Counter space at my house is prime real estate- there’s not much of it and there are SO. MANY. THINGS. that get put/left/tossed/placed there. On top of that, if you’re a home cook (instead of a take out guru), and especially when trying to cook mostly with whole foods, the number of gadgets and appliances seems to quadruple!
As a result, each item taking up room on the kitchen counter better be used pretty much daily to be granted even a square inch of that coveted space. If you’re trying to get your kitchen organized, are putting together your wedding/baby registry, or are looking for a killer housewarming present, then read on!
Here’s a list of tried and true kitchen gadgets that take up well deserved space in our kitchen:
1. Food Processor:
If you’re going to cook with a lot of vegetables, no one has time to do all the chopping and grating by hand. Our 14-cup Cuisinart is a powerhouse and takes up the place of honor on our countertop. I absolutely use this thing daily. One of the biggest obstacles I hear for people cooking more healthfully is a lack of time- a good food processor eliminates that out of hand!
2. Vitamix:
We had a regular blender for years before taking the plunge, and I am soooo glad we finally did! Making cashew cream, nut milks, nut/veggie based frostings, or substituting veggie puree for the liquid in your baking recipes- this is absolutely essential. It goes WAY beyond smoothies people! If you have kids who don’t deal with texture very well, this little baby is even more crucial!!
3. Breville Hand Blender:
This little thing has a chopping attachment, electric whisk as well as the blender attachment and every one is used all the time in our house. The blender attachment was always out when the kids were at the puree baby food stage (no need to buy prepared food, I promise!) and when transitioning out of purees, the chopper makes the easiest baby food (especially if you’re introducing meats). Nowadays the blender is a go-to for soups and sauces, and the chopper is great for egg salad, chick pea salad, etc. The whisk attachment was the one I thought would just take up space in the back of the cupboard, but it’s honestly the one we use the most often by far these days. Whisking coconut cream for chia pudding, or just to put on top of oatmeal, pancakes, etc. for a creamy hit and more staying power in little bellies, and this little gadget makes it fluffier and better than you can imagine. So even if the attachments get rotated out of their places in the cabinets, the machine handle is always out ready for its next mission.
4. Pressure cooker:
Our 10qt Instant Pot has become known as the ‘dried bean and squash cooker’ or ‘the yogurt maker’ in our house. This may not sound like it would get enough use to warrant counter space, but I disagree. Eating a plant-based diet requires you to get inventive and really use your resources, and trying to avoid canned food also gets tricky. If you’re great at planning ahead and soaking your beans overnight, then you might not need a pressure cooker. And you are my idol. And I want to be you when I grow up. But I digress… If not, a pressure cooker makes dried beans absolutely a legit option even on a busy weeknight. Also, if you don’t have a double oven, squash used to be one of those special Thanksgiving/Christmas type foods, but now we eat squash all the time (and in the summer, not having to heat up the oven/kitchen to 400F is awesome!)…not to mention the slow cooker function, which is a non-negotiable when you’re staring down the barrel of a busy day and know you won’t have the time/energy to cook when dinner time rolls around. Don’t be intimidated, give it a try!
5. Electric tea kettle:
If you’re a tea drinker, this is a no-brainer. But, even if you’re not, when you need to heat up water for cocoa, coffee, hot water in recipes, etc. then this puppy is awesome (did I mention it shuts itself off so you won’t have boiling water spilling all over the stove top and floor, or scorch pans when heating up water and you forget about them, and is nice thick ceramic so it keeps the water hot for when you do need it??).
These wonderful gadgets have earned their place on our tiny amount of counter space.
Here are the gadgets that receive honorable mention- they either live in easy to access drawers or get tucked away for easy access on a routine basis.
1. Victorinox knives: so the other aspect of being able to cook whole foods, and in a timely manner, is having some good knives to make the cutting and chopping go a lot more smoothly. These are not that expensive and definitely make life a TON easier when you’re prepping meals and snacks. Use good knives! If you really want to up your kitchen game and stick to a healthier, home-cooked, lifestyle, check your local cooking school or community college for knife skills classes. Totally worth your time!! Tip: keep your knives up on a magnetic knife strip- easy to access for you but away from little hands.
2. Knife sharpener: see #1 above- if you have the good knives, the reason they are so good is they are sturdy, weighted well and sharp. Keep them sharp! A sharp knife is honestly safer to use than a dull knife! I love our simple Wusthof sharpener.
