Countertop-Appliances

Deep frying at home feels intimidating until you do it once. The spitting oil, the temperature anxiety, the cleanup — it’s real, but most of it gets solved by a good fryer. A proper countertop deep fryer holds oil temperature steady, filters out burnt crumbs, and makes cleanup manageable enough that you’ll actually use it more than once. We tested 6 electric deep fryers over 4 weeks — running each through fries, chicken wings, battered fish, and donuts. We tracked oil temperature recovery (how fast the oil bounces back after dropping in food), temperature accuracy (how close the thermostat holds to the dial setting), and how much of a pain each was to clean. ...

I bought my first soda maker because I was spending $40 a month on LaCroix and felt ridiculous about it. Six years and three machines later, I can tell you two things. The upfront cost pays for itself in about six months. And not all soda makers are worth your money. Some carbonate well and keep fizz for days. Others go flat in hours or feel like they’re going to explode when you twist the bottle off. ...

A panini press sounds like a single-purpose gadget. One thing: pressing sandwiches. But the good ones — the ones worth owning — do a lot more. They grill chicken breasts while the top plate sears the other side. They cook burgers indoors when the weather won’t cooperate. They griddle pancakes on one half and fry eggs on the other. We tested 7 models, from basic sandwich presses to full-function griddles that could replace your stove for most meals. ...

I love pizza, but I was skeptical about countertop pizza ovens. My regular oven with a pizza stone seemed fine. Then I spent an afternoon at a friend’s house watching his Breville Pizzaiolo crank out a Neapolitan pie in three minutes. The crust had leopard spotting. The cheese was bubbling. It was pizza, in a kitchen, on a weekday. Countertop pizza ovens work because they get much hotter than a regular oven. Your home oven maxes out around 500-550°F. These things hit 750-800°F. That’s the difference between a decent pizza and a really good one. We tested 7 models in 2025 to find which ones deliver. ...