The best small kitchen appliances to buy in 2026, according to Consumer Reports and others |
The best small kitchen appliances to buy in 2026, according to Consumer Reports and others
From air fryers to stand mixers, these are the countertop appliances that consistently earn top marks from testers and hold up over time
Countertop appliances have quietly become the most consequential kitchen purchases most people make. The refrigerator and stove get the most attention, but the air fryer, blender, and coffee maker — to name a few — are what make cooking and serving easier. They determine whether you reach for frozen food or fresh, or whether morning coffee is a pleasure or a chore. The decision is worth making carefully.
The market is crowded in ways that can obscure genuine quality. New brands have proliferated across every category, with flashy designs and aggressive pricing that do not always translate to performance.
Consumer Reports has been testing small kitchen appliances for decades, evaluating real-world metrics like brewing temperature, blending consistency, noise level, and ease of cleaning, not just manufacturer specs. Other sources, including Reviewed, Food Network, CNN Underscored, and Tom's Guide, have added their own rigorous testing to the picture. Between them, a clearer set of winners has emerged across categories.
Established brands such as Cuisinart, KitchenAid, and Vitamix have the build quality and reliability to separate themselves from the rest. Newer entrants Cosori and Chefman have earned their way onto top lists by delivering on the fundamentals.
Price is not always a reliable proxy for performance. Some of the highest-rated appliances in their categories are also among the most affordable. The Dash Tasti-Crisp air fryer, for example, is among the lowest-priced options Consumer Reports has tested and is also among the highest-rated.
The 15 appliances in this list span the full range of what a home cook might need — from a morning coffee maker to a workhorse stand mixer capable of handling a double batch of bread dough. Not every kitchen needs all of them. Some overlap in function. An air fryer toaster oven may make a standalone toaster redundant, and a high-end blender can render a food processor unnecessary for some tasks.
Prices change, and some models may be updated or replaced between now and when you shop.
Dash Tasti-Crisp air fryer
The Dash Tasti-Crisp DCAF260 is, by Consumer Reports' own assessment, the highest-rated air fryer the organization has tested. That verdict would be notable on its own. What makes it more striking is the price: the Dash typically retails around $60, placing it well below the $100-to-$200 range where most premium air fryers sit.
Air fryers work by circulating hot air in a small, enclosed chamber. The physics are similar to a convection oven, but the compact space and powerful fan mean heat is more concentrated, which is why air fryers can crisp chicken wings or reheat leftover pizza faster than a full-size oven while drawing far less electricity. The Dash Tasti-Crisp has a 2.4-quart capacity, which Consumer Reports confirms is among the most compact in its ratings. That size suits one to two people comfortably. For larger households, the tradeoff is clear: you will need to cook in batches.
Consumer Reports tests air fryers across four dimensions: capacity, how easy the controls are to read and use, noise level during operation, and how much effort it takes to clean. The Tasti-Crisp scored at or near the top in all four. Its inner basket is dishwasher-safe, which removes the most tedious aspect of air fryer ownership. The controls are analogue — a dial for time and a dial for temperature — which means no touchscreen to clean around and no settings that require a manual to decode.
What the Tasti-Crisp does not have is also worth noting. There are no preset cooking programs for specific foods, no smart-home connectivity, no rotisserie spit. If those features matter to you, the Cosori Dual Blaze or the Instant Vortex Plus — both of which also appear in Consumer Reports' top-rated list — offer more functionality at higher prices. The Cosori is a 6.8-quart model with Wi-Fi capability; the Instant Vortex Plus includes preset programs for baking, broiling, dehydrating, reheating, and roasting and earned an excellent score for controls in CR testing.
For most people, the Dash makes the stronger case. The absence of unnecessary features is not a deficit. It is the point. Air fryers are used primarily for one task: making food crisp without deep-frying it. The Tasti-Crisp does that task well, costs very little, takes up minimal counter space, and is easy to clean. Consumer Reports' testing methodology does not reward marketing features. It rewards the machines that do what they are supposed to do, reliably, without complication. On that standard, the Tasti-Crisp earns its position at the top.
One practical note: the 1,000-watt motor is modest compared to larger models, which means thick cuts of protein may take longer than the package suggests. For vegetables, frozen foods, and reheating, power is a non-issue.
KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer
The KitchenAid Artisan has been in continuous production since 1937 in essentially the same form. The planetary mixing action — where the attachment traces a wider orbit while rotating on its own axis — has not changed. The 325-watt motor, the five-quart stainless steel bowl, the tilt-head design: these have been refined, not reinvented. That consistency is a meaningful data point. Very few consumer appliances survive the better part of a century in a competitive market without genuine merit.
Consumer Reports has included KitchenAid in its top-rated stand mixer recommendations, and the Artisan model — generally retailing in the $400-to-$500 range — is the most recognizable version. For home bakers who make cookies, cakes, and occasional bread dough, it handles all three tasks without strain. The five-quart bowl accommodates up to nine dozen cookies' worth of dough in a single batch. The dough hook can manage two standard loaves of bread, though for larger quantities, the bowl-lift Pro series offers a seven-quart bowl and a more powerful motor at a higher price.
The Artisan's ten-speed range and pulse function give meaningful control over texture. Speed one folds delicate ingredients without overworking them. Speed eight whips cream to stiff peaks in under two minutes. The machine is heavy — around 26 pounds — which is an inconvenience for storage but an advantage in use: it does not walk across the counter during high-speed mixing the way lighter machines do.
The accessory ecosystem is a significant part of the value proposition. The same power hub that drives the mixing attachment can power a pasta roller, a meat grinder, a spiralizer, a grain mill, an ice cream maker, and more. Each attachment is sold separately, but they transform the Artisan from a mixer into a multi-function kitchen machine. KitchenAid claims compatibility with over 80 attachments, and most of the original attachment specifications have not changed, which means older attachments purchased secondhand typically still work.
For buyers with budget constraints, the Cuisinart Precision Master SM-50 occupies a similar performance tier for roughly half the Artisan's price. Reviewed and other testing outlets have confirmed it performs nearly as well as the KitchenAid in cake and cookie applications. Its weakness is bread dough, as the Cuisinart slows noticeably under heavy loads. The Artisan handles that workload more easily. If you bake bread regularly, the KitchenAid is worth the premium. If your baking centers on lighter batters and frostings, the Cuisinart is a reasonable alternative.
The Artisan is available in over 20 colors, which has made it a cultural object as much as a kitchen tool. That popularity does not diminish its functionality, but it is worth knowing that you are paying partly for an icon.
Vitamix blenders have been a fixture in commercial kitchens since the 1960s. Smoothie shops, restaurant prep stations, and hotel breakfast buffets rely on them because they handle volume and abuse that would destroy a consumer-grade machine within a year. The 5200 is the brand's entry-level full-size model and the one Consumer Reports has pointed to as a long-standing top performer in its blender ratings.
The core advantage of the Vitamix is motor power. The 5200 uses a two-horsepower motor — roughly four times the wattage of a budget blender — which means it does not slow down or stall when processing fibrous vegetables, frozen fruit, or raw nuts. That power translates into texture differences that are immediately detectable. A basic blender makes a smoothie with visible fiber chunks. The Vitamix 5200, run at high speed for 45 to 60 seconds, produces a result that is genuinely smooth.
One technical feature distinguishes the Vitamix from most competitors at any price point: the motor generates enough friction to heat liquid during blending. Running the 5200 at its highest speed for four to five minutes will bring cold soup ingredients to a steaming temperature without any additional heat source. This is not a gimmick. It produces soups, nut milks, and hot sauces with textures no stovetop blending approach can replicate.
The 5200 uses a 64-ounce tall container, which accommodates family-size batches while fitting under most standard cabinets. Cleanup is straightforward: add warm water and a drop of dish soap, run on high for 30 seconds, and rinse. The blades are not designed to be removed for cleaning, which eliminates the risk of cuts during hand-washing.
Consumer Reports has consistently placed Vitamix at the top of its blender reliability estimates as well as its performance ratings. Among survey respondents, Vitamix tops the brand for long-term dependability. The machines come with a seven-year warranty, and the company's customer service and parts availability are notably strong for an appliance in this price tier.
The price — typically $450 to $550 for the 5200 — is the obvious barrier. For buyers who primarily want a blender for occasional smoothies, the Vitamix is difficult to justify.........