These Genius Smart Kitchen Appliances Will Speed Up Dinner Prep

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Whether you’re an avid home cook looking to tap into the next tech-driven trend in the food world or you’re trying to do as little as possible in the kitchen, a suite of smart kitchen appliances and tools is making food prep faster, easier, and more stress-free than ever before.

From built-in fixtures like kitchen faucets to upgraded accessories like air fryers, there’s likely a way to level up your home appliance game with wifi- and app-enabled products that take the guesswork out of everything from grilling to filtering water. If you’re ready to integrate your kitchen into the rest of your smart home, these are the 11 best smart kitchen appliances for a tech-enabled kitchen.

What to Consider

As with any new kitchen appliance, you’ll want to make sure your new purchase is a good fit for your needs and your space. These are the most important things to consider before investing in a smart appliance:

Size

If you’re working with limited counter space in the kitchen, it’s essential to choose an appliance that will fit. Before buying a new air fryer, smart oven, or coffee maker, be sure to measure the space and take note of the appliance’s footprint. And don’t forget height – it should fit under your kitchen cabinets.

Materials

Because smart and wifi-enabled kitchen appliances tend to be pricer than more standard options, you’ll want to get one that’s both built to last and fits in with the rest of your kitchen aesthetic.

Look for quality materials like stainless steel and sturdy BPA-free plastic. If you’re into specific colors, it’s nice to choose an appliance that matches your design and that you love looking at, especially if you’re going to leave it on the counter at all times.

Features

Not all smart appliances come loaded with the same features. For example, one might connect to Amazon Echo but not to Google Home. If you’re a Google user, you’ll want to ensure that the new appliance will coordinate with the rest of your home ecosystem.

Consider other important features as well, such as cooking modes (steaming, air frying, and broiling for a smart oven, for example), minimum and maximum temperatures, and the number of preset programs.

How We Selected

We included smart kitchen appliances that perform a range of jobs at a range of price points. Many of the items on this list are staff favorites that have been tested over years of regular use. I personally use and love my Tovala Smart Oven Pro, Dreo ChefMaker, Vitamix blender, Revolution Toaster, and LARQ water filter pitcher.

To make selections, we focused on each appliance’s versatility, durability, looks, and performance. We considered customer ratings and reviews, as well as product descriptions, and took into account how well-known and trusted the brands are. We applied our years of institutional knowledge about the kitchen appliance space to find the best smart appliances for every home and every kind of cook.

Smart Oven Pro

This countertop smart oven does the work of several pieces of cookware in one compact, apartment-friendly appliance. The oven has a QR code scanner that can read cooking instructions on dozens of Tovala branded meals, as well as common grocery store items. The machine then applies its various cooking modes, including convection, steaming, broiling, and reheating, to perfectly cook your meal without any babysitting.

Users can opt into a subscription of Tovala meals. The meals are delivered as part of an ongoing subscription (that you can cancel or pause at any time) and arrive frozen. When hunger strikes, you simply scan the barcode and let the oven finish heating and crisping your meal.

As one satisfied Tovala customer writes, “After using this a few months, I adore this oven. It's very well made, heats evenly, and the smart features are brilliant…having the bar code scanner work with some of the groceries that she eats (I wish it were programmable to add more) has been a godsend.”

Self-Cleaning Water Filter Pitcher

If you struggle with off-tasting or hard water in your home, you’ll want a high-functioning water filter that produces pure-tasting, contaminant- and heavy metal-free drinking H2O. The LARQ pitcher takes water purification up a notch by including a self-cleaning UV light. The UV light disinfects the pitcher to keep it free of mold, bacteria, and viruses, plus the carbon filters remove larger particles, including microplastics.

The water filter will need to be recharged, but the battery lasts up to two months, so it’s not an overly heavy lift. In addition to being self-cleaning, the pitcher also connects to a corresponding app that tracks the health of the carbon filter (so you know when to replace it), as well as your household water intake, in case you’re keeping tabs on hydration. As a nice little feel-good moment, you can also check how many plastic water bottles you’re saving and how you’re reducing your carbon footprint.

ChefMaker Combi Fryer

The Dreo ChefMaker incorporates the quick-cooking and crisping technology of a standard air fryer and adds a temperature probe, water atomizer, and built-in cooking programs to make it the smartest air fryer around. Users can select from an extensive preset menu of food items such as specific cuts of steak, along with desired doneness, then insert the thermometer into the meat and let the Dreo do the work. As soon as the machine turns off, pull out the drawer to reveal a meal cooked just to your liking.

The device also has a clear window so you can keep a close eye on your food as it cooks. A small water reservoir on top of the machine is used to provide steam injection during cooking. This helps keep food from drying out and allows for better temperature control, as short puffs of steam can quickly lower the internal temperature and prevent overcooking and burning.

Cooking 2-Slice High-Speed Smart Toaster

Good bread deserves to be toasted with tender love and care, and this awesome appliance does just that. It's a smart two-slice option that features smart sensors to customize the heating process based on what type of bread you're toasting, and an intuitive touch screen that allows you to select your preferred doneness shade and crispness.

The machine comes with a long list of regularly toasted items, including pancakes, multigrain bread, and even gluten-free bagels. From there, users select whether they’re toasting something fresh or frozen, or if they’re just reheating their breakfast, as well as their desired level of browning from 1 to 7. The machine then toasts whatever you fed it minutes faster and much more evenly than a standard manual toaster.

