The Best New Kitchen Products of 2026

If you spend enough time testing and comparing pans, and knives, and air fryers you will eventually reach the conclusion that it’s really hard to make something for the kitchen that’s both new and great. It’s certainly the conclusion I’ve come to after six years of working as a shopping and reviews editor at Bon Appétit. You can only make the surface of a pan so slick, only add so many presets to an appliance before they become a nuissance. Every year though, brands try to upgrade their products, and a few succeed.

In our ongoing project to find ways to make the work in your kitchen easier and the results more delicious we’ve put the year's new releases through the wringer in the BA Test Kitchen.

The result of hours of chopping, searing, and mixing is our second annual Gear of the Year list. We considered more than 200 appliances, pieces of cookware, tools, and containers, and these 20 made the final cut. From inexpensive, simple (but brilliant) redesigns to the smartest new smart appliances, these are the newcomers that wowed us.

— Noah Kaufman, senior reviews editor

Appliances

KitchenAid Artisan Plus Stand Mixer

The Artisan Plus marks KitchenAid’s most significant improvement to its tilt-head mixer since 1955 and is the first addition to its stand mixer lineup in decades. Given that the word KitchenAid is practically synonymous with stand mixer, the Artisan Plus had a legacy to live up to—and boy, does it deliver. It feels like KitchenAid’s answer to the innovations other brands in the space have made (I’m looking at you, Breville), pairing the KitchenAid’s iconic tilt-head design with thoughtful new features that make it a true joy for any baker to use.

Those features include precision speed control, a more powerful motor, a bowl light, and upgraded stainless steel accessories that feel notably more luxe (particularly relevant given some of the online chatter about changes in material from metal to plastic in newer models). And, of course, the new model remains compatible with KitchenAid’s vast array of attachments, so you can use it to churn ice cream, grind meat, roll pasta, or crank out zoodles as you please.

- Alaina Chou, staff writer

Fellow Espresso Series 1

I’ve tested dozens of espresso machines during my time as one of BA’s most committed coffee nerds and I’ve found they come in one of two varieties: dummy-proof caffeine injection systems and objects of espresso artistry. Fellow’s first entry into the espresso brewing space somehow manages to be both. If you want it to, it'll walk you step by step through an almost-automatic brewing process that produces coffee-shop-quality shots and cappuccinos. But scroll a little deeper in the machine’s menu and you’ll find options to trick out your shot however you want with different pressure profiles, brewing temperatures, and extraction times.

Fellow's Espresso Series 1 is designed to solve some of the smaller issues overlooked in nicer home espresso machines. For example, a small boiler inside the grouphead helps heat it up in a fraction of the time it takes most high-end machines (with some, you have to wait 20 minutes for your shot). A squatter body fits comfortably under kitchen cabinets with enough room for you to access the water reservoir—there's no need to slide the whole machine around the counter to fill it up, as with many competitors.

The biggest achievement of the Series 1 is that it can meet someone wherever they are in their coffee brewing journey and help move them along to the next step (should they so choose), giving it a wider audience than almost any other coffee maker out there.

- NK

Vitamix VX1

Vitamix is the Ferrari of blenders, with top-tier performance and a price tag to match. So it’s a big deal that the brand’s newest full-sized model, the VX1, is both cheaper and more powerful than our longtime favorite, the iconic 5200. Its 2.2 HP, 1,440-watt motor edges out the original’s 2 HP and 1,380 watts. Otherwise, it’s almost identical, down to the footprint, shape, and volume.

The blending magic is in the tapered base of the container, which creates an exceptionally powerful vortex. It easily pulverizes stubborn, fibrous ingredients like raw nuts, whole citrus, dates, and thick kale leaves. In wider containers, those can sit just out of the blades’ reach. During testing, it churned out some of the silkiest smoothies I’ve ever tasted. I also appreciate its old-school analog vibe, with a dial and switches instead of a temperamental touchscreen or presets you’ll never use. It’s our new go-to for most home cooks and first-time Vitamix buyers.

