I like to make sure that we don’t get a lot of takeout meals. Mainly because I am sick of wasting money and also because I am starting to think about my family’s health above all. A takeout meal every now and again won’t hurt you but eating fresh home cooked meals is how I grew up. I want to pass that on to my kids also. With that in mind, I am a bit of a kitchen gadget and dining room specialist. There is a bunch of stuff I have tried and tested over the years and I’ve decided to write an article to save you browsing the endless pages of Amazon.com to find the stuff that actually works. Now, we all know there is a huge amount of items available on Amazon.com which look great but it’s hard to know what actually works. This article will help you get to the products that are the good stuff. I’ve written about hundreds of products over the years, but these are the best of the best I use in my kitchen and dining room right now. This list contains the 37 most popular products I’ve bought recently and some are items I’ve had for years, and trust me on this, they do not disappoint. From nifty gadgets that make your life easier to dining room must haves with over 10,000 positive reviews. These are the products that you need to know about.
This Watermelon Slicer is a Must-Have for Summer Fruit Salads
Indulging in fruits like watermelon is a healthier snack than reaching for candy. This windmill cutter slicer has made my life a lot easier to prep fruit. It’s an awesome kitchen gadget that creates perfectly cut cubes of melon for salads and snacks that are bite-sized and easy to eat.
Become Your Own Barista with This Milk Frother
​If you’re like me, then you probably spend more money than you should on coffee. A couple of years ago, I got an espresso machine and instantly became an at-home barista. But it wasn’t until recently that I got this milk frother, which has upped my coffee game. Heat the milk of your choice for a delicious hot latte, or froth your milk for some tasty cold foam cold brew.
Go Hands-Free At Your Next Picnic Or Beach Day With This Bamboo Table
​When enjoying a picnic at the park or beach, the last thing you want to worry about is trying to balance your food and drinks. Especially if sand is involved. This bamboo table offers two glass holders for a spill-free outing, while the small table section can double as a cutting board or serve as a table for your cheese and crackers.
This Steamer Basket That Fits Into Basically Any Pan
If you’ve never tried steaming your food, I highly suggest this steamer basket. Not only is it made from rustproof stainless steel, but it also expands to fit any pan up to nine inches. And if you love dumplings as much as I do, but can never seem to get them to fry correctly in a pan — yeah, this basket is definitely worth a closer look.
Keep Splatters Undercover With This Microwave Splatter Guard
My theory is this: If you keep splatters and spills in your microwave to a minimum, it means fewer times that you have to clean it. Smart, eh? This splatter cover not only contains those splatters and spills but also creates an environment in which your food warms more quickly. It’s large enough to cover an entire dinner plate and can be cleaned easily … if you’re into that sort of thing.
These Paper Sandwich Bags Reduce Single-Use Plastic
These Paper Sandwich Bags are not only a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic bags, but they’re also really cute! They’re made of recyclable, sealable, grease-resistant paper, and even have a spot for writing a note. They’ve earned an amazing 4.8 out of 5-star average rating on Amazon! Here’s one 5-star review: “I want to move away from all plastic bags if I can and these are a great start. I also tried the competition and the sticky strips for closure are much handier than the stickers the others come with.”
Easy Rice, Rice, Baby
Rice is deceptive, isn’t it? It seems so simple, yet so many people struggle with cooking it properly. Cook it too long, and it’s gummy; too short, and it’s still crunchy. This four-piece rice cooker will eliminate all your grain-cooking problems. You can make up to six cups of rice, quinoa, or even oats with this bad boy, which includes everything pictured: The bowl, locking lid, measuring cup, and rice paddle.
This Electric Grill that Lets You BBQ Indoors for Up to Eight People
Large enough to fit up to eight burgers, this indoor grill is a must-have if you don’t have space (or money) for a fancy outdoor grill. It’s completely smokeless, so don’t even think about it fogging up your house — and the adjustable heat can even reach temperatures up to 450 degrees!
This Eggo Microwave Safe Purchase is Sweet
The best pancake syrup is warm pancake syrup, and if you disagree, you’re wrong. The challenge is that many manufacturers put syrup in bottles that are too tall to fit inside your microwave. This microwaveable syrup warmer doubles as a dispenser that you can plop right on the table at breakfast. You can even use it to store your syrup when you’re finished and trash that too-tall syrup bottle.
These Sheet Savers Ensure Even Drying
It’s so annoying when laundry gets tangled up in wet sheets and neither of them dries well. These bedsheet savers help combat exactly that by making it harder for clothing to get trapped inside the sheets and helps everything dry completely up to 75% faster. They’ll also reduce wrinkles in your sheets if having a smooth bed is something you crave.
