Back in 2024 the Our Place Wonder Oven was the talk of the town (or maybe that was just amongst kitchen appliance reviewers) because it looked so impossibly cute. We were all getting bored of the best air fryers being big black boxes and then came the Wonder Oven with its adorable pastel shades.

Whilst I reviewed the OG version for a sister publication, I agreed with Ideal Home’s appliances editor, the Wonder Oven is small, and the controls are basic at best. So I’m delighted the brand has launched a bigger Pro oven, with digital controls. It still looks nice and comes in three great colours, but it’s the cleverer, more grown up version.

In a nutshell

The Our Place Wonder Oven Pro will set you back £100 more than the original Wonder Oven, but in my opinion it’s well worth the extra investment. It offers more than double the cooking capacity, making it far more usable, even for smaller households.

Furthermore, the digital controls and automatic preheat offer much greater accuracy than the analogue dial controls on the smaller version. The Pro comes with two additional cooking functions, dehydrate and proof, for most people they’re not game changing added functions, but still nice to have.

I do find it annoying that the accessories can’t go in the dishwasher. And while I would have loved some cooking time and temperature suggestions listed in the manual, I still managed to successfully cook lots of different foods across the various functions.

From roast chicken in under an hour, to perfectly toasted bagels, air fried fish and chips, and beautifully baked homemade cookies, I whipped up a real variety of foods in this oven and on the whole it did a great job. Though it’s worth pointing out that when lots of steam is produced, you can end up with puddles on your kitchen worktop.

Who reviewed this air fryer?

Unboxing and first impressions

Unboxing this oven from its fully recyclable cardboard and paper packaging, was made somewhat easier by the fact that it’s relatively lightweight and easy to lift. I reviewed the blue salt colour which added a fun pop of colour to my beige worktops. It’s nice looking, but not in an attention seeking kind of way.

The accessories can all be stored inside the oven, so it’s neat and tidy when not in use. It comes with a mesh style air fryer basket, a non-stick bake pan, and a wire rack similar to the shelves in your normal oven. There’s also a removable stainless steel crumb tray that slides into the bottom below the heating elements, to catch drips and crumbs.

The steam function is simply an inlet in the top of the oven covered by a cap that you can fill with water to make sure you add the right volume of water into the hole. It’s a basic feature that’s easy to use, though there’s little guidance in the manual on how best to make use of it. It can be used on all functions apart from dehydrate and proof. You just have to add the water after the preheat stage.

The digital touch controls are well laid out and very simple to use. The touch controls make an audible beep when pressed, but thankfully this can be turned off. You can also turn the internal light on and off as needed, making it easy to check browning levels during cooking.

Each cooking function has a preset time and temperature as a starting point. The timer is adjustable in 1 minute increments for most functions (apart from dehydrate). Similarly, temperatures can be adjusted in 5C intervals for most functions. Adjustments are easy with the big dial control on the right.

It’s worth noting that there isn’t a countdown timer for the preheat. The display shows the word ‘preheating’ so you know what’s going on, and once the preheat stage is complete, it beeps and the countdown timer immediately starts. Which means, ideally you have to stay close and pop your food in as soon as you hear the beep. Luckily, the timer pauses whenever the door is open.

One thing that bugs me is the use of American terminology on the control panel. The ‘Broil’ function is what we in the UK would call a grill. It's fine if you know that, but not everybody will, so there’s potential for confusion. Similarly for the ‘Proof’ function, in the UK we usually say ‘Prove’, though this one is admittedly, more of a minor niggle.

Be aware that the instruction manual gives all the details on operation but little-to-no guidance or suggestions on cooking temperatures and times for common foods. So you will have to wing it a bit when it comes to selecting settings.

The accessories all have to be washed before use and it’s at this point you realise they can’t go in the dishwasher, something that’ll no doubt feel frustrating to most busy cooks.

What's it like to use?

Toast function

The first thing I did after setting up, was use the toast function to toast a bagel. Since this setting doesn’t require a preheat, I popped my bagel sliced side up, on the wire rack. And even though my instinct was to put the rack in the upper shelf position, I followed the recommendations in the manual to put it in the middle.

I went with the default time and temperature settings. As it started toasting, and both the top and bottom heating elements lit up, I understood why my bagel was best placed in the centre. It toasts both sides simultaneously.

After three minutes, I enjoyed a nicely toasted bagel that had an appealing golden colour. It’s as quick as a standard toaster, plus it can toast much thicker slices too. So if you wanted fewer appliances in your kitchen, you could ditch your toaster.

Even during this first use, I was struck by how useful the large glass viewing window is. Almost the whole door is a window, which makes it really easy to see inside and keep an eye on your food while it cooks.

Air fry function

I used the air fry function to make jacket sweet potatoes. I’d microwaved them before coating the skin in oil and salt. Then I set the air fryer to 200C. I would have loved a timer to show how long the preheat takes, in this instance it took 5 minutes to preheat to 200C, which is fine, it’s just frustrating not knowing how long you need to wait.

The potatoes were ready in 20 minutes, which is similar to the time they take in my usual Ninja air fryer, and the skin was lightly crisped with good browning.

To further put the air fryer through its paces, I made fish and chips. The chips were made from scratch, the breaded fish was from the supermarket freezer aisle. As I always do, I soaked the fresh cut potato batons for 30 minutes, then coated in oil.

I spread the chips out on the wire basket and turned them a couple of times. After 18 minutes I added the frozen fish alongside the chips.

The fish cooked quickly in just under 14 minutes. The crumb was lovely and crunchy and the fish remained moist. The chips ended up being in for just over 30 minutes, I could have taken them out a few minutes sooner but didn’t want them to cool down while the fish was still cooking.

The chips were very good, they had a lovely crisp texture on the outside and were nicely cooked inside. All in all it was a great result and I was impressed that I could fit two portions of fish and chips in the basket.

The air fryer function was my first choice when cooking some chicken thighs. But I was concerned about the thighs drying out due to them having no skin on. So once the air fryer had heated to 190C, I added a cap full of water to the steam inlet.

It’s hard to say how much difference the steam function makes, but the chicken thighs cooked in 12 ½ minutes and remained moist and juicy, so I was happy with the result.

Roast function

I roasted a selection of vegetables on the roast setting at 215C. This time the preheat took 3 ½ minutes. I stirred the veg a couple of times during cooking and was impressed that after just 20 minutes, the heavily loaded tray of onions, peppers and mushrooms had become perfectly roasted, with some lovely charring and caramelising.

Excess steam vents out of the base of the door and the viewing window can fog up with condensation when cooking certain foods. I noticed when roasting vegetables, a lot of steam was escaping, and consequently little puddles formed on the worktop below the door. This is definitely something to keep an eye on, especially if you’ve got wooden worktops that could become damaged if you don’t spot and mop up these puddles.

After my success with the roasted veg, I used the roast function again for a whole chicken. I decided to cook it at 170C and initially set the timer to 60 minutes. The preheat was speedy, taking just 2 ½ minutes. I coated my chicken in oil, and seasoned it with salt and pepper, then popped it on the baking tray on the lowest shelf position.

I didn’t want the chicken to dry out during the early stages of cooking, so this felt like another good opportunity to use the steam function. I poured a cap full of water into the inlet and hoped for the best. Steam is created automatically and I could hear the sizzling sounds as the water was heated inside the oven.

The chicken roasted in 55 minutes. The skin was golden brown and apart from one small area towards the back of the chicken, it was even in colour. The meat was tender and moist. The skin didn’t crisp up quite as much as I hoped for, which could well be due to the addition of the steam at the start, though it’s hard to say.

On the whole though, it cooked quickly and the taste and texture was great. What’s more, there was plenty of space for a large 2kg chicken. I’m not sure if it was due to the steam function or moisture from the chicken, but once again, puddles formed on my worktop below the door. I checked the manual, and it is listed as something you should expect, which is somewhat frustrating.

Broil (grill) function

For a pasta bake that was cooked, but just needed some cheese melting on top, I opted for the Broil (grill) function. Preheating to 230C took 4 ½ minutes. And I was surprised that in just six minutes the cheese was golden, perfectly melted and crisp around the edges. It was super speedy and effective.

The next day I tried the reheat function for a bowl of leftover pasta bake. I popped it in the microwave first for a couple of minutes, then after eight minutes reheating at 175C, the cheese topping had crisped back up and it tasted just like the night before.

Cookies are one of my favourite sweet treats to bake, because they’re best served warm and you really can’t get the same freshly baked, slightly gooey and melty texture from shop bought cookies.

I used the bake setting at 170C and was able to fit six cookies onto the tray with plenty of space to stop them melting into one another. I didn’t bother lining the tray, because the non-stick is really good so I didn't feel the need to.

The chunky cookies took 15 minutes and baked to perfection, I was really happy with the result. And with just a 3 minute preheat, it was much quicker and more convenient than cooking them in my normal oven.

Personally, I’m happy to bake six at a time, because I like to keep the cookie dough balls in the fridge or freezer and bake them on demand. But if you’re cooking for a crowd, you’ll either need a second tray, or to cook back-to-back trays of six at a time.

What's it like to clean?

As I’ve already mentioned, the accessories can’t go in the dishwasher, which is a bit annoying. The wire air fry basket is particularly fiddly to clean by hand and I recommend a brush. Luckily the tray has a good non-stick coating and is very easy to clean.

As far as the inside of the oven goes, the removable crumb tray in the base certainly helps make life easier. After roasting a chicken, I did have to spend some time wiping all the grease splatters from the sides. And I imagine the stainless steel interior will become harder to keep clean after prolonged use.

Due to the heating elements, the top of the oven is virtually impossible to get to, which is a bit frustrating when you can see the grease and food splatters. Luckily, I found the exterior stayed looking as good as new with just the occasional wipe over.

How does it compare to competitors?

The obvious comparison is the smaller Our Place Wonder Oven. It’s £100 cheaper which is a big draw. But even for a two person household, it’s small and depending on what you want to cook, it may not meet your needs. That said, for very compact spaces or single person homes, it could be a great option. So long as you accept that the dial controls are very simplistic.

Alternatively, if you can forego the colourful good looks of the Our Place ovens, you could save some money by opting for a more generic looking model. There are several top performing Ninja air fryers that could fit the bill.

Should you buy the Our Place Wonder Oven Pro?

If you’re choosing between the Wonder Oven and this new Pro version, then I think I’ve already made no secret of the fact that I think the Pro is hands-down the superior choice. It’s a much better investment for many reasons, including the larger capacity and user-friendly digital control panel.

It’s not without faults and for me, the pools of condensation on the worktop are a big annoyance. And I really do wish the accessories could be chucked in the dishwasher. That being said, I like the look of it. And if you want an air fryer oven that’s not an eyesore then I think you’ll be able to get over these niggles.

It may still be too early for Christmas cheer for many, but I just spotted what I think is about to be a must-have for the cosiest time of the year: Next's new Gingerbread Hot Chocolate Station (£45).

This year's Christmas decor trends have all embraced a return to the traditional motifs of the festive season that we all know and love from our childhood – gingerbread included. And seeing as Next has already had a huge hit with its sellout gingerbread Christmas tree skirt, it seems plausible that this adorable hot chocolate station kit could go the same way.

Here's a closer look at this set which is sure to delight the whole family once December rolls around if you want to put a charming hot chocolate station idea into practice in your own home.

If Google Trends are anything to go by, there's a growing appetite for DIY hot chocolate stations in the UK – the term is reportedly up 12% to +18% year on year. If you want to stage your own sweet treat display, then this set feels like something that you'd be able to pull out of storage year after year to make use of.

Dedicated hot chocolate makers, which might have prompted the surge in at-home stations, have been hugely popular since the launch of The Velvetiser by Hotel Chocolat back in 2018. With a jug design that carefully whisks all kinds of chocolate (including your favourite high street bars) into a silky hot drink, these frothers can also double up for use alongside the best coffee machines if you're a latte lover.

Or, Salter's The Chocolatier is an alternative kind of appliance that's been a huge hit with those looking for a more affordable version – I loved it when I tried it out at home. Whichever hot chocolate maker you opt for (or if you're a purist for the hob method!), a serveware set made for the occasion is always going to be a hit when you're hosting or just entertaining your own family.

There's certainly one customer, who has awarded the set a five-star review already, who's impressed by its quality. 'It really is lovely and very well made' said the reviewer. 'I think the mugs could also be used to hold dipping sauces, hummus, etc. I really am delighted with my purchase and can't wait to use it over the festive period'.

Given that the nights are well and truly drawing in now, a hot chocolate station might be just the thing to brighten your spirits as we make our way towards Christmas. Can you see the appeal in this whimsical set?

In the height of summer, I was introduced to Tefal’s latest innovation, the ‘YumMeal ’. At that point in time, the clever appliance was so new (and revolutionary) that it didn’t even have a name. However, it had a clear USP that intrigued me: a ‘personal cooker’ that aimed to make cooking for one easier, and dare I say, more exciting?

The new YumMeal from Tefal combines air frying and induction cooking into one relatively small appliance (23cm x 26cm x 36cm) that looks a little like a waffle maker. It has a built-in enamel bowl that you not only prep and cook food in, but also eat directly out of. It’s designed to be the perfect kitchen-to-sofa appliance, whipping up meals in just 15 minutes- a game-changer for anyone cooking for one.

I currently live with a partner, but before that, I spent a good 10 years cooking for one. Over that time, I grew frustrated that nearly every recipe involved cooking for two, so I’d have to eat it over two nights or force dinner on one of my hungry flatmates. So I was delighted to find that Tefal were finally going the extra mile to make one-person dinners feel celebratory.

While I’m impressed by the YumMeal concept, I do have questions about how likely it is to transform solo dining. It has a RRP of £199.99, which feels steep when you can pick up a compact Ninja air fryer for £109 at John Lewis, the best air fryers are the speedy appliance I usually turn to when cooking a quick dinner for one these days.

However, the cost of Tefal's new gadget is justified when you consider it's two appliances in one: an air fryer that can crisp, and an induction hob that can cook and simmer. It essentially replaces a full kitchen ecosystem, with the added perk that the two functions can be used together at the touch of a button.

The YumMeal is not quite as easy as shoving a ready meal in the microwave, something I do also turn to when my partner is out for the evening, which is why I can’t see this product replacing them in my small kitchen. But I think where this appliance shines is as an investment for students who are trying to claim space in a shared kitchen or anyone who lives alone and hates reheating leftovers/enjoys being more creative with dinner.

If I still lived alone, I can see myself batch-prepping ingredients at the start of the week, and then using the YumMeal to make cooking from scratch as quick, easy and cost-effective as possible. Tefal also included the recipe for a one-person lemon drizzle cake as part of the launch, which piqued my interest for those days when you’re craving a single-portion sweet treat.

I haven't personally tested the YumMeal, but from what I saw when it was being demoed at the Tefal showcase, it has alot of potential. I can't wait to put it to the test and see if it really could replace the microwave meal for kitchens across the UK.

Alternatives

Jamie Oliver is back – this time with a new book (and an accompanying TV show!) with a simple aim: showing you how to cook balanced, tasty meals at home in 20 minutes flat.

And if you thought that the famed British chef's foray into the world of the best air fryers last year with his book Easy Air Fryer (£13 via Amazon) was a flash in the pan, then think again. He's been turning to his trusty air fryer in his new book to cut down cooking times, proving that one of these ultra-convenient appliances is the way to go in the long term if you're time-poor but committed to eating well.

Here's how he's been using his air fryer (and pressure cooker too!) to get his meals under that all-important 20 minute mark.

The star recipe I've found so far in the new book is Jamie's 'Air Fryer Arancini' which, in Jamie's words, relies heavily on getting the cooking process going as quickly as possible. For this, there's no better appliance for Jamie to call on than that of his trusty air fryer. That's no surprise given how much faster they are to preheat, as well as cook in general, versus a standard oven.

The air fryer that Jamie used in his TV show, the Tefal Easy Fry Dual Air Fryer & Grill (£147.99 via Amazon), is one that we've tested here at Ideal Home. And one of the things our expert Home Economist liked most about it during her review was that it didn't even need a preheat setting to beat her oven on cooking times.

In the recipe, which also features helpings of courgette, the speedy cooking time is achieved thanks to the arancini spending just 15 minutes in the air fryer which is significantly less than the usual baking time in an oven.

As well as using an air fryer to cut down cooking times, Jamie also employs the use of a pressure cooker to whip up a bolognese in under twenty minutes. The pressurised element of something like an Instant Pot can often make people anxious to use them but just like an air fryer, they're a genius buy if you're all about cutting down on food prep time.

In the recipe Jamie uses his pressure cooker on high heat to cook his mince and veg in 10 minutes flat, leaving him plenty of time to get on with other parts of the meal unobstructed. When our reviewer Helen tried the Instant Pot Pro (which is rated as the best multicooker in our guide) she also used the high pressure setting to cook a lentil curry in quick time, proving how handy these appliances are for cutting down the actual time of cooking.

If you want more inspiration on how to whip up tasty, healthy meals for the whole family this autumn then tune into Jamie's 20 Minute Meals on Mondays at 8pm on Channel 4. He'll be cooking recipes from his new book in one unedited shot to make sure they're actually timely for you to make at home!

Ninja's first ever air fryer microwave has dipped back out of stock but it looks like more is on the way – you can sign up to receive a notification when more becomes available for £359.99 via the brand's website. After selling out completely shortly after it was first released, it's still proving very popular with shoppers.

If you're looking to save worktop space by combining the convenience one of the best air fryers with the reheating powers of a microwave then the Ninja Crispi will absolutely tick your boxes – it earned 4.5 stars in our recent Ninja Crispi air fryer microwave review after being put through its paces by our expert Home Economist Helen McCue.

Not every microwave air fryer combo is made equal – some of the early iterations we tried out here at Ideal Home were not worth the money spent on them – but the Crispi Ninja has finally cracked the code (and the John Lewis own brand take for £179.99 looks pretty good too). Here's a closer look at why this hybrid buy was a sellout success the first time around.

