Six Essential Kitchen Gadgets for an Easier Lifestyle
There are two types of shop that I am drawn to like a moth to a flame: antiques shops and kitchen shops. Not the ones that sell kitchens, but the ones that sell things for them. Spatulas, pots, pans, mixers – you name it, I want to buy it. Stepping foot into Borough Kitchen is mostly a terrible idea for my wallet and I simply cannot resist the siren call of an independent kitchen shop in a small town. I even love your bog standard hardware stores that contain every size of Kilner jar imaginable and all sorts of wizardry like cutters just for boiled eggs and those silly avocado slicers that simply no one needs (not even me, and I love a pointless gadget). With that in mind, these are the kitchen gadgets that are hot right now and deserve space on your kitchen worktop, in your drawers and stashed away in the cupboard.
Sparkling water on tap
Gadgets don't have to be powered by electricity – the sleek and stylish Aarke Carbonator III is powered by a single gas canister that delivers sparkling water to your bubble level of choice, all while making your kitchen look very good indeed. It's easy to use, looks phenomenal and is far more sustainable than buying endless plastic bottles of sparkling water to fix your cravings. When the gas canister runs out (which, it's worth mentioning, you never see as it's hidden in the Aarke's central column) you can sign up to a refill service making it even more eco-friendly.
A Kenwood mixer
I am loyal to my Magimix but were space to appear in my kitchen that would Kenwood's space-age worthy mixer, you can bet I would be buying it. What may look like most other mixers on the market is hiding a pretty major feature that every star baker needs; the bowl sits on a scale, so you can weigh your ingredients directly into the mixer meaning less mess and more precision. It comes with a 5l and a 7l bowl, electronic speed control and every single element (bar the machine of course) can be popped straight in the dishwasher. If you want even more, the Titanium Chef Patissier XL is a step up and features all that, plus the ability to melt chocolate and butter in the bowl.
The countertop pizza cooker
A pizza oven is the hot thing to have these days, but they're mostly for outdoor use only. While I love all of those, the Sage Smart Oven has caught my eye, even with its hefty price tag. Sage are generally top of the game when it comes to kitchen gadgets so you can already assume it's going to be a winner, but if Instagram's food community's reviews are anything to go by, it's a knockout. It replicates the type of heat found in a brick oven (the best way to cook pizza), bringing 400 degree heat to your kitchen countertop and cooking pizzas evenly so they have a bubbly crust and the right amount of char in two minutes.
A cordless hand mixer
Sometimes, it's the small things that really make all the difference and removing cables from kitchen appliances is definitely in that category. You can whisk egg whites, cream butter and froth foams at ease now, no matter where your power sources are. KitchenAid's cordless hand mixer is my choice, and it comes in colours to suit most styles.
Coravin's sparkling preserve system
For the uninitiated, Coravin is a brilliant tool that allows you to drink wine by the glass, without opening the bottle. This means you can slowly work your way through a top cuvée without oxidising and therefore killing the wine, and means restaurants and wine bars can offer glasses from their most expensive bottles with ease. Now though, Coravin has gone a step further and created a system that preserves sparkling wine, so you can pop the cork and enjoy a bottle at your leisure over the course of a few days. After all, we all know the teaspoon-in-the-top trick has never worked.
A state-of-the-art coffee machine
If there's one thing people love to rave about, it's coffee, and when it comes to coffee, everyone raves about the Sage bean-to-cup machine as the absolute best at-home coffee kit. It may come with quite a price tag, but when you break that down into the cost of each cup purchased from a coffee shop, it makes total sense. Not only does this coffee machine instantly perk up the look of any kitchen, but it's top-of-the-range and contains all sort of features that ensure your water is the exact temperature to draw out the maximum flavour from the coffee, the precise amount of beans are ground to be tailored to your perfect cup and you can microfoam the milk to perfect your latte art along the way.
This story originally appeared on our sister publication, House & Garden UK.