We’ve tested thousands of appliances over the years, and some of them can get pretty pricey. Lisa and Hannah are going to talk you through some of their favorite inexpensive appliances so you can make great food at home without breaking the bank.
Dash Toaster:
Presto Flipside Waffle Maker:
Ninja Nutri Pro:
Cuisinart 4-Cup Chopper/Grinder:
Gowise Air Fryer:
Braun Multiquick Immersion Blender:
Follow Lisa on Instagram:
Follow Hannah on Instagram:
ABOUT US: Located in Boston’s Seaport District in the historic Innovation and Design Building, America’s Test Kitchen features 15,000 square feet of kitchen space including multiple photography and video studios. It is the home of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and Cook’s Country magazine and is the workday destination for more than 60 test cooks, editors, and cookware specialists. Our mission is to test recipes over and over again until we understand how and why they work and until we arrive at the best version.
If you like us, follow us:
46 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
The best thing ATK ever recommend I buy is the Breville Bit More toaster. That thing is epic and I never thought I'd feel so ok with spending so much for a toaster. lol
Bought in Lidl for 15 euros – the best blender ever
Hannah that is your color
The dash toaster is the worst toaster I’ve ever owned. I bought it based on ATK recommendation and normally their recommendations are great. Not in this case. The toaster either under-toasts or burns bread but mostly burns it. My wife and I celebrate when we get good toast from this toaster. It’s awful.
I have that braun immersion blender with different attachments and it is honestly amazing. I can make nut butters with it, chop cubes, grind,…
Recently, I finally decided to go back to toast.
Toast had always been for me a 'butter-delivery device', which at my age and weight is probably a bad thing. I noticed I tended to make toast possibly too much when there was a toaster available, but if there was no toaster I just didn't miss toast. Some people jones for toast, but that wasn't me. so the last toaster I owned I actually just straight up gave away, to save my blood cholesterol.
But now that I'm retired and old, toast is starting to look good to me. So are bagels, especially onion or cinnamon-raisin bagels. So I went looking for a toaster.
I did buy one, but the basic overarching criteria was about footprint and surface heat. In a tiny kitchen with almost NO counter space, footprint means a lot and so does avoidance of suffering burns. I DID look at the Dash, but it took up too much real estate. Yeah; too bad. I was interested, but it was just too big for the space I had available.
As for waffle makers, I prefer the thinner scandinavian-style over the robust belgian-style waffles. I find thick belgian-style waffles to be too bready for my taste. I grew up having waffles every Sunday morning in the winter, and they were made on a scandinavian-style waffle maker, and that still appeals to me. And they're hard to find. So I gave up.
But I was checking out stuff at the local thrift store and came across a tiny Dash waffle maker, that puts out single 3-inch diameter waffles, and took it home.
The tiny Dash is now my favorite waffle maker. It fits in a 3-inch height drawer, and works perfectly (so long as you have the patience to make small waffles individually). I can pre-make a bunch of my own pseudo-Eggo's to freeze for later use, or use it to make potato latkes from blenderized raw onion and leftover mashed potatoes. I have some frozen puffs made from codfish and potatoes that I also plan to try defrosting and waffling. Yeah, I love my little Dash waffle maker.
I tried the Ninja blender, and I really did expect it to do what I needed, in spite of being a little large on the footprint, but I ended up returning it.
I used to make smoothies a couple times a day; always kept ice, bananas, frozen fruit, fruit juice, plain yogurt, ground flaxseed, and ground chia seed to make this. I used a Bella Cuchina personal blender (they call them 'rocket blenders' nowadays), and it did everything I needed it to. It ground the seeds to a fine meal I could freeze and use as needed, it ground ice cubes to make a thick slush. It was great.
But then I moved, and the apartments I rented had very small fridges with tiny freezers and no built-in icemakers, so I fell out of the habit. Now that I'm retired, I'm trying to get back to smoothies, so I tried the Ninja, knowing the blender would need to stay on the counter due to how frequently I make smoothies. And the Ninja Rocket, a smaller footprint model, STILL had too big of a footprint. But the real issue was that the instructions said don't use it to grind seeds. And the Ninja has a 900w engine, versus the Bella Cuchina's 260w. So a discounted-to-$60 Ninja plus buying a $30-40 spice grinder to grind seeds convinced me a $20 Bella Cuchina was a better deal. Plus, it had a smaller footprint.
I can even make soup in my Bella Cuchina. I cut broccoli or cauliflower into tiny florets, microwave them for 6 or 8 minutes, move them to a blender container, add stock/broth, salt & pepper, sometimes fine-ground rosemary (another thing the Bella Cuchina can produce; I don't like eating rosemary needles), and blend it smooth while still steaming from the microwave. Basically, I have a warm soup in less than 15min, start to finish. No fat, and YUM!