One of the things that impressed our reviewer Helen most about the Ninja Crispi was that it managed to harness the power of one of the best Ninja air fryers without compromising on microwave ability. In fact, it combines the best of both worlds with its FusionCrisp setting which allows you to use the two modes in conjunction to seriously speed up meal times. According to Helen, this hybrid setting is where this appliance 'really shines'.

Another thing that stands out about the Crispi is that it's easy to use with controls that don't take a learning curve to figure out. If you've used any Ninja appliance before you'll know that user experience is always prioritised over complication.

The news of the release of the Ninja Crispi was very well received here in the UK, where kitchens tend to be smaller and multi-functionality is always appreciated. Though this combi model isn't exactly small, it will allow you to condense two spots on your worktop into one, freeing up valuable space.

If you're a fan of a streamlined, tidy kitchen, there will be plenty of appeal in this fairly sleek product. Below, you can find some of the other microwave-air fryer alternatives that have a similarly positive user rating.

If you're interested in investing in the Crispi to simplify your appliance set up then I'd recommend acting sooner rather than later – this is certain to be a second time sellout!

It’s fair to say that when it comes to the best air fryers, Ninja dominates all the lists. I’ve reviewed, and been impressed by, several of Ninja’s air fryers. But the brand is new to the microwave scene.

Combination style microwaves have always been a bit hit and miss, they can be infuriatingly complicated to use, or simply a bit rubbish. Often they end up just being used as a microwave, with all other functions being abandoned or ignored.

Ninja has a great reputation for innovation, and for creating appliances that combine multiple functions in one, so can they finally crack the nut and bring us a microwave with combination functions that are actually worth having?

Who reviewed the Ninja Crispi Microwave Air Fryer?

In a nutshell

The Ninja Crispi Microwave manages to offer lots of functionality without being complicated or confusing. It can air fry, microwave, grill, and more, and I could access all the functions and settings without constantly having to check the manual.

There are five different air frying settings, and these rely on using a glass basket that you slide into the top part of the microwave. It’s hefty, and won’t be suitable for everyone. But it is at least dishwasher safe and free of non-stick coatings and forever chemicals.

The Ninja Crispi also includes all the settings you’d expect from a standard microwave and performs as expected, thoroughly heating everything from porridge to soup. But it’s when combined with the air fryer in the fusioncrisp function, that this multifunctional cooking appliance really shines.

I successfully used the fusioncrisp function to cook a whole roast chicken, lasagne, and baked potatoes. And in case you’re wondering, the standalone air fryer functions are just as good as other Ninja air fryers. In short, Ninja strikes again, with another outstanding appliance.

Unboxing and first impressions

The box that was delivered to my front door was big and heavy, if you need to move it any distance, it’s really a two person lift. And so it follows that when I managed to get it out of the box and onto the worktop, I wasn’t surprised that it’s a big microwave. But I think that’s to be expected given that it offers so many functions.

It’s a flatbed microwave so there’s no turntable to worry about. Instead, you get a 5.2 litre glass basket (Ninja call it a basket, but it’s essentially a big deep glass dish). Plus there’s a crisper plate insert that goes inside it. These are the only accessories and are for the air fry and fusioncrisp functions only.

The glass basket slots into rails near the top of the microwave, it can sit on the base, but for most uses, the advice is to slot it into this higher position near to the air fry heating element and fan.

I was surprised by the weight of the glass basket, so I popped it on my kitchen scales and it weighed in at 2.5kg. So when it’s full of a family sized lasagne or a roast chicken, it’s going to be a bit of an arm workout lifting it in and out of the microwave.

The fusioncrisp function is the one that Ninja makes a big deal about in the quick start guide, most of the recipes are based around using this function. Essentially it’s a two stage cooking function that combines microwave cooking with air frying.

It’s selected with the fusioncrisp button and then you adjust the microwave cook time and the air fry cook time, you can’t adjust the power levels or temperatures when using this function. Thankfully they provide cooking charts with loads of suggested cook times for various foods, so it’s not all total guesswork.

There are five air fryer functions to choose from. Air fry can be adjusted from 150- 240C, whereas Max Crisp is fixed at 240C. Both air bake and air roast allow temperatures between 120 - 210C. The air grill can be set at 200C, 230C, or 240C.

The microwave power levels can be adjusted from 10% to 100% in intervals of 10%. There are also eight microwave presets. These require you to put in the weight of the specific food and then the cook time is predetermined based on the weight.

There’s a light button so that you can turn on the interior light as and when required, though the dark coloured door doesn’t make for the clearest viewing window. The door opens by pressing the big button at the base of the control panel, and there’s a childlock function that can be engaged if that’s a concern.

True to form for a Ninja appliance, the control panel and user interface are very straightforward and intuitive to use. I found I quickly got to grips with all the settings without having to keep referring back to the manual.

There’s also plenty of inspiration in the form of recipes and cooking charts provided in the quick start guide, so unlike some older style combination microwaves I’ve reviewed over the years, getting started with it doesn’t feel daunting or complicated.

What is it like to use?

FusionCrisp

I usually microwave then air fry baked potatoes, so the combination fusioncrisp function did the same thing without having to move them between two separate appliances. I could only find suggested cooking times for standard potatoes, so used these as a starting point for the two sweet potatoes I was cooking.

The Ninja recipe said to microwave for 14 minutes, but I opted for 10 minutes and kept the suggested 10 minutes of air frying. I’d normally air fry my potatoes for 20 minutes, so this time felt short, but I put them in and crossed my fingers.

It doesn’t microwave and air fry simultaneously, it completes the microwave part first, then the air fryer kicks in. Plus it beeps at the crossover point, in case you want to add anything or stir your food.

When the timer went off, the potatoes were nicely softened but not as well crisped as I wanted, so I ended up air frying them for a further 10 minutes. It was a good result, it’ll just take a few goes to nail the timings.

With instructions on how to cook a whole chicken using the fusioncrisp function, I decided to give it a try. The timings listed for a 1.5kg chicken are 30 minutes of microwaving followed by 45 minutes of air frying. And while this is faster than the 1 hour 40 minutes it would otherwise take in the oven, I’m not sure about microwaving a whole chicken for half an hour.

You can’t slide the glass basket onto the upper rails when there’s a whole chicken in it, so this is one of the few times they recommend just sitting it on the base of the microwave. I adjusted the times on the fusioncrisp setting and then left it well alone during cooking.

When the timer went off, the chicken was beautifully cooked, juices were running clear and the skin was a crisp, even golden brown. The meat had a great texture, it was soft and succulent, it was an all round good roast chicken. My only complaint was a bit of drying on the tops of the legs.

My final big test for the fusioncrisp function was a veggie lasagne. There’s a lasagne recipe in the inspiration guide, but I chose to use my own tried and trusted recipe, I based the cook times on those listed for Ninja’s lasagne recipe.

You have to make the lasagne in the glass basket, which does mean you can’t do any other air frying until you’ve eaten it all or decanted it and washed the basket up. Aside from that, the recipe cook times are for 20 minutes microwaving and eight minutes air frying, using the fusioncrisp function.

Yet again, I was dubious about the long microwave time, but that seems to be the theme with these fusioncrisp recipes. When the timer went off, I decided to air fry it for an additional five minutes, just to make the top more crisp and golden.

The lasagne was cooked through, which is pretty impressive given the raw lasagne sheets. And it’s a great shortcut in comparison to oven baking, plus I enjoyed the fact that the top still developed those chewy cheesy bits around the edges.

It worked and it was tasty, a good option for a speedy weeknight dinner. But for me, it lacked the depth of flavour that you get from a lasagne that’s been bubbling in the oven for ages, so I wouldn’t make the switch to this method permanently.

Air fryer

Obviously chips go hand in hand with air fryers and it wouldn’t be an air fryer review without making them. I cut potatoes up into fresh chips and soaked them in cold water for 30 minutes before drying and coating in oil.

I set them to air fry at 200C and gave them a stir every seven minutes. They ended up taking 24 minutes. The result was good, fluffy potato, and golden and crisp on the outside, just as good as I’d expect in my usual air fryer.

For roasted tenderstem broccoli and asparagus, I popped the lightly oiled veg into the basket and started the air fry setting at 200C. It took just eight minutes and the vegetables were beautifully softened with some browning and crisping.

I’m currently obsessed with healthier snacks and so used the air fry function a couple of times to make crispy roasted chickpeas and crispy roasted edamame beans. Both times they roasted on the standard air fry setting at 200C for just 10 minutes.

The Max Crisp setting is designed specifically for frozen foods that might benefit from extra crunch. I was in two minds about whether to use it for frozen breaded fish as I didn’t want to overcook the fish, and the cooking temperature is fixed at 240C.

Thankfully, the fish cooked beautifully with an excellent crunchy crumb and moist and tender fish inside. What’s more, the two pieces of frozen fish cooked in an impressively speedy 14 minutes.

Air grill was my go-to setting for cheese on toast. It worked perfectly, melting the cheese in minutes, without having to preheat it first.

I make homemade granola every week and cook it on the bake setting of my Ninja Combi. As baked things go, this felt less risky than attempting a cake or other baked goods. I popped my granola in the glass basket and selected 175C, then came back to it after 10 minutes to give it a stir.

Apart from being quite difficult to stir thoroughly without fully removing the basket, the granola was very well toasted on the top. I turned the temperature down to 165C and had to stir it every five minutes because the top layer kept browning and toasting really fast. I took it out after 25 minutes.

My main take away from cooking the granola is that this air bake function feels quite fierce. And a delicate cake would be a gamble. Hopefully Ninja will publish some recipes for this setting, as there’s currently nothing to go on in the inspiration guide. Incidentally, there is a chocolate fudge cake recipe, but it’s for the fusioncrisp function.

Microwave

To defrost a bowl of frozen edamame beans I took advantage of the defrost preset. I dutifully weighed them and selected 200g, then when I pressed start, I was surprised that it started counting down from 17 minutes. I stopped it after eight minutes and they were nicely defrosted, so I’d say no matter what you’re defrosting, definitely check it regularly as it might be ready before the timer goes off.

The porridge preset cooked my 300g of oats and milk for four minutes, which, after a good stir and a little bit of standing time, turned out to be pretty accurate. I was just thankful that there was no boiling over and associated clean up of spilt milk.

Arguably, you don’t need a preset to reheat a mug of cold tea, but I used it nevertheless and my mug of cold tea was piping hot in under two minutes. For a bowl of soup I used the soup preset and it was perfectly heated in under three and a half minutes.

The soften butter preset is particularly handy and took my 200g block of butter from fridge cold, to spreadable in just over a minute. Most of it was the ideal spreadable texture though there was a small pool of oil from some butter that got overly melted. Nevertheless it was a better result than my usual guesswork when trying to soften butter in the microwave.

During the time I had it in my kitchen, I used it for plenty of other incidental tasks like reheating and defrosting and it always worked as expected. Personally I gravitate towards adjusting the power level and choosing my own cook times, rather than making use of presets, but either works well.

What's it like to clean?

Because there’s not a turntable, it’s easy to wipe over the base of the microwave and keep it clean. Cleaning all the splattered oil from roasting a chicken, took a few minutes, but with a spritz of kitchen spray and a good cloth, it wasn’t hard work.

There’s also a 20 minute clean cycle that you can run periodically when it requires a deeper clean, you just have to add water to the glass basket and then give it all a good wipe at the end of the cycle.

The accessories are dishwasher safe, though due to the size of the glass basket, sometimes the available space in my dishwasher meant that I ended up cleaning it by hand. You have to wait quite a while for it to cool down, and it's definitely heavy and cumbersome. Some burnt on roast chicken residue required a good soak and scrub, but otherwise, it wasn’t tricky to clean.

I noticed the door-open button marked with fingerprints, as do the parts of the door that I naturally touched when closing it, as well as the areas around buttons on the control panel. So I found myself giving it all a quick wipe or buff with a microfibre cloth quite frequently.

How does it compare to similar models?

The size of the glass basket does limit the air frying capacity of the Crispi Microwave, so larger households might want to consider a big capacity air fryer instead. The Ninja Foodi Flexdrawer air fryer offers 10.4 litres of air fryer capacity and is designed with the flexibility to split that capacity into two independent cooking zones.

If you want a multi-functional air fryer, but don’t necessarily need it to be a microwave, you should definitely consider either the Ninja Speedi or the Ninja Combi, both of which combine several cooking modes that make them far more functional that a standard air fryer.

Should you buy the Ninja Crispi Microwave?

In some ways it’s hard to conclude that such a big microwave is actually a space saving appliance. But truly, if you currently have an air fryer as well as a microwave on your worktop, then this will absolutely free up some space.

The microwave works well, there’s not a great deal to say about it, the standout is the air fry function and using the two together. The air fryer surprised me and was much better than I expected. In some ways it outperformed my current Ninja air fryer, in fact, it could at times be a bit fiercer than expected. So it may take some adjustment.

The heavy, cumbersome glass basket will be a deal breaker for those that don’t have the strength to keep lifting it in and out of position. But the big upside is that this glassware is free of worrying forever chemicals. On the whole though, the takeaway is that if you’re in the market for a combination microwave, this is a great buy.

Air fryers are not pretty things, on the whole, but Our Place's new Wonder Oven Pro (available from today for £295) might just be able to change your mind on the aesthetic value of these ever-useful appliances.

When the brand's first-ever take on one of the best air fryers, the Wonder Oven, was released in 2024 it kickstarted a trend for better looking appliances with wider colour options. As per my review, though its charms are hard to resist, it is very small and therefore suitable for one to two people only.

That's where the Wonder Oven Pro comes in with a much bigger capacity and jazzed-up controls (compared to simple knobs on the original). Here's a full look at this devilishly sleek new appliance from one of my favourite cookware and tableware brands.

Our Place is a brand best known for its colourful (and practical) Always Pans, which have a shape that make them so useful for everyday, multifunctional cooking. It's also my go-to for tableware, as well as making my favourite pan ever: the Always Pan Titanium Pro.

Compared to its compact predecessor, the Wonder Oven Pro has a huge capacity to make use of for all kinds of at-home cooking – 30 whole litres of space!

This is designated across three racks inside the oven, which is similar to the popular style of toaster ovens you often find on worktops in North American kitchens. And there are eight cooking modes all in all: air fry, bake, roast, toast, grill, reheat, proof and dehydrate. That last one will be particularly handy as Christmas gets closer so that you can make candied orange slices at home all December long.

A very impressive upgraded user interface will be another big draw for anyone looking to upgrade their existing air fryer set up too. It features digital controls including a timer and adjustable temperature element as well as buttons for each of the aforementioned pre-set programs. These are great for anyone who is new to air frying to allow them to get to grips with timings.

As with its smaller counterpart, this oven also features a steamer element. Situated on the top lefthand corner, the steamer element should help inject moisture into your food during cooking rather than leaving it dry. It's particularly good for foods like salmon and plenty of different veg.

One of my favourite things about the original Wonder Oven was the huge range of accessories that its kitted out with including an air fryer basket, which is perforated to allow your favourite foods to get that all-important crisp.

It's the same story with the Wonder Oven Pro, which includes that same air fryer basket, a bake pan, wire racks and crumb tray. Also available to buy separately will be the brand's Baker's Kit and Chef's Kit, which give this oven even more uses in your kitchen.

Of course, colour range is always a huge draw with any Our Place product and I'm sure that these three striking shades will be a hit with anyone looking to brighten up their worktops. Hopefully there are even more colours to come, too!

When I was growing up, my mum swore by her Kenwood Chef stand mixer for her weekly batch baking. In those days, Kenwood stand mixers, while excellent at what they did, weren’t known for their good looks. Thankfully the brand launched the kMix in 2007 (which has long been Ideal Home's top pick of the best stand mixers), the ideal choice for home bakers who wanted an aesthetically pleasing mixer.

Almost 20 years later, the kMix is still going strong, and there are numerous colours and finishes to choose between, from pastel colours to metallics. This new look is an update from the kMix we reviewed back in 2021, so we thought we'd give this new version a spin to see if its still the mixer to beat.

It’s one of those appliances that’ll take pride of place on your kitchen worktop. I tried a muted matte cream coloured kMix at home, to see how well it copes with everyday home baking recipes.

In a nutshell

Kenwood has a long standing reputation for making some of the best stand mixers around and just because this is the pretty version, doesn’t mean they’ve scrimped on quality or functionality.

The kMix can cost anything from £300 to £480 depending on the colour and finish you choose, so it’s not a flippant purchasing decision. That said, for regular bakers, it’ll quickly become the workhorse that takes the effort out of every recipe you whip up.

During my review I used each of the three main attachments. The whisk speedily tackles egg whites, while the K-beater is adept at creaming butter and sugar and beating the rest of the ingredients into a cake mix. Lastly, the dough hook takes the effort out of kneading bread dough.

It’s simple to use and all the parts are dishwasher safe. And if you choose one that comes with a stainless steel bowl (some come with a glass bowl) the main bowl is lightweight, durable and easy to lift.

Who reviewed this stand mixer?

Unboxing and first impressions

There weren’t really any surprises when I took it out of the box. It’s certainly weighty, but I expect that of a stand mixer, otherwise it’s in danger of walking itself across the worktop when mixing heavy doughs.

The main mixing attachments are either stainless steel or aluminium and the model that I had for the review came with a stainless steel bowl. Some of the kMix models come with a glass bowl. Personally, I prefer the more lightweight and durable stainless steel option. And I love that the bowl has a handle, something my current stand mixer lacks.

There’s a lever at the back to release the tilt head from its locked position. It doesn’t spring up on its own though, you do have to help it up. In this position it's easy to twist the attachments in and out of place. Then you have to press the lever again when you want to drop it back down.

The speed control dial is very self explanatory, the first setting is a slow fold function. Then you can move up through the six speed options, it couldn’t be simpler. It’s also worth mentioning that the bowl twists into the base so that it’s locked into position during use.

On the front of the tilt head there’s an attachment outlet, hidden beneath a cover. It’s only used if and when you purchase compatible attachments. And there are plenty to choose from, ranging from pasta makers to a mincer, grater, and even a juicing attachment.

In the box there’s a handy spatula and also a splashguard that attaches to the tilthead and helps stop ingredients from ending up on the worktop if you’re a bit heavy handed with the speed dial.

What is it like to use?

