy to clean. Serious Eats / Irvin Lin Breville BJE200XL The Juice Fountain Compact PHOTO: Amazon $100 at Amazon $100 at Target $100 at Best Buy As the old adage goes: When life gives you lemons (or produce of any kind), purchase a juicer. This centrifugal countertop juicer is compact, but still strong enough to instantly liquify whole fruits and vegetables, all while separating and collecting pulp, skins, and seeds. Serious Eats / Will Dickey Joseph Joseph Scoop Colander Strainer Slotted Spoon PHOTO: Amazon $10 at Amazon Hear us out: This Joseph Joseph strainer-meets-colander may look a little silly, but it’s multipurpose. It’s large enough to replace both your colander and slotted spoon, it’ll ensure that pasta can be transferred quickly (and evenly) from place to place while keeping your precious pasta water safe, and it can also be used to boil dumplings, poach eggs, blanch vegetables, or skim foam. Serious Eats / Jesse Raub Wine Enthusiast 18-Bottle Slimline Dual Zone Wine Cooler with Upright Bottle Storage PHOTO: Wine Enthusiast $349 at Amazon View on Wine Enthusiast Whether the wine is meant for cooking, the chef, or forthcoming dinner guests, a wine fridge will do wonders to keep your bottles in prime condition for drinking or aging, all while freeing up plenty of space in your actual fridge for items with shorter shelf lives.This super compact storage solution is designed for those who don’t have space for a second refrigerator. It can store up to 18 bottles, which is equivalent to a proper case and a half.
Serious Eats / Kristin Kempa presents the Kitchen Mama Electric Can Opener. This electric opener is not only functional but also fun to watch as it spins around, opening cans with a safe, dull edge. It is compatible with a variety of cans, including squat tuna cans and 28-ounce whole, peeled tomatoes. Serious Eats / Eric King shares some FAQs about kitchen utensils. The best utensils to cook with include a good pair of tongs, a fish spatula, a wooden spoon, a Microplane, a whisk, and kitchen shears. For more recommendations on favorite utensils, you can find them here. Choosing kitchen equipment can be daunting. Given the vast options available, we recommend reading reviews from trusted sources that test kitchen gear side by side, such as Serious Eats. For some tools, like chef’s knives, it might be beneficial to visit a store and feel them in hand. Serious Eats is an expert in this field. Eliza Dumais, a writer covering food, drink, and travel, has been part of the team. With over a decade of testing gear, Serious Eats knows the best kitchen gadgets. Eliza Dumais also tested 11 utensil crocks to find the best ones for stashing spoons and spatulas of all sorts.
