America's Test Kitchen - The Best and Worst Kitchen Tools For 2025 | Gear Heads
America's Test Kitchen (ATK) reviews a variety of kitchen products for 2025, offering insights into the best and worst items. The Breville Panini Press is praised for its versatility, allowing users to grill vegetables, meats, and even make pancakes and eggs. It features angled ridges for better grill marks and a floating top for thick sandwiches. The Dash Express Griddle is a budget-friendly alternative at $20, offering good performance for its price. The Little Griddle Kettle Q is recommended for those wanting a flat-top grill experience on existing grills, providing even heat distribution and easy cleaning for under $70. For wine preservation, the Vacuvin Wine Saver is effective for keeping wine fresh for over a week, while the Coravin system uses argon gas to maintain wine quality for up to a month, ideal for wine enthusiasts. However, electric composters like the Vitamix FoodCycler are criticized for not producing real compost and being overpriced. The R Murphy New Haven Shucker is the top pick for oyster knives, offering versatility and ease of use. The Baratza Encore ESP is the top burr grinder, providing consistent coffee grounds with 40 settings. The Solo Pi Prime is a recommended gas pizza oven, offering excellent performance at a lower cost than competitors. Wireless remote probe thermometers are found lacking due to connectivity issues, with wired models like the ThermoWorks Smoke 2 recommended instead.
Key Points:
- Breville Panini Press is versatile, offering grilling and griddle functions with easy cleaning.
- Little Griddle Kettle Q provides a flat-top grill experience on existing grills for under $70.
- Vacuvin Wine Saver keeps wine fresh for over a week; Coravin system maintains quality for a month.
- Electric composters like Vitamix FoodCycler are not recommended due to poor compost quality.
- Baratza Encore ESP burr grinder offers consistent coffee grounds with 40 settings.
Details:
1. 🔍 Yearly Kitchen Product Overview
1.1. Top Picks and Product Highlights
1.2. Unexpected Findings and Insights
2. 🥪 Versatile Panini Presses
- The Breville Panini Press is the top pick for 2025 due to its ability to brown deeply and create excellent grill marks with its tall ridges, preventing food from sliding.
- The press features a floating top lid, which allows for making super thick sandwiches and can open fully to be used as a griddle.
- Controls are simple, and each side can be set to different temperatures, enhancing cooking versatility.
- The plates have a ceramic non-stick coating and can flip to offer a ridged grill or smooth griddle surface, making them easy to clean.
- Optional waffle plates can be purchased separately, converting the press into a waffle iron.
- Although priced at about $200, the Breville press is a top performer across all tests.
- The Dash Express Griddle, priced at only $20, performed surprisingly well, offering value despite not making grill marks or handling large food.
- The Dash model is excellent for making crisp sandwiches, fluffy omelets, and searing, with easy cleaning and fun usability.
3. 🔥 Innovative Flat Top Grills
- Flat top grills are gaining popularity, providing an alternative to buying an additional grill.
- The Little Griddle Kettle C is highlighted as the top pick for 2025, fitting both charcoal kettles and gas grills.
- It allows for even heat distribution without hot spots due to its design sitting above the grill grate on crossbars.
- The griddle was tested with various foods like Smash Burgers, chicken burgers, pancakes, eggs, and bacon, all cooked and browned beautifully.
- Features include a stainless steel surface, ease of cleaning, a grease trap, and a backstop to prevent food from sliding off.
- Weighing only 7 lbs, it is sturdy, easy to use, and fits in a sink for cleaning.
- Priced at less than $70, it offers an affordable solution for getting a flat top cooking experience.
4. 🍷 Effective Wine Savers
- The Vacuvin wine saver costs about $14 and includes two stoppers. It effectively preserves wine for more than a week by pumping out air, which prevents oxidation.
- Extra stoppers for the Vacuvin can be purchased separately, enhancing its usability for preserving multiple bottles.
- The Coravin system uses argon gas to prevent oxidation, maintaining the wine's quality. In tests, it kept wine fresh for two weeks and white wine nearly perfect for a month.
- Each argon capsule in the Coravin can preserve four bottles of wine, costing approximately $2.20 per bottle.
- The Coravin is ideal for wine collectors aiming to maintain the quality of various wines in their collection.
5. ♻️ Electric Composters: A Letdown
- Electric composters like the Vitamix Food Cycler Eco5 fail to produce real compost; instead, they dehydrate and grind food into a nutrient-deficient powder.
- These machines are expensive, around $600, and do not deliver the promised composting benefits.
- The final product lacks nutrients essential for soil health, making it ineffective for gardening purposes.
- It is more cost-effective and beneficial to use a traditional compost bucket for managing food scraps.
6. 🦪 The All-Purpose Oyster Knife
- The R Murphy New Haven shucker is the top pick for an all-purpose oyster knife, capable of handling various sizes from Tiny Olympia oysters to extra-large Gulf oysters.
- Its short blade offers great control, while the upturn tip provides extra leverage, making it effective for popping open tough shells.
- The knife's design allows it to slide smoothly around the shell's bottom curve, enhancing the shucking process's efficiency.
- The knife is lightweight and features a long, grippy recycled plastic handle that remains comfortable during extended use.
7. ☕ Precision Coffee Grinders
- Bur grinders consistently produce evenly ground coffee beans, enhancing brew quality.
- The Baratza Encore ESP grinder features 40 settings, including 20 designed for espresso grinds.
- The grinder's tinted hopper protects beans from light, maintaining their flavor.
- Clear markings and a stable base enhance usability and stability during operation.
- Easy cleaning and availability of replacement parts improve user experience.
- The Baratza Sette 270 model offers 270 settings for precise brew customization.
8. 🍕 Gas Pizza Ovens: The New Standard
- Wood as a traditional pizza oven fuel is cumbersome for small portable ovens due to the need for constant feeding and difficulty in maintaining high temperatures.
- Pizza experts note that wood does not contribute flavor due to the short cooking time of pizzas, making gas a more efficient option.
- Gas ovens reach high temperatures quickly and maintain them easily, offering a better fuel choice for small outdoor pizza ovens.
- The Solo Pi Prime, a new all-gas model from Solo Stove, is highlighted for being cost-effective, at half the price of dual-fuel models.
- The Solo Pi Prime produces high-quality pizzas in under 2 minutes, comparable to the top-rated Ooni Koda 12.
- While larger and less portable than some models, the Solo Pi Prime is praised for ease of use and is ideal if the oven isn't frequently moved.