Appliances that Make Life so Much Easier

pasta — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 09:36:01 +0000

There’s no doubt about it, small kitchen appliances have made life a lot easier. And they’ve also helped to make diets a lot healthier and more diverse. Here are a few appliances that can dramatically simplify your time in the kitchen.

Coffee Appliances

Coffeemakers are among the most commonly purchased small kitchen appliances and, like coffee, they can vary widely in quality. Both the Cuisinart DCC-1200BW Brew Central 12-cup Programmable Coffeemaker and the West Bend Programmable 12-cup Coffee Maker brew an entire pot of coffee at a time, and can be programmed to perk whenever you’re ready. Similarly, the Zojirushi Fresh Brew Thermal Carafe Coffee Maker offers the same options, but drips into a convenient thermal carafe.

For those who prefer to brew a cup at a time, the Cuisinart DCC-2000 Coffee on Demand Programmable Coffeemaker does just what its name implies: serves up fresh coffee, one cup at a time, as you need it. The Cuisinart DCC-450R 4-cup Stainless Carafe Coffeemaker offers four cups at a time, and is ideal for couples whose busy morning routine requires that second cup of Joe.

Not a fan of drip coffee? The Cuisinart Classic Stainless Percolator or stove-top Coffee Percolator are still available, and are an attractive option ideal for serving coffee at the table.

If coffee is not your brew, maybe you prefer creamy cappuccino, or the full-bodied kick of espresso. For you, there’s the Hamilton Beach Cappuccino Plus Espresso Maker with its 15-bar pump and adjustable steam and frothing option, allowing for speedy steaming of milk for both cappuccinos and lattes. Or the Kalorik Black 4-cup Espresso Maker that offers a stylish, compact design. Kalorik also offers a stainless steel option with its popular Kalorik Aqua 15-bar Espresso Maker, combining power and speed with sleek good looks.

Once you’ve made the coffee, keeping it warm is a snap with the Arco 1.9-liter Chrome Pump Pot or the 3-cup Stainless Steel Travel Thermos, a great option for on-the-go coffee consumption.

If tea or cocoa are more to your liking, the Kalorik Silvertone Jug Kettle or the Kalorik Sunny Morning Tangerine Electric Kettle in vibrant orange will boil water and keep it warm for you.

Enjoying your coffee at home? Why not couple it with fresh, hot waffles? Both the Waring Pro WMK300 Stainless Belgian Waffle Maker and the Kalorik Heart-shaped Waffle Maker, with its romantic heart-shaped waffles, are excellent choices.

Personal Grill Appliances

Convenient kitchen appliances don’t stop after breakfast. Personal grills, like the George Foreman Next Grilleration Standard Grill, can create healthy, restaurant-style entrees using seafood, chicken or beef. The unit’s 72 square inches of grilling surface allows you to cook as much as you want, from a single serving to family-size meals.

The Better Chef Panini and Contact Grill Sandwich Maker brings another restaurant favorite into the home kitchen. These crispy, flavorful, grilled sandwiches are great as a snack or as a meal, and with a home panini maker, creating these popular gourmet deli specialties is a snap.

And, of course, midnight snacking will never be the same, since the introduction of the toaster oven. Once relegated to heating frozen entrees, today there are entire cookbooks devoted to cooking healthy, complete meals in these countertop wonders. Cuisinart offers two compact yet powerful models: the Cuisinart TOB-50 Classic Toaster Oven and its near-twin, the Cuisinart TOB-50W Classic Toaster Oven Broiler, which offers broiling as well as toasting and baking options.

Food Preparation Appliances

Maybe it’s not the cooking but the preparation that keeps you out of the kitchen. If your inner chef is yearning to break free, treat yourself to a food processor to take the hassle out of tasks like chopping, slicing and blending. Unlike earlier food processors, which were heavy and cumbersome, today’s smaller units offer convenience in both size and function.

Wolfgang Puck’s 4-cup Continuous Flow Food Processor lets you process large amounts of food in a short amount of time, while the interchangeable attachments of Cuisinart’s FPB-5CHBPC Duet Blender/ Food Processor let you perform two tasks with only one machine. Even homemade pasta is a snap with the Large 180mm Pasta Machine with Two Cutting Dies. This stainless steel machine employs adjustable rollers that can let you vary the thickness of your dough, helping you create gourmet-style meals at home, simply with the turn of a handle.

Small kitchen appliances can turn grown-up chores into pleasant tasks, but what about kids? Thanks to popcorn poppers like the Nostalgia Electrics KPM-508 Vintage Kettle Popcorn Maker, we can satisfy the kid in all of us. Sure, this vintage-style popper makes great popcorn, up to one gallon at a time, but you’ll be tempted to buy this eye-catching conversation starter for its looks alone.

No matter which appliance you’re looking for, one thing holds true: small kitchen appliances can help home cooks everywhere get big results.

Karen Zabel is a freelance writer who writes about appliances.

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Appliances that Make Life so Much Easier