#The Kitchn s Guide to Essential Small Electric Appliances

What are the essential tools every cook needs in the kitchen? Whether you're setting up a kitchen for the first time or else looking to pare back down to the basics, our Essentials Guides are here to help. We've covered prep tools and cooking tools. cookware and baking pans. Today we come upon a somewhat controversial category: essential small electric appliances.

BIG DISCLAIMER: More so than any of our other Essential guides, the Small Electrics guide leaves the most room for interpretation. The small appliances we list below as "essential" may not be depending on your personal cooking preferences, style, and need, whereas those we list as "up for discussion" may be the most overworked appliance in your kitchen! So, take with a grain of salt and, as always, sound off in the comments with your opinion!

As in all of our guides, we've offered a few product recommendations in each category based on personal preferences, experience, and editor and reader reviews. Most of these tools can be bought on Amazon, but a terrific and cost-effective resource for basic kitchen tools is a restaurant supply store. Just buy the best quality you can afford!

1. Hand-Held Mixer OR Stand Mixer . Yes, you can mix by hand. but having an electric mixer makes everything that much easier. A hand-held mixer will probably do the job unless you like to do a lot (we mean, a lot ) of baking, in which case a stand mixer will be a life-saver.

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2. Countertop OR Immersion Blender . Powerful countertop blenders, like Vitamix or BlendTec, are great multi-taskers - make smoothies, puree large batches of soups and sauces, grind grains into flour. But the smaller, lighter immersion blender is much more convenient and less unwieldy. It's great when you need to quickly whip cream or puree applesauce.