Best Deals on Kitchen Products

The large Cuisinart AIR-200 has a window and a light so you can see your food cooking, and its large six-quart capacity means there’s enough room to cook for a crowd or to air fry an entire meal. Touchscreen controls come with five cooking pre-sets, including one for frozen snacks and one for leftovers, and a toss reminder alerts you when it’s time to flip your food. The AIR-200 also comes with a generous three-year warranty.

The Instant Vortex Plus 6-Quart Air Fryer, which typically costs closer to $130, has a clear window, making it easy to monitor your cooking without having to pull out the basket. Despite its name, the model’s measured capacity is 5.2 quarts. It earns a top-notch rating for its controls and comes with customizable cooking programs and a digital display. In addition to being easy to use, this dishwasher-safe fryer also shows strong performance in our noise and cleaning tests.

The Instant Vortex Slim air fryer, which typically sells for $120, is an all-around strong performer, with intuitive controls and quiet operation, and we found it pretty easy to clean, too. At 11 inches in width and 12 inches in height, it won’t be overly obtrusive on your countertop, though it is fairly deep (18 inches). It has a measured capacity of 4.9 quarts, five cooking modes (air fry, broil, bake, roast, and reheat), and one-touch programs to cook a range of foods, including wings, vegetables, potatoes, cookies, and more. It comes with a 1-year warranty.

This Instant Vortex Plus 140-3089-01 has a clear cooking window, making it easy to monitor your food without having to pull out the basket. Its capacity is 5.2 quarts, according to our measurements. It earns a top-notch rating for its controls and comes with customizable cooking programs and a digital display. In addition to being easy to use, this fryer also delivered a strong performance in our noise and cleaning tests. Plus, its parts are dishwasher-safe.

It’s only $10 more than its best price, making it a great time to buy.

One of the top-rated single-serve machines, the Nespresso Essenza Mini stands out with stellar marks in CR’s brew time tests and for the ability to control brew volume and strength. It’s also especially compact, making it a good fit for most countertops. A height-adjustable drip tray and an auto-shutoff function add convenience. Like other Nespresso models, it requires Nespresso capsules, which the company recycles at no charge if you ship them back using a prepaid bag. You can also take them to a store that participates in Nespresso’s recycling program.

The Cuisinart PerfecTemp 14 Cup Programmable DCC-3200 has just dropped $20 with an on-page coupon at Amazon, though it was $89.99 at the end of December. It’s an excellent overall choice based on CR’s tests, and its brew performance, an indicator of taste, was stellar. We also found it convenient to use, and the carafe was easy to hold and pour from. What’s more, Cuisinart, as a coffee maker brand, showed excellent owner satisfaction in CR’s member surveys (meaning owners of this brand’s machines are likely to recommend their model to friends and family), as well as a very good score for predicted reliability (which reflects the likelihood that an owner will experience a problem with their machine in their first four years of ownership). The discount isn’t too shabby either.

The Melitta Aroma Fresh Plus 10-Cup takes whole coffee beans and grinds them fresh for each pot, which it brews in about 11 minutes. Our lab testers found the Melitta especially convenient to use, based on setup, operation, and cleanup—plus, the Melitta’s carafe was easy to hold, pour from, and empty. The Melitta also features auto-shutoff and an indicator to notify you when cleaning is necessary.

This is a basic, no-frills portable coffee press. It didn’t wow our testers, but it did the job without letting coffee grounds seep through the filter. Plus, the plastic is insulated, helping keep the coffee warm for longer. It has no discernible flaws, so if you’re looking for a low-cost, small coffee press, this could be the answer.

The unassuming, inexpensive Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Programmable 49465R, which typically costs $40, might be easy to miss, but it can brew a mean cup of joe at a fantastic price. It has all the essentials in a basic black-plastic finish. It’s programmable and has auto-shutoff. What’s more, it does a superb job in our brewing test and can make a fresh pot in just 10 minutes. This model also performs strongly for convenience and carafe handling in CR’s lab tests. But it’s worth mentioning that it is more prone to overflow, unlike some other models we’ve tested.

The capable, durable 1,500-watt NutriBullet Smart Touch NBF50420 does as superb a job as top-rated, full-sized blenders in making smoothies and puréeing. It’s also a capable ice-crusher. We judged it to be super-convenient in terms of cleaning, having clear controls and jar markings, and pouring ease. It’s also relatively lightweight, with a jar weighing 2.2 pounds vs. the 3 pounds you’ll tend to find in other highly rated models. But it’s just so-so for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.

A top-rated model in CR’s tests, the Vitamix Ascent X2 may look unassuming with its dial and toggle controls, considering its excellent overall performance in our blender lab. It aces our purée and durability tests, performs admirably in our icy drink and ice crush tests, and is convenient to use, according to our testers. Plus, Vitamix blenders as a brand receive excellent scores for owner satisfaction and predicted reliability.

The Ninja BL770 plays two roles: as a full-sized blender, and as a personal blender with an internal spinner and cup that’s meant for small batches. It’s a very good performer either way, handily crushing ice and capably preparing smoothies and other icy beverages. It’s also very convenient—though more so when using the full-sized blending jar. In puréeing, the personal-blender version is the star, though the full-sized version still purées very well. The Ninja BL770 is noisy, though—especially when using the full-sized jar. Predicted reliability and owner satisfaction are impressive for both versions. This is $40 more than the holiday price.

This blender has dropped in price by $20 since the beginning of January, making now a great time to buy.

The Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus DLC-2A is a 3-cup food chopper that combines great value with solid performance. In our tests, it’s particularly adept at chopping almonds and onions, and grating Parmesan cheese, though other choppers are better at puréeing. This model is ideal if you have limited counter space; it takes up as much as a postcard.

This cost-conscious 11-piece stainless steel cookware set from The Cellar has two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, a silicone trivet, and four lids. The set, a Macy’s exclusive, aces our tests for cooking evenness, speed of heating, and food release. It’s also easy to clean, earning an excellent score. The handles stay safe and cool, but they aren’t so sturdy, earning a mediocre rating for that test.

The Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad pans excel at quickly bringing water to a boil, cooking evenly, and releasing eggs cooked with oil. They also earn a very good rating in our sauce-simmer test. The handles stay safely cool to the touch and are very sturdy. One note: Pieces in this set are oven-safe only to 350° F, while others on this list can withstand higher temperatures. We tested the 8-piece set, which is currently selling for $250, but this set comes with 12 and is $70 less.

You can expect even heating and a steady sauce simmer from the nonstick Cuisinart GreenGourmet Hard Anodized GG-12 set, which received excellent scores in our tests for those tasks. We also found it a breeze to slide eggs out of this pan one after another with no oil at all. Even after scouring these pans for our nonstick durability tests to simulate years of use, nonstick properties still show good performance. You can also expect handles to stay sturdily attached, a quality not always found in inexpensive cookware. One possible downside: It’s only oven-safe up to 400° F. We’ve seen better deals in the last year, but it’s still a great one if you’re looking to buy a CR Recommended nonstick set now.

The budget-friendly GreenPan Reserve Ceramic Nonstick is a 10-piece set with two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, and four lids. It receives top scores for all our major cooking tasks, including an excellent rating for speed of heating. Its handles are sturdy and stay fairly cool to the touch. The nonstick coating is durable, although some other nonstick pans we tested did better in that assessment.

Depending on the color, you can score a nice discount on this set at Amazon right now.

The Caraway Ceramic-Coated Cookware Set comes with 14 pieces, but only half are pots or lids. The rest are various racks, hooks, and other things you might not want or have space for. That said, this set excels in all four of our key cooking tests: cooking evenness, simmering, nonstick food release, and speed of heating. It also shows very good performance in our nonstick durability tests, though some other sets did better.

With more than 120 years in the business, Lodge knows a thing or two about cast iron. As a result, the CR Recommended Lodge Essential Enamel Cast Iron Dutch oven turns out bread that’s nicely browned and crispy, earning a very good rating in our bread-baking test, and it’s oven safe up to 500°F. Cooking evenness and speed of heating are also very good, cleanup is a breeze, and it’s dishwasher safe. This Dutch oven weighs 13 pounds and has a 7-inch cooking surface diameter.

The simple, traditional hand-hammered Craft Wok 14" Carbon Steel Wok very rarely comes on sale at a price this low. This model aces CR’s tests for cooking evenness, but its round bottom makes it best equipped for a gas range (flat-bottomed woks are best for smoothtop and induction cooktops). And woks aren’t just for stir-fries. You can use them to deep-fry foods, steam, and even make popcorn on the stovetop. Like many carbon-steel woks, this Craft Wok doesn’t come preseasoned.

The GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Icemaker is one of the best options on the market, according to CR’s tests. GE claims it can produce up to 24 pounds of ice a day (our testing did not last long enough to hit the max). It’s also among the quieter icemakers we tried. This slick-looking model makes the nugget type of ice and does it faster than all other models, which earned it the only top score for speed. It also has the highest water capacity and features a large, removable plastic water reservoir, which means fewer refills. It is the priciest in our ratings, making this discount even more important if you’re thinking of buying it.

After spiking post-Black Friday, the price of this icemaker has dropped $10 from its previous low holiday price.

Justin Huynh, a CR product manager, completely reseals his chips rather than clips them closed. “I personally like using these melting sealers because I often don’t come back to snacks for a long time after opening them, so I feel that this gives them a better shelf life,” he says. “I’ve used multiple sealers before, and they’ve never performed consistently, but this one is the closest. I can get a good seal within 2 tries on this one, and it includes a blade on the inside that can cut the excess bag before sealing. This is also by far the smallest one I’ve gotten, which makes it easy to throw into the pantry for easy access.”

The Spring Chef Professional Cheese Grater is a budget-friendly option that simply gets the job done. This box grater features four sides for grating, shredding, slicing, and zesting, making it versatile enough for most kitchen tasks. While it doesn’t have the premium feel of the KitchenAid Gourmet 4-Sided Stainless Steel Box Grater that we also tested, it’s a practical option for those looking for functionality on a budget.

If you want a microwave popcorn maker, this BPA-free model was our favorite from our evaluations. It’s glass and dishwasher-safe. But note that it works only with microwaves with a turntable.

One of the best insulated containers we tested at resisting leaks and odors from food, you can now snag this Stanley Adventure To-Go Food Jar for a few bucks off in frost white. In our evaluations, it (mostly) maintained its temperature retention capability. The BPA-free jar can accommodate 12 ounces of food, features a screw-on lid, and has a pressure-release feature. The company claims that food will stay hot or cold for up to 4 hours. 

Kate Spade can make even your kitchen more fashionable with this Kate Spade All In Good Taste 888394 2-Slice toaster. And it’s not just a pretty accessory. It earns excellent scores for toasting time and color range, meaning you can have a crispy slice or two toasted just the way you like in a snap. Plus, it’s easy to clean, earning an excellent score in those lab evaluations. This toaster earns only a mediocre score for toasting one slice evenly, but if you generally prefer more than that, this may be the toaster for you.