Daily Mail journalists carefully select and curate the products featured on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page, we will earn a commission – learn more about our process. Raise your hand if you have a small collection of barely-used gadgets gathering dust at the back of your kitchen cupboard.
With new cooking trends and constant Instagram ads promoting the latest 'must-have' kitchenware, it can be easy to get sucked into thinking you need to add the newest bit of kit to your home. Then, a year or so later, you find yourself with a spiraliser or smoothie maker that you never use, but takes up a significant amount of space on your shelves. We have all been in that situation.
On the other hand, sometimes you make a kitchen purchase that proves to be worth its weight in gold. It is a favourite topic among the You magazine team, as we have tested endless kitchen gadgets and gizmos between us, and there are a few that stand out as real star products. Here is what we simply could not do without.
Sophie Dearden-Howell, Fashion Director
This vegetable chopper is the best thing that has ever happened to me. I make lots of Em the Nutritionist recipes, which means endless chopping of vegetables, but this gadget reduces the time to a quarter and is incredibly easy to use. Please be cautious with your fingers, as I do not think it would be hard to injure them.
Rosie Green, Beauty Director
This coffee machine is the biggest joy in my life – so much so that I bought my boyfriend one too. It froths the milk, uses pods for convenience, and can make cappuccinos, espressos, and everything in between. You get a coffee-shop level coffee with minimal effort, and it looks really good on the counter.
Lindsay Frankel, Deputy Editor
I am the proud owner of an egg slicer. It elevates your salade nicoise to the next level, making preparation quick and efficient.
Nicole Gray, Interiors Director
The Hotel Chocolat Velvetiser has been a game-changer for me. Not only does it make my hot chocolates amazingly smooth and my lattes barista-worthy, but it also looks stylish on the kitchen counter.
Maddy Fletcher, Books Editor
What do I love about my pepper mill? I love that it produces a large amount of pepper in a single grind, has various simple-to-change settings for different sizes, features a top that functions like a cork for easy refilling, and holds a huge amount of peppercorns without a spindle. I use a coarse grind and cook with a lot of pepper, refilling about once a month.
Charlotte Vossen, Deputy Digital Editor
I love my Our Place Wonder Oven. It is very compact and offers multiple functions, though the reheat option does not work very well. Otherwise, it bakes, air fries, toasts, grills, and broils efficiently. It is much faster than my regular oven, which I now only use for pizzas and roasts, and has replaced my toaster.
Marianne Jones, Features Director
I love fizzy water but hate the waste of plastic bottles, so a couple of years ago, I splashed out on my sleek Aarke carbonator. I now have fizz on tap and have saved a fortune.
Sophie Hines, Lifestyle and Digital Director
I refused to get on board with the whole air fryer thing for a long time, thinking it might be a fad. Then I moved to a new house with a tiny oven and a family to feed. The Tefal Dual Air Fryer speeds up cooking, makes the crispiest potatoes ever, and provides extra cooking space without needing a second oven. I am now a convert.
Marion Jones, Sub Editor
You know when you go back to your parents’ house and they have something new that is vexing? For me, it was the Oxo vegetable peeler. We had done perfectly well with a small, lethal knife all my life, but after using it, I never looked back, and now there is one in my cutlery drawer.
Alice Robertson, Beauty Editor
A gravy separator: you do not know you need it until you have it. Simply squeeze the handle, and fat drains out without you having to skim. It is absolutely brilliant.
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