Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets

The soft sound of bread toasting is a welcome addition to any morning.

The crackles and pings of metal heating up and stretching to greet the day are a comforting way to shake off the cold sleep of night. The sounds mean that the smell of slathered butter and cinnamon will soon greet the air, offering a perfect complement to the slowly brewing coffee. And then the toaster pops up the finished toast with a pang loud enough to raise, if not the dead, at least the rest of the household.

Consider a re-imagining of the morning scene, complete with … Read more

The most important meal of the day--as everybody knows--is breakfast. What everybody doesn't know is what they might have for breakfast.

Options abound in the early hours of the day and sometimes those choices lead to a surprise. Perhaps toast was on the menu the night before, but come morning nothing but eggs would do; it's hard to know what one wants before one wants it. All of this goes to say that while breakfast comes in many forms, one should always be prepared for eggs. And if that means via a folding toaster, then a folding toaster … Read more

The rapidity in which a toaster oven can provide a hot meal rivals that of a microwave oven. Considering that toaster ovens are much more versatile than microwave ovens, the countertop appliance may even have an edge in the convenience department. And it browns food, too, adding flavor where the microwave cannot.

The Frigidaire FPCO06D7MS Professional Convection Toaster Oven offers a quick-cooking option for fast and easy meal-making. Featuring four heating elements (two quartz and two halogen), the countertop appliance gives users control over how they prepare meals. An infrared heating feature allows for fast preheating and a reduction for … Read more

Breakfast may be the most important meal of the day, but it also happens to be the most rushed. Since the name of the game is to fuel up and get out of the house, it doesn't take much to see why not a lot of time is invested meditating on kitchen appliances in the morning. That ambivalence can extend to the design of our breakfast-makers--otherwise they would more often go beyond basic black. Yet sometimes the confluence of convenience, versatility, and design results in something that gives us what we need and looks good doing it.

Appliances that … Read more

Firing up the oven in order to cook a meal isn't a particularly good way to beat the heat. However, along with resorting to cold meals on hot days, other methods of meal preparation have necessarily evolved. Sure, the microwave is a fast, go-to option for heating up a meal, but its limitations for developing flavor are well known. Since trying to brown food in the microwave isn't anywhere near effective, a more direct approach is needed. As in the direct heat supplied by a toaster oven.

Capable of so much more than toast, the Breville BOV450XL Mini … Read more

Blue enamel cookware is found in kitchen cabinets and camping gear everywhere. However, the distinctive style, while being common for cookware, is rarely seen in appliances. Blue being such an attractive color in the kitchen or otherwise, this oversight is finally being remedied in the form of a toaster oven.

The Viante CUC-04E True Blue Convection Toaster Oven dishes out with a blue enameled lining--and an interior light that stays on during the cooking process that may or may not make it appear as if you are heating up blue food. Rest assured, food cooked inside of the toaster oven … Read more

We're not sure if home appliance companies are taking a cue from their multi-purpose cousins in the consumer electronics world, but this is one of the best-looking toasters we've seen.

The Breville 2 Slice Radio Toaster does exactly what it says--it's a toaster and a radio. The two-slot toaster features a retro-looking design as well as a built-in AM and FM radio tuner. While this product does have the makings of a belated April Fools' joke, it does seem to be pretty good at its core competency. The Slice Radio accommodates a variety of bread slices, has the ability to defrost frozen bread, and also boasts a reheat button that warms cold toast without burning it.

The radio, on the other hand, appears to be quite standard with no detailed specifications given. So we have no clue how loud Rick Dees would sound while we wait for breakfast.

If you're interested, the U.K. brand lists several online stores that stock their products on its Web site. Although prices may vary, online retailer Argos sells the Slice Radio for 49.99 pounds ($82).

(Source: Crave Asia via Uncrate) … Read more

When serious BLT fans like myself look back over the technological accomplishments of the past century, it seems a bit unfair that we've traveled to the moon and connected the world by sending magic signals through the air, yet still burn a disconcerting proportion of our toast.

At last, a Polish designer has brought the underappreciated art of gently crisping bread into the 21st century. Mateusz Glowka created the Roastie, a wheel-shaped toasting device that's bound to haunt your hamster's nightmares.… Read more

Kitchens can be finicky things. Certainly some recipes call for an exacting schedule of ingredients, but the environment in which they are made can also play a deciding factor. When it comes to getting the job done--and getting it done efficiently--there can be no better ally to have than counter space. But increasing your work area can require a creative approach.

The BrylaneHome 2-Tier Vertical Toaster Oven takes one of the most common kitchen appliances and orients it in a new direction. The double-decker toaster oven will not only turn bread into toast, but it is also capable of baking … Read more