Mini Must-Have Kitchen Appliances for 2020!
Wondering what the must-have small kitchen appliances are for 2020? We went to the top chefs to find out what they love, whether they make meals in a prep space of 100 square feet or 1,000. Because while any accomplished or food-loving cook can prepare a great dish with a sharp knife and a pot or pan – even the pros like a little convenience!
Small Specialty Must-Have Appliances
Kohl’s carries the Kitchen Aid 2-Speed Hand Blender, perfect for blending smoothies, sauces, soups, salsas, and dips, the powerful stainless-steel appliance can puree fruits, cooked veggies and smooth out any flour lumps in your next batch of gravy. The immersion blender is on sale now for $39.99.
Raclettes, anyone? This appliance is used to heat cheese on one side which you then scrape onto potatoes or other veggies, eggs, bread, or any other prepared dish that needs a bit of gooey goodness. Raclette comes from the French word “racler”, which means to scrape. This Bosca mini-appliance version is $39.89 and dishwasher-safe.
According to Good Housekeeping, Hamilton Beach’s Belgian style waffle maker is the best value on the market. The round waffles it cooks can easily be split into waffle sticks for the littles. Or you can opt for the rotating Gourmia Belgian waffle maker that flips 180 degrees to insure perfect batter distribution. And with the “color control” feature will turn out either dark and crispy or light and fluffy waffles, perfect golden disks ready for butter and maple syrup.
If you eat a lot of eggs or rice, there’s an appliance specifically for those foods to make life easier. The multi-function Electric Egg Cooker delivers seven cooked eggs at once in soft, medium, hard, poached, or omelet-style. This item from Classic Cuisine retails for $27 and is actually great for a camper/RV or dorm room.
The New York-based food prep product manufacturer Dash, makes all kinds of mini appliances for the kitchen – from yogurt and candy makers, to compact air fryers, rapid peelers (think apples), and panini/sandwich presses.
Multi-Purpose Small Appliances
Programmable electric pressure cookers like the Instant Pot® come in various sizes and the smallest is a three-quart model that replaces seven kitchen appliances. You can use this little workhorse as a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, yogurt maker, warmer and even to sauté foods.
Air Fryers are all the rage, and why not? Who doesn’t like the taste of fried food without the guilt or calories? We went to Consumer Reports for ratings and recommendations for these countertop appliances – which, it turns out, are actually small convection ovens. A fan circulates hot air inside it to quickly cook food from the outside in. 
The Consumer Reports labs tested 25 models and while everyone says you can tell the difference (air-fried French fries, for example, don’t taste exactly like oil-fried), the testers considered capacity, ease-of-use, noise levels and how much effort each fryer took to clean. Top scores went to the NuWave air fryer which retails for about $99 on Amazon.
Finally, check out Consumer Reports recommendations for coffee makers, multi-cookers, microwaves, toaster ovens, food processors, and blenders that perform well and don’t require tons of space…in case you want one of each!
The Coolest Kitchens are in Colliers Hill
You can fit all your beloved appliances – mini-to-maxi — into the spacious, storage-abundant new-home kitchens in the master-planned community of Colliers Hill. Explore the amenities residents have fallen in love with, as well as the stunning model homes, from Meritage Homes, Richmond American Homes, and Century Communities. You’ll find the perfect floor plan for your lifestyle – from among ranch-style and two-story designs — priced from the high $300s.
