Countertop kitchen appliances can make great gifts, or they can make terrible gifts. Just because you love your food processor, with all its attachments and gizmos, doesn’t mean your sister will, even if she does love to cook.
Used efficiently and frequently by people who appreciate them, these items do make life better, but really, their functions can mostly be accomplished by a knife, pot and stove. Minimalists may cringe. Also, they tend to be pricey and take up valuable counter space, so before you make the gesture, be sure it will be appreciated.
Our staffers came up with this guide to some favorite small appliances, and our advice on who would make a good giftee.
SOUS VIDE COOKER
The stick-like device heats and circulates water for slow cooking at low heat, a technique favored by many gourmets for producing ultra-tender meats. The raw food goes into sealed plastic bags that are immersed in the water. Many have bluetooth connections and free apps that allow for looking up recipes and setting up the device via phone.
It needs to be used with a large container — a big pot works, but specialized containers are sold separately.
>> Price range: The common Anova brand goes for $130 to $200. Others go for as low as $50.
>> A good gift for: The adventurous cook willing to put in the time to learn how to use it. The foodie who respects what “sous vide” means on a menu.
>> Don’t get one for: Anyone who only likes uncomplicated cooking. A sous vide recipe can take hours, even days to complete. And it’s definitely not for those afraid of cooking in plastic.
>> Bonus: I’ve only had my sous vide for a few months, and have made some velvety lamb chops and perfect fish steaks in it. Plus, I feel like I’m flexing my cooking muscles.
— Betty Shimabukuro, Star-Advertiser
KITCHENAID STAND MIXER
Having a KitchenAid is almost like having an extra set of hands. It can easily take a cold stick of butter and whip it to a fluffy consistency within minutes and then mix the rest of the ingredients while you prepare the baking pans.
With the wire-whip attachment meringue is a piece of cake! And the powerful motor plus the dough hook will knead your bread dough for you. Beyond baking, with attachments like the pasta maker, meat grinder and spiralizer, it can make other types of cooking easier and fun, too.
>> Price range: $279.95 for a basic Artisan model, up to $479.95 for the Pro Line. Lower-end standing mixers, such as Sunbeam and Hamilton Beach, can be found for less than $50.
>> A good gift for: The baker in the family or someone who enjoys making homemade treats.
>> Don’t get one for: Someone who doesn’t have time to bake or a place to store the appliance.
>> Bonus: Attachments can make great follow-up gifts. Also, the mixer is one of the few electric appliances still designed, engineered and assembled in the United States. Kitchenaid is celebrating its 100th anniversary next year.
— Chris Sykes, Star-Advertiser
MULTICOOKER
The multicooker performs the functions of a pressure cooker, slow cooker and rice cooker, plus it sautes and steams. Its handiest use is as an automated pressure cooker, offering all the advantages of that speed-cooking device, but without the guesswork of stove-top pressure cookers. For busy families it can make weeknight scratch cooking feasible.
It’s important to remember, though, that it doesn’t work miracles. While a recipe may say it can make beef stew in 20 minutes, you have to add 10 to 20 minutes for the cooker to come to pressure, and more time on the end for the pressure to release.
>> Price range: The most common brand, Instant Pot, retails for $80 to $150, depending on size and extra functions. Other brands can go as high as $300.
>> A good gift for: Someone who would like to cook more but can’t fit it into a busy schedule. Someone who doesn’t have a real kitchen, since this can replace a stove.
>> Don’t get one for: Those who already love their traditional pressure cooker or slow cooker, unless you know they want one. Also, it’s big, about 16 inches square and more than a foot high, so those who don’t have counterspace could struggle with it.
>> Bonus: Cookbooks! Dozens are available, from general to cuisine-specific. Your giftee will not suffer from lack of advice. Cookbooks are also great gifts for those already hooked on mulitcooking.
— Betty Shimabukuro, Star-Advertiser
IMMERSION BLENDER
An immersion blender is a polar-opposite device from kitchen appliances with many parts that must be assembled, disassembled and washed. It’s basically just one or two pieces that you stick into a pot, bowl or jar to blend whatever it’s dunked into. Great for pureeing soup right in the pot, or making a smoothie right in a glass.
They also make quick work of pesto or salsa, hollandaise sauce or whipped cream, marinades or salad dressings.
>> Price range: Stick blenders come in almost any price range, from under $15 to hundreds of dollars for professional-grade tools. Some include interchangeable blades for aerating, chopping, slicing and blending; others come with whisk and chopper attachments.
>> A good gift for: The busy person who needs to get tasks done quickly, or someone with limited space. The slender blender can easily be tucked into any open spot in a cabinet.
>> Don’t get one for: Someone stuck on their blender or food processor, who has the space and time to make use of them.
>> Bonus: My all-time favorite use of mine was to make fresh baby food from steamed veggies. I froze the purees in ice-cube trays and always had from-scratch food on hand for my daughter. That was nearly 20 years ago, and my blender is going strong.
— Joleen Oshiro, Star-Advertiser
VITAMIX
Not only can the Vitamix mix, chop and puree, it can make a range of dishes, from nut butters to ice cream.
The smoothie mode produces a truly smooth drink — absent of ice chunks and seeds. The soup mode delivers a hot bisque in minutes, making heat through the friction created by the ingredients and the blades. The dip and spreads mode turns a can of chick peas, a little garlic and olive oil into a healthy hummus.
And for the sweet tooth, the dessert mode makes frozen mangoes from auntie’s tree into a tasty sorbet.
But the best part is the self-cleaning mode — fill half the carafe with warm water, add a few drops of dish soap, press the clean button and watch it go.
>> Price range: Starting at $450 for a basic model, up to $600 for the Ascent 3500, the newest, with a 1,500-watt/2.2-horsepower motor that can tackle just about anything — and for the price it should. The Ascent series is Bluetooth-capable and works with an app with recipes and preprogrammed modes.
>> A good gift for: Someone trying to eat and drink healthier. The sharp stainless steel blades can turn a handful of spinach, an unpeeled apple, a peeled banana and some orange juice into a delicious drink.
>> Don’t get one for: Someone who only eats fast food.
>> Bonus: Next year’s gifts will be a no-brainer — Vitamix accessories! The blender comes with a 64-ounce carafe, but smaller containers are available. The new Aer Disc aerating container can mix bar-quality cocktails, infuse flavors from herbs and produce fluffy whipped cream and silky-smooth sauces.
— Chris Sykes, Star-Advertiser
BULLET BLENDER
Also called rocket blenders or personal blenders, these compact devices come with powerful motors and super-sharp blades in casings that screw onto containers of different sizes.
Great for fresh-fruit smoothies, blended drinks, marinades or salad dressings. They also can take on tasks like chopping onions or grinding coffee.
The containers come with lids, so freshly prepped contents are easy to store.
>> Price range: Common brands — NutriBullet, Magic Bullet, Ninja — go for $30 to $75. Lower-end brands like Bella and Hamilton Beach can be found for $20 and less.
>> A good gift for: Those with smaller kitchens who need a good tool; this could replace a food processor, blender and coffee grinder. Someone addicted to smoothies. Someone just starting to equip a kitchen. Students in dorm rooms.
>> Don’t get one for: Someone who needs the firepower and gadgetry of a full-sized food processor or blender.
>> Bonus: The containers are portable enough to be used as cups, and come with lids designed for drinking on the go. You could blend and drink your smoothie in a single container.
— Betty Shimabukuro, Star-Advertiser
