With so many fantastic functions and brilliant new features, the latest kitchen appliances can transform the way you experience your kitchen, putting the joy back into cooking and leaving you with more time to do what you love. However, with hundreds of different appliance brands and models to choose from, it can be hard to know where to start. We’ve rounded up 5 of our top appliances for you to explore, including all the kitchen essentials you’ll be needing for your new space such as ovens, refrigerators, and hobs.
Table of Contents
5 Best Kitchen Appliance Essentials
1. The Best Electric Oven
As one of the most expensive appliances in your kitchen, you will want to make sure you choose the perfect oven to suit your cooking style and your budget. Modern ovens come with hundreds of features, including self-cleaning technology, multiple level cooking, automatic recipe pre-sets, steam functions and wi-fi enabled controls.
Multiple level cooking prevents the transfer of flavour between different oven shelves, allowing you to bake delicious cod with a herby crumb crust while getting the perfect wobble on your New York cheesecake. Multiple level cooking is perfect for those who love to host wonderful dinner parties. Alternatively, if you’re a bit of a novice in the kitchen, then you’ll undoubtedly benefit from a trusty smart oven that does all the hard work for you. The latest smart ovens can read a recipe for you via an app on your phone, automatically setting the time and temperature needed to guarantee perfect results.
You may also want to weigh up the pros and cons of different cleaning functions. Pyrolytic self-cleaning ovens are considered the most effective, however, this functionality will significantly add to the price tag. Catalytic liners are another more budget friendly self-cleaning option, a step above your normal scrubbable enamel coated interior.
For a reliable oven that does it all, consider the NEFF N50B5AVH6AH0B. This midrange oven offers all of NEFF’s best features, including pyrolytic cleaning, added steam cooking functions, CircoTherm multi-level baking, home connect technology and easy access with NEFF’s famous Slide&Hide oven door. As a brand, NEFF has earned a superb reputation for their outstanding quality ovens and cooking technologies.
You can find some similarly great features for an excellent price with Zanussi’s ZOPNX6K2. Their ovens cook evenly on every level and include handy pyrolytic cleaning. Their slightly more basic offering doesn’t include steam cooking or wi-fi enabled functionality. Despite this, their reliable and easy-to-use design makes them a popular choice with consumers.
2. The Best Hobs
When it comes to choosing a hob, you will first need to decide between gas, electric or induction. Traditional gas hobs are known for their responsive temperature control and simple functionality. They can also be cheaper to run than electric or induction hobs. However, many homeowners feel that cooking over a naked flame is more dangerous, particularly if you have young children in the family. Do bear in mind that all hobs get very hot and can start pan fires. The only other downside to gas hobs is that they can be more fiddly to clean.
Electric hobs make a convenient and affordable option, but when it comes to functionality they take longer to heat up and cool down and are generally less responsive to use. Combining the safety and sleek looks of an electric hob with the quick controls of a gas top, induction hobs are one of the most desirable cooking surfaces on the market. Their cutting-edge design means they do unfortunately command a higher price tag. Furthermore, they are only compatible with specially designed induction pans, stainless steel
3. Gas Hobs
Bosch’s range of Series 6 gas hobs make an excellent choice when it comes to looks, functionality, durability, and price. Available in both 5 and 4 burners, the strong pan stands, and precise FlameSelect temperature dials ensure easy and controlled cooking. Their optional wok burner ring offers added functionality for those who love a speedy stir-fry.
If you’re looking for something a little different, then be sure to consider Smeg’s Classic and Dolce Stil Novo gas hobs. Their sophisticated Italian design creates a beautiful focal point to your kitchen, and you will certainly find they don’t compromise on functionality. The clever diamond arrangement is ideal for spacing larger pans while the dials are elegantly and practically arranged to complement the cooktop. Of course, their super stylish designs will cost a bit more, but if you’re after a truly stunning hob, they’re undoubtedly worth every penny.
4. Induction Hobs
AEG offer some great competitively priced products and one such product loved by kitchen experts and consumers alike is the IKE64441FB induction hob. The intuitive hob comes with a range of fantastic features to make cooking incredibly quick and easy. The hob detects the shape and size of your pan to provide the perfect area of heat without wasting energy. Powerboost heats the surface to its maximum temperature rapidly so that your food will be ready in no time at all. AEG’s bridge technology allows you to merge two separate zones into one for the ultimate flexibility. AEG’s fantastic induction hobs are easy, safe and reliable.
5. The Best Refrigerators
Often neatly tucked away behind a cupboard door, it’s easy to overlook your refrigerator. However, having somewhere to keep food fresh is absolutely essential in any kitchen. Since your fridge is always on, it’s worth investing in a reasonably energy-efficient model to cut costs on your energy bill. With combination fridge-freezers being the most popular choice, you will also need to consider what capacity ratio best suits you and you family’s needs.
You can choose from 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30 splits. Most modern fridge-freezers come with frost-free technology (all of the models we’ve included here do). Frost-free technology stops ice from building-up, preventing you from regularly having to endure the time-consuming and messy process of defrosting your freezer. We recommend double-checking your fridge-freezer includes this feature. Here are some of our favourite models.
Siemens’ IQ-300 KG36NXXDC freestanding fridge-freezer offers excellent efficiency, style and quality for a great price. It includes handy features such as supercooling, which allows you to reduce the temperature quickly, handy when you need to put something not already cold into the fridge. It also features an alarm to notify you when the temperature gets too high, for example, if the door has been left open. The frost-free freezer and fridge from Siemens come with a 5-year warranty.
The Beko BCFD350 represents great value for money. The reliable integrated fridge freezer includes frost-free technology as well as a handy alarm that lets you know if you’ve left the door open. Though one of the more limited options on the market and far from the most efficient, the Beko fridge-freezer does a great job of covering the basics.
Busting the jargon and figuring out whether the latest features are worth the extra money can be tricky, but hopefully, our helpful guide has given you a good place to start when it comes to finding the kitchen appliances right for you. For more information on appliances brands and their collections, please click here to view specialist retailer Kitchens InStyle’s website.