7 Kitchen Gadgets Put to the Test: Which Ones Are Actually Worth Buying

Introduction

Kitchen gadgets live or die on one question: does the job justify the drawer space? We put seven of the most talked-about kitchen gadgets through real, hands-on testing, from a handheld smoking gun to a cocktail machine that costs as much as a small appliance. Some surprised us, some disappointed us, and a couple earned genuine recommendations. Here is how each one performed, what it costs, and who it actually makes sense for.

Sage by Heston Blumenthal Smoking Gun

The Smoking Gun is a handheld smoke infuser that adds smoky flavour to both hot and cold food without applying heat. You load wood chips (hickory and applewood are the classic choices) into the mesh basket, light them, and the device pumps smoke through a nozzle into whatever you are flavouring. It is a cold-smoke method, so it changes flavour without cooking the food.

In testing it produced a light, delicate smoke note on smoked cream, scallops and even a hot drink, with enough control to avoid overpowering the dish. It also enables tableside theatre if you use a glass cloche, and beyond wood chips you can burn tea leaves, hay, herbs or spices to layer different aromas. It landed at around £79, which testers felt was slightly more than they would personally pay, but the verdict was firmly that it works and does a good job.

Bartesian Cocktail Machine

The Bartesian is a capsule-based cocktail machine for home use. You fill the reservoir with water, add your chosen spirit to the corresponding vessel, insert a capsule (old fashioned, cosmopolitan and other classics are available), and the machine reads the barcode on top of each capsule to dispense the correct measures. Shake, strain and serve.

The result in testing was genuinely impressive: an old fashioned that was recognisably close to the real thing, with the strong setting adding more spirit. The real selling point is convenience: you can make different cocktails one after another without shopping for a full back-bar of ingredients. It has been well received in the press and comes in at around £300 (roughly converted from dollar pricing), with capsules costing $2 to $3 each depending on bulk or subscription. Expensive, but testers agreed that anyone willing to spend that much would be happy with it.

Almond Cow Plant-Based Milk Maker

The Almond Cow makes fresh plant-based milk from any nut, seed or grain at the touch of a button. Fill the filter basket with ingredients, fill the jug with water, press the start button, and it runs through automatic stages to produce five to six cups of milk with no straining and no mess.

The cocoa, cashew and cacao milk made in testing came out velvety and frothy, a little thinner than some store-bought nut milks but genuinely satisfying. The leftover pulp is not waste either: it works as a porridge-style base topped with berries. The unit cost $144 at the time of testing, which is more than most people expect to spend, but the mission of never buying a carton of shelf milk again is one it clearly accomplishes.

Slap Chop

The Slap Chop is a manual all-purpose food chopper: place food under the blade canopy and slap the top repeatedly, with the blades rotating as you go. The more you slap, the finer the chop. It also butterflies open for easy blade cleaning and claims to remove garlic and onion skin on the first strike.

In practice, that skin-removal claim held up, and garlic, onion and red pepper all chopped to usable results, though onion needed pre-chopping and bits got caught at the bottom. It is rough and ready but does exactly what it says, and at $12.99 it is an affordable tool that could suit people who find gripping a knife difficult. The honest caveat from testing: it works, but many confident cooks will realise they simply do not need it.

OXO Good Grips Ratcheting Pineapple Slicer

This is the standout gadget of the group. Slice the top off a fresh pineapple, twist the ratcheting slicer onto the exposed fruit, and it cores and slices the whole pineapple into perfect rings with minimal effort.

Testing was full of admiration: the ratcheting action is genuinely satisfying, it peels and cores in one motion, and the whole process takes moments. At £8 for what is essentially a single-use kitchen tool, the verdict was an unambiguous “useful”, and it remains one of the most enthusiastically received gadgets in this entire comparison. If you eat pineapple regularly, this is the easiest yes on the list.

Tipsy Tray

The Tipsy Tray is a single-handed serving tray with an anti-slip surface and a swinging, gravity-balanced design. It can carry up to nine drinks while leaving your other hand free to open a door, hold a banister or use a walking cane, and it is aimed at everyone from hospitality workers to older or less mobile users.

In a real obstacle-course test against a traditional two-handed tray, the swinging motion kept the drinks stable, and the course was completed faster once the tester trusted the design. At $48 (around £35) it is an expensive tray, but for anyone who regularly carries drinks with one hand or works in a bar or restaurant, testers concluded it solves a real problem and earns its price.

Aroma Fork

The Aroma Fork is the most unusual product here: a fork with an aroma pad that releases scent as you eat, playing on the fact that flavour is largely aroma rather than taste. You drip a chosen aroma, such as passion fruit, onto the pad, take a bite and inhale at the same time.

The results were strange and delightful in equal measure. Passion fruit aroma softened strong parmesan, honeydew melon made olives taste creamy, and butter-and-popcorn aroma transformed banana into something almost unrecognisable but pleasant. It is not an everyday fork; it is a fun, geeky gift for foodies. Note that it is sold as part of a larger Molecular Gastronomy kit that includes foams and other experimental tools, rather than as a standalone purchase.

Which Gadgets Are Actually Worth It?

If we had to rank these by practical value, the OXO ratcheting pineapple slicer is the clear budget winner: cheap, effective and genuinely used again and again. The Almond Cow and Tipsy Tray justify their higher prices for the right person, whether that is a daily plant-milk drinker or someone who regularly carries multiple drinks. The Smoking Gun and Bartesian are premium purchases that deliver on their promises but demand real enthusiasm for the hobby. The Slap Chop works but is optional, and the Aroma Fork is best treated as a novelty gift rather than kitchen equipment.

Conclusion

Seven gadgets, seven very different verdicts. The lesson from testing is that the best kitchen gadgets are not necessarily the most high-tech ones: a £8 pineapple slicer beat a £300 cocktail machine on pure delight-per-pound. Match the tool to a habit you actually have, and most of these will earn their keep. Match it to a fantasy version of yourself, and it becomes drawer clutter.