On the day the kMix was delivered, I’d planned to make an apple crumble for a weekend treat. But I was itching to make use of the newly unboxed mixer, so I decided to pivot, and found a recipe for apple crumble cake.

The apple crumble cake consists of a layer of cinnamon flavoured sponge cake, topped with a layer of apple puree, followed by a crumble layer on top. I doubled the cake recipe so that it was a four egg mix, that way I could make a few apple cupcakes too.

I used the K-beater, which did a great job of creaming together the butter and sugar, creating a light and fluffy mix. Like most mixers, you have to scrape down the sides a few times during the various stages of making a cake batter and the included spatula comes in handy for this job.

I added the four eggs one at a time and it mixed them in well. Then, before adding and mixing in the flour, I installed the plastic splashguard to prevent any flour clouds from billowing up into the air. I didn’t need to worry though, turning the dial up gradually meant the flour mixed in effectively without any trying to escape the bowl.

On the whole the cake batter was light and airy and well mixed. The kMix worked exactly as I expected and I particularly loved having a handle on the bowl. It made tipping the mix into a cake tin much easier.

Whilst making the cake mix I noticed the K-beater was hitting the base of the bowl slightly on every rotation. So once I’d cleaned it, I followed instructions in the manual to adjust it. I had to find my own spanner, but it was easy to make a small adjustment to the knut on the K-beater so it no longer hit the base of the bowl during use.

Mixers aren’t one of the appliances that can be called whisper quiet. This one wasn’t any noisier than others I’ve tried though. When I measured the sound as it mixed on speed 2 it was 75dB. Then when I cranked it up to max speed the sound level went up to 85dB. It's a bit noisy on this higher setting, but I’m okay with that given how much arm ache it’s saving me from.

I tried out the dough hook when making a batch of bread dough for pizzas. Regardless of whether you’re making pizza or a loaf of bread though, the recipe I used was for a standard amount of bread dough (500g of flour and 300ml of water). So it meant I could see how the dough hook would cope with an everyday bread recipe.

After dissolving my yeast in water, I bunged everything into the mixer, with the dough hook and the splashguard in place, then set it going on the slowest speed. I had to stop it once to scrape the sides down, but apart from that, the dough came together nicely in a few minutes.

My recipe required 5-10 minutes of kneading, so once the dough was mixed, I left the mixer on the slowest speed setting for 10 minutes to do the kneading for me. There’s a bit of play in the tilt head of the mixer, so it jogged up and down as it kneaded the dough, making some clunky noises as it did so. Though compared to 10 minutes of an exhausting arm workout doing the kneading by hand, it’s very easy to put up with.

I’ve reviewed mixers in the past that have moved around on the worktop when mixing something heavy like bread dough, luckily this one stayed firmly in place. I did have to take the splashguard off while it kneaded the dough, the movement of the tilt head was rattling it and since it was no longer needed, it made sense just to take it off.

On the whole, making my dough in the mixer was far easier than doing it by hand. Plus the dough was nicely kneaded and the pizzas turned out perfectly. They rose well and had a light and airy crust, so I couldn’t ask for more.

Since I was reviewing this mixer during the very same week that Nigella joined The Great British Bake Off and the first episode aired. It only seemed fitting to revisit a recipe of hers that I’ve enjoyed in the past. So I used the whisk attachment to make Nigella’s chocolate olive oil mousse.

The big balloon whisk made short work of creating stiff peaks from four egg whites. On the maximum speed setting it took just a couple of minutes to create white fluffy clouds of aerated egg white.

After removing the egg white, I used it again to whisk the egg yolks and sugar together to a pale creamy consistency. Four egg yolks and 50g sugar is quite a small volume, but because the whisk reaches right to the bottom of the bowl, this wasn’t an issue, and it took just a few minutes.

I did the final mixing by hand, since it requires gentle folding with a metal spoon to mix the fluffy egg white with the chocolate and egg yolk. But it was the mixer that did the bulk of the work and the mousses were incredible.

What's it like to clean?

Every removable accessory from the bowl to the splashguard is dishwasher safe, which makes cleaning hassle free. After making cake and chocolate mouse mixtures, I popped everything in the dishwasher. When cleaning up after making bread dough, the bowl and dough hook were quick and easy to wash by hand.

The mixer I had for the review had a matte finish, and I wondered how easy it would be to clean. But after making chocolate mouse and realising I’d managed to smear chocolate all over it, I’m happy to say it all came off with a quick wipe. What’s more, the matte finish doesn’t show smears or fingerprints as much as a glossy finish would.

How does it compare to competitors?

The obvious comparison in terms of appearance is the KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. Depending on the exact colour and finish you’re looking at, the two brands are comparable in terms of price and bowl capacity as well as accessories included. However the 300W power of the KitchenAid is substantially less than the 1000W motor in the Kenwood kMix.

If you’re a very serious baker, you may wish to consider the Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker which can now be found for under £400 if you shop around. It’s not as pretty, but it packs a 1200W motor and integrated weighing scales, to simplify the process.

Should you buy the Kenwood kMix?

The thing is, yes you can make cakes or whisk up egg whites and cream using an inexpensive electric hand mixer, but in my opinion you’ll get better results with a decent stand mixer. Because when you take arm fatigue out of the equation, you’re less likely to rush, and more likely to cream, mix, or whisk your ingredients for the correct amount of time, thereby leading to better results. So can a stand mixer turn you into a star baker? Probably not, but it’ll definitely help.

The kMix is a great choice, it’s powerful enough for most home bakers and it’s well made and good looking to boot. If you want to start an at-home baking business, you’ll need to look at Kenwood's more professional models. But for general use, the kMix is a great choice that’ll take the hard work and effort out of baking home made treats.

It's not often that I get seriously excited over a toaster, but Sage's new model promises to be an absolute game-changer for your kitchen.

I'm sure we've all suffered from the downsides that some toasters bring - unevenly toasted bread, burnt edges, and crumbs that get caught and ultimately pose a fire hazard. The Sage Eye Q puts an end to this thanks to brand new technology that toasts to your preferred level, rather than chancing it based on a preprogramed time.

Here's how it works, and why you should consider investing in what is quickly becoming one of the best toasters.

In a world first, Sage has developed a patent-protected Eye Q Optic Sensor, which monitors the colour change of the toast, so that it stops when the chosen colour is reached.

What's better than perfectly toasted bread every time? Regular toasters are somewhat of a guessing game when it comes to assessing which marker on the dial will achieve your perfect toast-level, and this level will change depending on what you're toasting.

Sourdough, for example, has a much higher toasting point than fruit bread, and with Sage's Eye Q toaster, keeping the dial on your favourite level will mean that you achieve the same level of toastness across the board, without burning.

To get into the nitty gritty, the sensors monitor the colour change up to 10 times per second using dual wavelength green and infrared LEDs. This means that the toaster automatically stops once the selected shade is reached.

I've now tried this toaster on sourdough, crumpets and white bread, and can confirm it has achieved a deep golden colour each time.

It's the first of its kind, and it's paving the way for kitchen appliances that work for your lifestyle and allow you to crack on with daily tasks with minimal thinking.

While the standout feature is the patent technology, there is a premium feel wrapped into all of the details of this toaster. The non-stick ceramic-coated top repels crumbs and stays rust-free, so you don't have to worry about a dirty toaster sitting out on show.

It also has a smooth automatic lift and lower function, and it's amazing how much calmer that feels as opposed to the typical pop function that often flings toast out onto the worktop.

You can also program it back into a traditional 'timed' mode, so if you're craving the old-school approach, it's still there as an option.

This toaster comes at a higher price point at £249.95 for the 2-slice and £349.95 for the 4-slice, but it's high-end from function through to style.

Shop more toasters

While upgrading cookware will be transformative in your kitchen, if you're looking for a larger kitchen refresh then these 2026 trends that have staying power for 2027 will provide plenty of inspiration.

Over the years I’ve reviewed dozens of the best air fryers and I’m very accustomed to boring black box appliances that look very unremarkable on my kitchen worktop. So when I heard Smeg was launching its first ever standalone air fryer, I was hoping for something fun and colourful.

The Smeg AFC01 Air Fryer might be a bit late to the game, but with four colour options to choose from, combined with streamlined curves, it offers a very different aesthetic to its competitors. And it’s this kind of design that might mean it was worth the wait.

In a nutshell

The Smeg AFC01 offers all the colourful curviness that’s synonymous with the brand, but without looking kitsch or overly retro. It’s a modern take on classic Smeg styling, and I think it looks great. Green or blue are the only options for those who want some colour in their kitchen, since the other two options are black and white.

In addition to standard manually controlled air fryer settings, there are seven presets to choose from. Some of the presets include a steaming function, whereby you add water and steam is produced to help lock in moisture within certain foods. I was disappointed that the steam function can only be used within the presets and isn’t a standalone function.

I love that it doesn’t take up much space and that the removable accessories are dishwasher safe. The 7.3 litre capacity sounds roomy, but in reality, this isn’t a family size air fryer, it’s ideal for a two person household.

The heating element is halogen and as such the performance was very mixed, with some foods like fish fillets cooking fast, but disappointing chips, and a whole roast chicken that was very uneven in colour. It did well with simpler foods like halloumi, vegetables, and chicken thighs.

Product specs

• Capacity: 7.3 litres
• Presets: Chicken wings/legs, meat, fish, shrimps, chips, vegetables, roast chicken
• Dimensions: 31 x 32.2 x 31cm (h x w x d)
• Weight: 5.6kg
• Colours available: black, white, emerald green and storm blue,
• RRP: £199.95

Unboxing and first impressions

My first impressions after I’d removed the air fryer from its compact box and fully recyclable packaging, was that the sleek curvy design is unlike any other air fryer. It doesn’t take up loads of space, so would be great in smaller kitchens, plus, it looks super cool.

The lower section has a matte look and feel, while the black sections above are glossy, it’s a nice mix. The upper part hinges open when you press the big button on the front beneath the Smeg logo. Then you can lift out the removable basket via its silicone handles. The basket and its rack insert are made with PFAS free ceramic non-stick coatings.

It’s worth pointing out that there’s an air vent at the back, so you can’t have it pushed right to the back of the worktop when in use. Furthermore, due to the way the lid hinges open, you can’t push it against the wall, or you won’t be able to open it.

Since this air fryer includes a steaming function, there’s a small water container that pulls out of the very top. Also on top, the touchscreen control panel gives access to all the available settings.

There are seven presets to choose between. I was a tad surprised that when in manual mode, you can only access the air fryer function. Steaming meanwhile is incorporated into some of the presets, but it’s not a standalone function.

The temperature is adjustable between 40 - 200C in five degree intervals. The timer adjusts in one minute intervals between 1-60 minutes. And although the various food presets come with predetermined time and temperature settings, you can still adjust them within the same parameters.

The touch controls are simple and straightforward to get to grips with. There are audible beeps when the buttons are pressed, but by following instructions in the manual, the sound can be turned off.

Uniquely for an air fryer, there’s also the option to set it up for delayed start cooking. You can set a timer to start cooking anywhere from 5 minutes to 24 hours later. It’s one of those features that is nice to have, but in reality I don’t think many people will use it.

What is it like to use

The first time I tried this air fryer, I simply air fried one piece of frozen breaded fish on the manual mode. I selected 190C and it took 22 minutes to both crisp up on the outside and get hot enough in the centre.

A similar piece I’d heated a couple of days earlier in my usual air fryer, took just 17 minutes. So the Smeg was a little slower, but the fish was tasty nevertheless and the crumb was nicely crisped. I measured the sound at 53dB, confirming it's very quiet in use.

Next up, I had some halloumi kebabs that were essentially halloumi slices on a stick with a spicy coating. The packaging didn’t have air fryer instructions, so I winged it and put them on a 200C.

I kept an eye on how the halloumi was cooking every time the light came on. It quickly became frustrating that the internal light cycles on and off. I wanted to be able to switch it on as needed, instead of hanging around waiting, or otherwise opening the air fryer up to check on my food. In the end though, the halloumi kebabs cooked nicely and were ready in 14 minutes.

I used the vegetable preset to roast some peppers and red onion that I intended to add to a pasta dish. The recommended weight for this preset is 250 - 600g so I chopped up enough to hit that 600g upper weight limit.

The vegetable preset cooking time is 20 minutes, but I needed to add a further five minutes to create the roasted appearance and texture I was looking for. And even then, the peppers didn’t char much around the edges like they would do in my usual air fryer.

Chips are an air fryer staple, and since there’s a chip preset, I had to try it out. The manual says there’s a minimum of 250g and a maximum of 600g recommended for this preset. After cutting up enough for two portions, I weighed my raw chips and at 540g was comfortably within the weight guidelines.

I guess, if you’re cooking more, you can simply add a few minutes to the preset time to compensate for a larger quantity. The manual also says that you should shake or stir several times during cooking for the best results.

During the preset 27 minute cook time, I gave the chips a shake twice and was really pleased that the basket’s silicone handles stayed cool, so I was able to lift it out easily to shake the chips.

It’s a long cook time in comparison to what I’ve experienced when cooking chips in other air fryers, so I was surprised when the timer went off, that the chips weren’t ready. They were all very pale and the thicker ones were still a bit hard.

I started the preset again and ended up cooking the chips for a further 20 minutes, which is a total cooking time of 47 minutes, a really long time for an air fryer. By this point the inside of the chips was fluffy. The outside was somewhat crisped and a bit hard and dry on the ends. Overall they weren’t as good as chips I’m used to making in an air fryer, so I was disappointed.

The fish preset is one of the four that offers the combined air fry and steam function, called ‘juicy and crispy’. The time and temperature on these steam settings can’t be adjusted, so I popped in two salmon fillets and started the 15 minute timer.

I put the salmon skin side down initially and then turned it over after seven minutes. I ended up taking it out after just 12 minutes, since it was nicely cooked by this point. I would keep it skin side up next time, to try and get the skin crispier, but the meat itself was moist and flakey.

When I dug into the manual, I discovered that the whole roast chicken preset is designed for a 1kg chicken, which is pretty small. The smallest chicken I could get in my local supermarket was 1.2kg, so I chanced it, knowing that I may need to add extra time.

There was plenty of space for the chicken in the basket, but I can see why a bigger chicken wouldn’t work, the top would probably sit too close to the heating element.

I didn’t do much to the chicken, just rubbed it with a bit of oil, salt, and pepper and started the roast chicken preset. There’s no information provided that suggests you need to do anything during the cooking time, so apart from occasionally glancing through the viewing window, I just left it

The preset time is just 45 minutes, and given that my chicken was over the recommended weight, I wasn’t surprised when I checked it at the end of the timer, and it wasn't quite hot enough. It only needed an extra five minutes though.

The finished chicken was moist and tender, but the meat towards the tops of the legs was dry and overcooked. The browning was also very uneven. It was too pale at the back and quite dark in one area on the top.

On the whole it was a tasty and well cooked chicken, ideal for a speedy weeknight dinner, but probably not perfect enough to serve up on the table to guests.

Separately, I tried cooking bone in chicken thighs on the chicken preset. The manual says you can add 1-8 thighs, but my five pieces (1kg pack) took up most of the space so any more might be a bit too crowded.

There is an option for the ‘juicy and crispy’ steam function, but again the manual advises using this for wings and legs, whereas for thighs it suggests the ‘crispy’ air fryer option. I went with the suggestion and started the thighs skin side down.

The preset time is 30 minutes, I turned the thighs after 10 minutes and checked the temperature after 22 minutes. At this point they were cooked through, but I left them in for the full 30 minutes in order to achieve a well crisped and browned skin.

Again, I’d say 30 minutes is a lengthy cook time for an air fryer. However, the taste and texture was good and they cooked very well. The only thing to note is that the thighs towards the back, which is directly beneath the heating element and fan, did brown more than those at the front. So for even browning, you may need to rotate some foods.

Cleaning

Thankfully, the removable basket and rack are dishwasher safe. They fit nicely into my dishwasher and clean up well. What’s more, the ceramic non-stick coating is very effective and when I opted to wash it by hand, it came clean without any hassle or scrubbing.

The shiny black plastic areas do mark easily with fingerprints. These include the control panel and the front part of the lid, that I often pressed to close it. They’re easy to clean so it’s not an issue on that front, but I just noticed I had to wipe these areas after most uses, to keep it looking pristine.

My review sample was the white colourway. I accidentally got a splatter of ketchup on it that I didn’t notice until an hour later when I came back into the kitchen to clean up after dinner. When I wiped it away, there was no obvious staining, which was a relief.

Comparisons

At around £70 less, it’s worth looking at the Ninja MAX PRO AF180UK. Its 6.2 litre capacity might be marginally smaller, but during testing I still managed to roast a 1.5kg whole chicken, with excellent results. In fact, I really struggled to find any downsides during my review, the performance was excellent. The main drawback in comparison to the Smeg, is that it’s not as stylish.

And if you’re still looking for something a bit different to the standard black box style air fryer, the Ninja Crispi range stands out. The Ninja Crispi Pro XL was well liked by Ideal Home’s Kitchen Appliances Editor. There are plenty of sizes to choose from in the Ninja Crispi range, and there are several colours available, which will please people looking for a pop of colour on the kitchen worktop.

Should you buy the Smeg AFC01 Dual Flavour Air Fryer?

The Smeg AFC01 has left me with such mixed feelings. On one hand, I really do love the design and how it looks in my kitchen. If you’re not a massive cook, and the look of your kitchen is very important to you, then it’ll absolutely appeal.

On the other hand, if you want an air fryer for speedy cooking and top-notch performance, then I have to admit, there are other models, with much better performance, that’ll suit your needs better. This one uses a halogen heating element and doesn’t offer the same level of performance of more traditional air fryers.

On balance, my main complaints are that browning could be uneven and cooking could, at times, be very slow in comparison to many other air fryers. So it really comes down to weighing up your needs and priorities.

Ice cream makers have become somewhat of a craze, especially this summer just gone. And I totally understand why: have you recently been robbed (in broad daylight, mind you) by your local ice cream man? It's no longer a cheap treat, that's for sure.