- Olivia Tarantino, senior reviews editor

Vitamix Nano

Yes, there is another Vitamix on the list this year, but for good reason. Until now, the brand didn’t have a personal blender in its lineup. This year they changed that, and the Vitamix Nano more than lives up to our expectations (which is saying a lot!). It’s got a powerful 1,000-watt motor that produced the smoothest smoothie I’ve ever made, and I’ve made a lot of smoothies. What really sets the Nano apart, though, is its variable speed control, which allows you to blend at any speed you want by turning a dial, making the appliance far more versatile than any other personal blender I’ve tried. It doesn’t hurt that, like all of Vitamix’s products, the Nano has a sleek, intuitive design that’s worthy of a permanent spot on your countertop.

- AC

Ninja Crispi Countertop Microwave and Air Fryer

Ninja’s latest addition to our counters is an air fryer-microwave combo appliance. It’ll pop your JollyTime popcorn just as well as it roasts a chicken, bakes a potato, or reheats a bowl of soup. It’s got three main settings: Air Frying, Microwaving, and FusionCrisp. The first two come with a host of presets, as well as manual options, and pretty much operate as you’d expect. Fusion mode gives you the best of both worlds: the speed of microwave cooking with the crispy-juicy (not soggy and rubbery) results of air frying. Although there's no turntable in the unit (which Ninja claims gives you 40% more usable cooking space), the brand's proprietary “superheated cyclonic air” quickly, and evenly, heated food during testing.

The Crispi arrives with two dishwasher-safe accessories: an extra-large glass baking dish and metal crisper plate, both of which are PFAS-, PTFE-, and PFOA-free. The plate elevates food for even crisping much like in their classic air fryers, while the glass dish is a heat-safe cooking vessel so spacious it could easily fit a lasagna for 10, but also works for small tasks like zapping a burrito. It’s the kind of appliance that does so much, I can’t remember the last time I cooked and didn’t find a use for it. I’ve quickly thawed meat for weeknight stir-fries, warmed fridge-cold butter to a perfect room temperature for cookie dough, roasted beets, made a mug cake, and reheated takeout. I even made toast in it. I’m almost surprised it can’t somehow also make ice cream.

- Kelsey Jane Youngman, senior cooking editor

Breville Spiral Luxe Pour-Over

Pour-over coffee is a joy reserved for people who have both the time and patience to make it. That was the idea that Breville took on with the release of the Spiral Luxe Pour-Over. It recreates and automates the pour-over process, blooming and mimicking the spiral pours you achieve with a gooseneck kettle, without asking anything of a coffee drinker other than the push of a brew button. Thanks to a built-in flat burr grinder, you don't even need to take the extra step of grinding your beans (I continue to be surprised how much of a road block grinding fresh coffee every day can be for some people). It’s not the first nor only automatic pour-over machine out there, but it is the best.

But, like the Fellow machine, the Spiral Luxe is well equipped for already-advanced coffee drinkers. Scroll through the menu far enough and you’ll find options to tweak coffee-to-water ratios and brew temperatures depending on what kind of beans you’re using.

- NK

GE Opal Mini

Few things are as satisfying as the swish of soft, chewable ice in a crisp cold-brew coffee. And if you want the best nugget ice at home, you want a GE Opal ice maker. But the thing is, the size of the original Opal (big) makes it inconvenient for many kitchens. Enter the Opal Mini: It’s a smaller, less expensive version of our longtime favorite countertop ice maker, and it delivers the same crunchy texture we know and love. At under 15 inches tall, it tucks neatly beneath most upper cabinets, making it a perfect match for solo sippers and households of two. Even if you forget to turn it on ahead of time, a fresh batch of ice will start coming out in just five minutes, or about the time it takes to pack your work bag. Plus, it comes in some cute colors, so it’s one appliance you’ll be happy to leave out.