These Easy Pour Food Storage Containers Help Organize Your Pantry
If you need a good way to store bulk foods like beans or flour, try these amazing food storage containers with measuring cup lids. So no more mess when pouring cereal or rice. This Amazon customer says: “I LOVE these containers. My new obsession is making my small pantry more organized. I would definitely tell everyone to buy them for your rice, oatmeal, grits – hell, everything.”
This Food Scale Comes With Its Own Bowl
Even if you don’t measure out your portions, a food scale like this one can be incredibly helpful when you’re baking — especially if the recipe is written using the metric system. Everything is made from stainless steel (including the bowl), and it even features a built-in temperature sensor, as well as a timer.
Don’t Get Mixed Up
Countertop mixers take up a lot of space, but handheld mixers have attachments that always seem to get lost. I’ve never seen a smarter design in a handheld mixer than this one from Hamilton Beach. A snap-on storage case keeps all of your attachments within reach (read: not hanging out in the back of a cabinet where you can’t see them). It’s available in red or white.
This Whole-Meal Microwave Cooker Does It All
If you’re short on storage space, this whole-meal microwave cooker might be your perfect solution. It quickly and fully cooks, steams, roasts, or poaches rice, chicken, steak, eggs, bacon, veggies, pasta, and more in one convenient and compact gadget. No matter what you’re cooking, you can do it quickly and conveniently by pulling out just one tool from your kitchen cabinets.
This Sturdy Dough Whisk Replaces Five Utensils in Your Kitchen
Not only is this dough whisk extra-sturdy, but it’s also incredibly versatile. One reviewer raved about how it replaced five utensils in their kitchen, writing that it works as “a whisk for early stirring of doughs, a wooden spoon for final mixes, a big chopstick I use for stirring my sourdough starter when I feed it, and a fork for mixing pancake batter, scone dough and Welsh-cake dough. Now this one does it all — and better.”
Make the Best Cocktails With Very Little Effort with this Syrup Set
It may just be me, but I enjoy cocktails. Period. There’s nothing I love more than playing bartender and whipping up new cocktails. Most cocktails require a long list of ingredients, which is why I opt for cocktail syrup sets like this. It just takes the fuss out of trying to get the mix just right. This set comes with a Moscow mule, old-fashioned, and spicy margarita. All you need to add is the alcohol!
This Premium Pizza Cutter is Smooth Cutting on a Non-Stick Blade
Homemade pizza nights are a thing around here, but it’s so annoying to saw away at the crust when I’m trying to cut slices. Enter this pizza cutter which uses a super sharp blade to easily glide through the thickest deep dish pizza or the crunchiest thin crust. So much easier than using a knife, and safer, too even kids can use it!
This Taco Holder Keeps Things Neat
We love Taco Tuesdays around here, but the shells can be hard for little kids to fill and hold. This taco holder makes it easy to do both since it keeps them upright, no tipping over and spilling. You’ll get a set of six so everyone can have their own taco making station!
The Mad Hungry Cooking Utensils Will Never Scratch Cookware
Functional and beautiful, this set of Mad Hungry Cooking Utensils is made from sustainable acacia wood, resulting in sturdy, lightweight cooking tools that are gentle on cookware. They’re earning top ratings on Amazon; one satisfied customer writes, “The tools are very good for the expensive pans you want to protect from scratching, e.g. Le Crueset, Staub, etc. Each one is versatile and has a place in cooking. Easy to clean and better than the standard wooden spoon or fork.”
The ThawMax Safely Defrosts Meat in Half the Time
We’ve all been there. You need to defrost meat for a recipe, but you don’t have time to leave it in the fridge overnight. Your choices are to microwave it (which ruins the meat), leave it out on the counter (which invites bacteria to grow). Your best choice is to use the ThawMax. One five-star review says, “I was pleasantly surprised at how well this tray works to defrost food quickly! So handy to have around the kitchen.”
This Electric Wine Opener is Efficient and Never Breaks a Cork
This electric wine opener couldn’t be easier or faster to use – just place it over the neck of your wine bottle, press a button, and in seven seconds, you have a bottle ready to drink! That’s much faster than I can open one by hand! And this kit comes with everything you need, including a wine pouring spout, bottle stopper, and foil cutter
This Garlic Rocker Stops Your Hands from Getting Stinky
I love using garlic in my food, but not so much the lingering smell it leaves on my hands and under my fingernails. I use this garlic rocker to keep my hands clean and chop the garlic into a much finer mince than I could with a knife. I get great results every time and consider this to be a kitchen MVP that gets used multiple times a week.
This Meat Tenderizer Injects Marinade Like a Boss
This meat tenderizer also injects marinade into your meat for the tenderest, most flavorful meal around. I love it since you can wait until the very last minute, like forgetful me often does, to marinate your meat and still get a fully infused marinade for deliciousness in every bite. You’ll also get a 40% faster cooking time, according to the manufacturers!