Well, thanks to a good ice cream maker, you can create your very own smooth desserts, using ingredients you probably already have in your pantry and your fridge. And not only will it cost a fraction of the price of a Mr Whippy, but you actually know exactly what you're eating or feeding to your kids.

Now, I know what you're thinking: where on earth is one of the best ice cream makers supposed to live, especially come winter? I thought the same — as someone who tests appliances for a living, I cannot afford to lose another inch of worktop space.

Well, there's a new ice cream maker on the market, and instead of requiring countertop space, it's tiny enough to fit in a cupboard. Enter: the Nutribullet Chill, which also comes in 3 stunning colourways. I used its 5 programmes to test its churning capabilities, and this is what I thought.

In a nutshell

The Nutribullet Chill is a compact ice cream maker for smaller kitchens or anyone who can't dedicate countertop space to an ice cream maker (understandably!). It has a short cord, too, but do note this if sockets in your kitchen are sparse.

It offers 5 pre-set programmes that are easy to use, while it takes between 3 -4 minutes 30 seconds for each setting to work. It does require you to be prepared, as each dessert needs pre-freezing for 24 hours before churning. Each tub (you get 2 included) offers a generous serving, at almost 500ml, while you also get a recipe for each setting included in the manual.

These tubs are dishwasher-safe after use, plus there's a countdown timer on the machine so you know when your treat is nearly ready to enjoy. After using each programme, I would recommend the frozen yoghurt setting and the ice cream mode the most. These performed the best, in my opinion. I didn't like the smoothie bowl or sorbet modes at all.

The machine itself is nice and compact but admittedly loud while in operation. It suction-cups to your worktop so that it won't jump around whilst churning. It also beeps once finished to alert you, and it does churn well, so expect your desserts to be smooth — you'll want to enjoy them ASAP

Overall, it's a great ice cream maker for small kitchens but still comes in at the same price as the Ninja CREAM (which we awarded five stars to in our reivew). It's fuss-free and easy to use, as well as simple to clean. Just be wary that it's noisy.

Who reviewed this ice cream maker?

Unboxing

Due to its compact size, this ice cream maker arrived in a somewhat small box. It was fairly weighty but not heavy enough to require 2 people to lift.

Inside the box came another box, which housed the main unit, two lids, two pots, a blade and a blade cover. These were all wrapped in plastic packaging. This packaging is 4LDPE, so it's recyclable depending on your local authority.

It comes with a fairly simple instruction manual, which shows how to insert the tub into the machine, and it features 5 recipes — 1 for each function.

What's it like to use?

Overall, it's fairly fuss-free to use. You might need to refer to the manual for first use when it comes to inserting the blade block and shaft into the tub. It offers the following modes: Ice Cream, Sorbet, Gelato, Smoothie Bowl, and Frozen Yoghurt. Simply press one and then press the middle button to start.

I really liked that the machine offered a countdown timer, but to be honest, it never took a really long time to churn anyway. It's handy that it beeps once ready in case you're busy and forget about it.

The blade shaft does become hot to the touch, especially towards the base, so be careful when removing it after your dessert is churned. Your hands might not naturally grab it, but it's something to note.

The tubs fit in a standard freezer drawer, too. While churning, I used a decibel monitor to find the noise level of this machine. The ambient reading in my kitchen was hitting 35dB, but whilst the machine was churning, it read 98dB. I wouldn't be using it around any sleeping children, that's for sure.

Whilst I was testing this ice cream maker, I did like its safety features. You need to press the unlock button on the machine to release the tub once finished. It also displayed an error message at one time, which told me that the blade wasn't inserted correctly.

Making ice cream

I followed Good Food's classic vanilla ice cream recipe, which does take a lot of prep, but it makes up for it when it comes to the taste. I froze it for at least 24 hours, as per the manual, and served it in bowls. It would easily serve 4-5.

The ice cream setting on this machine took 3 minutes 30 seconds to churn. The result was tasty, but very smooth. Arguably, this was still a little firmer than the Gelato setting, which was very soft. Still, once churned, this ice cream will need to be enjoyed ASAP.

After churning, we did notice that there was a very thin layer of ice cream left in the bottom of the tub. The blade mustn't have been able to reach down to the bottom of the tub. This had softened by the time we came to eat it, so it wasn't really a huge issue.

Making sorbet

Again, I made Good Food's classic lemon sorbet recipe, which is incredibly simple yet tantalisingly sharp. After freezing for 24 hours and churning for a whopping 4 minutes and 30 seconds, using the dedicated sorbet setting, it was soft. I mean, it was still frozen and cold, but it was very sloppy. This could only be enjoyed in a bowl and couldn't be rolled into a scoop for a cone.

Taste-wise, it was great, and I could've eaten the entire tub. It's just a shame it was so soft. I probably wouldn't use this machine to make sorbet again, but I don't usually eat sorbet, so this doesn't hugely bother me.

Making gelato

I followed the vanilla bean gelato recipe which was featured in the Nutribullet manual. This took all of minutes to make and just 4 ingredients — which I had in my pantry/fridge already. I'd definitely make this recipe again, mostly for how convenient it was to mix, since it didn't require blending or pre-boiling. It was pretty much mess-free, too. Better yet? It took just 3 minutes 20 seconds to churn.

This was a total hit with my family, and I managed to make it stretch to serve 8 cones! It was admittedly quite soft, so it needed to be eaten ASAP, but everyone loved its taste.

I noticed a layer of ice cream stayed on the blade, as you can see below. It wasn't the end of the world, but it did make things a little messy. Next time, bearing this in mind, I'd use this gelato recipe, but maybe try the ice cream setting instead. This mode seemed to make the dessert a tad firmer.

Making a smoothie bowl

I used the Nutribullet smoothie bowl on the recipe card for this, and although it required pre-blending, it tasted great. TBH: smoothie bowls aren't really my thing, so I probably won't use this setting again. But it's nice to know that it works.

This setting took 4 minutes 30 seconds in total. After, the smoothie was surprisingly not soft. It was hard, crumbly and chunky. It wasn't anything like you'd use in a smoothie bowl. This could have been down to the recipe, but this was provided by Nutribullet.

Taste-wise, it was very powdery, which put me off. I wouldn't make this recipe again.

Making frozen yoghurt

I followed Nutribullet's smoothie bowl recipe for this one. Although it required a good few ingredients, I had most of them already in my pantry. These ingredients needed to be blitzed in your trusty blender before being frozen in the tub for 24 hours.

I used the dedicated frozen yoghurt programme, and I was seriously impressed. It churned for 5 minutes in total, and I was left with a soft but still-scoopable dessert that I would definitely make again. Despite thinking that I wouldn't be a frozen yoghurt lover, this machine has convinced me otherwise.

Again, there was a little leftover frozen yoghurt in the blade that I easily scooped away and into a bowl.

What's it like to clean?

There's minimal cleaning required after using this ice cream maker. Both of the tubs and the 2 lids are dishwasher-safe, as is the blade. The blade cover shouldn't get dirty if you only use it over a clean blade.

It's worth checking underneath the blade after each use, as you might find that there's some leftover dessert in there that needs a wipe. Otherwise, that's it! Simple.

How does it compare to other competitors?

I've reviewed 5 ice cream makers, but this one in particular I will be keeping. Mostly because of its compact footprint, which means I can store it in a cupboard, but also because I found it super simple to use.

In comparison to other pre-freeze models like the Ninja CREAMi and the Russell Hobbs Chilluxe, both of which were used on either side, this machine does make slightly softer desserts. But this didn't exactly put me off using it, as I'll always enjoy my treat straight after churning, anyway.

Price-wise, you would probably expect it to be a little more affordable since it's smaller, but this retails at an average price of £200. You can sometimes find it on sale.

Should you buy the Nutribullet Chill?

If kitchen space is a premium and you know that you won't use your ice cream maker all of the time, then this is a great investment. For me, I love that it can fit in the cupboard above my oven, and I can grab it out when I know we're having dinner guests over; in the summertime, I can move it to my worktop as it's not hugely cumbersome.

I also love that it comes with two tubs, so you can have one in your freezer and the other ready for your next creation. There's also the fact that it's easy to use, and it offers a countdown timer so you know when your dessert will be ready; plus, it beeps when finished.

Cleanup is minimal, and its blade cover is a game-changer, as not only does this make it safer, but it also means it looks nice on your worktop, too.

I'd avoid this ice cream maker if you also want to use it to make sorbet, as it admittedly over-churned this and made it extremely soft. It was fine to eat in a bowl but too soft for scooping. The ice cream it created was soft, too, but it was completely edible and a total hit. The frozen yoghurt was definitely my favourite as it was perfectly scoopable yet still soft.

Smeg, the Italian appliances brand behind the most coveted toaster and kettle of the century, has unveiled its first ever standalone air fryer, available to buy from today via Smeg for £199.95.

With its compact size and classic Smeg detailing, it's made for small kitchens too – always a win in our books. And while it's definitely not cheap, the price point is around what you'd expect to pay for one of the best Ninja air fryers on the market.

So, if you already have the Smeg toaster and kettle duo of dreams, then adding this air fryer to your collection might be the next natural step. Here's everything I noticed about Smeg's take on this ultra-useful appliance when I saw it in person.

The most striking thing about this air fryer is how neat and tidy it looks. I think that's probably down to the fact that the opening is situated at the top of the appliance, leaving the front completely unobstructed. That means when it sits on your countertop, all you see is the Smeg lettering, rather than baskets or grills.

With a soft-close mechanism, lifting the lid on this air fryer does have a premium feel and inside you'll find a deep dishwasher-safe frying basket with two handles.

The heat and fan element of the air fryer sit inside of the lid (but are hidden from view when shut). The touch control panel, which is also not visible when not in use, sit neatly within a thin strip on the exterior of the appliance.

From that panel you can pick between the 7 preset programs available. These buttons will give you set timings and temperatures for 'chicken wings/legs, meat, fish, shrimps, chips, vegetables and roast chicken'. You can also set your own preferences manually if you're already a dab hand at air frying.

The feature that most impressed the rest of the Ideal Home team when they saw this air fryer in person was the clever window built into the lid. It allows you to check on the progress of your food inside without opening the air fryer and losing all of the heat inside.

There's always an appetite from fans of the brand for more Smeg colourways so it's no surprise the brand has launched their air fryer in an array of different shades from the offset.

The colours on offer are Matte Storm Blue, Matte Black and Matte Emerald Green. For those who swear by white kitchen appliances, there's also a Matte White – though this has already sold out on the Smeg website. You can sign up for updates for when that colour returns.

The appeal of matte over shiny appliances will be huge for those who want to hide their air fryer in plain sight. And, fingers crossed, the front should stay squeaky clean given that food will be put into the air fryer from the top.

Another quirk of this air fryer is the 'Juicy+Crispy' cooking mode, which is made possible thanks to the steamer element hidden in the lid. You can pop water in here and inject moisture into your food whilst it's cooking while still achieving that signature air fryer crisp.

Given that one colourway is already sold out, it's fair to say that this air fryer looks like it's going to be a very popular choice from Smeg. Can you see the appeal in this unique air fryer for your kitchen?

Ninja's most innovative air fryer is now double the fun with the unveiling of the Ninja CRISPi DualZone 8-in-1 Function Glass Air Fryer (available for £299.99 via Ninja).

The CRISPi has quickly become one of the best Ninja air fryers out there, with its design that shuns non-stick plastics and is simply perfect for stuffing away into a drawer. But one of its major downsides, as I mentioned in my review, is that its capacity makes it suitable for one or two people only.

That's all changed with this double drawer version, which can cook two foods in two different ways and has an impressive 7.6 litre capacity in total – the same as the brand's bestselling OG Ninja Dual Zone. Here's a closer look at this glass version, which I'm sure is about to become a very popular choice for kitchens looking to get rid of plastic.

The functions on offer with this air fryer combine all of Ninja's best, I think. As well as Air Fry and Max Crisp (which is essentially just a very hot air fry mode), there's also Dehydrate, which will come in very handy around Christmastime. It's incredibly handy for dehydrating fruit (including oranges) for decoration as well as cocktail and meal garnishes.

As we get into autumn, another mode that I'd be very excited to try out is Prove. This setting modifies the temperature of the air fryer to foster the perfect conditions for rising your bread – perfect for cosy season and weekends spent baking!

The ability to use the Keep Warm setting will also be good given that this is a dual function air fryer. It means that once one side of your cooking is done, you can use the Keep Warm option on the other side and plate up everything at the same time hot.

The dual functionality is a real game changer for family cooking. The Match Cook button means that you only have to program everything in once and the Smart Finish tech makes everything ready at the same time.

The glass walls on this air fryer make it a very fun addition to a kitchen if you're cooking anything that rises or melts as you have a front row seat to the whole process. The two containers also have the benefit of being ready to be stored straight away – they come with lids so that you can pop them straight into the fridge once your leftovers have cooled down.

The bottom of each container also has a protective heat-proof layer, which means you can serve from both containers straight onto granite, laminate, solid wood or marble surfaces without risk of damage.

Another benefit of glass air fryer containers is the total ease of cleaning. In my time testing air fryers I found that the CRISPI base fared best when popped into the dishwasher.

The colour range has caught my eye too as I'm always a big fan of appliances that aren't just a default black colour. Rose Quartz, a pastel pink, and Bone (a steely sort of grey) are also on offer if either of those will suit your existing kitchen colour scheme better. Can you see the appeal in a glass air fryer?

Ninja has a shiny new release for those looking to save on worktop space: the 3-in-1 CRISPI Microwave, Air Fryer & Oven (now available for £359.99).

It's the latest in a line of multi-hyphenate appliances which combine the two most convenient products in a kitchen: the speed of the best air fryers meeting the ease for reheating leftovers of the best microwaves.

Despite sounding great on paper, as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I've so far been disappointed in the microwave/air fryer hybrids we've tried so far. Here's why I'm hoping this new iteration of the best Ninja air fryers is going to be the exception to the rule.

If you own a Ninja air fryer already, you'll know that this is the brand to go for if you want to maximise cooking power. With temperatures up to 240°C, that certainly looks like an advantage that will carry over with this clever combination buy.

Though this is advertised as a 3-in-1 (air fryer, microwave, oven) there are actually a whopping 13 functions available on the interface of the appliance. Eight of those are for microwaving to your hearts content, and 5 of them will be very familiar to those who love their existing Ninja air fryer.

Those five settings are: Air Fry, Max Crisp, Air Roast, Air Bake and Air Broil (which is the American term for grill). I own the Ninja Double Stack and the high heat and power of the Max Crisp setting means it's never out of use in my household.

Using the microwave and air fryer elements separately is one thing, but the setting that has me most intrigued is Fusion Crisp. This button allows you to whip up 'fast meals with a crisp finish'.

Once pressed, your device will begin by microwaving your food and then move onto auto finishing with air frying. That should, in theory, allow you to 'go from frozen to crispy in minutes'. If it works well, this should make this microwave air fryer the most time-efficient buy in your kitchen.

Another winning feature of the original Ninja Crispi is present within this new version too: the introduction of glassware to help with efficient meal prep. With a 5.2 litre capacity and a matching lid, it's perfect for saving on washing up. Capacity-wise, it can fit a 3kg chicken, according to Ninja, making enough food for up to eight people at a time.

Simply cook in it within the Crispi and then pop any leftovers straight into the fridge when you're finished. And though it doesn't come as standard, it looks as if you'll also be able to separately invest in a steamer lid too – perfect for veggies, rice, dumplings and more.

Though it was released today (the 2nd of September), Ninja will always send their products ahead of time to reviewers. At the time of writing, this 3-in-1 has already gleaned a 4.7 star rating from 160 user reviews, which is a promising sign.

Our review of this innovative new Ninja is currently in the works so that we can let you know whether it's Ideal Home approved for your home. Could you see this type of appliance working in your kitchen?

The Ninja Crushboss System is an upgrade on the Ninja 3-in-1 Food Processor with Auto IQ which is already well liked for its multi-functional capabilities, not to mention it’s long-standing residency on our list of the best food processors.

At £239.99 the CrushBoss is only £40 more expensive than the previous model. It comes with similar accessories, but the menu of functions includes more smart capabilities, more blending speeds, and a more sophisticated user interface.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on it just before it launched, so I used it in my home kitchen to see whether this combination appliance really can save you space and money by combining three food and drink prep machines in one.

In a nutshell

The Ninja CrushBoss System is a multi-functional, space saving appliance that works as a blender, food processor, and cup blender. At £239.99 it’s a great value option compared to buying all three appliances individually, what’s more, it’ll free up valuable storage space too.

Clever detection technology means it always knows which accessory you’re using, and offers the appropriate presets on the menu. Furthermore, the SmoothSense mode takes the thinking out of blending smoothies, soups, and other lump-free blends.

I found it really easy and intuitive to navigate through the menus using the big wheel on the front. And I love the safety feature that means it won’t operate unless the accessories are locked in position, and the lids are also locked in place.

In use it was fast and efficient, it excelled at virtually every task I threw at it and it’s quickly becoming a real workhorse in my kitchen. The accessories are all top-rack dishwasher safe, but the larger jugs and cup didn't fit on the top rack of my dishwasher, so be prepared to hand wash these larger parts.

Who tested the Ninja CrushBoss?

Unboxing and first impressions

True to form for most Ninja appliances, the CrushBoss System came well protected in completely recyclable cardboard and paper packaging, so there are no unwanted trips to the dump with a load of polystyrene.

The motor base is the size of a typical blender base and it has four suction cup feet that instantly grab and secure it to my worktop. The main blender jug is a great size and the lid has a pouring spout so that you can pour out liquids without having to remove it altogether.

The stacked blade for the blender has no less than six blades at different heights, so it really looks like it’s been built for the job of serious blending. By holding the top, the blade can be removed from the jug for easier cleaning of both the jug and the blade.

I really like the look of the tumbler cup and can imagine taking it out and about when I want a smoothie on the go, or a protein shake in my gym bag. It’s got a large handle and a secure flip top lid.

The tumbler cup has its own blade assembly, which is designed to work efficiently with the shape of the cup. And the smartly designed large straw has a clever rubbery bit at the bottom, allowing you to push it down when you want to close the lid.

