The Best Kitchen Appliance Gifts for Every Adult on Your List

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Whether you’re living in a shoebox-sized apartment, sharing a big house with a busy family, or somewhere in between, you probably spend a lot of time in the kitchen, cooking, talking, and just living. That makes the kitchen an ideal target for gift ideas—everything in your kitchen is getting constant use, and everyone could use an upgrade now and then. Giving a new kitchen appliance to someone is the gift of convenience, time, and sustenance all at once. If you need some ideas on how to accomplish that, read on.

For the person on your list with a tiny kitchen: The Our Place Wonder Oven

Whether your gifting target is a gourmet with a football field-sized kitchen, someone who owns pans with extremely specific uses, or someone living with a kitchen the size of a closet (or who believes there isn’t a meal that can’t go from the freezer to the microwave to their plate), the Our Place Wonder Oven will be a hit. It combines six different functions (air frying, baking, roasting, toasting, broiling, and reheating) into a tiny (and very stylish) footprint, so it clears space and increases any kitchen’s capabilities effortlessly. It also has a “steam infusion” function that sounds esoteric but is actually one of the most useful features you’ll come across: A little bit of water in the reservoir ensures every single meal comes out moist and succulent (especially leftovers that often dry out in the fridge). It’s ideal for both small kitchens that need several appliances in one as well as busy families that don’t always have time to fire up the main oven.

For the baker on your list: The KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer

Available in a wide range of colors so you can scout your recipient’s style ahead of time and pick a match, the KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer is a tilt-head mixer that bakers at all levels of experience will love. It comes with a 5-quart stainless steel bowl, flat beater, wire whip, dough hook attachments, and a pouring shield that prevents clouds of flour from turning your kitchen into a dustbowl. Most importantly: It mixes, and it mixes well, churning out everything from dough and cake batter to whipped cream and everything in between. While you’re at it, consider throwing in some nifty attachments that will make this mixer even more useful, like a pasta attachment or a grinder.

For the person who wants the perfect smoothie (or margarita): The Vitamix 5200 Blender

If you know someone who has reached the "anything can be a smoothie" stage of life, buy them this blender. Whether its main use will be healthy smoothies or celebratory frozen drinks, the Vitamix 5200 is a reliable and durable blender that handles everything from soup to nut butters with aplomb. The powerful motor and sharp blades will tear through just about anything you put in there. Some folks are put off by a lack of preset buttons, but the fine control over the speed is actually its best feature, as you can find the precise setting that works for what you’re making. If the price tag is a little high, another great option is the Ninja Mega Kitchen System 1500W. It’s powerful enough to handle just about anything, and can also work as a food processor in a pinch.

For the health-minded: The Ninja Crispi Pro Air Fryer

If someone in your life is looking to lighten their cookery, the Ninja Crispi is a great choice (it can also bake, roast, and dehydrate). It’s dead simple to use, so it will benefit folks who will use it to crisp up leftovers as well as people who routinely cast delicious magical spells in their kitchens, and it’s large enough to make entire meals if you want to do that. Unlike some air fryers, you can set a specific temperature on the Crispi Pro, and the glass container allows for easy eyeball monitoring of your food (crucial since everyone has a different definition of what “crispy” means).

For the casual coffee drinker: This Cuisinart Coffee Center

If someone is really into their coffee, chances are they have a very specific appliance and a set of tools to ensure they can craft the perfect brew every time—and trying to buy a coffee maker for such a person is risky. But if your gift recipient just loves coffee in the casual way most people do (or if they have to share their coffee-making with folks of different coffee opinions), the Cuisinart Coffee Center is the ideal gift. It combines excellent drip coffee with a pod-based single-serve option, an espresso maker, and a milk frother/steamer. No matter how you take your coffee, it will do it, and do it well.

For anyone in need of a toast upgrade: The Breville Smart Toaster

Do you know someone who's still using the cheap, crumb-encrusted toaster they bought for their first apartment? Then this is an easy win for a gift. Don’t be worried about the “smart” part of this toaster’s name—you don’t need to create an account and unlock your phone every time you want a slice of toast. This is a basic toaster with some pretty smart features, and it’s hands-down one of the best basic toasters you can buy. From the LED display that shows how close your bread is to your desired level of browned to the “lift and look” feature that shows you your bagels or waffles in progress, this simple, compact two-slice toaster is a perfect gift for anyone who deserve an upgrade.

