Appliances

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

It's easy to get carried away when preparing something to eat.

Often it starts with something simple like chopping an onion. Then--as long as you have it out and all--perhaps the prepped onion could be used for a side dish to go with the main course. Oh, and of course then there would be dessert to consider, it being a full meal and all; you can't have a proper meal without dessert. Then, before you know it, ingredients are strewn all about the kitchen.

The Calphalon Electrics 3-in-1 Immersion Hand Blender is a handheld device designed to make … 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

It's no secret that scent is a powerful influencer both in the kitchen and beyond. The sizzle that accompanies meal-making not only brings back memories of meals gone by, but also holds promise of meals to come--and if the sound of cooking is in the air, certainly the wait won't be long.

When it comes to convenience in the kitchen, all too often that option destroys the potential for well-prepared food. But just because something is convenient doesn't always have to mean that it has to lose any of its sizzle.

The Oster 20-Cup Saute Rice Cooker … Read more

Inspiration can be found in many places. To some, it is the beauty of a particularly colorful sunset. Or perhaps a serene lake can be used to glean nuggets of realization as if they were plucked from the sky like stars. Others find inspiration in their fellow man, looking to community leaders and advocates of peace to draw upon. And then others find inspiration in a waffle iron.

One very famous example of a waffle iron forging inspiration is the story of how Nike got its start with the sole of its first prototype shoe being cast in a waffle … Read more

Most specialty appliances try to be something they are not. It may be a case of exaggeration about its feature set, or perhaps a confusing product description that would lead someone to believe it is capable of something that it is not. Not so with the Sunbeam Fortune Cookie Maker. The countertop appliance is even shaped like a fortune cookie.

I have an admission: I've always liked fortune cookies. They aren't too sweet, they have just the right amount of crispness, and they form a perfect complement to a take-out meal (especially when eaten first). If there is … Read more

Some appliances provide a means to prepare a wide variety of foods. Consider the myriad possibilities for meals from the oven, stovetop, or even the microwave and it becomes apparent that their use in daily life is rich and varied. The flip side to that coin is that there are plenty of appliances that are capable of only doing one thing, such as deep-fry foods or keep a pot of fondue happily bubbling away. But when two features are combined, then the resultant fusion can lead to something more than the sum of its parts.

Providing a means to deep-fry … Read more

Kitchens are constantly in a state of flux. Food comes and goes, transforming from raw ingredients into finished plates. Frequently, as the chopping, slicing, and overall prepping occurs, things need to be switched up on the fly. When confronted with change while operating a food processor, home chefs are usually required to exchange attachments, stalling the cooking process. Or they could just flip a switch. More than just a feature for adapting to change, an external lever on the KitchenAid KFP1333 Food Processor allows you to adjust slicing thickness of a variety of foods, whether the need to is foreseen … 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