The last main accessory is the food processor bowl and lid. The lid has a large 13cm feedchute, but the double pushers mean there’s also a smaller feed chute if you leave one in place.

Unlike some complicated food processors I’ve come across, this lid clicks seamlessly into place and the bowl clicks intuitively onto the motor base. You can choose between the four blade stacked chopping blade or the plastic equivalent that’s for dough.

The multiblade disc houses the interchangeable grating and slicing discs. You get one grating, one slicing, and one crinkle cut disc. But others are also listed in the instruction manual so may be available to purchase separately.

The base detects which accessory you’re using and then offers the relevant presets on the menu. There’s an on/off button as well as a pulse button. All other presets and processing speeds are accessed via the big wheel on the front.

The centre of the wheel is the screen and you press this to select a programme and start blending. It then displays a countdown timer or the speed. There are between 3-5 presets depending on which accessory you’re using, as well as smart sensor programmes, and manual speed selection. So I’m pretty sure there are enough options to cover most uses.

What is it like to use?

Tumbler cup

For single serve smoothie style drinks, you can blend everything in this cup. I made a banana chocolate smoothie by adding soya milk, ground flaxseed, chia seeds, peanut butter, cacao powder, frozen banana slices, and ice cubes.

A card that came in the tumbler gives advice on the order you should add different ingredients in. Once in position on the base, I selected the SmoothSense automatic programme.

It spent a few seconds sensing the ingredients before going into the Power Blend mode. All-in-all the process was completed in 52 seconds. The drink was beautifully smooth, all the powders had blended in well, and the frozen banana and ice had been completely pulverised. It was pleasant to drink using the straw.

My sound meter recorded 90dB during the blending process, which is loud, but most blenders are. And it’s only for a short burst.

The process was similar when I made a fruit smoothie with fruit juice, frozen berries and yogurt. The ingredients were turned into a delicious smoothie in around 50 seconds, impressive given the size of some of the frozen strawberries.

There were some tiny seeds in the smoothie, giving it a somewhat gritty texture, but rarely have I made a berry smoothie in a blender that’s capable of completely obliterating these tiny seeds.

The final smoothie I tried was a green kiwi and spinach smoothie containing two kiwis, a lump of frozen spinach, some frozen banana slices, a spoon of chia seeds, soya milk, and yogurt.

Once again, it was pulverised to a lump free smoothie in just over 50 seconds when using the SmoothSense auto programme. I really enjoy drinking out of this tumbler cup, both using the straw and drinking straight from the lid. The large handle is also super comfortable to hold.

Food processor bowl

It just so happened that I was planning a pizza night the day after this appliance showed up on my doorstep, so as soon as it was unboxed, I put it to work making the dough.

I added all of my pizza dough ingredients to the bowl, with the dough blade in position. Then I selected the dough programme on the menu. It blended the ingredients for 30 seconds and successfully combined them into a smooth dough.

I had hoped it might knead the mixture for a while, so after the initial dough programme, I went into the manual speeds and switched on the low speed setting. I let it run for one minute, but turned it off and completed the kneading by hand. It was starting to shake a bit as it kneaded the dough. Luckily the suction cups on the base keep it firmly rooted to the worktop, nevertheless, I didn’t want to damage it.

Homemade slaw is one of my summer staples and grating everything is much easier with a food processor. For my beetroot slaw, I grated a whole carrot by chopping it in half and placing the pieces side-by-side in the feed hole.

I used the shredding blade with the disc preset on the menu, and the carrot was grated in around 4 seconds. Similarly a whole peeled beetroot took around 3 seconds. Both times there was a small piece of ungrated vegetable left, but honestly it’s so fast I don’t care. And to avoid waste you can finely chop these ungrated pieces and add them in anyway.

The crinkle cut attachment is an unusual addition if you ask me, I’d rather have two different thickness slicing or grating blades, but I gave it a go nevertheless. This time I pushed half a cucumber through the feed hole. The crinkle cut slices were about 5mm in thickness and took just a few seconds.

The slicing disc is ideal for quickly prepping vegetables. It sliced up my carrot so fast I barely had a chance to press start and stop on my timer. The slices weren’t perfect, but rarely is there a circumstance when I want or need them to be 100% uniform. It was fast and easy, and that’s good enough for most slicing jobs. Though some perfectionists out there might disagree.

In contrast, the slices were very uniform when I sliced a whole kiwi. In seconds I had seven uniform 5mm thick slices of kiwi and just a few pieces of waste.

Homemade houmous is one of the things I regularly use my current food processor for, and I wanted to see how this one managed. After adding all of the ingredients, I decided to trust the SmoothSense smart programme to take care of the blitzing.

Including the sensing part of the blend, my houmous was blended to a smooth paste in 70 seconds, I was very pleased with the result. After tasting it, I added in some extra salt and spices, then used the handy pulse button to mix the seasoning in without over blending the mixture.

When tomatoes and a pepper needed roughly chopping for a recipe I used the main blade with the Chop preset. It's a speedy 12 second pulsing programme that resulted in slightly uneven pieces, but it’s okay for a rough chop for things like soup and sauces, and definitely saved me time. If you’re hoping for evenly diced vegetables though, you’ll be disappointed.

Blending jug

There’s only a couple of recipes included in the booklets that come in the box. One of them is for a chunky salsa that you make in the blender, so I gave it a try. It’s as simple as adding all the ingredients to the jug and selecting the PrepIQ Mince preset.

It’s a very speedy 11 second programme that pulses the ingredients. At the end though, I could spot a large chunk of green chilli pepper that still needed to be processed. So without even scraping down the sides, I set it going on the mince programme for a second time.

The second go did the trick and created an excellent salsa. It probably wasn’t as chunky as the recipe intended but it wasn’t pureed and all the little chunks were exactly the same size, making it look very professionally made. It tasted great too.

There isn’t a dedicated ice crush preset, so I chose the variable speeds for this job. I emptied a whole ice cube tray into the jug and started it on speed 2, which is one of the slower of the ten speeds on offer.

Unsurprisingly, ice is no match for this six bladed blender and in just five seconds, the whole lot was pulverised into a snowy dust. I poured this into a glass and added milk and espresso for a homemade frappe style drink, and it worked as a great alternative to a slushie machine.

At the time of testing, we were experiencing a heatwave and standing in the kitchen making a hot soup couldn’t be lower on my list right now. A recipe I’d saved for gazpacho, on the other hand, had been calling to me.

Once the vegetables and all ingredients were in the blender, I turned on the SmoothSense auto blend programme. It blitzed the soup for 90 seconds, turning it into a completely smooth liquid that poured nicely from the spout in the lid.

On the menu there’s a preset called Large Chop that’s only an option when using the blender. I needed to chop an onion, so I peeled and quartered it before starting up the quick eight second pulsing programme.

The size of the chopped onion was smaller than I expected and there were a few rogue bigger chunks, but if you hate chopping onions, this eight second preset will absolutely save you a job. I might just stick to manually pulsing it next time, so I can control the size of the pieces.

What's it like to clean?

While I appreciate the fact that absolutely everything except the motor base is dishwasher safe. The guidance is that it should all be cleaned on the top rack, and I don’t know about your dishwasher, but I can’t fit a full size blender jug on the top rack of my dishwasher.

It’s not just the blender jug though, neither the food processor bowl, nor the tumbler cup fit on the upper rack of my dishwasher. Furthermore, I don’t love filling the dishwasher with loads of sharp blades. So while I did occasionally put some of the parts in the dishwasher, I mostly opted to wash everything by hand.

Blender and food processor parts are always fiddly to wash, and these are no more or less fiddly and dangerous than other sharp bladed appliances. But as long as you’re careful, it’s not too much of a drama. I recommend a long handled brush as the best way to clean anything sharp, whilst keeping your fingers out of harm's way.

How does it compare to competitors?

An obvious comparison is the predecessor model, the Ninja 3-in-1 Food Processor with Auto IQ. Choosing this lower tech option will save you £40, but it’s only worth it if you don’t mind having fewer blending speeds and a more limited menu of automatic programmes.

The other alternative is that if you don’t want the food processor capabilities, you can buy the exact same appliance as a standalone blender for £154.99.

Should you buy the Ninja CrushBoss System?

In my opinion this is a great value system that performs well and offers plenty of functionality. It is a lot to store, but in comparison to having three separate appliances, it’s a really great space saving solution. So, the key thing to think about is whether you really do want or need all three appliances in one bundle.

In testing, I was impressed with the performance across the board. If I’m nitpicking, the only thing I could really fault it on, was that it didn’t always chop things into even sized pieces. And it’s a stretch to say that everything is dishwasher safe, when it’s unlikely to fit on the top rack of most people's dishwashers. But, if you can get over these small hurdles, it’s a great all-rounder.

Retro is back in a big way in 2026, and our kitchens are proving to be the best place to try out the trend. Whether it's through 70s-inspired colour palettes or 90s-style floral tiles, there are so many ways to add retro appeal. But small appliances are the simplest way to add a quick vintage-inspired look.

This Dunelm kettle is the perfect example of how to get a retro kitchen scheme without overhauling the design, and without spending a fortune. For just £25, you can update the small appliance that sits on your worktop and gets used every single day - it's a small price to pay.

It also looks just like the Smeg kettle which is a favourite on the Ideal Home team. While the Smeg kettle is ranked as one of our best kettles, it comes with a higher price tag.

The Smeg kettle is famous for the retro appearance which turns a sleek small appliance into something a little bit more traditional. If you have a classic kitchen scheme, then choosing ultra contemporary appliances can often look out of place.

While this Dunelm kettle has a chic stainless steel trim, the cream colour means that it looks undoubtably traditional, so it will blend into the background when left on show.

If you prefer a softer, more classic kitchen look, then making sure the smaller details, like a kettle, align will make a huge difference to the overall space.

'I wrote last week about how retro small kitchen appliances will never go out of style. If that timeless look is something you want to achieve on a budget, then I can't think of a better pick than this Dunelm one. It's also got handy features including quick boiling and an external capacity gauge – two things that never go amiss when making a cuppa!', says Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, Molly Cleary.

Many kettles in this price range are lacking when it comes to style. For £25, this retro kettle is a no-brainer for anyone wanting to kit out their kitchen with timeless pieces.

Alternatives

As we head into autumn, now is the perfect time to upgrade your kettle ready for plenty of cups of tea. While you're planning for the new season, these kitchen trends with staying power for 2027 might provide further inspiration.

Timelessness versus trends is the eternal debate of those who love poring over interiors. But one area in which retro designs always win out is with small kitchen appliances. With an aesthetic borrowed from the 50s and 60s, essentially all of the best toasters and kettles on the market have rounded, pastel silhouettes that are picture perfect for kitchen counters.

Smeg is synonymous with the retro kitchen look. As well as their standard small appliances, they have an incredibly capable range of bean-to-cup coffee machines available in a gorgeous range of colours that no other brand comes close to. Here at Ideal Home we've reviewed a huge number of Smeg coffee machines. The EGF03 Espresso Machine is our top-rated choice after our review and by far the prettiest option, too.

If you're undertaking a September reset in your kitchen then these retro-style appliances might be just the ticket to give your worktops a new lease of life. I've collected a range of options in every pastel shade available.

Though the best-known brand names are pricey, getting the retro look doesn't need to break your bank. With ranges emerging from names like Dunelm and Next, you can pick up a full set for your kitchen for far less than you might imagine.

If you want to nail timelessness with your kitchen appliances, there's no better bet than the vintage look.

If there’s one underrated kitchen appliance that definitely deserves a spot in your kitchen, it is undoubtedly a humble rice cooker. And if you’re yet to get your hands on one of these much-loved appliances, the Aldi rice cooker Specialbuy is coming back to stores this week, and it’s only £9.99.

Landing in stores on Thursday (20 August), Aldi’s rice cooker has arrived back in stock right on time for freshers heading off to university. But I think this star buy deserves a place in every kitchen - especially if you struggle to nail perfect, fluffy rice every time.

At just £9.99, this incredibly affordable kitchen gadget is not to be missed. Here’s why we at Ideal Home rate it so highly as a kitchen essential.

The best rice cookers deserve a place in every kitchen simply because they produce perfect rice every time, take up minimal counter space and make batch cooking and meal prep easier.

It’s a kitchen gadget that our Kitchen Appliances Editor, Molly Cleary, recommends, as well as being the Christmas gift Nigella Lawson swears by - and if anyone I know is reading this, I’d like a rice cooker for Christmas, please.

'I never saw the use in a standalone rice cooker before I tried one, but now I wouldn't be without mine. I used to have Lakeland's £50 version, which also has a porridge setting, but I just swapped it out for Joseph Joseph's microwave version as it saves so much space and doesn't require another plug socket to be taken out. It takes 10 minutes to whizz up perfect rice every time, and it's only £25! I use mine every single week for meal prep,’ said Molly.

At just £9.99, Aldi’s is one of the most affordable plug-in rice cookers that I’ve seen. It’s small, as to be expected with the price, making two cups of rice at a time. Because of this, it’s an ideal choice for couples and those of us living alone.

The cooker itself is available in three colourways - black, warm grey or sage green - and includes a measuring cup and spatula. It has a three-year warranty, too, so you can expect to get a good amount of use out of it. I’ve seen this rice cooker doing the rounds on social media every time it comes back into stock ( so you can expect it to be popular), with many users stating it takes about 20 minutes to cook rice.

While I haven’t tried the Aldi rice cooker, I use Salter’s 3-tier 7.5L food steamer, which also cooks rice in 20 minutes, as well as steaming veg and fish at the same time. If Aldi hasn't caught your fancy, I highly recommend this steamer.

Alternatively, here are a few more rice cookers we recommend that you can shop online.

If you're after perfect rice every time, a rice cooker is the way forward.

At the time of writing we seem to be living through endless rolling heatwaves, and cold drinks have become the norm, so-much-so that I can’t remember what it’s like to have a cup of tea after 10am!

So it's no surprise that at-home slushie machines and ice cream makers seem to be more popular than ever. And I’m very excited to try out this newly launched ProBreeze EasyFreezy, a clever multifunctional appliance that can make slushies as well as soft serve ice cream.

Its design looks a little different to other slushie machines I’ve tried, but I got my hands on one right before the launch date, so was able to try it early to see what this lesser known kitchen appliance brand had to offer.

In a nutshell

The ProBreeze EasyFreezy Ice Cream, Slushies & Frozen Drinks Maker will set you back £179.99 via ProBreeze's website (where the code IDEAL10 can also get you 10% off). It's a hybrid appliance that can make both soft serve ice cream, and frozen slushie drinks. And while £169.99 is hardly a small sum of money, as slushie machines go, its price tag is incredibly reasonable. The Dualit Ice Cream Maker (which similarly operates without pre-freeze) will set you back £349.99 by comparison.

It offers six different frozen drink programmes as well as a soft serve programme and a clean mode. Each programme has five adjustable thickness levels so you can personalise your drinks and ice cream to your preferred thickness.

I used almost every option on this machine during a week of testing it for this review, and can confirm that every drink was delicious. It can be a bit slow to create some of the slushies, but the soft serve was ready in around 30 minutes and was exactly as soft and tasty as I hoped it would be.

The downsides are that the capacity is really only large enough for 2-3 servings of slushies. And the dispenser is simply a sliding door that opens a hole in the base of the main tub. So dispensing can be a bit messy, not to mention a bit awkward when trying to fill an ice cream cone.

Who tested the ProBreeze EasyFreezy?

Unboxing

I was frustrated to come across polystyrene in the box when I unpacked it. I do wish the brand was able to use cardboard inserts instead, as these would be easily recyclable.

I was relieved though, that it doesn’t come with too many removable parts to get your head around. Although, I did find the manual to be vague in places, so it took me a while to get to grips with how to fully disassemble the tub for the first clean. Nevertheless, once you’ve done it once, it soon makes sense.

At 5ft 3, I quickly noticed that for me to properly see the control panel on the top of the machine, I found myself standing on tip-toes. Definitely something to think about if you’re shorter than me.

There are seven pre-programmed settings on the menu, plus a clean function. Essentially six of the settings are for various different slushie drinks, and the remaining one is for soft serve ice cream.

Plus and minus buttons allow you to adjust the slushie thickness to your liking, so over time, you would probably come to learn your preferred setting for each of your favourite recipes. There are five levels to choose from and the different modes each have a predetermined thickness level as a starting point.

As far as recipes to get you started, there’s a card included in the box with recipes for vanilla ice cream, as well as a cola slushie and a fruit juice slushie. A QR code takes you to further recipes, though at the time of writing the appliance hadn’t launched and the recipes weren’t live on the website, so I used a lot of my own recipes during testing.

For ice cream, both the minimum and maximum fill amount listed is 600ml, whereas for slushies you can fill it with a minimum of 600ml or a maximum of 800ml. You also need to make sure that all recipes have at least 6% sugar.

For alcohol based slushies, the alcohol amount must be between 6-16% for it to freeze correctly. The machine will detect and display error codes if there’s either too much alcohol, or too little sugar in the liquid.

The machine beeps and displays COL when the drink or ice cream is ready. Don’t ask me what COL stands for, cold maybe? I couldn’t find any info on how long you can leave it running with slushies inside. But the manual states that for best results you should serve once the desired texture is reached. And I’m guessing that the small capacity means most people would dispense their drinks pretty much straight away.

There’s a sliding handle that opens a hole in the bottom of the tub to allow drinks and ice creams to dispense out of the base. There’s a clearance of about 15cm between the outlet and the drip tray. I’m intrigued to see if this is enough space to easily fill a cone with soft serve ice cream.

What's it like to use?

Slushie

First up I tried the Slushie function, the recipe card suggested adding cola, but I went with a ginger ale instead. Two cans of most fizzy drinks is enough to hit the minimum marker, though you do have to check that the sugar content reaches the 6% requirement, or you’ll need to add sugar.

I selected the slushie mode and pressed start. The paddle moved around slowly to begin with and then it took me by surprise when it sped up significantly. At 63dB it isn’t a loud appliance, but at times, the sound of the paddle turning is quite high pitched and I did find it grating. To be fair though, as the drink started to freeze, it dulled to a less high pitched, background hum.

The display on the top shows the current temperature, but you can only see the consistency of the mixture through a small window to the right of the handle.