- OT

Brezi Cold

When I want cold coffee, the way I like to make it is by using a method called flash brew. It involves using half the amount of hot water I normally would to make pour-over and brewing it over ice. The result is coffee that has a lot of the flavors I like in a cup of pour-over, served cold but not watered down. The Brezi, which began as a Kickstarter campaign in 2024 and was released more widely this year, reproduces those results, but does it automatically.

The Brezi can handle just about any cold coffee preparation: It can reproduce the brighter flavors of flash-brewed coffee (ready in about five minutes), potent cold-brew concentrate, or smooth, slow-brewed, ready-to-drink cold coffee (that takes several hours).

It’s wonderfully useful for someone like me who brews a lot but wants the occasional shortcut, but because the machine is so user-friendly, it’s even better for cold brew drinkers who usually buy their coffee.

- NK

Tools

Ember 3 Self-Heating Coffee Mug

At bottom, the Ember 3 does what the Ember 2 mug did: keeps coffee and tea warm via an internal heater. If you’ve ever had to walk away from your morning drink to make a noisy child breakfast or suffered through the stale coffee produced by a drip coffee maker’s uncontrollable hotplate, you know how nice that sounds. But I had two qualms with last iteration of the Ember mug: I hated that it made me use an app, and the electronics inside the cup made it feel a little dainty to care for.

Well, apparently Ember was listening to my silent curses. The Ember 3 has a button to control temperature on the bottom of the mug (just push to cycle through the range from 125℉ to 145℉). If you don’t mind using apps for everything in your life, this might not seem like an improvement to you, but I don’t want to be forced to carry my phone around with me all morning just to drink my coffee. The other upgrade to the new Ember is that it can go in the dishwasher. That bears repeating, in bold: It can go in the dishwasher. It cleans up pretty easily, so you may not need to run it through a cycle—although I’ve run it through almost a dozen times—but the upgrade makes this Ember a more durable piece that I expect to last through many, many mornings.

- NK

ThermoWorks Thermapen Nano

There will eventually come a time where improved readout speed on a kitchen thermometer won’t seem like much of a leap forward, but that time is not now. Thermoworks' latest instant read thermometer, the Nano, is as close to instant as I’ve ever seen, providing a stable temperature readout as soon as the probe hits whatever it is that needs measuring. There are a number of other nice upgrades from Thermoworks' last flagship thermometer, the Thermapen One, like a brighter backlight and integrated magnets that allow you to keep it within arms' reach. But the speed of this thermometer and the way it lets you get in and out of a hot oven or grill is the big win.

- NK

Subminimal Nanofoamer

A quick search on Amazon will tell you that there are approximately one million handheld milk frothers on the market. Most of them look essentially identical: a plastic body with a coiled wire whisk at the end. Subminimal’s Nanofoamer Go breaks the mold. This frother features three different attachments that turn the simple tool into a jack of all trades, equally adept at creating perfect latte-ready microfoam as it is at whisking eggs, emulsifying dressings, or frothing matcha. And unlike the typical wire whisk, the smooth plastic attachments are incredibly easy to clean.

Given its size, the Nanofoamer Go is incredibly powerful, but unlike most other handheld frothers I’ve tried, it doesn’t send liquid flying everywhere, even at its highest speed. The thing I love most about it, though, is its portability (there’s a reason it’s called the “Go”). The components pack neatly into a case, making this tool ideal for travel or use on the go.

- AC

Kuhn Rikon Essential Splatter Guard

A splatter screen is one of those oft-ignored items that’s more useful than you might imagine. Deep-frying, searing, even sauté-ing gets oil everywhere—at least it does in my kitchen. The solution is a splatter screen.

But what is such a basic item doing on a best-of-the-year list? Not everything that gets picked as a Gear of the Year winner is some flashy piece of techy kitchen equipment. Some are just well-designed tools that seem so simple, it’s surprising they aren’t already everywhere. So it is with Kuhn Rikon’s handy hinged splatter screen

If they flip open, most splatter screens are divided in two, leaving a lot of space for stray oil splatters to escape. This one folds into three sections, with a large section in the middle and two smaller ones on the edges. That means you can flip up just a sliver of the screen to add ingredients and flip just a little more to stir or turn. It also folds up small enough it’s easy to to tuck in the side of a drawer.

