Best Small-Appliance Deals for Black Friday

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We've already seen advertisements touting rock-bottom Black Friday deals on countertop appliances. But what, exactly, constitutes a great deal? And which appliances are worth the money, sale or no sale?

To answer these questions, we combed through the Black Friday ads from Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohls, and Amazon—five of the biggest retailers for countertop appliances—and compared the offerings with our countertop appliance ratings. We'll continue to update this list as more retailers release circulars and announce  price drops.

Below, a collection of the best deals we've seen, organized alphabetically by retailer, for Black Friday 2017—so far.

Amazon

Amazon's deals are available now through Black Friday. A rep for the company told CR that on Black Friday itself, Nov. 24, Amazon will list more than 30 "Deals of the Day" and thousands of "Lightning Deals."

Philips Airfryer, $190
The experts in our lab were impressed with the Philips HD9230/26 Digital Airfryer, which retails up to $350. And they used it to cook way more than fries (though the sweet potato fries, for the record, stole the show). This sale knocks nearly 30 percent off Amazon's usual list price of $260.

Starbucks Verismo Coffee & Espresso Single-Serve Brewer, $100
With single-use coffee pods, this one-cup machine claims you can make Starbucks beverages you love at home. An earlier version of this line, Starbucks Verismo 600, made the recommended list in our single-serve coffee-maker ratings. The taste of the coffee brewed was on par with cups made in other single-serve machines, but keep in mind that the Verismo 600 requires Starbucks-branded coffee capsules. The same is true for this brewer.

Hamilton Beach FlexBrew, $60
One bonus of the less expensive Hamilton Beach, compared with the Starbucks machine above, is that it's compatible with any K-cup packs. The Hamilton Beach FlexBrew we tested scored Very Good overall. The model on Amazon's list has two separate brewing areas, so you can brew two cups at a time.

Oster 4-Slice Stainless Steel Toaster, $29.50
We tested this Oster toaster in its 2-slice configuration and expect this model, Oster's TSSTRWF4S, to perform similarly. Amazon has marked it down just over 25 percent from the site's regular price of $40, though we've seen it at retail for up to $45.

Best Buy (prices valid Nov. 23-25)

Instant Pot, $80
Best Buy has marked down the ever-popular Instant Pot by $20, offering the same sale price Target currently lists for Black Friday. The $80 sale is for the 6-quart model, which we bought and tested earlier this year. Our experts found the multi-cooking device lives up to its claims. (Best Buy offers a 50 percent discount on a 6-quart Crock Pot pressure cooker, $50, that looks and works much like the Instant Pot. We're currently testing this appliance in our kitchen lab.)

KitchenAid Mixer, $200
That's a jaw-dropping $300 off Best Buy's full price for this classic stand mixer. While it didn't perform as well as other stand mixers in our tests, this particular model, KitchenAid KV25G0X, did earn a score of Very Good. It's great at whipping and mixing, but the unit is fairly noisy. Best Buy is also advertising 20 percent off KitchenAid attachments, such as spiralizers and meat grinders.

Nutra Ninja 72-ounce blender with Auto IQ, $100
Marked 50 percent off Best Buy's full price, this blender looks quite similar to the Ninja BL642, which went through our blender lab and received high marks, particularly for making smoothies and puréeing soup. As a brand, Ninja also does well in our blender brand reliability survey.

Kohl's

Kohl's Black Friday preview ad says prices are valid Nov. 24 but start online on Nov. 20, the Monday before Thanksgiving. You earn $15 in Kohl's Cash for each $50 you spend, which you can apply toward future purchases.

Cuisinart Digital Convection Toaster Oven, $50
This looks like a new iteration of the Cuisinart Chefs Toaster Convection TOB-260N, which earned a spot on the recommended list in our toaster-oven ratings. Kohl's lists the regular price of their toaster oven at $100, marked down on Black Friday to $75—and a $25 mail-in rebate brings the total down to $50. The toaster ovens we've tested range from $35 to $550.

Instant Pot, $80
Again, the 6-quart model is priced competitively as a doorbuster sale (available in limited quantities until 1 p.m. on Nov. 24).

KitchenAid Stand Mixers
Kohl's lists three models in their Black Friday ads. All scored Very Good in our tests overall, but they're listed here in descending order of performance. In other words, the midpriced mixer scored the highest of the three in our stand-mixer tests.
• KitchenAid KSM150PS, $280, regularly $380 at Kohl's; 5-quart bowl.
• KitchenAid KSM75, $200, regularly $300; 4.5-quart bowl.
• KitchenAid Professional 600 KP26M1X, $400, regularly $500 at Kohl's; 6-quart bowl.
Each of these stand-mixer prices takes into account a rebate you'll have to send in after purchase. These three mixers aren't quite as high-end as Best Buy's sale model.

Target

Instant Pot, $80
Here, the 6-quart Instant Pot is listed, again, for $20 off the usual $100 price—as a Target doorbuster. ("While Quantities Last," the ad says.)

Nespresso VertuoPlus, $100
Another doorbuster at Target, Nespresso's VertuoPlus is in the home-stretch of tests for our forthcoming coffee-maker ratings. Previously, a Nespresso VertuoLine performed well overall in our tests.

Ninja Coffee Bar Coffee Maker, $100
Target's offering this so-called professional kitchen system for half its usual price of $200. In our tests, this model, the Ninja Bar Brewer CF085, had a zippy 9-minute brew time and earned an Excellent score for brew performance, but our experts found the carafe wasn't particularly easy to use. Still, it might be a great gift for the coffee connoisseur in your life.

Walmart

Walmart hasn't yet released any show-stopping small-appliance deals for Black Friday, with one exception:

Instant Pot, $50
We were surprised to see the Instant Pot in Walmart's Black Friday ad for a mere $50—until we looked at the fine print and realized the model on offer has a 5-quart capacity, not the 6-quart model other retailers are discounting. While one quart might not seem like much of a difference, the larger model will accommodate more food for a crowd. This smaller version also doesn't have the yogurt-maker function found on the 6-quart model.

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