The machine beeps when the drink is ready. It took 33 minutes to turn my ginger ale into a tasty slushie, which did feel like quite a long time just to create two servings. The texture was good though, cold enough to stay frozen in the glass for quite a while, but still easy to suck through a straw. Plus, it dispensed smoothly out of the opening in the base of the tub.

Milkshake

I made up my own chocolate milkshake recipe using cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and cream. Luckily a table in the instruction manual told me that for a 700ml mixture I would need 42g of sugar, so I didn’t have to do any maths to work out the correct sugar percentage.

The tips on the recipe card suggest that the frappe and milkshake functions require sugar and/ or cream to be used in the recipe. I opted to include both in this mixture for a truly indulgent milkshake.

Five minutes into the milkshake programme, I decided I probably should have added a small splash of vanilla. Luckily, the fill inlet just above the handle is designed for adding ingredients during use.

It was a bit tough to get open the first time I tried, but does become easier over time. And I love that there’s an easy option for adding in an extra ingredient without stopping the programme.

The milkshake took 40 minutes, which again, for just two portions, felt like a long wait. At the end, when I tried to dispense the drink, it was too thick and nothing came out. So I had to remove the tub and spoon it into the glasses.

The texture was a bit too thick and next time I would adjust the level to make it slightly thinner, which presumably would also speed up the freezing time. It was a delicious chocolate thickshake nevertheless, despite the annoyance of having to spoon it into the glasses.

Fruit Slushie

For this setting I simply added pink grapefruit juice up to the max line and pressed start. It took 33 minutes, and the slushies were the perfect texture. They dispensed easily into the glasses. But even though I’d filled it up to the max line, there was still only enough for two.

I’m starting to notice that in some scenarios the dispenser can be a bit messy. As you slide it open and closed, you can end up with some slushie spilled down the side of your glass.

Frappe

For a couple of coffee frappes I added two large double shots of espresso to milk, sugar, and a splash of double cream. It took 44 minutes, which was longer than I expected, though that’s partly my fault for not cooling the espresso for very long, meaning the whole mix would have been slightly warmed by the coffee.

Despite the wait though, the 600ml mixture made two perfect frappes that were just what was needed on a scorching Sunday morning. If I’d increased the mixture to the maximum 800ml, there might have been enough for three servings, but in reality, this isn’t a slushie machine for when you have guests. There simply isn’t the capacity.

Soft serve

The recipe card that comes in the box includes a recipe for vanilla soft serve, which feels like the best place to start. It’s just milk, single cream, vanilla, and sugar syrup (I used maple syrup for added flavour).

The 600ml mixture is the maximum you can make in this machine and it took 33 minutes to churn. I dispensed the soft serve into cones. There’s only just enough space to fill a cone under the dispensing hole, it’s a tad awkward but you can make it work.

The mixture was enough to fill four cones as well as a couple of ramekins, so unlike the slushie capacity, it produces enough for at least six people. Both the texture and flavour of the soft serve was on point and very enjoyable.

Margarita

I’m not sure if it was the alcohol or sugar content that was maybe slightly off, but when I used the margarita programme, it took ages. In fact, I got bored of waiting and dispensed the margaritas after 55 minutes.

The frozen margaritas had the perfect texture, so I don’t know why it didn’t sense this and signal that the drinks were ready. That said, for frozen margaritas at home, this machine can definitely deliver - as long as you’re not planning a large gathering.

What's it like to clean?

The parts aren’t dishwasher safe, but washing everything by hand after most slushies didn’t bother me too much. Filling it with water and using the clean programme was helpful in removing some residues. It was much less effective on the milk and cream based mixes though.

On the whole it disassembles easily and is fairly quick to clean. But for dairy based drinks and ice cream, it does need a thorough wash in hot soapy water and a bit more attention to detail to avoid any nasty smells developing.

It’s worth pointing out that after those more troublesome milky mixtures, I had to pay close attention to the bits of the machine that can’t be removed and washed in the sink, especially the lowest section of the cooling cylinder. There’s a small rotating cog that can remain caked in milky residue if you’re not careful. This section is really fiddly to clean and I did start to find it a bit tiresome.

How does it compare to similar products?

The Cuisinart Frost Fusion is probably one of the most direct comparisons in terms of its ability to create both soft serve and slushies. It's much faster to freeze mixtures, and the tilting handle is far more intuitive to use when dispensing soft serve and slushies. However, at almost £300 it's a significant step up in price.

If soft serve is the thing you want most, then the Ninja Creami Scoop & Swirl is more of a dedicated ice cream maker that can make standard as well as soft serve ice cream, plus milkshakes. But this fancy ice cream maker is over double the price of the ProBreeze, and it can’t make slushies.

Should you buy the ProBreeze Soft Serve, Slushies & Frozen Drinks Maker?

It comes down to the size of your household and what you want from it. The 2-3 slushie serving size won’t work in larger households. However, slushies, milkshakes, and frappes are all very high in sugar, so there are plenty of scenarios where you might welcome the small capacity. In my two person household it definitely stopped us from over-indulging.

The soft serve was perfect, and with enough for six people, it’ll definitely deliver when you have a house full of kids, or even to impress the adults. I found some elements annoying, like getting it thoroughly clean after milky mixtures, and the clunky dispensing hole, plus it can be a bit slow. But in the grand scheme of things, these are all forgivable when you take into account the cost savings compared to other slushie and soft serve machines.

When I packed up and headed to university back in September 2019, the one thing my mum gave me was a Crockpot Slowcooker (£31, Argos). And now, four years later, it’s the one kitchen appliance I can’t live without.

If you have a loved one heading to university this autumn, I’d argue that one of the best slow cookers is possibly the best thing to send them off with - it definitely was for me. Slow cookers are cheap to run, make meal prep a breeze, and don’t take up as much worktop space as one of the best air fryers.

I’m always waxing lyrical about my slow cooker and how much I love using it. I genuinely whip it out every week, and now it’s the kitchen appliance I’d recommend to anyone moving out for the first time.

Until I was given a slow cooker, I didn’t really see their merit, to be honest. If I’m being really honest, coming home from school to see the slow cooker was on the side was fairly disappointing. It wasn’t until I started using my own that I realised you could make a lot more than stew.

My mum firmly told me she swore by hers, and after school stew aside, I took her advice. I’ve never looked back either. As an 18-year-old essentially let loose in London for the next three years, I had better things to do than spend my evenings slaving away behind an oven, and I really didn’t have the budget to rely on takeaways.

Here, my slow cooker maths came into play. Before heading into lectures in the morning, I could simply dump my ingredients into the cooker, set it to low, and when I arrived home I’d have a hot meal waiting for me (and leftovers to feed me over the rest of the week).

At home I’d cooked for my family, but now cooking for just myself, I found it frustrating and expensive buying ingredients only to not be able to use them all up before they went out of date. But being able to quickly batch cook in my slow cooker meant I could use all my ingredients up and leftovers could be deposited in the freezer or fridge. Now, I practically worship slow cooker dump bags, which make prep even easier, and swear by the OXO GoodGrips Silicone Bags (£20, Amazon) to do so.

Slow cookers are also really cheap to run. In fact, it’s probably your cheapest kitchen appliance, making it very student-friendly. Plus, my experience of slow cookers is that they can deepen the flavour of the dish you’re cooking. I’ve learned this the hard way by adding slightly too much spice to curries and consequently blowing my own head off.

Throughout university, I used my slow cooker to make a range of dishes from bolognese, curries and casseroles to mulled wine at Christmas and joints of pulled pork for dinner parties and BBQs during the summer.

Now aged 25, I still use the same Crockpot on a weekly basis. It is genuinely my favourite kitchen appliance. And while I keep thinking I need to upgrade my slow cooker (I’ve been looking at the Ninja Foodi 8-in-1 8L Possible Cooker, was £150, now £120 at Argos), I can’t quite bring myself to part with my trusty Crockpot.

My mum was absolutely right in gifting me a slow cooker over any other kitchen appliance or utensil when I headed off to uni seven years ago. I now recommend the same appliance to all my friends and extend the same recommendation to any freshers this year.

I've been reviewing air fryers here at Ideal Home since 2022 – a dream job for someone who loves cooking all sorts of things but is very much partial to an oven chip.

It's hard to think of a cooking appliance that's had an impact as big in our kitchens in the last decade as the air fryer. Time-saving, more convenient to use than an oven, and guaranteed to give you a crispier end result, they've become a staple of homes up and down the UK.

And seeing as I get pretty much all of my home advice and vision from my esteemed colleagues at Ideal Home, I thought it was high time I took a peek at how they're using and storing their air fryers, too, for a healthy dose of inspiration. Here's how they've integrated these 'ugly' but super useful appliances into their homes.

Heather Young - Editor-in-Chief

I draw endless inspiration from our Editor-in-Chief Heather's home, especially her gorgeous kitchen which is packed full of hidden features to make everyday life easier. One of those clever hacks is how she uses her air fryer to maximise use and minimise worktop scratches.

Heather swears by the Instant Pot Duo Crisp (£229.99 via Amazon), which is a multi-cooker, arguably a better space saver than a standard air fryer. With 12 different functions in total it means she can save space over investing in many different appliances. It's a slow cooker, steamer, air fryer, pressure cooker and more in one but its footprint is relatively small.

But that's not all. To make using her multi-cooker even more convenient, Heather also added castor wheels to the bottom of the pot which allow her to move it across her worktop.

That means cleaning around it or taking it out of a storage spot instantly becomes easier, especially if you're tucking it into a pantry like Heather . If you have a hidden mini kitchen appliance garage, this under £10 hack could be a game changer for you.

Rebecca Knight - Editor, Digital

After buying her Victorian flat conversion last year, our Editor has been sharing her home improvement progress including her living room makeover and outdoor hosting upgrades. But one thing that has stayed the same is her air fryer.

'I have the Ninja Dual Zone,' says Becky. 'I know everyone says it's meant to be ugly, but I find its boxy shape and black matte finish just disappear into the background on my kitchen worktop.'

I think this Ninja air fryer remains the most popular pick in the UK despite being released years ago. And when I recently retested it to see if it still holds up against newer releases, I found that it was still as supremely powerful as I remembered.

Becky has adopted Heather's castor wheels hack too, so that she can 'push it right to the back of the counter out of the way when not in use' in her kitchen.

Holly Cockburn - Content Editor, Kitchens and Bathrooms

As my fellow Kitchens Editor who knows exactly which trends to follow, Holly is much less of an appliance or gadget fan than I am – favouring a clear worktop over anything else. Our usual dynamic is that I'll recommend something to Holly for a few years (in this case, an air fryer) and she'll take up the advice when there's one that actually looks good.

Enter: the Wonder Oven (£195 at Our Place). This was the one that finally persuaded her over to the air frying side, and it's little surprise with its pastel colour way and tiny footprint.

When I reviewed this air fryer I called it the prettiest option on the market and I think it still is even two years later. It's also a fabulous choice for anyone who prefers a screen-free appliance – this air fryer is wholly controlled by the three dials on the front.

Molly Cleary – Kitchen Appliances Editor

I've tested many air fryers over the years but the one that suits my small kitchen best is the Ninja DoubleStack in white (£269.99 from Currys). It has similar levels of power to Ninja's dual-drawer models but is much kinder on worktop space which is always at a premium with all of the cooking gadgets I'm usually testing.

The colour range of Ninja's air fryers makes them very appealing to me, alongside the sheer power. The control panel is also the easiest I've found out there.

If you like the idea of a stacked air fryer for space but you're on a tight budget then Salter's £99 alternative went down a treat with our reviewer Annie when she tried it.

The range of air fryers within the Ideal Home team just shows how picking the right appliance for your kitchen is a very personal thing. What are your must-have features or hacks when picking out an air fryer?

The Ninja SLUSHi Twist is the newest all-singing-all-dancing best slushie machine machine from the brand. There are now four Slushi machines to choose from, including the original, so there really is something for everyone.

This latest model is unique in its ability to create two different drinks at once. And even more impressive is the simultaneous dispensing that allows you to create dual colour drinks that have the wow factor.

So whether you’re throwing a celebration BBQ with boozy frozen cocktails, or you want fun colourful drinks for a kids party, this is the kitchen appliance to elevate your gatherings. But is it really worth investing over £400 on a frozen drinks maker? Well, I tried it in my own home to find out.

In a nutshell

The Ninja SLUSHi Twist is the latest innovation from the juggernaut home appliance brand that is Ninja. At £420 it’s a huge investment for something that’s only going to be used on occasion. But, if yours is the house that everyone gathers at over the summer, the investment could well stack up. It’ll provide hours of fun, tasty drinks for all the family, and get everyone talking about your hosting skills.

Each vessel can hold up to 1.42 litres of liquid. You can slush anything from milkshakes, to cola, fruit juice to cocktails. And you can create two completely independent slushies, or two complementary slushies that are designed to be combined.

I really enjoyed combining drinks, using the rotating drip tray to create a twisted drink effect is actually quite addictive. And I was impressed that the machine uses sensor technology to slush drinks to the correct texture.

The downsides are that cleaning, particularly after milky drinks, is very laborious. And the required sugar levels in the slushie mixes, makes it easy to consume a lot of sugar when using this machine. Though, the manual does offer directions for using a sweetener instead, if you prefer.

Who tested this Slushi machine?

Unboxing and first impressions

It has to be said that when the box arrived on my doorstep, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so hefty. I opted to unpack it close to the front door for ease. And thankfully the packaging is all recyclable paper and cardboard.

The SLUSHi Twist comes out of the box fully assembled, but since most parts need washing before use, you have to disassemble it anyway. Washing and drying all of the parts is a faff, but it does help you to get to know the machine and understand how it goes together.

There are two drip trays, the one that spins so you can create twisted drinks, and this is used in conjunction with the slanted spouts. Or, for those times when you wouldn’t combine the two drinks, the straight spouts and the standard drip tray come into play.

The drip tray you’re not using can be stored on the side of the machine, but there's not an integrated storage solution for the spare spouts.

I was a bit overwhelmed by all the parts at first. But once I’d washed and dried them all and had a good read of the manuals, I felt better placed to use and understand this machine. There’s a basic user manual, a quick start guide, and a QR code that takes you to various videos and recipe information. This was all super helpful since I’m new to at-home slushie machines.

My main takeaway upon unboxing and setting up the SLUSHi Twist is that it’s big, bulky, and heavy. So I’d advise taking note of the weight and measurement stats when considering whether to buy. Because even if you don’t intend to have it permanently on the worktop, you’ll need to consider storage space as well as the ease of moving this big beast around.

The other thing worth noting is that the working capacity of each vessel is just 1.42 litres, which isn’t huge. In fact, when compared to the other Ninja SLUSHi models with single vessels, they all have a larger capacity, ranging from 1.9 - 3.31 litres. Although crucially, you can only make one flavour drink at a time in the other models.

Unlike Ninja’s other SLUSHi machines, the SLUSHi Twist doesn’t offer different programs for different types of drink. Instead, it relies on smart sensor programs to figure out the right setting for you, so you really don’t have to do any thinking. Helpfully though, you can use the snowflake buttons to adjust the texture if desired.

As someone who is new to making slushies at home, I wasn’t previously aware that sugar content is an important factor in creating a slushie. As indeed is alcohol if you’re creating alcoholic drinks. Drinks need to contain at least 5g sugar per 100ml and not more than 20% alcohol.

Thankfully, if you’ve got your drink proportions wrong, the clever inbuilt sensors will alert you to add water or add sugar to correct the balance. But a big takeaway for me was that drinks are often quite sugary, which is something to watch if you use it a lot.

To counter the potential sugar problem, the manual offers advice on using a natural low calorie sweetener called erythritol instead, but after googling it and reading about some potential negative side effects, I wasn’t keen.

What is it like to use?

Fruit juice slushies

For my first try, I didn’t want to overcomplicate the drinks, so I chose fruit juices. On one side I added a litre of smooth orange juice, and on the other side I opted for a litre of cranberry and raspberry. This meant I would be able to have a go at making a twisted drink with contrasting colours, but there wouldn’t be as much to lose as there would be if I'd started with a more expensive boozy drink and got it wrong.

I pressed the Dual Slush Assist button to start it up. It then spent about five minutes sensing the drinks to figure out the optimal texture and temperature, which incidentally was different for each side.

It's not as noisy as I thought it might be, registering just 58dB on my noise meter. Make no mistake though, if you plan to leave it on all day, it’ll be a relief for your ears when you switch off the constant drone at the end of the day.

The cranberry side beeped first to signal that it was ready, after just 18 minutes. The orange side wasn’t far behind, taking around 20 minutes. Impressively speedy if you ask me.

The excitement of experimenting with the two colours and creating different styles got the better of me, and I dispensed the whole lot in under 10 minutes of sheer joy!

Making the perfectly twisted drink, like you see in all the promotional images, will take some practice and I didn’t immediately nail it. The act of pulling the dispensing levers down with one hand, whilst also spinning the disc beneath the glass, is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at first.

I had better success creating a layered drink and also a straight side-by-side drink. It was great fun making all these different creations. Though I should say that while they looked beautiful at first, it only took a few minutes for the two colours to start bleeding into each other and the effect is quickly lost.

I’d highly recommend having a practice go like this when you first get hold of it. I poured all the fruit juice slushies into a jug afterwards and put it in the fridge. This way, I got to experiment without any wastage.

Milk based slushies

I’m a big frappe fan, so when considering milk based slushies, a coffee option was a no brainer. I used Ninja’s coffee frappe recipe. In the second side I made up Ninja’s vanilla milkshake recipe. For both recipes I went with the 4-6 serving option, though I did have to slightly tweak the frappe one to make it the right volume for this particular machine's capacity.

I used the Dual Slush Assist button again and the vanilla milkshake was ready in 20 minutes. The coffee frappe was almost at the max capacity, plus it wasn’t quite as cold as the milkshake mix, nevertheless it was still slushed in 30 minutes.

The coffee frappe was addictive and could easily become a weekend favourite. The vanilla milkshake was almost like one you’d enjoy from a big fast food chain - also very addictive.