By the way, if you set your blender (regardless of brand or size) on a silicone pad (trivet or whatever), it will diminish the noise.
I love mini appliances. So much easier all around!
Belgian waffles were introduced at the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. I was there! Yum!
Wait. At 3:11 that toaster is named…smeg? No further comment.
Why does Lisa sound exactly like Monica from shameless?
Thank you for the cod and potato tip! I am doing this tomorrow.
Great video, thank you!
Placing aluminum under your food in a high heat environment? Don’t do it… You’ll consume aluminum for no reason at all.
Could you tell us how quick the Dash toaster toasts. It isn’t as big as the Cuisinart and I am just wondering if it can handle the needs of a family in reasonable time
These are my favorite reference videos!
The masked people moving in the background adds a creepy element.
One brand name was Smeg!? Ohhhh buddy
Jesus one of the girls looks like they're gonna ask the air fryer for its manager and the other look like it's gonna call the air fryer a bigot I need to get out of 2022
Dash toaster is the worst 👏 toaster 👏 I 👏 have 👏 ever 👏 used.
When my kids were younger we would all say who we wanted to be when we grew up. My son wanted to be Adam. We have a TON of the seasons on DVD and he would just watch equipment corner sections for hours. He was 8. I always wanted to be Bridget. Anyone who could cook and eat such delicious food and still keep her figure is my idol! Julia is awesome too, but, Bridget mentioned having kids and that makes the whole figure thing even harder… for me anyway. Seriously, ladies, you ALL look great! We used to make a list of the "winning" items we have.
Cherry pits are full of cyanide.
Love Lisa!
I don’t understand why the best buys were included without mention of what the “winners” were
My favorite appliance is the Braun multiquick immersion blender. I use to make smoothies, sauces, dressings, mayo. Because the bottom is metal, you can stick it in a pot to make pureed soups. It also has extra attachments to whisk and chop like a mini food processor.
I'm about to introduce my child to my kitchen and so I have watched so many youtube videos; learning what safer options there are and fun devices. Most of them are boring or padded with irrelevant fill to make them longer. Yours are brilliant! Hands down the most useful information in the shortest amount of time; with very engaging presenters. Thanks so much. Love your work.
i watched this
A co-worker kept telling me about her juicers (she'd been through several) and actually brought one in to make a pineapple-ginger-lemon immunity "shot" and I paid special attention to the cleanup. In my research, I finally settled on the Ninja juice. AMAZING. Clean up is a BREEZE compared to the mess hers made (at a higher price). It also came bundled with two freezer trays (with covers!) and two glass, lidded storage jars, a cleaning brush for the pulp and a large measured cup to catch the juice. Everything goes into the dishwasher except 2 pieces, and the spout has a flip cap that flips up under the spout to stop drips. I'm headed for the Ninja coffeemaker next, to replace my beloved, but problematic Keurigs!
Explanations on what and why are absolutely outstanding 👏👏👏👏🤩😍😋
Excellent reviews!! Thank you ❤
…was it really only 1964?
Looks like Cuisinart still has not added a knob molded into the top of the shaft to lift the blade. This can be almost impossible to lift out. I know. I've had several.
Great vid! And the humor weaved in was a nice garnish. 🙂
I use the waffle maker you recommend and agree it makes great waffles, but the timer is a pain, you have to reset it every time, much easier to use my kitchen timer where II set it once and when it goes off it resets to the last start time, so I'm not having to reset a timer every waffle.
Love your recommendations, but it is almost guaranteed that anything you recommend will jump in price by at least 50%.
All those gadgets are unnecessary expenses.
More more more videos from these two – the best food videos on the internet. They need their own channel.
My ninja smoothie maker is similar to that but the body of the machine of mine as a whole lot smaller so it takes up a lot less space and they are very nice.
I think the pro is way too big for most people I recommend downsizing to the one I have it fits in the cup holders no issues
When using the Ninja Nutri Pro, do you have to hold it down while it is running?
My personal blenders washer popped out and it was full of mold. They recommend you actually replace the entire blending blade and not the ring ugh!
I have the dash toaster and love it!
I got a toaster form goodwill 5 years ago. Still works like a charm!
I stopped after seeing the way the bread was sliced…. poorly.
My waring 650 toaster oven blows theirs away. Mine can do a 12in pizza and bake. Convection. Bagel… I am sure there is one out there just as good. Also I have the iq ninja and it's worth it to hit the button and walk away.
I love my Foodi Ninja XL Pro oven and Instant Pot. I haven't used an oven in 2 years.
Ack! 😵💫 $62 on Amazon now. $84 at Walmart 😵💫 Presto Belgian waffle maker.
Very informative, thank you!