Are these the next big kitchen trends?

Chances are if you have a lot of cookbooks, you also have a lot of kitchen equipment. When you see all of those delicious recipes you simply must try, items like tagines, Dutch ovens, stand mixers, and specialty baking pans find their way into your home. The folks at Cook’s Illustrated have just returned from eyeing new equipment from the 2017 International Home and Housewares Show that might have you putting even more things into your online shopping cart. 

“Smart” appliances are high on the list of trends. The technology ranges from blenders that sense how full they are and adjust blending time to grills you can control from your smartphone. Healthy eating gadgets consume an ever-growing share of attention, with more tools like vegetable spiralizers and air fryers. 

Multi-cookers like the Instant Pot strut their stuff with new functions, but there are even more innovative items in the works. A  microwave pressure cooker made by Kuhn Rikon Corporation took home an innovation award from the show, and other upgrades included multi-cooker lids that can be more easily attached and evolutions in slow cooker technology. 

Not all of the items are big; smaller items are also trending. The show featured pint-sized versions of air fryers, blenders, among others, and other items are getting storage makeovers. The team at CI noticed “several griddle models that are designed to store vertically without tipping and can be disassembled and nested inside the griddle base.” All the more room to store new equipment.