What’s more, we had great fun combining the two. But my gosh, these are high sugar recipes and before I knew it, I’d easily consumed more than double the recommended sugar intake for an adult, just in a couple of drinks.

There’s no denying that the drinks were incredibly delicious and I enjoyed them immensely, but I would definitely need to purchase some smaller glasses to force myself into more sensible portion sizes in future.

Alcohol slushies

I couldn’t review this slushie machine without making a frozen margarita. I went in search of a classic recipe though, as I didn’t fancy the mango or strawberry versions in the Ninja recipe book. The one I landed on included tequila, cointreau, simple syrup, lime juice, and sparkling water.

In the second side, for the non drinkers, I put a bottle of sparkling non alcoholic rosé, to make a frozen rosé style drink. That’s one thing about this machine that’s really great, it gives you the option to create drinks that include everyone, so nobody is left out of the fun.

I hit the dual slush assist button again and let the machine figure things out. The frozen rosé was ready first, after just 17 minutes. The margarita took a bit longer, which wasn’t surprising since the bottle of rosé was just 750ml, while the margarita mix was around 1200ml. That said, it still only took 24 minutes.

I left it running for around seven hours on a hot Saturday afternoon and I definitely noticed plenty of condensation on the outside of the vessels, but like I said, it’s thoughtfully designed, so the condensation catcher trays did a great job of collecting all the moisture and my worktop stayed dry.

Of course, both drinks were tasty and enjoyable, real frozen margaritas at home felt so luxurious and I can’t wait to serve them at more gatherings. I did have to adjust the texture a couple of times using the snowflake buttons. It takes a few minutes to get the drink to your desired texture, but it’s worth a short wait for the perfect cocktail.

What's it like to clean?

There’s no getting away from it, cleaning is one of the biggest drawbacks of this appliance. Thank goodness for the rinse cycle. You can add warm water and use the rinse cycle to get rid of most of the drink residues. Then all of the dishwasher-safe parts will need to be popped through a cycle.

The two big vessels are bulky to wash by hand, the two augers are fiddly, and then there’s the drip tray, condensation catcher trays, and spouts, so it feels like a lot of washing up. None of the parts can go in the dishwasher.

After using milk based recipes, you have to be extra thorough to make sure it doesn’t end up with milky residues anywhere. And I found myself double washing some parts to get rid of the greasiness from cream that was in the recipes. The biggest saving grace is that in general this isn’t an appliance you’ll use daily, which takes the sting out of the clean-up effort.

How does it compare to other models?

The original Ninja SLUSHi (£299.99 via SharkNinja) was a hit with our Kitchen Appliances Editor and will definitely fit the bill if you’re likely to make one flavour slushie at a time. What's more, despite being the smallest on offer from the brand, its 1.9 litre max fill capacity is still bigger than the 1.42 litres you can put in each side of the SLUSHi Twist. And at £299.99 it's over £100 cheaper than the SLUSHi Twist.

Alternatively, if you just like the idea of a single serve frappe from time to time, you could opt for something like the Dualit Ice Cream Maker. Not only does it allow you to create delicious ice cream, but the slushie setting does the job for occasional frozen drink too.

Should you buy the Ninja SLUSHi Twist?

Much is made of its ability to creatively dispense two different drinks into the same glass, but I think the biggest and most useful feature is simply that you can slush two separate drink recipes simultaneously. For example, being able to make an alcoholic slushie alongside a non-alcoholic one is a great way to include everyone in the fun at a party.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of fun to be had mixing slushies together and creating cool looking dual colour drinks. The downside is that it’s an expensive, bulky appliance so it’s worth considering whether one of the other Ninja SLUSHi models would meet your needs.

That being said, if you want more fun, more drinks options, and to add extra pazazz to your next gathering, the SLUSHi Twist is a premium slushie machine with all the functionality and wow factor you could hope for!

Sorry traditional air fryers, glass air fryers are taking the culinary world by storm due to their space-saving and meal prepping capabilities - and Lidl is about to launch the most affordable I’ve seen yet.

In 2026, the best air fryers have a spot in every kitchen, yet most are quite bulky. But the increase in popularity of glass air fryers over the past year shows that these game-changing appliances can work in the tiniest of kitchens.

Landing in stores on Sunday 2 August, Lidl’s Glass Air Fryer is a deadringer for the Ninja Crispi (was £149.99, now £115 at Shark Ninja), and at only £49.99, It’s one of the most affordable Ninja Crispi alternatives I’ve spotted.

Having reviewed the Ninja Crispi, Ideal Home’s Kitchen Appliances Editor Molly Cleary declared she’d only use the glass air fryer from then on. Its easy-to-clean glass containers were found to be excellent for making lunches and meal prep, while its compact size meant it was easy to stash away after use, too - no bulky appliance taking up precious worktop space here. Not to mention it produces unbelievably delicious and crispy results.

The convenience of glass air fryers has seen them soar in popularity, and now it’s Lidl’s turn to deliver an affordable version. If you have Lidl Plus, the Glass Fryer is £49.99, and it is £59.99 without the app discount.

It boasts a transparent glass cooking basket, allowing you to keep an eye on how your food is cooking without opening the drawer (one of the main benefits of glass air fryers over standard ones), and it promises to deliver healthy, crispy results with ease. Lidl also states the machine is easy to clean, which is a bonus. For squeaky clean air fryers, I do recommend the Astonish Air Fryer Cleaner(£2.50, Dunelm) as it is great for cutting through grease.

Lidl’s Silvercrest Glass Air Fryer has four preset programs: air fry, roast, re-fry, and keep warm. Its small glass container is ideal for one portion, while the supermarket says its large container is big enough to roast a whole chicken.

‘I was unsure of the concept of glass air fryers at first, but after testing the Ninja Crispi I was totally won over. I can't imagine a better air fryer design for a student house or a small kitchen in order to feed one or two people,' comments Molly. 'If you're on a tight budget, then this version from Lidl might be worth a try. The glass surface is much easier to clean than a usual air fryer tray and will be so easy to pop into a deep drawer too.'

Glass air fryers are a great choice for people who have small kitchens, students and anyone else who doesn’t want to give up worktop space for bulky appliances. They offer a great vantage point, where you can see how your food is cooking. The detachable glass dishes make meal prep incredibly easy, and the glass is far easier to clean than other air fryers.

Lidl’s glass air fryer will only be available in-store. So, in the case of stock issues or it selling out fast, I’ve rounded up a few more affordable alternatives to shop online.

You can always count on Lidl to deliver an affordable alternative to our favourite appliances. Will you try it?

Ninja has a new multi-cooker to feast your eyes on and I think it's the most capable offering I've seen from the bestselling brand yet.

The Ninja HyperHeat, which is currently down to £149.99 from £169.99, has an impressive 9 functions to get stuck into combined into one sleek appliance.

The setting I'm most excited about is rice cooking – which is something I absolutely loved when I tested what I think is the best multi-cooker on the market, the Ninja Foodi Possible. As well as that, the HyperHeat also has a pressure cooker setting, meaning that it can save you a huge amount of time on meal prep. Here's what else it can do!

The HyperHeat is so called because it has the ability to lock in high temperatures and pressure in order to speed up your cooking process. Its pressure cooking mode is one of its big selling points, alongside the other functions, which are steam, slow cook, sear/sauté, rice, pasta, simmer, keep warm & yoghurt.

If you've never used a pressure cooker before then the big thing to know is that it can seriously save you time in the kitchen. Ninja claims that with the HyperHeat you can cook up to 70% faster than with hob cooking – though you do have to reserve time for the pot to pre-heat. It locks in steam and heat to supercharge the cooking process so that stews or rice will be cooked in record time in your home.

The capacity of this cooker is tailor-made for families, too. It has six litres of space, meaning you can batch cook with it or use it for family dinners. The sear and sauté functions allow you to use the inner pot as a stand-in hob, too – perfect if you need an all-in-one appliance if your kitchen is currently out of action. That's exactly what our Senior Digital Editor, Jenny McFarlane did recently in her temporary kitchen whilst hers was being renovated.

I'm evangelical about the need for a rice cooker in every household – no matter the size – thanks to its ability to help you whip up quick meals with essentially no effort. The reviews from users so far on the HyperHeat, where it currently has a 4.6 star rating out of 5 from 29 people, are overwhelmingly impressed with the rice cooking functionality in particular.

Another benefit of this new Ninja cooker is the included stainless steel reversible rack. Reviewers have been putting this to good use in order to cook across two levels in one pot. You can steam grains in the bottom while your protein is cooked to perfection on top.

Though it might seem counterintuitive in this heat given they have a reputation for being used to make soups and stews, a multi-cooker is actually a great appliance for the hot months. With it, there's no sweating over your hob or lengthy prep times. Instead, you can throw everything into a cooker like this and quickly return to your finished meal, especially if you're using the pressure cooking setting on this appliance.

Whether you're already a multi-cooker convert or not, the HyperHeat certainly looks like an impressive new entry into the category for Ninja. Could you see yourself using this in your kitchen?

There are plenty of affordable ice cream makers hitting the shelves right now, including Aldi's Ambiano Ice Cream Machine for £69.99 and Lidl's Silvercrest version, the Premium Freezy, for the same price.

Though these ice cream machines are unbelievably cheap, as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, I'd recommend spending a fraction more on an easier-to-store alternative that I've tested: Cuisinart's genius FreezeWand (£79.99 via Amazon).

As well as still being wallet-friendly, this is one of the best ice cream makers I've tested for a small kitchen and works like a charm for making sorbets, ice cream and a range of other frozen treats. Here's why I think it's the sweet-treat-buy to beat for most kitchens, including Aldi's budget Ninja Creami alternative.

The ice cream makers recently released by supermarkets with middle aisles we love to peruse are both modelled on Ninja's viral sensation and bestseller the Ninja Creami, which we reviewed way back in 2023. While the Ninja Creami's design has been a huge hit, it's an appliance that takes up a lot of space on a worktop. Even the most dedicated at-home ice cream enthusiast might struggle to give up the space it needs in a kitchen.

That's why I was so impressed by Cuisinart's FreezeWand design, which is perfect for compact spaces. It consists of a stick fitted with a blade that neatly fits into three 240ml pots to churn up your ice cream creation. These pots, which you use to pre-freeze your ingredients, also neatly stack together either in your freezer or in storage – another big benefit of this buy over bulkier alternatives.

When packed down, the FreezeWand measures up at just 30.5cm in height, which makes it supremely convenient for storing. Compare that to the Ninja Creami and lookalikes, which each need around 40cm of worktop clearance at all times (even to store) and there's a clear winner for cosier kitchens.

The functionality on Cuisinart's alternative is impressive too. It can churn up ice cream (and work in mix-in extras like chocolate chips) and sorbet as well as offering settings to make milkshakes and slushies.

The limiting factor to the original Cuisinart wand is the smaller size of the pots to freeze ingredients in. For a family of four, say, a 240ml pot of ice cream definitely isn't going to cut it for an after dinner treat.

If you're interested in mixing up bigger portions of ice cream regularly, that's where the brand's bigger FreezeWand XL comes in (available from Amazon for £99.99). It has the same clever foldaway design but with a larger capacity. Each of its pots can hold 470ml which is extremely similar to the capacity of the Creami pots.

In all of my tests of the Cuisinart FreezeWand I was really impressed with the resulting ice cream and sorbet it created and found the mix-in element worked well too.

If you do have the space, perhaps thanks to a dreamy appliance garage, to host an upright ice-cream maker, then these are the ones I'd recommend. Top marks go to the Ninja Swirl, in particular, which is probably the most fun I've ever had reviewing an appliance.

Which of these would fit best into your kitchen?

Ninja's newest Slushi machine has finally landed on UK shores, just in time for the rising temperatures that have us all longing for a cooling refreshment.

The Ninja Slushi Twist, which is available from today for £419.99 (via Ninja) takes the success of one of its bestselling launches of the past few years and doubles it, with twice the amount of drinks and flavours available to your guests this summer if you choose to buy it. And the best part of all? You can mix them with the help of the machine to make the half and half drink of your dreams!

Yep, this 'dual-vessel frozen drinks maker' gives you the chance to slush two different drinks, all in the same impressively narrow timeframe that I've been wowed by with the original Ninja Slushi during my trials of it. Here's all of the added functionality you get with this buy that offers twice the fun for your kitchen.

The biggest sell with the Ninja Slushi Twist is that you can cater to everyone that comes over to your house for a summer soiree. With the two separate mixing cylinders, you can provide alcoholic and non-alcoholic slushies side by side, as well as different types of drinks altogether. So if someone wants a frozen milkshake while you're sipping on a frosé, it's all possible.

I reckon the fact you can twist together two different flavours of Slush will be hugely popular too – something that was previously only possible if you were picking up a frozen drink at the cinema or the beach.

The combining process works thanks to one very clever feature: a spinning drip tray at the bottom of the machine. This creates that swirled-together effect that makes your two-flavour drink look so tasty. If you only want to dispense one drink at a time, then that's possible too, thanks to the split-handlebar at the very top of both vessels.

As with of all its appliances, Ninja has engineered a catchily-named program to help users get the best from this buy, which is called the Dual SlushAssist. This program will sense the ingredients in each vessel and then apply the settings that relate to whichever function you pick.

As someone who has hosted with the OG Slushi before, another marked improvement with the Twist is that it has an upped capacity. It can serve up 10x 260ml in one go, which is plenty enough for a crowd before you'll need to head inside to refill the machine.

So, if you're looking for a buy that will make hosting an absolute dream and help you cater to all tastes when it comes to drinks, the Slushi Twist might just be the thing you're looking for to cool off with this summer!

Alternative Ninja Slushis

IKEA's newest must-have kitchen buy, the TILLREDA multicooker (available now for £85) is just the thing you need to crack cooking perfectly fluffy rice at home.

With 14 presets, including slow cooker and baking modes, there is a huge amount of functionality packed into this compact little multicooker for its under £100 price tag. If you want to make your small kitchen more capable, you'll want to take a look at all of its functions. Here's what it can do.

The full list of functions is as follows: Manual mode, Keep warm, Slow cook, Rice, Fry/Sauté, Steam, Bake, Boil, Yoghurt, Soup, Stew, Porridge, Oatmeal, Bread rise.

So as well as the ability to use it as a 'chuck all of the ingredients in and set it off' cooker, you can also use the inner pot as a stand-in hob spot and sear ingredients from the high heat. This is something I found immensely useful when I tested Ninja's PossibleCooker with a rice mode – which is by far the most impressive multi-mode cooker I've tried.

If you love simple all-in-one meals, then the ability to saute protein before you add the rest of your ingredients can elevate a recipe by many multitudes. It's also great if you have limited hob access or if your hob (like mine) emits less heat than you might like it to.

I've found lots of people turn to a multicooker like this one when they're without a kitchen for some period of time - say, undergoing a renovation – because it's the closest appliance to having a little mini kitchen wrapped up in one.

As far as the size of this appliance is concerned, it's small stature will be hugely popular with those with more cramped kitchens. At just 21.5cm tall, including for the profile of its slimline lid, this can be placed under a countertop and in even the tightest of corners to add a whole new dimension to your kitchen. For context, the Ninja PossibleCooker that I am a huge fan of is quite a bit taller at 28cm in height and has a bigger capacity more fit for a family.

With the mini size of this IKEA version combined with its varied function set, I reckon it's perfect for 1 to 2 people most of time.

Another benefit of this mini cooker is that it comes with a steamer attachment that slots right into the main bowl so that you can get the most out of that steaming function.

The interface of the TILLREDA looks simple too. It features a small LED screen upon which you can dial through all of the different modes, set your timer and temperature of your cooking program.

This multicooker is brand new on IKEA's website, so there aren't any user reviews from the UK available yet to judge it on. I'm hoping we can get our hands on it to put it through our stringent testing process to see how it performs. But from a first look, it seems like an excellent buy if you're short on space but want to max out on cooking functionality.

If there’s one thing that all this hot weather calls for, it’s a delicious tub of homemade ice cream. And no, you don’t need the Ninja Creami (£169.99, Argos) to do this, as Aldi has just dropped a similar alternative for just £69.99.

Over the past few years, the best ice-creams have become the ‘it’ appliance of any kitchen, even overtaking air fryers in terms of viral popularity. But they can be expensive appliances – until now, at least.

Landing in stores on 16 July, the Aldi Premium Ice Cream Maker is dropping as part of the supermarket’s latest Modern Kitchen range. Here’s everything we know about this star buy so far.

Having been writing about Aldi for a few years now, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t waiting for Aldi to drop an ice-cream maker. Yes, there may have been an Aldi ice cream maker to hit the shelves before, but I’ve been on the lookout a slightly fancier gadget.

And my prayers have been answered, as their new premium ice cream maker is a dead ringer for the Ninja Creami.

More than £100 cheaper than the Ninja Creami Deluxe (£249.99, Ninja), the Aldi Premium Ice Cream Maker allows you to create delicious homemade ice cream, sorbet, milkshake and even frozen cocktails. It’s easy to operate with a self-cleaning function, has an adjustable blade and dishwasher-safe accessories, making clean-up an equally easy job.

There’s not much detail on how the machine operates, however it does look as though it will be easy to use via a simple dial, and we predict that, like the Creami, you’ll need to freeze your ice-cream mixture first. With a Ninja Creami, this is around 24 hours, so bear in mind that you might need to account for some freezing time when preparing your frozen treats.

'Of all of the Ninja Creami rivals that have been released recently, including the cleverly designed NutriBullet Chill and Russell Hobbs' version, this ice cream maker from Aldi is by far the cheapest,’ says Molly Cleary, Kitchen Appliances Editor at Ideal Home.

‘At £69.99, if it works well, it's a total bargain. It has the same 'slot in and mix' design of the Creami and looks like it's aiming for similar functionality with the ability to whip up ice cream, milkshakes, sorbets and other sweet treats. After testing the Ninja Creami Deluxe, I can safely say that this type of appliance is one you'll have a lot of fun with, and though I haven't got my hands on Aldi's version yet, I'm sure it's about to be a hit with those looking to spend a little less!'

Due to the fact that it is under £70, I’m inclined to believe that it won’t be quite as good as the original. However, if you want to try an ice cream maker or have a tighter budget, it’s a good starting point and worth a try.

