My Quest for Beautiful Countertop Appliances You Don’t Need to Hide

December 14, 2023

My Quest for Beautiful Countertop Appliances You Don’t Need to Hide

When storage space is limited and your toaster oven has to live in plain sight, make sure it looks as good as it performs.

Welcome to Someone Buy This!, a monthly shopping column featuring the fun, the frivolous, and the practical from a very discerning shopper.

Whether you’re living in a small apartment or sprawling suburban home, countertop space is precious. Anything living on the counter full-time should be both functional and beautiful, or at the very least, cute. I’ve spent years acquiring counter top appliances that check these boxes. Here are my favorites.

Better with bubbles

Aarke Carbonator 3 is a minimalist sparkling water maker featuring a compact design and top-of-the-line user-friendly engineering. Choose from a range of classic finishes to elevate any countertop.

The Aarke sparkling water maker is my most prized possession. I use this thing so much and legitimately miss it when I travel. Sure, it’s functionally the same thing as a less-expensive Sodastream but it’s infinitely more beautiful, and that’s what this column is about! The Aarke is slim and doesn’t need to be plugged in, so you can stick it anywhere you want. I recommend getting two big bottles to use on rotation and a smaller one when you need seltzer to go or a smaller batch for a cocktail. The brand makes cocktail syrups that you mix in with sparkling water, including one that makes tonic, which has been a great addition to our bar cabinet.

When you must have your java

The selector switch on the KBGV Select allows you to choose between brewing a half or full carafe. The brewing speed and hotplate temperature adjust according to your choice, brewing either amount to the golden cup standard. The brew basket automatically stops the flow of coffee when removing the carafe. All glass carafe brewers feature a hotplate with an independent heating element that holds your coffee at the perfect temperature.

Coffee and design-nerd favorite Moccamaster is the newest addition to our countertop, because it looks great and brews a great cup of coffee. In fact, I didn’t realize how bad our previous coffee maker was until we used the Moccamaster for the first time. We have the KGBV Select, which has a glass carafe and a hot plate—a divisive choice, but there’s also a model with an insulated carafe. We generally brew and consume our coffee within the span of an hour or two. The hot plate stays on for 90 minutes and so far it has not burned the coffee. (If you need to keep coffee hot for a longer period of time, the insulated carafe may be a better choice for you.) Not only is the Moccamaster aesthetically pleasing and good at its coffee-brewing job, it’s also extremely easy to clean.

OPUS CONICAL BURR GRINDER - Grinds true espresso, while also covering the full range of precise grind sizes for from pour-over to cold brew. 41+ easily adjustable settings, plus expanded range and granularity using the inner ring.

The Moccamaster is the star of our morning and Fellow’s Opus coffee grinder is its strong opening act. The grinder makes our coffee station look like a laboratory, in a good way and is the quietest coffee grinder I’ve ever used—So quiet that I don’t wake up when my boyfriend uses it every morning at 6 A.M.. Impressive considering we don’t have walls! The Opus has over 40 settings, ensuring a perfect grind no matter how we choose to brew coffee (on weekends we sometimes do pour over or French press). Like the Moccamaster, it’s cool-looking, unpretentious, and very good at its job.

Compact espresso machine with premium industrial design. This machine has a range of innovative, advanced features in a surprisingly small machine.

I couldn’t write this column without including an option for espresso heads. I’ve had my Nespresso Pixie for 7 years and it’s still going strong. Even though it’s not a daily use item (the Moccamaster is our main source of caffeine) the Nespresso still lives on the counter top because it’s a cutie and extremely small. If you’re looking for something a bit more design-forward, the CitiZ is just as compact but with an edgier look. Don’t forget the pods!

It’s tea time!

Ready to kick your brewing up even another notch? Stagg EKG+ has all of Stagg EKG’s features and then some using Bluetooth magic. Whether you're a coffee aficionado or a brewing beginner, Stagg EKG+ will be your countertop partner in the pursuit of a ridiculously good cup of coffee. Variable temperature control, Bluetooth connectivity via the Stagg EKG+ App, and a stunning, minimalist design, Stagg EKG+ is the pour-over kettle perfected.

I bought the Fellow kettle during a rare sale a few years ago and was so excited to give it a permanent home on the countertop. After a long internal debate over which color to get, I chose blue and never looked back. I love the long, delicate-looking goose neck and its sturdy wood handle. The kettle heats up super fast to the exact temperature you choose and holds that temperature for as long as you need.

I love a tiny toaster

The FlashXpress G110P toaster oven features a double infrared heater for instant heat that eliminates the need for preheating. Six cooking menus with preset buttons automatically calculate the cooking time for a variety of foods, with a digital timer (up to 25 minutes) and temperature settings (250-Degree F to 500-Degree F), square shaped inner tray perfect for personal pizza or 4 slices of bread.

So far, all of the recommendations I’ve made have been drink-related. We’re switching to solids and we’re talking about toaster ovens, specifically tiny toaster ovens. This Panasonic toaster has lived on my counter top for nearly a decade and is a kitchen non-negotiable for me. It can heat up to 500 degrees and requires no pre-heat. You’re reading correctly! You set the temp and bam, she’s ready. I’ve described this toaster as "Benjamin Button-looking" because it looks a little futuristic but also, oddly, like a vintage appliance.

A conveniently-sized, countertop-worthy appliance that can air fry, bake, roast, toast, reheat, and broil – all with our steam infusion technology for crispy exteriors and soft, moist interiors. It does everything, from ultra-crispy air frying, to serious roasting, to rejuvenating steam infusion.

If you want more from your toaster oven and you’re a convection girlie, I recommend Our Place’s Wonder Oven. I will admit that, aesthetically, it’s giving Easy-Bake Oven. (Hilariously when I googled "Easy-Bake Oven" to make sure I was using the correct name, the first result was the Wonder Oven.) The oven is surprisingly spacious for its small size. You can, as advertised, roast a chicken in it. It’s also the only nice-looking air fryer I’ve ever seen, which, to me, is its most appealing quality. Air fryers are generally ugly (sorry!) and if I’m going to indulge in some perfectly crispy Totino’s pizza rolls I want some part of the experience to be cute. Is that too much to ask? Not anymore!

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