Foodie Gift Guide: Kitchen Gadgets Worth Buying
Full credit for this one goes to my daughter, who suggested it might help if you’re stuck on what to buy your foodie friends — or what to quietly add to your own wish list. This first instalment covers the bigger kitchen gadgets. I’ve done the trial and error over many years so you don’t have to, though this is very much what works for me, not an exhaustive “best of everything” list.
First up: a recipe book holder by Robert Welch, the cutlery designers known for beautifully clean lines. It holds a cookbook open and steady, comes apart for storage, and even includes a couple of small magnets for pinning notes or loose recipe cards. Simple, but genuinely well made.
My KitchenAid mini food processor gets more daily use than almost anything else in the kitchen. It doesn’t grate, but for chopping it’s brilliant — so much so that my full-size Magimix now mostly comes out for grating or larger batches instead.
From Kenwood, I’ve got a hand blender with two attachments: a masher, which I reach for constantly, and a stick blender attachment. Both have lasted for years, which says everything about the quality.
For garlic, ginger and chilli, my little USB-rechargeable mini chopper is a genuine favourite — no cord, no fuss. It does need charging more often than I’d like, but as long as it’s got enough charge for one chop, I’m happy to plug it in again straight after.
And finally, since downsizing from the large blender I used during the supper club days, I now do all my blitzing in a small Russell Hobbs blender — the kind of compact one people often compare to a Nutribullet (though that’s a different brand entirely). It’s more than enough for everything I need.
That’s the gadgets covered — next up, the smaller bits and pieces worth having too.