Best Deals on Kitchen Products

This cost-conscious 11-piece stainless steel cookware set from The Cellar, which is now $50 less than usual, has two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, a silicone trivet, and four lids. The set, a Macy’s exclusive, aces our tests for cooking evenness, speed of heating, and food release. It’s also easy to clean, earning an excellent score. The handles stay safe and cool, but they aren’t so sturdy, earning a mediocre rating for that test.

Whether you’re a meal prepper or you just prefer quick and easy cooking, the microwave can play a big role in your kitchen. Anyday makes cookware specially designed for use in the microwave, and we have an exclusive offer on their cookware for our members that’s even better than the general sale. We’re not just talking reheating, but fully cooking meals.

In her review of the plastic-free io Collection, a collaboration between Anyday and Chef David Chang, CR reporter Pang-Chieh Ho found that it actually works really well. Ho cooked a variety of foods in her microwave, from rice to scrambled eggs to bacon, and even chicken and fish. Everything but the rice took under 15 minutes.

To save 25 percent on the io Collection (and sitewide), use the code CRMAW26 at checkout now through March 17.

The Tramontina Tri-Ply Clad pans excel at quickly bringing water to a boil, cooking evenly, and releasing eggs cooked with oil. They also earn a very good rating in our sauce-simmer test. The handles stay safely cool to the touch and are very sturdy. One note: Pieces in this set are oven-safe only to 350° F, while others on this list can withstand higher temperatures. We tested the 8-piece set, which is currently selling for $250, but this set comes with 12 and is $70 less.

The budget-friendly GreenPan Reserve Ceramic Nonstick is a 10-piece set with two frying pans, two saucepans, a sauté pan, a stockpot, and four lids. It receives top scores for all our major cooking tasks, including an excellent rating for speed of heating. Its handles are sturdy and stay fairly cool to the touch. The nonstick coating is durable, although some other nonstick pans we tested did better in that assessment.

Depending on the color, you can score a nice discount on this set at Amazon right now.

Dash may not have the same name recognition as Ninja or Cuisinart, but the 2.6-quart Dash Tasti-Crisp Ceramic DCAF26CM air fryer earns solid scores in CR’s tests and comes at a sale price that’s better than we’ve seen so far for this model. With food contact surfaces made of nonstick ceramic, it earns top marks for ease of cleaning even though it’s not dishwasher safe. We found it runs more quietly than many other air fryer models to boot. The DCAF26CM has a small footprint, making it a smart choice for a dorm room or for those with limited counter space.

The NuWave Brio Plus 37401 has a 7.1-quart capacity that can fit a good amount of food, which is ideal if you’re batch-cooking or preparing a meal for multiple people. It excels in our assessment of its controls and for ease of cleaning, and it’s almost as quiet as air fryers get. Its digital controls are also near the top of the machine and angled upward, so it’s a little easier to use them without stooping down.

The Instant Vortex Slim air fryer, which typically sells for $120, is an all-around strong performer, with intuitive controls and quiet operation, and we found it pretty easy to clean, too. At 11 inches in width and 12 inches in height, it won’t be overly obtrusive on your countertop, though it is fairly deep (18 inches). It has a measured capacity of 4.9 quarts, five cooking modes (air fry, broil, bake, roast, and reheat), and one-touch programs to cook a range of foods, including wings, vegetables, potatoes, cookies, and more. It comes with a 1-year warranty.

The Melitta Aroma Fresh Plus 10-Cup takes whole coffee beans and grinds them fresh for each pot, which it brews in about 11 minutes. Our lab testers found the Melitta especially convenient to use, based on setup, operation, and cleanup—plus, the Melitta’s carafe was easy to hold, pour from, and empty. The Melitta also features auto-shutoff and an indicator to notify you when cleaning is necessary.

This is a basic, no-frills portable coffee press. It didn’t wow our testers, but it did the job without letting coffee grounds seep through the filter. Plus, the plastic is insulated, helping keep the coffee warm for longer. It has no discernible flaws, so if you’re looking for a low-cost, small coffee press, this could be the answer.

The unassuming, inexpensive Hamilton Beach 12-Cup Programmable 49465R, which typically costs $40, might be easy to miss, but it can brew a mean cup of joe at a fantastic price. It has all the essentials in a basic black-plastic finish. It’s programmable and has auto-shutoff. What’s more, it does a superb job in our brewing test and can make a fresh pot in just 10 minutes. This model also performs strongly for convenience and carafe handling in CR’s lab tests. But it’s worth mentioning that it is more prone to overflow, unlike some other models we’ve tested.

The capable, durable 1,500-watt NutriBullet Smart Touch NBF50420 does as superb a job as top-rated, full-sized blenders in making smoothies and puréeing. It’s also a capable ice-crusher. We judged it to be super-convenient in terms of cleaning, having clear controls and jar markings, and pouring ease. It’s also relatively lightweight, with a jar weighing 2.2 pounds vs. the 3 pounds you’ll tend to find in other highly rated models. But it’s just so-so for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.

The Ninja BL770 plays two roles: as a full-sized blender, and as a personal blender with an internal spinner and cup that’s meant for small batches. It’s a very good performer either way, handily crushing ice and capably preparing smoothies and other icy beverages. It’s also very convenient—though more so when using the full-sized blending jar. In puréeing, the personal-blender version is the star, though the full-sized version still purées very well. The Ninja BL770 is noisy, though—especially when using the full-sized jar. Predicted reliability and owner satisfaction are impressive for both versions. This is $40 more than the holiday price.

This blender has dropped in price by $20 since the beginning of January, making now a great time to buy.

The GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Icemaker is one of the best options on the market, according to CR’s tests. GE claims it can produce up to 24 pounds of ice a day (our testing did not last long enough to hit the max). It’s also among the quieter icemakers we tried. This slick-looking model makes the nugget type of ice and does it faster than all other models, which earned it the only top score for speed. It also has the highest water capacity and features a large, removable plastic water reservoir, which means fewer refills. It is the priciest in our ratings, making this discount even more important if you’re thinking of buying it.

After spiking post-Black Friday, the price of this icemaker has dropped $10 from its previous low holiday price.

Justin Huynh, a CR product manager, completely reseals his chips rather than clips them closed. “I personally like using these melting sealers because I often don’t come back to snacks for a long time after opening them, so I feel that this gives them a better shelf life,” he says. “I’ve used multiple sealers before, and they’ve never performed consistently, but this one is the closest. I can get a good seal within 2 tries on this one, and it includes a blade on the inside that can cut the excess bag before sealing. This is also by far the smallest one I’ve gotten, which makes it easy to throw into the pantry for easy access.”

The Cuisinart CPT-122 Compact Plastic two-slice toaster delivers an overall solid performance and comes with cord storage, as well as defrost and reheat settings—features you don’t always see on budget-friendly models. It turns out perfectly browned toast in both our full batch and one-slice tests, and does so rather quickly. You can also expect cleaning to be fairly easy.