I don’t know if you have noticed the global revolution taking place in the kitchen space but it hasn’t been the same in the last few years. With the rise of lifestyle influencers and online celebrity chefs, there has been an upgrade of kitchen gadgets and appliances by kitchen brands to meet up with our fast paced life, trends and most importantly, functionality.
Prepping meals in the kitchen has now become an experience to look forward to. Something to show off with because you tend to want to flaunt it when it’s pricey. Retail outlets and major brands that produce appliances have found a way to showcase their products with the help of influencers who are paid and saddled with the responsibility of creating content with them and hence putting them in our faces. This is one major way trends are formed and we decide which ones we need to get for our kitchen.
So we’ll be looking at essential gadgets and then the advanced or should we say those gadgets that are unique and based on our lifestyle. Yes.
Essential Kitchen Gadgets
These ones are basic and for regular everyday use and every kitchen needs to have them. They help us get basic kitchen chores done. These include but not limited to
- Chef’s knife, Paring knife and bread knife. Call it different knives for different purposes but these are basic kitchen must haves. There’s always something to chop, dice or slice and these are the functions of these knives.
- Measuring cups:- necessary to have in a standard kitchen but not so much in an African kitchen because our style of cooking, we eye ball measurements but when I started baking and making yogurt, I had to get the measuring cups. May not be useful for our soups and stews especially when our ancestors are present during each cooking, whispering in our ears when ingredients and quantities are enough or not.
- Whisks, Tongs, Ladles. I remember visiting a friend years ago and his chef gave us 2 quick lessons. One was that ladles were used for stirring while cooking and not the cooking spoon. He made us understand that it could scratch the bottom of the utensil especially if it was teflon material. As for whisks and tongs, let’s just say I was influenced by food network. And they prove to be highly useful.
Now to the more advanced gadgets
We grew up seeing a mortar and pestle in kitchens in every home but it is changing. Today, with the advent of blenders, food processors and mandolin slicers, the job of blending, pounding, slicing and chopping have been taken care of. And for the purpose of time saving and functionality, these have been game changers.
- Microwave, airfryer, smart oven, juicer. These ones are to ensure we don’t spend hours in the kitchen and to also help us build careers, businesses and a meaningful life outside the kitchen. We no longer have to use a stove top to warm our foods, we don’t need oil to fry when our health is at risk and we can easily drink healthier fresh squeezed juice instead of the regular go-to fizzy drinks
- Slow Cooker, Pressure Cooker and Cast Enamel Pots. Asides the beautiful aesthetics they add to your kitchen, you can actually go to bed and leave food to cook overnight using settings on the slow cooker. Pressure Cooker ensures food cooks faster and Cast Enamel are more quality and healthier options for cooking utensils.
Tips for Choosing Kitchen Gadgets
- Quality
- Functionality/Practicality
- Needs
So, which of these do you have and which of these are you buying next?
- Joy Essien is a Contributing Editor for Lagos Metropolitan
