Best Multi-purpose Kitchen Appliances

A small, cluttered kitchen is the problem.  Here’s the solution.

You’re a wealthy businessman bringing in half a million or more every year, living in a twelve-bedroom house with a personal staff, a fleet of top-end sports and luxury cars from which to choose when your chauffeur isn’t driving you around town in your limousine, and you eat at the finest restaurants when your personal chef isn’t whipping up gourmet fare for you at home. If this applies to you, stop wasting your time reading articles that are meaningless to you; besides, no one wants you here… snob.

On the other hand, if you’re a more typical American, you probably have a home smaller than you’d like and have to cook for yourself. Fret not, oh average man or woman, for there is great pleasure to be had in the making of one’s own meals, especially if you are cooking for others. Few things in life give me more joy than creating a large meal for my wife and friends, especially when they eat every scrap, belch with delight and praise the chef repeatedly.

My kitchen is probably half the size of the aforementioned rich jerk’s shoe closet. Consequently, I have to make the best possible use of limited space. Two appliances have made this task reasonably easy for me and I use one or the other—or both—virtually every day.

 Euro-Pro Convection Oven There are many convection ovens on the market, but I chose the one that was not only within my price range, but offered the most versatility that I could find. Convection ovens use superheated air circulated around the food to cook and, as a result, tends to cook more quickly than conventional ovens do; however, this oven combines convection with convention. The Euro-Pro Convection Oven acts as a conventional toaster oven (the electric elements on top and on the bottom do all the work in this function), a broiler (only the top element heats up, assisted by the convection fan blowing hot air around the food), a griller (both elements heat up in conjunction with the convection fan) and a baking oven (only the convection fan cooks the food). Because it is small, it’s difficult to prepare a meal for an entire family, though it is perfect for keeping appetizers warm. For single people and couples, it may be the only oven you need. When cooking or baking from a recipe, be careful not to overcook your food; everything takes less time to cook in a convection oven.

 Presto Multi-Cooker: This is my favorite of all kitchen appliances I have ever owned. It’s perfect for making stews, including pot roasts, for cooking rice and for my all time favorite recipe, pinto bean soup. With a six-quart capacity, you can cook a surprising amount of food in this thing. It comes with an aluminum basket perfect for steaming vegetables or dumplings, such as homemade dim sum; simply add about an inch of water to the cooker, bring it to boil and suspend the basket over the boiling water before covering the pot. However, its primary purpose is as a deep fat fryer. The aluminum basket doubles as a fryer basket, perfect for French fries, fried seafood, fried chicken, fried Twinkies or anything else you can think of; because of the Teflon coating, the unit cleans very easily (however, don’t make the mistake I made and forget to remove the temperature dial before washing or you’ll have to buy a new Multi-Cooker). If push comes to shove, the Multi-Cooker can also be used as a fondue pot, but if you use it in this way take great care not to mangle the Teflon coating with the sharp fondue forks.