Elegant Kitchen Appliances Worth the Counter Space
Counter space is the most honest real estate in the home. Seven appliances that earn theirs: retro SMEG icons, a sculptural kettle, a smart oven that replaces three machines, and the one buy that lasts twenty years.
Counter space is the most honest real estate in any home. Everything on it is a daily decision, which is why most kitchens quietly fill up with machines that are used twice and admired never. The fix is not fewer appliances. It is better ones: pieces that work hard, age gracefully, and look like they belong in the room where everyone actually gathers.
We chose these seven the way we would furnish a room. Weight, material, silhouette. A retro espresso machine that behaves like furniture, a kettle with the posture of a sculpture, an oven that replaces three lesser machines at once. If it earns its footprint every morning, it stays.
The Lineup
SMEG, 50’s Retro Style Manual Espresso Machine ($499.95). The espresso machine is the anchor of the modern counter, and nobody designs one like SMEG. The retro body, all curves and chrome, pulls a proper shot through a manual portafilter and steams milk the way a cafe does. It is the rare appliance guests ask about. Buy it for the espresso, keep it for the silhouette. Our pick at QVC.SMEG, ’50s Retro Style Stand Mixer in Cream ($539.95). The stand mixer is the one appliance that should be bought like furniture, because it will outlive most of yours. SMEG’s cream retro body houses a 4.8 litre stainless bowl, ten speeds, and a planetary mixing action that has stayed essentially unchanged for decades because it works. Bread, pasta, birthday cakes: it handles all of them and looks composed between jobs. Our pick at Nordstrom.Fellow, Clyde Electric Kettle ($100.00). A kettle is the most-used object in most kitchens and the least considered. Fellow’s Clyde fixes that: a sculptural spout that pours without a drip, a counterbalanced handle that stays cool, and a profile calm enough to live on the counter full time. At this price, it is the cheapest design upgrade in the kitchen. Our pick at Anthropologie.CAFÉ, Specialty Drip Coffee Maker in Matte Black ($229.00). Drip coffee had a design problem until CAFÉ treated the machine like an appliance worth looking at. Matte black with warm metal accents, and a brew program built around the right water temperature, which is the whole game. It makes ten cups for a crowd and still looks composed doing it. Our pick at Cafe Appliances.Revolution Cooking, InstaGLO R180 Connect Plus Toaster ($449.95). Yes, it costs what it costs, and yes, it is worth understanding why. The InstaGLO heats in a fraction of the usual time with no preheat, and its touchscreen knows a bagel from a waffle. This is the toaster as technology, and after a week of perfect edges it stops feeling extravagant. Our pick at Nordstrom.Breville, Fresh and Furious Blender ($199.99). Every kitchen needs one blender that never makes you nervous. Breville’s Fresh and Furious pairs an 1100W motor with a blade and jug designed to pull ingredients down instead of rattling them around, so green smoothies come out smooth, not leafy. Five speeds, a 50 ounce jug, and a price that undercuts the prestige names. Our pick at Target.Breville, Smart Oven Air Fryer ($349.99). The countertop oven is where small kitchens win. Breville’s Smart Oven air fries, roasts, bakes and reheats with convection that actually circulates, replacing the toaster oven, the air fryer and, on weeknights, the big oven entirely. Stainless, substantial, and sized for a quarter sheet pan. Our pick at Target.
The One Buy
SMEG, ’50s Retro Style Stand Mixer in Cream ($539.95). If this list collapsed into a single purchase, it would be the stand mixer. It will make the bread, the pasta and the birthday cakes, and it will still be on the counter, looking like that, in twenty years. Everything else here is excellent. This one is forever. Our pick at Nordstrom.
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