- NK

Cleaning and organization

Misenware Storage Containers

Misenware is a marvel of modern engineering that reimagines how food storage can and should work. Crafted from durable stainless steel, these containers are space-saving, leakproof, and, most impressively, completely microwave-safe. The three sizes (roughly 3, 5, and 6 cups) nest so efficiently when not in use that stacking four more on top of one adds barely an inch to its height. And because one tempered-glass lid with a silicone gasket fits every size, your days of hunting for a matching top are over. The seal on that lid is also impressive. Press down its steam vent, and the seal is so strong that it’s impossible to pry off. I even passed one around the office like a stubborn pickle jar, and no one could crack it. In other words, your soup is safe from spilling into your lunch bag. The only way in is to lift the valve, which also releases pressure as food heats.

Microwaving metal sounds like a recipe for fireworks, and I’ll admit I hesitated before hitting start with my Misenware inside. But its rounded edges prevent sparking, and I’ve since reheated countless meals that way. Beyond storage, they’re just as handy for mise en place and can even go straight into the oven or on the grill. My leftovers have never had a better home, and my cabinets have never looked so organized (or so empty).

- OT

Coway Airmega Mighty2

You may not think of an air purifier as a kitchen appliance, but if your kitchen is a tiny, ventless, stink trap—like mine is—it's as important as a dishwasher. Coway’s Airmega Mighty has a long-standing reputation as an excellent, reliable air purifier. This year Coway released the Mighty2, which improves upon the already great design of the original unit. The newer model is slightly smaller and sleeker, capable of sitting flush against a wall. The pre-filter slides out for easy upkeep, and a particle sensor provides accurate readouts of airborne particulate matter (a standard metric for measuring air quality). It’s also quieter, to the point that I sometimes forget that it’s on.

I stationed the Mighty2 in my kitchen over a month ago and it continues to dutifully suck up kitchen odors that have historically plagued my home. My previous method for banishing smells involved a powerful fan and several open windows, basically turning my apartment into one of those wind tunnels they test cars in. Anyway, this thing is an exceptionally well-designed, intuitive, and reliable appliance, stinky kitchen or not.

- Wilder Davies, senior staff writer

Mitts Wine Sponge

Sponges are the kind of daily driver kitchen equipment that don’t always come to mind when we think about upgrades or innovation. But Mitts, designed first and foremost for cleaning delicate glassware, offer a great reason to pay attention to the small stuff. They’re engineered to be both soft and sturdy, with open-cell foam that doesn’t scratch but does whisk away lipstick marks and dried-on Merlot stains. Their beak-like shape and comfy finger divots make grasping superthin, fragile glasses a cinch, letting you glide over curves and stems easily, and without exerting so much pressure you break a glass. And they’re no unitasker: a Mitt works great on super sharp knives, skinny thermometer probes, and the nooks and crannies of measuring spoons and ramekins too. Each one comes with a handy little sponge rest so they stay dry sinkside, ready to tackle an army of flutes after a dinner party, or help you quickly, but thoroughly, clean your knife so you can switch from mincing garlic for dinner to slicing limes for cocktails.

- KJY

Anyday Deli Containers

I’m sure you know deli containers—the plastic, circular vessels for storing takeout, bagel schmears, and chicken salads. And I’m also sure you reuse them, even though you probably shouldn’t (in case that seemed judgey, just know that we all do it too). But still, the deli container space didn’t necessarily seem like one ripe for innovation. At least until Anyday released dishwasher- and microwave-safe, reusable versions of the classic.

Once we got some to try at the office we quickly became obsessed with them. They have surprisingly secure lids that can withstand a hearty shake and squeeze. Also, their cylindrical shape really does make for tidy fridge storage. They aren’t a one-to-one swap—the Anydelis don’t nest as tightly and are considerably more expensive the originals. Still, for anybody who loves eating their lunch out of a quart container (me!), these are a revelation.

