The pandemic birthed a lot of home chefs, who discovered a deep and profound love for cooking! Surprisingly, I was one of them. Before the pandemic took place, cooking was a chore I completely avoided. But now, I honestly find it quite therapeutic! The pandemic, and all the free time that came along with it, somehow awakened my inner chef. To encourage and motivate all the inner chefs that came to life during the pandemic, we’ve curated a collection of kitchen appliances that promise to transform cooking from a Herculean feat to an enjoyable and fun process! From a hidden induction cooking unit to an at-home plant cultivator for your kitchen – these products promise to transform your disastrous cooking experiments into MasterChef-worthy delicacies! These products can reduce your prep time in half, make the little cooking tasks much easier, and help you with tedious and complicated techniques. They make cooking effortless and easy. Enjoy!
1. Lapitec Chef
The induction cooking system is seamless and very easy to operate. All you have to do is place the Lapitec Chef silicone mat on your worktop to activate the touch controls and switch on the system. The mat is key, without it the induction unit and controls will be inactive and the worktop is like any other kitchen counter only distinguished only by small engravings that align with the mat’s controls. Lapitec Chef allows for easy cleaning and storage so the counter can be used for other activities like preparing food, plating dishes, and hosting social occasions. Interestingly, Lapitec is a 100% sintered stone and it is also non-porous, non-absorbent as well as resistant to chemicals which makes it ideal for both indoor and outdoor kitchens. You can choose to have either two or four cooking rings for your induction system.
2. Magnetic Kitchen Countertop
In small studio apartments, the kitchen unintentionally becomes the center of attention due to this and the magnetic kitchen proposed by Juliana sets things right in the most subtle way. The one square meter magnetic panel seen here is fixed to the wall and acts as the base for the compact countertop that has a cutting board that doubles as a folding sink (or vice versa) and of course the magnetic properties to keep all the utensils in place. The sink can be concealed from plain sight to increase the kitchen’s working space and used as a cutting board for random use. Anything that sticks to a magnet can be put up on the vertical section – things like spoons, forks, pans, induction cooktop, oven, or custom-made shelves which further hold the plates and other non-magnetic objects.
3. Balance
Balance, a plant cultivator designed by Designer Dot, is designed for those of us who’d like access to a personal supply of fresh produce at home without the hassle of tending to a garden day-in, day-out. When creating Balance, the team at Designer Dot sought to conceptualize an at-home plant cultivator that’s compact enough to fit into any modern kitchen and inconspicuous in its minimalist design to adapt to any interior design scheme. Stocked similarly to most plant cultivators, Balance comes with pull-out drawers that contain pods and sprout cavities for produce and crops to germinate from and grow. The drawers themselves can be removed to allow ceiling height for taller plants to grow, which users can swap in and out for different plants accordingly.
4. Cuisinart EvolutionX Cordless Mini Chopper
The Cuisinart EvolutionX Cordless Mini Chopper is the kind of wireless appliance that you can move about and use freely. The gadget features a 4-cup capacity bowl, so you can Chop or Grind a variety of different ingredients. The Chopper also showcases 7.4 volts of lithium-ion power and an impressive 20-minute battery life. The LED controls allow you to effortlessly switch between Chop or Grind mode. Preparing dips, hummus, and other delicious items has never been simpler with this easy-to-use and lightweight kitchen appliance.
5. HAY Sowden Toaster
The HAY Sowden Toaster is a clean and minimal toaster created from plastic and stainless steel. Besides its warm and soft aesthetics, the toaster also features a browning dial, allowing you to prepare your toast just the way you like it. You can even place the thicker slices of bread on the toasting vent to crisp them up even better! It is available in three interesting colors – EU Grey, EU Blue, and EU Yellow. The artistic and aesthetic toaster adds an element of Japandi-style minimalism to your kitchen.
6. Hoto
Hoto is a smart kitchen scale for the modern home that scales down its control panel to a single interactive knob and connects other Hoto users from across the world together via an accompanying social media channel. Zheng’s smart kitchen scale, Hoto, is minimal by design, adorned with not much more than stainless steel controls and a polished, reflective sheen. The scale scales back on the number of controls and buttons, consolidating every control into one interactive knob that functions as the scale’s, power sensor, weight dial, and net-zero button.
7. The Qterra Craft
As portable as an ordinary Starbucks travel mug, the Qterra Craft is designed to give you coffee so fresh you’ll feel like it was brewed right inside it… and you’d be right! The Qterra Craft is a pretty clever little device, giving you the freshest coffee or tea—even while you’re traveling—by simply brewing it on the spot. The mug comes with a lid that holds tea leaves or coffee grounds in a telescopic Q-Brew Basket that extends downwards into the vessel when the lid is twisted. Fill the vessel with piping hot water and twist the lid just minutes before you actually want your beverage. Then twist the lid when you’re done and the used leaves or grounds ascend back into the lid, secured with an air-tight seal. Effectively, your freshly brewed coffee just requires two twists… but there’s one more twist to come!
8. Cenga
Piled together like a Jenga tower, Cenga is a handmade modular coffee set conceptualized by a team of designers to bring home everything you’d find in a cafe. Starting from the top of Cenga, a grinder for coffee beans funnels the grounds into a dripper before heating up some water and dripping that into a canister to serve. Inspired by the stacking method of Jenga blocks, the team of designers combined that with a modular build to optimize the product’s storability and portability.
9. The KitchenAid Spiralizer Plus Attachment
The KitchenAid Spiralizer Plus Attachment is the ultimate kitchen appliance to slice, peel, and core fruits and vegetables. You can use it to work with a variety of foods – from zucchini and beets to pears and apples! The appliance has been amped with seven blades, to cut and slice your fresh produce perfectly. Three slicing blades and a peeling blade are also provided with the product. The KitchenAid’s metal form ensures that it is durable, long-lasting, and sturdy.
10. Hu-Kuo
Comprised of a carrying case, tea bowl, and three teacups, Hu-Kou comes with everything you might need for an excellent cup of tea. Specifically molded to feel ergonomic by design, Hu-Kou’s tea bowl is shaped like a triangle with a built-in spout that allows users to pour tea directly from the bowl without having to remove the lid beforehand. Fit within a silicone carrying case, Hu-Kou’s stylish case comes with a shoulder strap so it’s even easier to bring tea on the go. The carrying case keeps enough space to fit the main tea bowl in addition to three teacups. The teacups are also triangular in shape to complement the tea bowl, giving the set as a whole a more uniform feel.