The modern kitchen is where practicality meets absurdity, and nowhere is that more evident than in the realm of kitchen gadgets. From devices that dry your kale to death to tools that look like they belong in a science lab, these appliances promise to make cooking easier, more fun, or at least more confusing. Let’s dive into some gadgets that are either culinary lifesavers or glorified paperweights.

Dehydrator

A dehydrator is a countertop appliance with trays that stack vertically or slide in like an oven. It uses low heat and a fan to circulate air, slowly removing moisture from foods like fruits, vegetables, or meats over several hours. It’s like a slow cooker for turning food into camping rations. Great if you enjoy jerky, dried fruit, or pretending you’re prepping for the apocalypse.

Use: Removes moisture from food to make dried fruits, jerky, or crisp veggie chips.
Price Range: $50–$300.
Why Care: Great for preservation or creating crispy garnishes. Perfect for that futuristic “astronaut food” vibe.
Worth It: 7/10. If you love snacks or experimental textures, it's worth it. Otherwise, a glorified air blower.

Food Processor

The food processor is your kitchen’s multitasking beast—capable of slicing, dicing, chopping, pureeing, and occasionally sounding like a lawnmower. It’s like the Swiss Army knife of appliances, except it’s bulky and always missing a crucial attachment when you need it. Though in all seriousness, the food processor is a life saver to those who know how to reliably use them.

Use: Chops, purees, and grinds food quickly.
Price Range: $50–$400.
Why Care: Saves you from hours of manual chopping and pureeing. Can make doughs, dips, and finely processed mixtures for high-tech dishes.
Worth It: 9/10. A true workhorse. Every kitchen should have one, sci-fi or not.

Immersion Blender

This handheld device looks like a wand with a small blade at the bottom. When submerged in a pot or container, it blends ingredients directly without transferring them to another appliance. It’s ideal for smoothing soups, sauces, or even small quantities of batter.

Use: Handheld blender for soups, sauces, and emulsions.
Price Range: $30–$150.
Why Care: It's like a lightsaber for blending. Smooth out soups and sauces without transferring to a blender.
Worth It: 8/10. Affordable, compact, and practical.

Mortar & Pestle

A mortar is a heavy bowl made of stone, ceramic, or wood, and the pestle is a club-like tool used to grind or crush ingredients. Together, they are used for grinding spices or making pastes like pesto.

Use: Manually grinds spices, herbs, or other ingredients.
Price Range: $15–$100.
Why Care: Great for achieving texture and control over flavor release. Bonus: makes you feel ancient yet avant-garde.
Worth It: 7/10. Cool, but only if you're into grinding stuff by hand (though let me be clear… I use my own mortar & pestle multiple times every week. I obsess over it for spice preparation, and I prefer it to my standard spice grinder. I only give it a lower score because I realize most people don’t have much use for it)

Silicone Mats

These are non-stick baking sheets that feel like you’re cooking on alien skin. They’re heat-resistant and reusable, making them a sustainable alternative to parchment paper. They’re also handy for rolling dough or working with sticky or hot sugar.

Use: Non-stick mats for baking, rolling dough, or working with sticky substances.
Price Range: $10–$30.
Why Care: Eliminates parchment paper waste and adds ease to advanced pastry work or sugar art.
Worth It: 9/10. Cheap, useful, and space-age durable.

Antigriddle

Picture a flat-top griddle that freezes instead of heats. The antigriddle has a metal surface chilled to sub-zero temperatures, instantly freezing anything you pour or spread on it, such as cream or sauces, into creative frozen shapes. I’ve seen pancakes made on an antigriddle, and my favorite chef has a sour cream recipe he prepares on the antigriddle.

Spoiler alert: don’t buy it. However, if you want to dabble in the same types of food, you can just get some dry ice and put a baking sheet or spatula on top of it to achieve the same effect for a fraction of the cost.

Use: Surface that flash-freezes food for creating frozen garnishes or solidifying liquids.
Price Range: $900–$1,500.
Why Care: Literally lets you play with textures. Freeze creams, sauces, or liquids instantly for creative plating.
Worth It: 3/10. Unless you’re auditioning for MasterChef, leave this nonsense to the pros.

Thermocirculator (Sous Vide Cooker)

A thermocirculator is a small machine with a heating element and a water pump. It attaches to a pot or container of water, heating it to a precise temperature and circulating it. Food, sealed in vacuum bags, cooks evenly in the water bath, ensuring tender and perfectly cooked results.

Is a thermocirculator necessary? No. Will it absolutely revolutionize your cooking life if you decide to invest in one? Absolutely, 100%. This piece of gear is an absolute marvel of the modern kitchen.

Use: Precisely cooks food in water baths at controlled temperatures.
Price Range: $70–$500.
Why Care: Perfectly cooked steaks, eggs, or even desserts. Offers futuristic precision.
Worth It: 9/10. Essential for culinary nerds or perfectionists.

Acetate Sheets

Think clear plastic wrap, but fancy. These are the secret to glossy chocolate decorations and layered mousse cakes that make Instagram go wild. Basically, it’s what separates you from professional pastry chefs—well, that and skill.

