The best kitchen gadgets for 2025

The hottest kitchen gadget right now seems to be the air fryer, presumably because the idea of “frying” foods without the oily mess is an easy sell. Really, though, air fryers are just miniature convection ovens. They’re typically pod-shaped and often come with a removable basket. There are also toaster ovens with an air-frying function – see our recommendations below – if you prefer to have a multi-purpose appliance on your countertop.

Though both have their own merits, if you think you’re going to be air-frying a lot, we actually recommend a dedicated pod-shaped air fryer. These devices tend to result in crispier food, plus they’re easier to clean. One of our favorites is the Instant Vortex Plus with ClearCook and OdorErase. As the name suggests, it has a window so you can see what you’re cooking, as well as odor-eliminating filters that help reduce cooking smells – not many other air fryers have both. It also doesn’t take up as much space as a large toaster oven and it has easy to use controls.

Nobody wants to eat undercooked meat, but it’s pretty inedible when it’s overcooked as well. One way to avoid either extreme is to use a thermometer to monitor the temperature. Our favorite is the Thermapen One from ThermoWorks. It gives readings instantaneously, and the screen rotates automatically depending on how you’re holding it. The auto-wake and sleep feature is useful for quick temp checks, and its IP67 waterproofing rating means you don’t have to worry about accidentally dropping it in the sink.

The ThermoPop is a more affordable option in ThermoWorks’ lineup. It’s not quite as fast as the Thermapen One, and it doesn’t have the rotating display or backlight. But it still measures temperatures accurately and while it’s not waterproof, it is splash resistant.

Engadget’s Karissa Bell started using this Amazon Basics digital scale in her home kitchen once she realized her lackadaisical approach to cooking recipes wasn’t going to cut it when it came to baking. She likes this model because it’s compact, but can still weigh up to 11 pounds of ingredients. Plus it easily switches between pounds, grams and fluid ounces. Beyond baking, it’s useful for pour-over coffee and meal portion management. And at under $11, it’s tough to beat the price.

While the Ninja Creami is more like a blender than a traditional ice cream churn, it still allows you to create luxurious frozen treats while taking up less room on your countertop compared to old-school rivals. It’s also super easy to operate – if you can use a food processor, you can use the Creami – and pretty much everything aside from the machine itself can go in your dishwasher, so it’s easy to clean. Granted, it’s a bit loud while in action, but for $200, the Creami is an affordable and surprisingly versatile way of making great ice cream at home. — Sam Rutherford, Senior Reporter

For those who want a single ice cream machine that can make pretty much everything, the Ninja Swirl is it. It can handle traditional gelatos and sorbets, and now soft serve, with results that rival what you can buy in stores. The main downsides are that it costs way more than the original Creami and the extra module for making soft serve results in a much bulkier machine and slightly more complicated process. But if you’re someone who believes that there’s nothing better than a light and airy frozen treat on a hot summer’s day (or let’s be honest, any time of the year), the Ninja Swirl feels like a homemade ice cream dream machine. — S.R.

Sure, you could probably mix together a batch of cookie dough by hand, but it’ll take time and quite a bit of upper body strength. That’s even truer if you want to knead bread dough or whip up a meringue. Save yourself the trouble by getting a stand mixer. The favorite among bakers and amateur cooks for years have been KitchenAid’s Artisan series. It’s durable, powerful and it comes with your choice of paddle, hook and whisk attachments to use with the mixing bowl. We also like that the KitchenAid mixers are compatible with a variety of accessories and attachments that can turn the machine into an ice cream maker, a meat grinder and a pasta machine just in case you want to expand your culinary horizons.

It’s hard to beat the Vitamix in this space. The high-performance blender brand makes machines that do more than just prep smoothies, but can also make salad dressing, sauces, batters and soups. It’s especially handy if you have a habit of adding tougher ingredients into your recipes – things like nuts, dried fruit and frozen produce. Whereas other, less powerful blenders may leave chunks once you introduce hardier ingredients, the Vitamix won’t, leaving you with a silky smooth final product.

Depending on the model you get, you can also buy different attachments to make the most of the blender’s powerful base. You can pick up 64-ounce containers for making smoothies for your whole family at once or a “dry grain” container that’s outfitted with a blade specifically for grinding up things like whole grains so you can make your own flour.

Vitamix currently has four series of blenders: the basic Vitamix One, which comes in at $250; the slightly more advanced Explorian series, which starts at $350 and is arguably best for most people; the Legacy series, starting at $400; and the advanced Ascent series, which will set you back at least $500. Yes, these are expensive machines, but it’s worth investing in if you do a lot of blending or like to experiment with making things from scratch.

In our guide to the best air fryers, we found a lot to love about the Pro version of Breville’s toaster oven combo. It’s highly versatile with over a dozen cooking modes and can even act as an auxiliary oven, but it might be overkill for many kitchens. The standard Smart Oven Air Fryer, a smaller version of the one we tested, comes in colors other than stainless and takes up less room on a counter top and weighs nearly eight pounds less. Still, the 0.8 cubic foot capacity can handle a 13-inch pizza or a four-quart dutch oven. And, while two functions are missing, proof and dehydrate, it also starts at $50 less.

If you haven’t yet hopped on the bandwagon, a multi-cooker like the Instant Pot could become one of your favorite kitchen gadgets. This cult favorite can perform multiple tasks, including pressure cooking, slow cooking, sautéing, rice cooking, yogurt making, steaming and warming. The combination of all these features make it easy to prepare stews, soups, braises and more. You can make cheesecake in it too! Our favorite model for most people is the Instant Pot Duo Plus because it’s simple to use, with several quick-cooking modes for soup, eggs, porridge and grains. It has sterilizing and sous vide cooking functions too.

Want a smarter Instant Pot instead? Consider the Instant Pot Pro Plus. It not only has updated features like a canning function and an oven-safe inner pot, but you also get WiFi connectivity and a companion app, which offers step-by-step guided instructions for over 800 recipes. Plus, you can use it to release the Instant Pot’s steam remotely. You can also use the app to set a timer to release the steam automatically.

If you take pizza seriously and don’t have the space for — or just don’t feel like — cooking outside, you may appreciate the Ooni Volt 12 indoor pizza oven. Engadget’s Billy Steele has tried out dozens of grills and pizza ovens over the years, and his recommendation for an indoor pizza oven is Ooni’s Volt. It can get up to 850 degrees Fahrenheit in as little as 20 minutes and cook a 12-inch pizza in 90 seconds. You can control the top and bottom heating elements separately and the boost function returns the square pizza stone back to cooking temp quickly between pies. Plus, its weather resistant design means it can even go outside if you ever feel the whim.

If you want to make sure your expensive steak is perfectly medium rare without having to constantly monitor its temperature, consider getting a sous vide cooker. These machines let you cook anything inside a temperature-controlled water bath so that it’s done to perfection. We’ve successfully made steak, chicken, burgers, eggs and even yogurt in a sous vide cooker, and the results have been perfect every time.

Our favorite model is the Anova Precision Cooker 3.0. The company added digital touch controls, a longer power cord and WiFi connectivity to an already stellar base product with the launch of the latest version. The companion app is thoughtfully designed as well, with hundreds of recipes and the option to control the machine remotely. And even though there’s an app component, you don’t have to use it; you can easily adjust the temperature with the on-board controls and the large digital display.