For someone who is starting to get serious about cooking: The Breville Sous Chef 9 Food Processor

Buying a food processor for someone who’s never used one can be tricky—they can be difficult to learn how to use properly, resulting in a gift that sits in a cabinet for years. But the Breville Sous Chef 9 was designed with ease of use in mind, from the volume markings on the bowl to the fact that you can add ingredients to the bowl before you attach it to the processor, which makes it a lot easier to use. It’s also powerful enough for just about any recipe, and the person you give it to will be excited to use it.

For anyone who loves perfectly cooked rice: The Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer

Everyone loves having a rice cooker, and everyone hates splashing out a lot of money on an appliance that does exactly one thing. The result? A lot of folks who are suffering with mediocre rice cookers that deliver uninspiring results. That’s where you come in: The Zojirushi Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker isn’t cheap, so anyone you give it to will be delighted. It’s super easy to use, makes perfect rice every time, and can keep your rice warm for up to 20 hours! It’s also easy to clean and comes with a bunch of small but impactful design features, like a hook for the paddle and a retractable power cord.

For the environmentally conscious folks on your list: The Reencle Composter

If you’re giving a gift to someone who composts (or wants to), this is the perfect gift. It’s not a countertop appliance (it will have to sit on the floor like a trash can), but it makes composting your food scraps (including meat and dairy) a breeze. Once you add the compost starter (one bag comes with the machine; after that, it costs $65 per bag), you’re ready to go: Add your scraps every day, and when the receptacle is full, you can mix it into potting soil. It’s an easy way to reduce waste and make composting easy.

For the serious ice cream fan on your list: The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

We all have that one person in our lives who discovered they can make their own ice cream and has been a mad scientists ever since, trying to find the weirdest and most wonderful flavors known to man. For that person, forget viral, trendy ice cream makers: If you’re serious about making frozen treats for yourself (including frozen yogurt or sorbets), this is the ideal machine. It’s dead simple: You place the freeze bowl in the freezer (the machine doesn’t need ice), then place it on top of the motor base. Put the paddle inside and the cover on top, then pour in your ice cream mixture. There are only two buttons—ON to start the process, and OFF to stop it when your treat is the desired consistency. That’s it, and it’s perfect.

For the person whose favorite food is pizza: The Ooni Volt 2 Pizza Oven

Pizza is one of the happiest foods ever conceived, so being able to make real pizzas in your own kitchen is a gift worth giving. The Ooni Volt 2 is an indoor/outdoor pizza oven that can reach an impressive 850 degrees, which means you can make a wider range of pizza styles than with some other ovens. It’s also a well-insulated oven and maintains heat exceptionally well, so you can cook several pizzas in a row without a problem. You might want to consider making an invitation to a pizza party a condition of bestowing the gift, though.

For the busy professional: The Cuisinart 3-In-1 Cook Central 6-Quart Multi-Cooker

Slow cookers and the ability to time-shift meal-making can change a busy person's life, so they make great gifts—and the Cuisinart 3-in-1 Cook Central is the best one to give. It’s very straightforward in design and function—you choose between a “keep warm” (for already-cooked food), simmer, low- and high-heat, sauté, and steam functions. You can set the cook time up to 24 hours (!), and adjust the temperature as needed for your specific recipe. That’s it—it does one thing and does it really well, but what you’re really giving someone is a future filled with delicious dinners that basically cook themselves.

For the waffle connoisseur: The Presto FlipSide Waffle Maker

Waffles are another food that cheers everyone up like magic. Making waffles can be a nightmare of spilled batter and impossible-to-clean appliances, resulting in a lot of people who dream of waffles but never have waffles. That’s why the Presto FlipSide is a great gift for anyone who appreciates a solid Belgian Waffle experience. It’s super easy to use—you preheat it, set the timer, pour in your waffle batter, then close and flip the griddle, which ensures your batter gets evenly distributed for perfect cooking. It’s nonstick, and produces perfect Belgian waffles every time.

For the fried-foods enthusiast: The Chefman Deep Fryer

Having your own deep fryer in the kitchen is dangerous because you will be tempted to deep fry everything, and everything will turn out delicious no matter how strange it might seem. But that also makes it the perfect gift for anyone who wants to fry up some chicken wings, French fries, or battered anything. The Chefman Deep Fryer is a small, dedicated deep fryer that won’t eat up counter space and produces perfectly fried foods every time. It’s a perfect gift for a friend whose love of cooking encompasses everything from fish and chips to fried pickles.