Best Kitchen Gadgets for the Creative Chef

A lot of folks shy away from working in the kitchen as it can get tedious and tiring quickly. Sure, cooking is one of the best ways to express our love for our family and friends, but the heat and all of the hours of working with knives can really get to one’s nerves. For some, it’s always easier to have food delivered.

But, then again, cooking is the best way to a loved one’s heart, so it’s still something most of us are willing to do to show we care. Cooking is also very satisfying, as it allows you to create. The results will really give you a good sense of accomplishment, especially if the people you’ve prepared it for enjoyed their meal thoroughly.

If you’re not too skilled in the kitchen but still want to spend hours in it, the best way to cut corners without sacrificing the quality of your dishes is to get the best kitchen gadgets. There are tons of these things that are made for different purposes, so you can choose the right ones that will suit your needs.

What Makes a Kitchen Gadget Great

When shopping for additions to your kitchen, you should only look for the best. With most kitchens already fully equipped to do most cooking tasks, it’s really hard to add new pieces that will enhance it. Some tools, especially the trendy ones, tend to end up unused and just consuming valuable drawer space after a few uses. To avoid ending up with a number of useless tools, picking the best gadgets is essential.

To do this, it must be established what makes a kitchen gadget worth your dime. A few criteria that you can use are the following:

It should make your time in the kitchen easier.

Gadgets need to be useful, so it should be handy when it comes to doing different things in the kitchen. It should help simplify tasks for you and maybe even shorten your preparation time. If it doesn’t do that, it might just be another thing that you’ll need to wash, which can only make your stay in the kitchen longer and more involved.

If it can multifunction, then you can get better value for your money.

Most of the best kitchen gadgets serve a unique purpose. They can either simplify a specific task or give you better results than using a knife or hands. However, a lot of these gadgets have a single purpose, making them more of a hassle to use rather than handy. This is why, if you can find a multifunctional gadget, the more chances that it has to be extra useful to you.

It should perform exceptionally.

Whatever its purpose is, a kitchen gadget should do its job marvelously. If the work it offers is subpar, then it’s not really worth your time, effort, and money.

It does the job better than you can do manually.

A good kitchen gadget should also elevate your kitchen performance. If it has the same results as what you can do with a knife or mortar and pestle, then it’s not exactly worth spending extra cash on.

It has to be easy to use.

Any kitchen gadget that requires you to perform an elaborate sequence of tasks shouldn’t be bought. There are enough cooking techniques that are complicated enough and you don’t need to add a gadget to make things harder.

It won’t take up too much space.

Even if you have a large kitchen, a good gadget should still be considerate enough not to take too much space. This way, you can easily store it for later use.

It adds character to your kitchen.

Some of the best kitchen gadgets aren’t necessarily unique and groundbreaking but they do add some charm and injects personality to your kitchen. They can be great conversation starters for the parties you host or make fun additions to the food you serve, so they’re still great buys.

They’re easy to clean.

If a kitchen gadget requires a lot of effort to clean and doesn’t really do something unique that you’ll deem indispensable to your cooking routine, then they’re not exactly the best picks for your home. While additional gadgets and tools used when preparing food always mean additional things to clean, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle to deal with the best gadgets. If you know that you’ll dread using something because you’ll have a hard time washing it afterward, just skip it and look for another way to get the task done.

10 Best Kitchen Gadgets of 2017

Fruit Factory 10 in 1 Kitchen Gadgets Tools Organizer

This kitchen organizer is shaped like a plant and comes with all kinds of gadgets for scooping, mashing, juicing, and grating fruits. You get five fruit picks, an avocado scoop, a citrus peeler, a mesh cutter, a small fruit juicer, a large fruit juicer, a soft fruit masher, an apple cutter, a hard fruit grater, and a serving bowl.

Pros

• Made of bright, colorful plastic
• Performs lots of different functions when preparing fruit

Cons

• You have to take the whole thing apart to find what you need
• Problems with stability and durability

KitchenAid Spiralizer Attachment with Peel, Core, and Slice

Outfit any KitchenAid mixer with this modern and heavy duty spiralizer attachment. The blade system can peel, core, and slice many kinds of fruits and vegetables. It attaches to the power hub on the mixer and is made of metal. Comes with its own storage box, which is 5.8” x 12.4” x 12.4” in size.

Pros

• Dishwasher safe on the top rack
• Two spiralizer blades for fine or medium size

Cons

• Doesn’t fit other mixers and only for KitchenAid
• You can’t core only and have to core foods along with peeling or slicing

Chefcoo Kitchen All-In-One Cutlery Knife Set with Magnetic Strip and Sharpener

Seven colorful knives in all shades of the rainbow, along with their own magnetic strip and a sharpener, make up this attractive kitchen gadget set. You get a red chef’s knife, an orange carving knife, a yellow bread knife, a dark-purple utility knife, a light-purple cheese knife, a green pizza knife, and a blue paring knife. The magnetic strip goes on the wall and is bright red in color, while the sharpener has two sharpening modes.