However, we do think this ice cream maker will sell out like soft serve on a hot day. So, if you can’t track one down, here are a few more affordable options you can shop online.

With 2026 on track for a scorcher of a summer, what better way to cool down than with a delicious, homemade ice cream?

This week it feels like everyone is trying to get ahead and rectify any mistakes they made during the last heatwave. And for me, that means ensuring I have a much better supply of ice than I did during the hottest days of the year last week – especially given that at every supermarket I went to I was greeted by totally bare freezer shelves.

To solve the problem, I must admit I've been eyeing an ice maker (like this one from Amazon for £62.99) that can sit on my kitchen countertop during the hottest days. As I'm not blessed with a freezer with ice-making facilities (or a very big freezer at all!), I think I'm going to have to outsource this need to a standalone appliance like I have with one of the best ice cream makers. Here's why.

Of course, I was desperate for more ice during the heatwave in order to keep my water and other drinks cool in order to rehydrate. But there are lots of other reasons, many of them owing to the hacks I've learnt from my Ideal Home colleagues, for me needing large quantities of ice in the hot weather.

The most pressing of which was so I could enact the cooling hack our News Writer Kezia put me onto last year: placing a bowl of ice in front of my fan in order to mimic the effects of an air conditioner. It's a way to use a fan that actually lowers the temperature of a room and it was a true godsend for my sleep last week when paired with my Dyson fan.

When I do invest in an ice maker I'll also be picking up this £6 fan attachment that we wrote about last week to DIY the air conditioning effect even further. If you own a fan and not an AC, it's an essential! It'll certainly be an upgrade for me from placing my ice in a bowl on a stool.

While an ice maker, much like the Ninja Slushi (which has also been running non-stop in my flat this summer), is hardly a kitchen essential, it can make those unbearably hot days a little more livable – at least, that's according to the reviews these Amazon buys have racked up. I reckon every little helps for when we're faced with the next hot spell!

Small appliances, like kettles and toasters, always seem like quick need-not-want purchases, but why is this the case when they live on our worktops year round?

It pays off to spend some time researching the best kettles and the best toasters that will make those small daily habits run seamlessly, and choosing the right colour for a kettle and toaster comes into that decision.

But what colour should you go for? From classic stainless steel options to retro-inspired pastel hues, these are the shades people always run to for their small appliances, with the latest kitchen trends in mind.

Over the last few years, we've seen more and more colours appear within kitchen appliances. It signifies a larger shift in our homes as we embrace playful colour expression even more, and enjoy the wellbeing benefits that a colourful home provides.

While our cabinets and walls got the memo a while ago, it naturally took a little longer for appliances to catch up. Large appliances, like our ovens, fridges and microwaves are typically in stainless steel, so small appliances followed suit.

'Stainless steel is a consistent, timeless seller in kettles and toasters as it is most compatible with a lot of kitchens,' explains Saul Davies, Buying Director at Salter. However, as appliances themselves got more ambitious (from slushie machines to air fryers), so did the colours of them.

When it comes to kettle and toaster colours, pastel shades have reigned supreme as the alternative option to stainless steel.

'Creams or warm neutrals still perform well as they tend to soften kitchens and are not harsh against fixtures such as brass, silver or gold. We are seeing a demand in pastel or brighter, bolder colours which are mainly shopped by style-led consumers. Our Retro is range we have seen huge success with pink being one of our best-selling colours,' Saul adds.

Cream, pale blue, pink and green shades have been the classic choice for a kettle and toaster, and particularly suit heritage Shaker kitchens where you want to avoid too much stainless steel.

However, in 2026, neutral hues that offer something different to white and cream are rising in popularity.

Softer neutrals, such as beige and earthy green hues, offer a new perspective on kettle and toaster shades. If cream feels too stark for your kitchen, a more subdued shade might be best.

'Sage and olive green is our fastest growing colour and is highly popular over the last 12 months. It is seen to the consumer as a new neutral addition that adds colour without being too risky,' explains Saul.

This is also reflected in Smeg's new matte Moonlight collection - a matte, beige version of their famous retro kettle style that has a much more contemporary look.

'Inspired by the growing popularity of softer, nature-led palettes, the shade brings warmth and tranquillity to the kitchen while complementing the brand's iconic design,' says Niamh Griffiths, senior marketing executive (SDA) at Smeg.

'The muted neutral tone reflects a broader interiors shift towards calm, wellness-inspired spaces and understated luxury, making it an ideal choice for consumers looking to create a kitchen that feels both timeless and contemporary,' she adds.

In 2026, sleek stainless steel kettles are remaining a popular and timeless choice, but as we look towards colour to shape our interiors, reflecting these careful choices in our small appliances is just as important.

Shop kettles and toasters

In 2026, sleek stainless steel kettles are remaining a popular and timeless choice, but as we look towards colour to shape our interiors, reflecting these careful choices in our small appliances is just as important.

Ninja's most stylish colourway, Stone Gold, is having a serious moment right now with the extension of the sellout colour across a huge range of bestselling products. From the Swirl to compact, small-kitchen friendly best Ninja air fryers, the kitchen giant has really outdone itself with this effortlessly luxurious shade.

First released this time last year, this gorgeous neutral shade went seriously viral on TikTok. I was watching out for more stock of the Ninja Dual Zone in this exact colour for months and months until it finally reappeared in October.

If you were one of the lucky few who picked up that stylish colour way back then, or if you just love the look of the range now, then you can finally shop Ninja's other bestsellers in it too, including brand new products thanks to these exclusives that debuted just for Amazon Prime Day. Here's a look at what's available.

Since working on Ideal Home, I've seen Ninja release many special-edition colours to coincide with Prime Day and Black Friday. The most memorable include the range with copper accents which is now a permanent fixture on Amazon due to its popularity.

There's even more colour choice on offer for Ninja's most fun kitchen buys – notably the Slushi and the Creami, which got a pastel make over last year as well as two-tone options inspired by frozen drinks and desserts.

It's not clear yet whether this beige colour will become a permanent addition to Ninja's colourway line up or whether it's only available during Amazon's sales events so if this is the shade for you, I'd recommend snapping it up fast!

The ability to make frozen sweet treats at home, either for pudding or to wow your guests, is something that really comes into its own in the summer months.

A question that I've been discussing a lot with friends and family who are looking to purchase something similar is whether they should opt for one of Ninja's bestselling viral best ice cream makers or an appliance that can whip up slushies and soft serve instead.

The two leading examples of this are the Ninja Swirl and the Cuisinart Frost Fusion – both of which I've used extensively at home. Here's what each of these machines can achieve and which one you should opt for to get the most for your money.

1. Functionality and preparation

It's really important to look at the different settings on offer with whichever sweet treat maker has caught your eye. The original Ninja Creami has less going for it than the Deluxe version which in turn is not quite as capable as the newer Swirl. But the kicker with all of them? Your ice cream or soft serve mix will always require pre-freezing.

Ninja doesn't have an ice-cream maker (yet) that doesn't require you to prepare materials in advance. It does have the Slushi, but that's drinks-limited.

The Cuisinart Frost Fusion is a hugely popular alternative that can whip up frozen desserts on the same day – in our tests we found it could take as little as 30 minutes. Below I've outlined the exact functionality differences between these bestsellers as well as the crucial pre-freezing times required.

There's plenty to weigh up with these speficiations laid out. The Cuisinart is the best option if you want to skip the faff of pre-freezing but the results won't be as firm as you can expect with Ninja's ice-cream alternatives – obviously the day spent in the freezer will do a lot to help your ingredients.

2. Fun factor

If you're considering buying one of these ice-cream makers, chances are you'll want to use it to impress your guests this summer. And while all of them have fun factor, some have more interactive features than others.

As someone who has tested all of the appliances listed above, the Swirl and the Cuisinart Frost Fusion are the most entertaining thanks to their soft serve dispensers if you want ice cream. Or if you're more interested in frozen drinks, the Slushi is far and away the machine you want.

If you've ever paid a visit to Pizza Hut's Ice Cream Factory, you'll know the thrill of trying to master the flow of ice cream and with these two, you can try that at home. Just bear in mind it does take a bit of practice!

The Cuisinart has the fun of dispensing soft serve with the benefit of doubling up as a slushie machine too, so it's arguably the better all-rounder. But for me, you can't beat Ninja when it comes to quality.

3. Price

These appliances are of course not an essential addition to a kitchen, but they're worth their weight in gold on a hot weekend if you're entertaining. My Slushi machine was hardly out of use last summer.

All of them are pretty pricey, but the best value option is Cuisinart's Frost Fusion considering how many functions it has. Ninja's offerings are pricier, yes, but the have the better quality overall and I can see all of the ones I've tested going the distance in my kitchen.

Sales periods help to bring the price of these machines down significantly. Right now, Amazon Prime Day sales offer a good summer window to snag a discount and Black Friday will be an even better time, as these appliances will be less in demand.

This year's next Amazon Prime Day event, will take place in October and if you want to shop in the savviest way possible, there's a new price-checking tool you need to know about.

For years, one of my top tips as Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor, who has been working Prime Days as a deal hunter for over five years now, was to use a price checking tool such as CamelCamelCamel to check that you're not being hoodwinked over a 'deal'. Often brands will artificially inflate the price of a product prior to a sales event to then bring it down to its normal RRP to create the illusion of a great deal.

Here's how using this new in-built price checking tool can prevent you from getting a bad deal on one of the best air fryers or coffee machines and help you find a worthwhile one instead.

You can find this new price-checking tool, which was officially rolled out in the UK in May 2026, next to where you see the price of the item you're looking for on Amazon. When you click onto it to see the price history, a pop-up window opens with Rufus, the platform's in-built AI tool.

Within the Rufus pop-up you can see a range of information on the product's price, as well as how it relates to the given RRP. Though this is useful information, I would also suggest going one step further and check Amazon's given RRP against what's listed on the brand page.

When shopping one of the best Ninja air fryers, for example, I would always suggest cross referencing with the brand's own site for a better understanding of prices.

While the tool defaults to a one-month view, it has 6-month and 12-month scope available too which will ultimately be even more useful for assessing how good the discount really is. If the price of the item currently is nowhere near what the lowest price over the last year has been, it's likely that there's been price-inflating taking place.

I check prices on products that I've reviewed every day to see if there's a deal worth writing about, so I have quite a good sense of the general price of different bestsellers, like Ninja's Foodi Max Dual Zone air fryer.

As I write this, it's currently sitting at £129.99 via Amazon, which gives you £20 off the usual RRP. But if you click into the year view of the price history, you'll see that in November (during Black Friday), there was a much bigger price drop with the air fryer for sale for under £100. That means that it may well be worth waiting on this one rather than pouncing right now.

In all likelihood, the best deals of this summer will drop during Prime Day itself and during counter-sales run by the likes of AO, Currys and John Lewis. Below you can find the kitchen appliances I think you should bookmark if you're in the market to upgrade your hosting and entertaining game.

Whatever you end up perusing this Prime Day, remember that doing your due diligence will help no end to help you bag an actually good deal. Happy bargain hunting!

Smeg's retro kettle and toaster have become something of a homeware icon. You'll find Smeg's instantly recognisable small appliances on the worktops of the most stylish of kitchens, and we've even given the kettle one of the best kettle top spots - it's a beautiful design that is just as easy to use.

And while the current colours of Smeg's small appliances are timeless, a new trend-focused tone has entered the scene and with it comes a fresh perspective. The retro style has always leaned more traditional, but Smeg's new Moonlight collection has a contemporary look to blend into sleek, minimalist kitchens.

Moonlight, the new matte colourway from Smeg, is 'designed to bring softness, warmth and balance into the home,' says the brand. It reflects a growing trend towards neutral shades, away from classic white or cream, and calmer palettes in our homes.

Typically, small appliances put practicality first. Often in stainless steel or black plastic, aesthetics weren't high on the agenda. Smeg started to change this with their retro kettle and toaster which came in a variety of vintage-themed colours, from cream to pink and blue.

While this has allowed us to be playful with appliances and use them to add to an overall kitchen colour scheme, the statement shades didn't offer much scope for people who favour a more understated design.

The texture also differs from the classic shiny small appliances from Smeg - it has a smooth matte finish which is perfect for hiding fingerprints and allowing your small appliances to sit subtly in the background of your kitchen.

'Smeg's kettle and toaster range is already the height of refined luxury, but this new sophisticated neutral shade is tailor-made for anyone who wants to add a warm colour to their kitchen without committing to a bold colour,' explains Molly Cleary, Ideal Home's Kitchen Appliances Editor.

'The matte finish is not only bang-on-trend but has the benefit of being easier to keep looking clean too. As someone with a white Smeg toaster, I can tell you it needs a lot of maintenance to keep looking fresh. I'm very tempted to invest in a kettle in Moonlight and make them mix and match instead for those reasons!' she adds.

If you love the shape and overall design of the Smeg appliances but haven't found a colour to suit your kitchen then the Moonlight collection is one to try - particularly if you want a fuss-free option that escapes fingerprints.

Shop the Moonlight collection

If you're a Smeg fan like we are on the Ideal Home team, these discontinued Smeg appliances straight from their HQ will inspire your dream retro kitchen.

Haven’t you heard? Lidl is launching a £14.99 ice cream maker, and it’s arriving right on time for the latest bout of hot weather set to hit the UK.

The best ice cream makers enable you to whip up delicious, cooling and even healthy ice-creams and sorbets from the comfort of your own kitchen. Back in December, a new generation of ice cream makers sparked by the now cult Ninja Creami and Slushi's popularity led kitchen experts to agree that ice cream makers were the ‘it’ appliance set to take over from air fryers.

While some ice-cream makers such as the Cuisinart Frost Fusion offer no pre-freezing, they are fairly pricey appliances. Even the Ninja Creami which requires you to freeze the ingredients 24 hours before will set you back £170 at Ninja. What Lidl is offering is an affordable introduction to the world of ice cream makers. Here’s everything you need to know.

At first glance, the Lidl Silvercrest Ice Cream Maker looks very similar to Lakeland’s digital ice cream maker, which is also one of the most affordable models on the market at £44.99. Landing in stores on Sunday (21 June) is arriving bang on time for the latest heatwave.

The Silvercrest Ice Cream Maker is a small, compact appliance, meaning it will not dominate space on your kitchen worktop. This is ideal for small kitchens, where space is limited, and chunkier appliances such as the cult Ninja Creami take up too much space.

The ice cream maker can make up to one litre of ice cream or sorbet, and comes with a small booklet of recipe suggestions to get you started. To use, simply pre-freeze the bowl, then add your desired ingredients through the opening in the lid. This can even be done when the machine is in use.

The beater and lid can be washed in the dishwasher, making clean up easy, and the ice cream container has practical handles for ease of use. Lidl has not listed the machine’s dimensions. Lakeland’s digital ice cream maker also has a one-litre capacity, and our review found the container took up a larger chunk of their freezer drawer, so you should bear this in mind.

To use the ice cream maker, you will need to pre-freeze the included bowl. Again, Lidl hasn’t stated online how long this process will take, but for similar models, this is around 12-hours.

While I haven’t tested Lidl’s ice-cream maker, based on the price, we can expect it to be a fairly basic model. However, I don't think this is a bad thing for those who want to try out an ice cream maker without spending a fortune.

If you are looking for a superior ice cream maker that has multiple functions here are three more models we’ve tried and tested.

An ice cream maker is a perfect summer appliance, helping to keep you cool and offer a sweet treat, too. Would you try Lidl’s or have you got your sights set on a higher-end appliance?

Nutribullet just unveiled its first ever ice cream maker and it looks to be the ideal solution for those battling for space in small kitchens. Yep the shiny, new Nutribullet Chill, which is available to preorder now via the brand's website for £199.99, is the perfect compromise if you're looking for a sweet treat maker that won't overrun your worktops.

Its design upends what we've seen from the most popular ice cream makers of the last few years, including the Ninja Creami (which we've reviewed), by adopting build that's more like a Nutribullet blender than anything else.

This not only makes the Chill look streamlined and ready to pop into a cupboard when not in use, but also solves what I'd argue is the most pressing problem that Ninja Creami fans have: it's not an easy machine to clean. Here's how the Nutribullet Chill aims to solve that.

This ice cream maker, like most out there, requires pre-freezing. That means you'll need to prep your ingredients in the included tubs the night before you want to make ice cream and then freeze them. Most ice cream makers of this type require 24 hours of waiting time unless you want to opt for something like the Cuisinart Frost Fusion, which we recently reviewed, and allows you to make soft serve in under 30 minutes.

Like the ever-popular Ninja Creami, the Chill also uses a rotating blade to cut through your mix and creamify it in order to create a dessert-like consistency. The big difference with the Chill, however, is that the blade is stored within a countertop-friendly base.

This is very good news for those looking to save space in their kitchen. The Ninja Creami is, whilst incredibly impressive in its performance, a very difficult appliance to store on a kitchen countertop as it's very tall. At almost 43 centimetres in height, it didn't fit under my kitchen cupboards. Compare that to the base of the Chill, which is 27cm tall (without the tub attached) and you can see which would be best if you're short on worktop space.

Another issue that long-time fans of the Creami often have is that the blade can be hard to clean, as it's contained within the upper unit of the appliance. Nutribullet aim to solve this with the Chill by making the blade element totally removable and dishwasher-safe. The parts pop out the top of the base in order to be cleaned, as you can see below.

With purchase of the Chill, you'll receive the appliance itself alongside two 450g tubs and matching lids for whipping up whatever kind of sweet treat you like. As with the Creami, a big part of the allure with this machine is that you have complete control over your ice cream ingredients – a must if you have dietary requirements or you want to make healthier family-friendly puddings.

If I'm being fussy, I would say that I'd love this new Nutribullet to also feature a Slush mode – but appliances that can make ice cream and slush are rarer to find. If that's exactly what you're looking for you might want to hold out until the release of the much anticipated Dualit Ice Cream Maker instead.

With more hot weather on the way, I can guarantee you that a frozen-treat maker like this will fast become your favourite kitchen appliance if you choose to take the plunge. You'll get more use out of yours than you'd think!

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