Use: Thin, transparent sheets for chocolate work, layering cakes, or shaping delicate desserts.
Price Range: $10–$20 (for a pack).
Why Care: Makes your food look like it was made in a spaceship pastry lab.
Worth It: 5/10. Only if you're dabbling in pastry or chocolate.

Pacojet

A Pacojet is the Tesla of kitchen gadgets: sleek, expensive, and something you’ll only own if you’ve abandoned any concept of budgeting. It makes sorbet so smooth it could probably apologize better than most people.

In a sense, it’s just an incredibly high-speed blender that works exclusively with frozen foods. It will turn literally anything into a frozen mousse or sorbet. Traditionally, it is very, very expensive (like $4,000 minimum). However, a budget version has made waves recently called the Ninja Creami. I personally hate all the marketing around the item, which totes the thing as a perfect alternative to ice cream, which it certainly is not. However, as an affordable version of a Pacojet? I could get on-board.

The Pacojet is a high-end countertop appliance resembling a small coffee machine. It shaves and purees frozen foods, like fruits or creams, into smooth, creamy textures, making it indispensable for chefs crafting sorbets or mousses.

Use: High-end machine that micro-purees frozen foods into ultra-smooth textures like ice cream.
Price Range: $4,000–$6,000.
Why Care: Unparalleled ice cream and sorbet textures. Plus, bragging rights for owning one.
Worth It: Either 1/10 or 6/10 (if you’re getting the Ninja Creami). It’s not worth the insane cost unless you moonlight as a Michelin-starred chef.

Paint-Stripping Heat Gun

This looks like a handheld hairdryer but is much hotter and stronger. In a kitchen, it’s used to caramelize sugar, melt chocolate, or apply high heat without an open flame, particularly for delicate or controlled tasks like brûlée topping.

I’m planning on making this my next semi-pointless purpose because I use a culinary torch somewhat often, but the residual aroma of butane can be a turn-off for gentle foods like oysters rockefeller.

Use: Applies high heat to caramelize or sear food without an open flame.
Price Range: $20–$100.
Why Care: Perfect for desserts like crème brûlée or melting sugar art.
Worth It: 7/10. Fun and multipurpose if you're into crafting as well.

Refractometer

A refractometer is a small, handheld tool used to measure the sugar content in liquids. You place a drop of liquid on its glass surface, and it uses light refraction to determine the sugar concentration. It’s common in brewing and candy-making.

Use: Measures sugar levels in liquids.
Price Range: $30–$300.
Why Care: Essential for candy-making, fermenting, or brewing.
Worth It: 5/10. Only necessary if you're nerdy about precision in drinks or desserts.

Volcano Vaporizer

This vaporizer blows hot air into a bag, infusing vapor into food or drinks. Sure, it’s originally for drug use, but it’s also a way to make cocktails feel like science experiments. It’s been repurposed by chefs for infusing dishes or drinks with aromatic flavors via the vapor it produces. Highly niche, undeniably cool.

Use: Vaporizes ingredients like herbs for flavor infusions or garnishes.
Price Range: $300–$700.
Why Care: A stoner’s tool repurposed for infusing dishes or drinks with dramatic flair.
Worth It: 4/10. Novelty at best unless you adore molecular gastronomy. I would be interested in it if it weren’t for the price tag.

Blender

The workhorse of every kitchen, it pulverizes whatever you throw at it—smoothies, sauces, margaritas, your will to live when you have to clean it. You probably already have one, so congratulations on being ahead of the curve.

Use: Blends food or drinks into smooth liquids.
Price Range: $30–$600.
Why Care: Essential for smoothies, soups, and purées.
Worth It: 10/10. An absolute necessity.

Microplane

This small handheld tool features a long, narrow grating surface with sharp teeth. It’s used for zesting citrus, grating hard cheeses, or finely shredding spices like nutmeg. Its precision makes it ideal for adding finishing touches to dishes.

Use: Grates fine ingredients like citrus zest, cheese, or spices.
Price Range: $10–$20.
Why Care: Small, affordable, and surprisingly versatile.
Worth It: 9/10. Get one. You won’t regret it.

Syringe

Yes, a syringe, because injecting flavor into meats or precision-decorating desserts is apparently what separates “just okay” food from “artisanal” cuisine. It’s used to inject marinades into meats, fill pastries with cream, or create precise plating designs with sauces. I used one just the other day to make countless tiny, puffed up crackers, which I then individually filled with 33 CCs of cheese sauce. I regretted everything; it was hours of work. But hey, bonus points for feeling like a mad scientist every time you use it.

Use: Precisely injects or decorates food.
Price Range: $5–$20.
Why Care: Creates filled pastries, plated sauces, or marinated proteins.
Worth It: 6/10. Fun for plating geeks or pastry lovers.

So, which of these gadgets will actually make your cooking life better, and which will become expensive dust collectors? The answer lies in how much you love snacks, science experiments, or justifying your Amazon purchases. Choose wisely, and happy cooking!

    Matthew Christensen
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2023
    Email the author! matthew@dvo.com