Pros

• Knives have a grip handle and won’t slip
• Knives are dishwasher safe

Cons

• The blades are metal but the handles are plastic
• The paint chips on these knives after only limited use

FeerHol’s Stainless Steel Pizza Cutter Bike

This fun kitchen gadget is not only in the shape of a bike, it’s made of stainless steel and durable. Both “tires” on the bike are pizza cutters, so it wheels across pizza easily. The “bike frame” is yellow in color. It also comes with its own metal stand to stay upright on a counter. Dishwasher safe, too. It’s 7.5” x 4.3” x 1.6” in size.

Pros

• It’s easy to use and fun for pizza night with the family
• This bike cuts the pizza and keeps your hands away from it to prevent burns

Cons

• It takes up counter space and should come with a wall mount
• The “frame” is plastic, but the “tires” are stainless steel

Cool-Shop Marshmallow Roasting Sticks

You get eight 32” extendable roasting forks in this marshmallow or hot dog roasting set. The wood bases are BPA free, and the tines are 18/8 stainless steel, so they won’t scorch or become destroyed over an open flame. Each of the forks has a colored band so everyone knows whose is whose.

Pros

• Comes with its own heat resistant canvas travel bag
• Can be extended up to more than 2’ so you’re not near the fire

Cons

• The stainless steel tines are not nonstick
• They have to be washed by hand and are not dishwasher safe

Dishwasher Magnet Clean/Dirty Sign

How do you tell if the dishes in the dishwasher are clean? With a clean/dirty sign. This one is magnetic and made from aluminum, not plastic. The magnets won’t scratch the dishwasher. It has a gliding mechanism to indicate if dishes are dirty or clean. It’s 3.9” wide x 1.3 inches tall.

Pros

• The aluminum is more durable than plastic signs
• It has a contemporary text design

Cons

• The slide piece is lightweight and shifts when you move the dishwasher door
• There is only one magnet on the back

MiniPresso GR Espresso Maker

This little black kitchen gadget is a small and compact espresso machine. It’s hand operated, so doesn’t need any batteries or electric power. The MiniPresso is less than 7” long. Give the plunger a press every 2 seconds to dispense the espresso. This pours one single shot of espresso. It’s 6.9” long and 2.8” wide.

Pros

• Great for travel, backpacking, or camping
• The espresso has good body and crema

Cons

• Do not tamp the espresso in the filter basket or you will damage the seal in the pump
• The espresso is only as hot as the water you pour into the MiniPresso, so it might not get hot enough

Westmark Vegetable and Salad Spinner

This salad spinner from Westmark comes in the colors of apple green or dark red. It comes with a pouring spout and is made from polypropylene. It separates the liquid from the salad with its spin mechanism and has an ergonomic handle. It’s 11.4” x 9.9” x 8.5” in size.

Pros

• Dishwasher safe and easy to clean
• It keeps lettuce and other salad items dry and fresh for a long time

Cons

• The lid just rests on top of the bowl, so this is not a string operated model
• The way the salad spinner is designed makes it difficult to store

Etekcity Lasergrip Digital Temperature Gun

This digital temperature gun is a great kitchen gadget for measuring food temperatures and cooking properly. It uses infrared technology to measure from -58° up to 716° Fahrenheit, and is extremely accurate. There’s a built-in laser to hone in on what you’re measuring. The LCD screen shows a big readout of the temperature. It’s 7.3” x 3.9” x 1.4” in size.

Pros

• You can measure the temperature in things besides food
• The results are locked when you release the trigger

Cons

• Battery operated—takes a 9V battery
• It can only read surface temperatures, not internal like for a meat probe

Gidli Jar Opener and 5-In-1 Multi-Opener Set

This kitchen gadget is a 5-in-1 opener set, so it can open jars, cans, and bottles in five different sizes, from 1” in width up to 2 7/8” in width. It works with 2-liter bottles, water bottles, pasta sauce jars, and opening pull-tabs on the tops of cans. The rubber grip holds on firmly as well.

Pros

• Great gadget for those suffering with arthritis or weak hands
• Can open a wide variety of items

Cons

• Made of plastic, so not as durable as a stronger material
• The handles bend when you try to open larger jars sometimes

Conclusion

Sometimes your curiosity will get the better of you when shopping for the best kitchen gadgets. You can get impulsive if it promises to address your biggest pet peeve or do the very task you hate when cooking. If it’s also very cheap, it’s highly likely that it won’t require a second thought for you to add it into your cart. All of these shouldn’t be done, though, because if the gadget that you’re eyeing is just all cute and fancy without any actual substance, chances are, it will just end up unused.

There are tons of great gadgets that will really add functionality to your kitchen. You just need to find them and make sure that you need them so you won’t end up with another fancy item tucked away in your drawers that you won’t know how to use a few years down the line.