People love to be opinionated about appliances. Some see the Instant Pot and air fryers as ways to get dinner on the table better and faster; others consider them expensive, wasteful, and unnecessary.
Well, you couldn’t pull the plugs from our kitchens if you tried. Listen in on the chatter before a staff meeting and you’ll hear editors passionately extolling the virtues of their favorite electric kettle. Food processors sit right alongside knives and cutting boards at our test kitchen stations.
But that doesn’t mean we love just any appliance—each piece of equipment needs to earn its precious countertop real estate. If it doesn’t make cooking easier, more joyful, and more delicious, we don’t want it.
So we’re sharing our food editors’ highly opinionated picks for the appliances they couldn’t live without and the recipes that show off their full potential. We’ll also speculate on when AI will come for your crisper drawer, and suggest a few gadgets you definitely don’t need—but might want anyway. —Kelsey Youngman
Illustration by Hazel Zavala
A Toaster With a View
Process, Then Proof
Air-Fry Away
Photograph by Almond Cow
Waffle Everything
Pulse, Pureé, Blitz, Blend
Churn, Baby, Churn
