If you’re a passionate lover of cooking, or you’ve recently kickstarted your cooking journey, and want to accelerate it even further in 2023, then you’ve reached the right place. Having an efficient and streamlined cooking process is the key to preparing dishes that simply taste excellent! And the number one aid you need in having an effortless process is an arsenal of great kitchen appliances. With the right kitchen tools and appliances, cooking can be an increasingly fun and simplified process. The right products can reduce your prep time in half, make the little cooking tasks much easier, and help you with tedious and complicated techniques. From a tiny circular grater that turns cooking into a meditative activity to a compact induction cooker that fits every conceivable cooking method in its modular stackable design – these innovative and exceptional appliances are all you need in your kitchen.
1. The Slide Toaster
The toasting process begins in the Slide toaster with an LED ring indicating the toasting level and completion. The slide-up tray has a translucent design element to it so that you can keep an eye on the toast turning perfectly brown to your delight Level of the toast crispness can be set with an adjustment dial like all other toasters we’ve seen countless times. This is ably aided by audio indications to keep the user well-informed.
Why is it noteworthy?
Harry Rigler wants to reinvent the trusted image of the toaster with a detour to the soft form design of this household kitchen appliance. That too keeps in mind the requirements of modern users, and the present as well as future design progression of kitchen interiors. Rather than being a pop-up toaster like most out there, this is the Slide toaster which rolls the toasting grill to the side like a rollable smartphone. The tray slides out – you put in the bread and slide it back in.
What we like
- Audio indications to update the user on their toast
- Unique slide-up tray
What we dislike
- The radically changed design may not be easily accepted in households
2. Small Living Kitchens
Falper has dipped its toes into kitchen design with the Small Living Kitchens concept. With the Small Living Kitchens, Falper wanted to transform the experience of kitchens in small homes. It includes islands that are designed to make tiny kitchens feel spacious and luxurious. It brings the sophisticated layouts of larger kitchens to small homes in a more compact and streamlined form.
Why is it noteworthy?
Falper worked alongside designer Andrea Federici to create the Small Living Kitchens. The units can be placed into compact spaces starting from 2.5 square meters. It has been equipped with three elements – islands, storage units, and tall units. These elements can be configured in multiple different ways, according to your need and requirement.
What we like
- Comes in three models
- Designed to merge harmoniously with all kinds of homes and apartments
What we dislike
- The aesthetics of the kitchen are a bit simple
3. The Cookmate
Designed for this new, ‘smaller than life’ home, the Cookmate is an all-in-one kitchen appliance that goes from prep to cooking to serving, in one device. Its modular design has stackable pieces that turn the cooktop into a pan, crock pot, and even a steamer. The induction coil on the inside works on electricity, saving the need to place a gas cylinder under the hob.
Why is it noteworthy?
The Cookmate looks at the cooking process as something that goes from idea to ingredient to table. Rather than focusing on just the cooking, this induction cooktop (although it seems highly reductive to call it just that) considers every aspect of the cooking process. This isn’t just clever, holistic design thinking, it also helps the Cookmate be more universally applicable so you save effort, energy, and space with other utensils.
What we like
- Features an integrated weighing scale
- Can be split into 6 parts
What we dislike
- As we can either use one at a time or them all together, the cooking time has to be finely balanced for each layer.
4. LoopKitchen
How about transforming our kitchens into sustainable spaces as well? Seems like Danish startup Stykka comes from the same school of thought since they designed their innovative ‘LoopKitchen’.
Why is it noteworthy?
Crafted from birch plywood, LoopKitchen is a minimal and contemporary kitchen designed with recyclable parts, in an attempt to increase its lifespan. Although LoopKitchen is built primarily from birch plywood, the kitchen fronts can be finished in birch as well, or a Forbo linoleum which is available in 20 colors.
What we like
- Designed with recyclable parts
- Each physical manifestation of LoopKitchen has a digital twin
What we dislike
- Not well suited for small compact kitchens
- Space-consuming design
5. The Electrolux Adapted
The Electrolux Adapted is the kitchen essential of the future – compact, sleek, and ideal for tiny homes, this masterful concept is for the ‘singletons’ who want to make the most of a small kitchen. If you want to use the countertop for some real cooking, and don’t feel like cramping it with a gazillion appliances, then Adapted is the product for you!
Why is it noteworthy?
Electrolux Adapted is a premium hub that utilizes the vertical space in a kitchen to organize and hold all the important appliances you need on a daily basis. The system is made up of standardized modules that are mounted effortlessly on a backplate, completely eliminating the need for tools usually required for installation. The backplate supplies all the modules with water and electricity, in an attempt to support highly customizable arrangments.
What we like
- Can either be mounted on a wall or placed as a free-standing product with an add-on furniture frame
- All the modules are connected via an Electrolux app, allowing them to be used simultaneously or in sync, and enabling users to create their own personal routines
What we dislike
- It’s still a concept!
