These kitchen gadgets made an impression in 2017

The $20 Dash Rapid Egg Cooker offers an affordable way to poach, boil and steam eggs without much effort. It's easy to use, clean and doesn't make a mess.

The $400 Tovala Smart Oven is one of a growing number of smart countertop ovens we've seen. Here's how it works: You scan the bar code from Tovala's prepackaged, refrigerated meals on the the oven and the appliance automatically cooks them.

The highlight of the Tovala is the meal delivery service that's designed specifically for the oven. The Tovala meals are leaps and bounds ahead of traditional convenience foods like frozen TV dinners.

The $500 Hestan Cue uses Bluetooth to connect a pan, a countertop induction burner and an app to walk you through recipes and regulate your cooking temperature. The app's recipes are delicious, and the accompanying instructional videos make it easy to improve your cooking skills.

The $400 Mellow is a Wi-Fi-enabled countertop appliance creates a temperature-controlled water bath in which you cook food that's been vacuum-sealed in a plastic bag. But unlike similar appliances, the Mellow will also chill your water bath until you're ready for it to heat your meal.

Not every small appliance is designed to help you improve your cooking skills. Some are here to keep you safe in the kitchen. The $495 iGuardStove Intelligent is made up of a power box and motion detector. Once it's enabled, it automatically shuts off your electric stove if you leave your cooking unattended, whether you're using the oven or the cooktop.

The iGuardStove Intelligent's built-in Wi-Fi keeps you updated about how often the system has to shut down your stove and send you alerts if it's happening a little too often. This is handy if you are concerned about yourself or a loved one leaving a stove unattended.

The $170 Wallflower is like a pared-down version of the iGuardStove Intelligent. You insert the smart plug into your wall outlet and plug your electric stove into the Wallflower. You can use the Wallflower's app to check if your stove's status, and it will send you an alert if it detects that you're away from home while the stove is still on.

In the Wallflower app, you can see if your stove is in use (it doesn't differentiate between a burner or the oven being on, but it can detect when either is engaged) or still hot. You can also set cooking timers and receive notifications when the timer is up. And if you allow the Wallflower app to receive location information, it will send you a notification if the device detects that your stove is on but you're outside of a set radius of your home address. 

The $69 Meater wireless temperature probe connects via Bluetooth to your device, so you can easily track the internal temperature of your food while it cooks.

The Meater is just 5 inches long. It measures internal temperature of meat at its pointed end and ambient temperature at its wider end.