These Cutting Mats are Useful and Prevent Cross-Contamination of Foods
You spend a ton of time washing your knives and cutting boards to keep everything clean, whereas these cutting mats help you prevent cross-contamination without having to scrub anything down. The grippy backs keep them in place as you chop ingredients, and you can even curl them into a funnel to transfer ingredients mess-free.
This Pot Strainer Prevents Unnecessary Spills
We cook a ton of pasta, so I feel like I’m always hauling the bulky colander out for draining. It takes up a lot of room and is kind of a pain to clean because pasta gets stuck in the sides. I was super excited to find this pot strainer that’s very easy to store since it’s basically flat and even easier to clean! Just hold it up to the lip of the pot and strain away!
This Knife Sharpener Restores Dull, Crappy Blades to New Again
Ever try to cut a tomato with a dull knife? It’s not fun — but neither is cutting anything else when your knives are crappy. Luckily, this knife sharpener can help restore old blades to their previous ultra-sharp state. It’s way cheaper than getting your knives professionally sharpened, and it’ll even work with ceramic blades, as well as scissors.
This Rotary Grater and Slicer for Perfect Slices and Spirals
This is a classic TV commercial gadget, the kind where the spokesmodel prepares a zillion veggies in a minute while the audience oohs and aahs. The Rotary Grater and Slicer includes interchangeable blades for grating, slicing, and spiralling. It’s genius at grating cheese and also works well for chopping nuts.
This Bentgo Lunch Box Includes Utensils and Carrying Strap
This Bentgo stackable lunch box set is an elegant and practical way to pack a meal for work or school. The set includes two containers, a lid, utensils, and carrying strap. Every purchase helps support the anti-hungry non-profit organization, Feed the Children.
This Instant Pot is One of the Bestselling Kitchen Items on Amazon
It’s hard to find a kitchen gadget that Amazon buyers like more than this Instant Pot pressure cooker, available in 3, 6, 8, and 10-quart sizes. This cooker combines seven different appliances: Pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, steamer, saute pan, food warmer, and yogurt maker. More than 150,000 Amazon buyers rate this baby 4.7 stars!
This DIY Whipped Cream Maker is So Fast and Makes the Freshest Treats
In less time than it takes to locate and plug in your beaters, you can have freshly made whipped cream with no electric tools or batteries! This hand-powered whipped cream maker actually pushes air into the cream, making thick, fluffy clouds in no time at all. It’s so easy and quick to use, plus clean-up is a breeze.
This Cutting Tool Helps You Slice Ingredients Safely
Onions, potatoes, tomatoes, meat — you name it, this slicing tool fork can hold it down so that it’s easier to slice up. The prongs are made from stainless steel, while the pointed tips also work great for tenderizing meat.
This Gadget Peels Veggies in an Instant For You
Just load up this automatic peeler with any potato, zucchini, carrot, or what-have-you, and it’ll peel the skin for you while you sit back and watch. One-touch operation makes it incredibly easy to use, even if you’re a total dingus when it comes to electronics — and reviewers loved how much time it saves them in the kitchen.
Create a Carousel of Potatoes
Potato bag not your thing? How do you feel about a potato carousel? This baked potato rack offers another opportunity to get your baked potatoes done right, right in the microwave. Each “seat” on the carousel includes two spokes, which securely attach your potato to the unit. When you’re finished, throw the entire unit on the top rack of your dishwasher. Bon appetit!
The Juice is Worth the Squeeze
File this purchase under, “I Can’t Believe I Bought It, But I’m So Glad I Did.” I find this handheld juicer coming in handy for all types of cooking, including adding lime to Taco Tuesday or lemon to various fish and seafood dishes. You’ll squeeze every last drop of juice from even the most contrary citrus with this heavy, quality juicer. It’s even dishwasher-safe.
This Corn Peeler Earns Rave Reviews From Customers
If you rarely cut corn off the cob, you probably don’t need this gadget. But if you frequently find yourself thinking there must be a better way to process fresh corn, this Corn Peeler is for you! Check out the user reviews for tips from customers who LOVE this product!
The Nutrichopper Can Chop, Slice, Cube, and Wedge Ingredients
I’m constantly chopping fruits and veggies. I need help! That’s why I’ve got the Nutrichopper, a handy gadget that makes it effortless to produce neat, uniform slices every time. It comes with a portion container that the slicer locks onto, or you can slice directly into the bowl or pan. There are three interchangeable stainless steel blade attachments to get the size and shape of cuts desired.
The Bacon Bonanza for Crispy, Oven-Baked Bacon
The Bacon Bonanza is a better way to cook bacon! The set includes a copper-colored pan and specially designed rack that holds up to 18 slices of bacon at an angle. This way, the bacon cooks faster while the grease drains away. The result is crisper, lower-fat bacon. One satisfied customer calls it, “the most delicious bacon I have ever had.”