6. Byrne’s AI-generated Appliances
Catalan Architect Antoni Gaudi has been one of the most popular and decorated names when it comes to modernist works. What if he also designed much more mundane but still useful things? That is the idea behind this series of designs of regular household appliances based on Gaudi aesthetics using artificial intelligence image generator software.
Why is it noteworthy?
The different appliance designs have various flowing shapes and textured surfaces that bring to mind natural things like trees, caves, and other organic formations. But they have splashes of various colors to add to the opposite of minimalist aesthetics. The designs are combinations of various art styles like neo-gothic, art nouveau, and modernist, creating some interesting looking appliances like a toaster, a mixer, a vacuum cleaner, a microwave, a coffee machine, a kettle, an iron, a hair dryer, etc.
What we like
- Make interesting conversation pieces
- The designs are a twist on the otherwise typical and traditional kitchen appliances
What we dislike
- They’re AI-generated, and not actual products yet
7. Mill
Mill is a trash can that not only keeps your leftovers from becoming too spoiled and stinky and turns them into actual chicken feed. And you don’t have to even leave your house for all of this to happen. The concept for this circular food waste device is from a former Apple engineer and the co-founder of Google Nest, Matt Rogers.
Why is it noteworthy?
This way the fish, produce, eggs, rinds, seeds, bones, and other food waste that you throw away can become food for chickens. Even things like napkins, filters, and paper towels can get in on the fun.
What we like
- It also shrinks the waste so you won’t have an overflowing trash can
- There’s also a coconut-based charcoal odor filter that will prevent your kitchen from stinking up
What we dislike
- It is a bit expensive
- Only available on a subscription basis
8. The Irogami Grater
They say that every little thing matters, and that’s especially true for garnishes and grated ingredients. Quite appropriately, this grater is also little, small enough to securely fit in the palm of your hand, almost like a toy. And just like a toy, it is designed to add a bit of fun to your kitchen and dining life while you add a bit of cheese or lemon zest to your dish.
Why is it noteworthy?
The irogami grater is simple in all aspects that you wonder why home kitchen graters aren’t made this way, too. Instead of multiple pieces of metal bent and curved at different places, the grater is a single sheet of aluminum alloy that curls backward in one corner. The design makes it look almost like a sheet of paper, particularly a colorful sticky note or memo pad, that speaks to both its playful and serious demeanor.
What we like
- Compared to those cumbersome graters that you have to hold tight at their handles, this form gives you a firmer grip
- Using this playful grater is like a game itself. Simply move the piece of cheese or stick of cinnamon from left to right and watch the tiny pieces fall down on your food
What we dislike
- The grater doesn’t apply to all objects being grated
9. The 4T7 Smart Chopping Board
The 4T7 Smart Chopping Board is meant to help simplify every stage of meal prep and go beyond it as well. Made up of different parts, all the components of the chopping board come together to create a rather innovative, united, and creative product.
Why is it noteworthy?
The 4T7 breaks meal prep into its different components, adding good design and tech wherever necessary. The board comes with 4 distinct parts, a main bamboo chopping board, a secondary silver-ion anti-bacterial board for veggies to prevent cross-contamination, a third heat-conducting defrosting tray that helps rapidly thaw frozen foods, and lastly, the 4T7’s base, which has its own built-in weighing scale. The only part of the 4T7 experience to exist outside the actual board is its smartphone app, which counts calories as you weigh your ingredients. Once your prep work is done, the digital display on the 4T7 can also function as a kitchen timer, while the board itself becomes a magnetic knife holder.
What we like
- All of 4T7’s components are designed to be wonderfully functional as independent items
- The board works equally well for fruits/veggies as well as for meats
What we dislike
- It precisely counts calories for you, which isn’t always the best route to healthy eating, since many users can get unhealthily hooked on counting calories
10. The Maruzara
Shaped like a small round plate instead of the typical rectangular sheet of metal, this grater is meant to sit on the table rather than be held up in the air like almost all other graters. Its small design makes it perfect to be placed right on the table, and the unique pattern of the blades gives it a distinctive look even when it’s just sitting unused.
Why is it noteworthy?
That blade arrangement isn’t just for show, though. Unlike a regular grater with rows of blades, you make circular movements to grate ingredients. Rather than falling through holes, the grated pieces accumulate at the sides in full, fluffy lumps. The repetitive action, rather than being tiring and burdensome, becomes almost a mindful practice that puts you in the moment.
What we like
- Comes with a silicon rubber base that stops it from slipping on the table while you make your circling motions
What we dislike
- It’s designed primarily for wasabi and daikon radish, making it a bit limited
- Some people may prefer the form and structure of a traditional grater