- WD

Outdoor

Fontana Forni Volta Pizza Oven

The big selling point of a dedicated pizza oven is that it can get really hot, like dangerously, do-not-leave-children-alone-outside, hot. It’s the secret to those perfectly spotted, chewy crusts. But here’s the thing about using pizza ovens that I don’t think gets enough attention: It’s really hard to cook in a 1000℉ oven. To get a crust that’s neither burnt nor undercooked in the middle you need dough made with the right flour to water ratio, you need that dough stretched just so, and you need to hover over the oven like a helicopter parent. I think it’s actually better to cook somewhere 700℉ to 800℉. The problem with that is that most pizza ovens don’t give enough control to hold the temperature in that range without it getting hotter. The Volta, from old school Italian pizza oven makers Fontana, does. It has a built-in thermostat that can be set in five-degree increments and automatically raises or lowers the flame to keep the temperature in range. It can also go as low as 300℉, and given its size, that kind of wide temperature spectrum means it works as a normal oven too. I’m looking forward to cooking a bunch of Thanksgiving dinner outdoors this year.

- NK

Owala The Puffer

As a food editor, I’m constantly carrying something edible to and from the office, and Owala’s Puffer has become as essential as my laptop bag. Its secret is air. Blow up its walls, no pump necessary, and that puffy insulation keeps everything chilled for hours (yes, hours, from what’s basically an inflatable!). The tote straps sling right over your shoulder, which beats juggling a lunch box’s small handle. Inside, the 13-liter space easily handles my Trader Joe’s haul, from yogurts and kefir to frozen dumplings. Deflated, it folds flat enough to bring to the farmers market, just in case a wheel of brie or some fresh ravioli catch your eye on the way to the veggies.

- OT

Solostove Steelfire Griddle

There are two big issues I’ve noticed and heard complained about repeatedly when it comes to flattop griddles: uneven heating and unpleasant cleaning. Solostove successfully took on both with its first entry into the space. While most griddles have a series of straight burners with plenty of space between, the Steelfire has two sources of fire shaped a bit like a KitchenAid paddle attachment, following the shape of the cooktop. That helps give more even heat all the way around.

The other big difference between the Steelfire and griddles from the big names—Blackstone, Camp Chef, Traeger—is that it’s made of stainless steel instead of carbon steel. That means no seasoning necessary, rust resistance, and easy cleanup. The fact that it wiped clean with a paper towel might seem like the biggest boon, but I think the rust-resistant cooking surface is a significantly underrated feature. Anyone who's accidentally left a Blackstone uncovered in the rain knows what I’m talking about.

- NK

Oyster Tempo Pro Cooler

Imagine bringing a refrigerator on a camping trip, except it only weighs 12 pounds. That’s essentially what you get with the Oyster Tempo Pro. This 23-liter aluminum cooler gets cold, and I mean cold cold. In our testing, it dropped to 36°F within an hour of adding ice. Even after six hours in the car on a summer road trip, the temperature rose just 2°F. The Pro’s standout upgrade to Oyster’s original Tempo is a built-in thermometer. Press a button, and the display shows the internal temperature in Fahrenheit (which, we checked, is accurate within a degree). That readout is more valuable than you might think. It gave me peace of mind that the $200 worth of smoked salmon I brought to a family reunion stayed chilled the whole time.

The dimensions are another reason we love it. Plenty of coolers this size are taller than they are wide. The Tempo Pro has a broad base instead, which makes it easier to pack without stacking as much. The lid can be opened with one hand from either side or lifts off completely with two, and a shoulder strap is included for carrying. It’s not cheap at $550, but it’s the closest thing to bringing your fridge along for the ride.

- OT

See last year's winners

• The best new kitchen releases of 2025
• Explore all the Gear of the Year products
• The Forever Awards: kitchen equipment that's bested the competition for a decade