Best kitchen gadgets

[Mouscadoo]

So we moved into our first home in February of this year. I would like to buy a few things that would make cooking and general kitchen duties more convenient. I was thinking about getting an air fryer, do people rate them? I have a slow cooker but that's it really! What are your favourite gadgets or appliances that save on time and effort!

I have a Ninja 7 in 1, use it more than the cooker.

I think it very much depends on what you are going to be cooking. We don't eat meat, so a slow cooker is wasted on us. I have an instapot which I use to make a vegetable ragu that I use for lasagne. I add lentils and beans to make a base for a shepherdess pie. I also use it to batch make soups. I can do all of these things in a pan on the hob, but in the instapot, I can just walk away from it.

Same with air fryer - I can reheat a lasagne defrosted from the freezer, cook some croutons, warm up some croissants etc and not have to worry about them burning. And it saves me putting on the oven for 45 mins to reheat one lasagne - air fryer takes half that time and no preheating.

The 7 in one does all of that, but I like having the two drawers, so I can have fish cakes in one side and chips in the other. Or some halloumi in one side and heating up something else in the other.

KitchenAid mixer
panini grill
le creuset casserole dish
pressure cooker

It depends on what you like to cook. Personally I have zero interest in an air fryer but I love my rice cooker and food processor. I use my rice cooker several times a week; it has fuzzy logic so can make sure the texture is always good, settings for short grain, long grain and brown rice, has a timer function, keep warm function and can make lovely steamed cakes. I love rice and eat it a lot so having that process being entirely automated is invaluable to me. Food processor is useful for chopping, slicing, making hummus, baba ganoush, chimichurri, pestos.

Ninja blender. We use it for smoothies, whizzing soup, turning cans of tomatoes into passata. It's out at least three times a week.