Smart Kitchen Must-Haves You’ll Use Every Day

For our Associate General Manager, testing this countertop oven and seeing how the whole family enjoyed using it changed her mind about loving smart ovens.

The MiniOven’s versatility punches well above it’s compact size, including 11 cooking functions and dozens of presets that remove all guesswork. And the Dual Cook capability means you can program two cooking functions for a dish, such as roast and broil.

It comes with numerous accessories, including a ceramic-coated egg tray, ceramic-coated baking tray, and an air fryer rack, plus guidance about which one to use. While you don’t need the Chef IQ app to use the MiniOven, it adds to the experience with remote access to cooking functions, a library of recipes, and guided cooking.

We also tested this unit with the companion iQ Sense wireless thermometer, which proved to be a powerful duo. The smart thermometer has five sensors and its own app that pairs with the MiniOven for temperature readings, flipping cues, and automatic shutoff.

While it’s not a perfect device, if you’re short on time and need a versatile, fast appliance to simplify cooking, the MiniOven is an impressive option.

The Shark PowerDetect ThermaCharged 2-in-1 NeverTouch Pro (RV2920XE) is the cleaning helper you’ll never want to live without.

It was a a game-changer for keeping our kitchen and dining room floors clean after a day of food prep, shared meals, and messy toddler spills.

The setup process is intuitive, as is mapping (with no-go zones), and the app allows scheduling and other customizations, like adjusting the notification volume, pad drying duration, and Eco Flow Mode, which conserves water during mopping.

Advanced obstacle detection kept the vacuum from getting tangled up with toys strewn about.

And the NeverStuck technology, which grabs more debris and lifts the mop higher to keep any mess off carpets, and targeted spot cleaning saved so much time and effort after a long day.

Cooking can be time-consuming enough; hand over one aspect of post-meal cleaning duties to the Shark PowerDetect ThermaCharged 2-in-1 Pro. You won’t regret it!

If you’re looking for a smart blender that can do it all, the Vitamix Ascent X5 is the way to go. This premium model sits atop the Ascent series and comes with 10 different blending programs and food processing attachments with an additional 10 programs.

This series is compatible with the brand’s Self-Detect container technology, meaning that the base detects which vessel’s attached and chooses the best program accordingly. You have the freedom to make manual adjustments, too, for more control over speed and pulsing.

The X5 also offers suggestions for when to use the tamper mid-blend, a 15-second option to add just a little more time, and automatic shutoff can assist with overheating and over-blending prevention.

While this premium blender is pricey, it’s built to last for years of smoothies and anything else you might want to whip up, whether that’s nut butters, soups, or grinding spices. Bonus: Its self-cleaning feature checks off one more task from your to-do list.

If kitchen smells, smoke, allergies, or any or all of the above are concerns in your home, the AirDoctor 3500i can help.

This smart air purifier uses a three-stage filtration system, including a pre-filter, carbon/gas/VOC filter, and an UltraHEPA filter that’s designed to capture even smaller particles than the average HEPA filter—100 times smaller than the HEPA standard.

With the companion app, you can view indoor and outdoor air quality information, temperature, humidity levels, and adjust the fan speed and other settings.

This powerful purifier might not be as stylish as some options on the market, but it excels at removing even the smallest of irritants.

Amazon shoppers give the AirDoctor 3500i 4.6 out of 5 stars.

If you never seem to have enough ice on hand, make that problem a thing of the past with this 26-pound Euhomy Countertop Ice Maker. It’s a light 13 pounds and doesn’t take up much space, which makes shuffling it around your kitchen or traveling with it convenient.

Lifewire’s Associate General Manager purchased a unit for her family and raves about how well it works. Her freezer is no longer running out of ice!

Unless you need tons of ice, this unit should deliver more than enough in one sitting, every six minutes or so, and is relatively quiet and self-cleaning too.

This ice maker is an Amazon darling with nearly 15,000 customer reviews and an average rating of 4.3 out of 5 stars.

Tea and pour-over coffee are beverages I like to have from time to time, but I’ve never had the right electric kettle for the job. I often boil or heat up water, walk away, and forget about it. Until now. The Govee Smart Electric Kettle is one of the budget-friendlier smart kettles you can find, and it delivers straightforward app-connected performance.

While you can also use the onboard buttons, which are clearly labeled, you can use the app to set the kettle to boil from another room for tea or coffee or at your own preferred temperature.

The app keeps you up to date on the progress with animations of the boiling process, and both the kettle and the app let you know when your water’s ready to use.

My favorite aspect is the warming function. Rather than having to go through the whole refill process again if I want more tea or another cup of pour-over, the water’s at the right temperature just when I need it.

This is one of those devices that you might not think you need in your kitchen until you start using it. You might even start drinking pour-over!

The Govee Smart Kettle earns 4.3 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

We like the Cuisinart 11-Qt Dual Basket Air Fryer Pro (ADZ-1200) for its dual cook design, which lets you get the most out of your cooking time.

Prepare two separate dishes at different temperatures, get nudges to flip items mid-way, and have confidence in knowing that both will be ready at the same time, thanks to Sync Finish technology.

And if you prefer to cook the same thing in both baskets, Sync Settings technology performs even batch cooking.

The Cuisinart ADZ-1200 has six air fryer settings and five other presets, including roast, broil, bake, keep warm, and dehydrate, which you can pick from the well-labeled user panel. Another great touch? Both compartments have a window and light to help you keep an eye on the cook.

Happy Amazon purchasers give this dual air fryer 4.7 out of 5 stars.

The Terra Kaffe TK-02 is made for those of us who require not just a regular cup of morning coffee, but an excellent one.

This smart, fully automatic espresso machine delivers your perfect drink with a tap of the touchscreen. The companion app lets you create custom drinks (there are over 100,000 combinations!) down to the temperature of your drip coffee to dose and volume.

Another thing of beauty for groggy coffee fans? You can create a personalized brewing scheduling to make sure your coffee’s ready right when you need it.

Amazon shoppers give this premium espresso machine 4 out of 5 stars.