Kitchen Gadgets Buying Guide

Everyone knows that kitchen gadgets are essential to a well functioning kitchen.  Everything from large appliances to small cooking tools can be found in the kitchen and for the most part, their purpose is to make our time there as easy and stress-free as possible.

But which gadgets do you really need and which ones can you do without?  The answer unfortunately is not an easy one.  It all depends on your budget, lifestyle, space limitations and more.  Some people love to acquire every new kitchen gadget as it becomes available while others live with the bare necessities.  Buying kitchen gadgets is usually a matter of need vs. want and is also a personal decision.

In my opinion, kitchen gadgets fall into three main categories – multi-functional, add-ons and luxury.    Let’s have a look at each of these categories to see how most kitchen gadgets belong to one of the three:

These are the items in the kitchen that can perform more than one important task for us. This can be anything from small tool like a whisk that we use to make mile-high meringue or whisk a hot pot of gravy, to a larger appliance like a griddle for pancakes, pork schnitzels or grilled cheese sandwiches.

One of my all-time favorite multi-tasking appliances in my kitchen is my Cuisinart Food Processor. This work horse does it all for me. I can grate cheese, slices potatoes, mix up a batch of cookie dough or whip up a delicious homemade salad dressing – all with one kitchen gadget!! And it not only saves me time but money too. When I add up all the money I save by making these foods myself as opposed to buying them ready-made from the supermarket, I know that buying a food processor was a wise decision.

These items are the ones that accompany a kitchen gadget that you already own. As I see it, if I have already purchased a certain kitchen gadget and there are accessories that I can use to make it more versatile in my kitchen, then you can bet I’ll be the first in line to buy one.

The best example of this is the exception add-ons available for stand mixers. If you are lucky enough to own a stand mixer then you already know how incredibly handy and functional it is. But with accessories like the KitchenAid Mixer Attachments you can turn your stand mixer into a multi-tasker in a heartbeat!

Stand mixers usually come with a hefty price tag but when you can use it to make fresh homemade pasta, churn your own ice cream or stuff your Italian sausages, you actually get three kitchen gadgets for the price of one!

Everyone has at least a few of these gadgets in their kitchen.  We know they aren’t an absolute necessity in the kitchen but perhaps there was one feature or one convenience about them that made it worth the price right?

A good example is the Panasonic Bread Maker.  Not only does this machine bake a loaf of bread that is so moist and delicious it’ll almost make you cry but it does most of the work for you too.  You don’t even have to add the yeast at the right time – the machine takes care of that.

Bread makers aren’t essential or even necessarily practical but to come home from work to a freshly made loaf of bread baking away in your kitchen is truly one of life’s small luxuries.