Revolution also makes a handy panini press that turns the toaster into a sandwich maker without the mess of cheese oozing down the sides of your appliances.

Dual Compartment Rectangular Sensor Can

Who says your trash can can't be a worthy talking point? This smart option from simplehuman responds to a wave of a hand to open at your command. It offers ample space with a divider to separate garbage and recycling, as well as a storage slot for extra trash bags. As one happy trash-tosser writes in a review, “Love the can great operation, nice and quiet.”

One Top Smart Induction Cooktop

If your YouTube feed is filled with Tasty videos, this smart cooktop probably looks familiar (it's the same one used in BuzzFeed's professional kitchens to cook up killer recipes on camera!).

Connect it to the One Top app for step-by-step guidance through hundreds of recipes. It also precisely keeps an eye on the cooking process with an integrated surface sensor that measures the temperature of your pots and pans and has an in-pan thermometer that accurately monitors the temperature of your food.

Customers universally rave about this little cooktop. Whether they’re packing it for an RV camp or relying on it for their home cheese-making experiments, people are major fans. One ecstatic reviewer notes, “I wish I'd bought this a lot sooner! I wanted a cooker for my camper that was easier than a propane stove and this was the answer…It's one of the best investments! My cast iron cookware works great on this and heats up quickly and evenly!! More than ever before. The Temp control is super quick. I have cooked so much on it. It doesn't heat up the kitchen either!”

A3500 Ascent Series Smart Blender

Vitamix is a prominent brand in professional kitchens, but it also offers intuitive smart capabilities that make blending easy for cooks of every level.

Built-in wireless connectivity automatically reads the chosen container size and accordingly adjusts program settings and blending times, so you don't have to lift a finger to make the perfect frozen margarita. Further pre-set blending programs on the A3500 include smoothies, hot soups (yes, it will heat your lunch), dips and spreads, frozen desserts, and self-cleaning. Though you can put the blender container in the dishwasher, Vitamix recommends adding a bit of soapy water on self-cleaning mode to preserve the blade sharpness.

The blender will automatically shut off when a program is finished, so you don’t need to stand by and babysit the machine. It also has a handy pulse feature and a tamper that allows you to stir and push the food down toward the blade as the motor runs.

As one reviewer writes, “Yes, it is worth it. There were three features in particular that really sold me: the blade design, its ability to make hot soup right in the container, and the 10-year warranty.”

Espresso & Coffee Machine

It’s hard to beat the convenience of being able to brew a fresh cup of barista-quality espresso from the comfort of your bed in the morning. Spinn takes your morning joe seriously and has a linked app and a scanner that will read your bag of beans and set the perfect brewing parameters, including grind size and temperature. It uses an internal centrifuge to produce the best-tasting espresso in minutes.

The machine will give your kitchen the look (and smell) of a high-end coffee shop, with its cylindrical design and gleaming silver exterior. It also comes in an all-black colorway. If you’re a fan of cold coffee, the espresso machine makes cold brew in a few minutes that has a beautiful head of foam on top.

Though the machine does not come with a milk frother to produce cappuccinos, lattes, and other specialty drinks, Spinn’s milk frother is a popular add-on.

Nutrition Scale

This smart kitchen scale goes beyond weighing flour for your favorite sourdough recipe. It’s preloaded with the nutritional information for 2,000 common foods, plus you can add another 99 custom entries. You simply place food on the scale and use the app to let the appliance know what it’s weighing. The scale then shows you the exact nutritional data, including saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium.

The scale is helpful if you’re counting calories or macros or simply want a clearer view of what you’re eating on a day-to-day basis. Of course, it also provides the basic job of a kitchen scale, which is to weigh ingredients for cooking.

The scale has an 11-pound maximum weight, but that tends to be enough for most baking tasks. Weighting your flour and other ingredients when baking cakes, bread, and other treats can yield a more uniform end result. The scale would make a great gift for an avid or burgeoning baker.

Plus Smart Wireless Meat Thermometer

Unless you're a pro chef, it's almost impossible to determine when your food is done. This wireless smart thermometer connects to a compatible app on your phone to precisely monitor meats, and it'll even notify you when your steak has reached a perfectly pink medium-rare. It's a foolproof gadget that guarantees consistent results every time.

The smart thermometer comes with a bamboo case that doubles as a charger. It’s hardy enough to be used inside and outdoors, so you can use it on the grill with no issues, even in a rainstorm. During cooking, you can consult your app for a pretty precise read on how much time is left, which helps if you’re preparing other elements of your meal. If you don’t have to stand over the steak and wonder if it’s overcooking, you can go ahead and roast up your favorite smashed potatoes on the side.

Profile Smart Mixer

This smart stand mixer whips up fluffy frostings and kneads sticky pizza dough with ease. It uses Auto Sense technology to respond to changes in the texture of its contents by increasing or decreasing the speed or simply shutting off.

The mixer is also equipped with a built-in scale, so you can weigh each ingredient in the bowl without needing a separate scale and mixing bowl. This is especially handy for baking.

The corresponding GE app, called Connect +, comes with dozens of recipes. When you select a pre-loaded recipe, the machine uses Auto Sense technology to guide you through the steps, telling you when to add certain ingredients, and mixing at the proper speeds for the right amount of time. The app also connects the machine to WiFi, which allows for regular software updates.

You can connect your smart mixer to Amazon Alexa and Google Home as well, which allows you to control the speed and mixing time with your voice from across the kitchen or another room. It truly makes baking hands- and guess-free.

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