3. Apple slicer/corer: this is a handy tool, but if you have kids (or make fruit pies/crisps), it is essential. Make sure you don’t go for the ones that only slice into 8 slices or you’ll have to waste time slicing each slice again for the little people (and your pies). Spring for the one that makes 16+ slices (and the little hinged bottom that forces each apple to slice completely) and you’ll be so glad you did.
4. Silicone flexible spatula: make sure you get the ones that are a single piece, not the type with the removable head!!!! So much yuck gets stuck up inside and between where the handle meets the head and it’s gross… and the heads of all my silicone spatulas were the favorite teething object for all my kids when they were young, so needless to say that didn’t work for me when I actually needed a silicone spatula (the teething babies always won that fight)!
5. Pampered Chef can opener: leaves the can without the super sharp edge and has little grippy teeth to take off the lid. So helpful when you have to open cans, especially when that becomes the kids’ job and you don’t want them to slice themselves.
6. French press: while I do love my coffee, I found the great big coffee pot (even the awesome programmable one) was taking up way too much of my valuable counterspace. I have two French presses actually- one for coffee and one for tea. I LOVE them! If you drink more than one cup of tea a day, or just don’t like producing that much waste for a cup of tea using individually wrapped teabags, or find the amount of tea in a typical bag produces a sad anemic cup of tea and you need to use multiple bags, or have kids who want to have tea with you, or simply don’t like paying for all that wrapping (or creating all that waste), then get yourself some loose tea and try out a French press!!!
7. Onion Goggles: Yes, I said Onion Goggles. When you have sensitive eyes, or dry eyes, or you just like your eyes (or eye makeup), then these are actually SO awesome! I laughed the first time I saw them, but when cooking onions on the daily, I quickly saw that looking a little silly is TOTALLY worth it!
8. Stand mixer: our Kitchenaid Mixer doesn’t get used daily, but definitely weekly. And let’s face it, it’s too big and heavy to move around too much! But that’s certainly not the only reason it stays on the counter. Prepping for our afternoon teatimes (key part of the day for our homeschool and overall family routine) goes much faster with this thing. And when birthday season rolls around, this little baby is in overdrive (6 people, all with summer birthdays). I can’t find decent gluten-free birthday cakes around here even if I didn’t want to make them myself, so all the baking gets done in-house and this mixer is key for that.
9. Bread Machine: now I know I just lost you. Bread machines are huge and take up a TON of space, but hear me out. I finally found a gluten free bread machine recipe that’s actually good! No more waiting hours for a gluten free brick to emerge from this monstrous machine. Try out the recipe from the Gluten Free Alchemist and you won’t have to spend $6-8 per loaf of gluten free bread again! And let’s face it, everyone is in a better mood when the smell (and promise of!) fresh bread, so that by itself is a reason to keep this monster around, if you eat gluten free or not! Mix up 5-10 batches of the dry ingredients into mason jars, and then grab one each morning (or right after work/school) and let the beast do it’s thing. You’ll soon have fresh bread for your next meal/snack, or just slice that sucker up and freeze it for the next time you need some gluten free bread. Voila! Look at you plannin’ ahead! (please save the ends and crusts that the kids won’t eat in a bag in the freezer for gluten free breadcrumbs next time you need them! Chop them in the food processor before freezing and you’re off to the races!)
Last but not least I have to put in a plug for under cabinet lighting (get it, ‘plug’?? yeah, that was bad…). I would get so grumpy cooking all the time until I realized that it was just so dang hard to see in there that it sapped my energy like mad and gave me a headache every time! On a whim, my husband (who didn’t like cooking in the kitchen either for this reason) grabbed some LED lightstrips that just stick up under the cabinets, plug in and have a simple on/off button. I CANNOT TELL YOU WHAT A DIFFERENCE IT MADE!! I was waiting until I had the time or money to invest in ‘real’ hardwired undercabinet lights. DON’T DO IT! DON’T WAIT! Get the fancy lights someday if you want to, but in the meantime, let these things pinch hit for you. YOU’RE WELCOME!!!
The bottom line is, organize your kitchen so that it becomes your ally, the one who helps you get all the things done. If you find yourself hating your kitchen, or that you never want to use it because it’s just so hard to work in there, then do something about it! Invest is the gadgets that will help you the most for this season of life. You’ll likely recoup the money you spend quickly by not dialing for takeout or getting prepared meals all the time. Donate the functional appliances that you don’t use or recycle the broken ones that are simply gathering dust (don’t just stick them down in the basement or the garage!).
And if you can’t do it for you, realize that you’re setting a great example for your kids by cooking and being self-sufficient in that way, and then teach them how when they’re old enough. It’s so important!!
What’s your favorite counter top kitchen appliance or gadget?