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Kitchen & Cooking

These are the best kitchen & cooking products of 2020

Reviewed's 2020 Best of Year awards

Reviewed's 2020 Best of Year: Kitchen & Cooking Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed's editors. Purchases made through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.

Whether they wanted to or not, most everyone became a home cook this year. Without restaurants or even regular trips to the grocery store, people got creative, using meal kits for a steady influx of produce, and swapping recipes for dinners heavy on non-perishable pantry staples. They even used cooking to find comfort—sourdough bread and TikTok-famous whipped coffee provided welcome reprieves.

Our experts have been there all along, offering helpful advice and continuing to test the best products on the market. These are the tools deserving of a place in any kitchen, and sure to make cooking the next meal a more enjoyable experience for pros and beginners alike.

Here are our favorite kitchen & cooking products, or jump to all the 2020 Best of Year awards.

Cuisinart cookware set
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

Best Cookware Set
Cuisinart MCP-12N Multiclad Pro Stainless Steel 12-Piece Cookware Set

The Cuisinart MCP-12N Multiclad Pro Stainless Steel 12-Piece Cookware Set offers incredible performance at a great value. We had no complaints with the medium-sized sauté pan (which not only comfortably fit four chicken thighs but also seared each one to perfection). The large stockpot is well-sized for making soup, cooking pasta, or blanching vegetables and is dishwasher-safe for an added bonus. This set has everything you need for a starter kitchen and it’s a great choice for those looking to upgrade their old sets, too. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Great value

  • Easy to use

  • Sears meat perfectly

Cons

  • Nothing we could find

$219.95 from Amazon

$322.99 from Best Buy

$219.99 from Target

$219.95 from Home Depot
Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY Food Processor
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar
Best Food Processor
Cuisinart "Custom 14" DFP-14BCNY Food Processor

The Cuisinart “Custom 14” is the best food processor on the market today. It excelled at almost every task, chopping onions and slicing tomatoes as well as a razor-sharp chef's knife and kneading pizza dough into a smooth elastic ball. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Excels at every task

  • Fits under a cabinet

  • Quiet

Cons

  • Slightly inconvenient chute lock

  • Doesn't shred mozzarella evenly

$199.50 from Amazon

$199.95 from Home Depot

$249.95 from Abt

$249.95 from Walmart
KitchenAid Artisan
Credit: Reviewed.com / Kyle Looney
Best Stand Mixer
KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixer

The KitchenAid Artisan is the quintessential stand mixer for a reason. Easy to set up and with the quietest motor we tested, the Artisan was a pleasure to use and passed through all our tests with aplomb. Despite its many competitors, our tests prove that it is still number one out of the best stand mixers you can buy. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Durable and reliable build

  • The motor is quiet

  • Attachments are easy to use

Cons

  • Expensive

  • Speed lever not pleasant to use

Buy now at KitchenAid

$379.95 from Amazon

$379.99 from Best Buy

$449.99 from Home Depot
Technivorm Moccamaster Coffee Maker
Credit: Technivorm / Reviewed
Best Coffee Maker
Technivorm Moccamaster KBG

With its mid-century design and an exposed reservoir, you'll want to leave the Moccamaster out on the counter even when it’s not in use. But it doesn't just look great. Indeed, the pricey Moccamaster brews a complex and smooth pot of coffee that ranked the highest—and continues to—in our taste tests. This machine also fills a full pot quickly—a necessity for the morning rush. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Brews smooth coffee

  • Fast brewing speed

  • Well-made

Cons

  • Lacks programmable timer

  • Pricey

Buy now at Williams Sonoma

$329.00 from Amazon
The best knife set we tested is the Wüsthof Grand Prix II 7-Piece Block Set
Credit: Reviewed / Lindsay D. Mattison
Best Knife Set
Wüsthof 8845 Grand Prix II 7-Piece Block Set

The Wüsthof 8845 Grand Prix II 7-Piece Block Set has it all: four knives (an 8-inch chef’s knife, an 8-inch bread knife, a 4.5-inch utility knife, and a 3.5-inch paring knife), a honing steel, kitchen shears, and a wooden block. The knives are perfectly well-balanced, keeping our hands from tiring out after extended use. Their heft also helped the sharp blades effortless cut through a variety of different ingredients. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Super sharp chef's knife

  • Comfortable to use

  • Easy to maneuver

Cons

  • Expensive

  • Could be heavy for some cooks

Buy now at Amazon
A person lifts the lid off of a blue Dutch oven to reveal chicken soup cooking inside.
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Best Dutch Oven
Staub Cast Iron 5.5-Quart Round Cocotte

Solidly built, perfectly round, and easy to clean, the Staub Round Cocotte aced every test we threw at it. From braising meat and vegetables to simmering a stew, this Dutch oven nailed it. While a little heavier than some of the others, the evenness of cooking and the large sautéing area bumped this one all the way to the top. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Cleans easily

  • Well built, solid

  • Cooks evenly

Cons

  • Heavy

Buy now at Zwilling

$359.95 from Amazon

$399.95 from Walmart
Instant Pot Ultra
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Best Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 (6 Quart)

Instant Pot is continuously improving upon its best-in-class design. Not only does the Instant Pot Ultra 10-in-1 have solid cooking ability, the updated interface offers a simplified dial and comprehensive display that takes the uncertainty out of cooking times. One of the best parts is the display's progress graph that keeps you appraised on how far into the preheating, cooking, or “keeping warm” process you are. So unlike pressure cookers, you’re not left wondering how long it will take for the cooking process to start. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Cooks perfectly

  • Intuitive to use

  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Not "smart"

Buy now at Amazon
The Philips XXL air fryer sits on a kitchen counter. It has a silver handle in front of the black appliance.
Credit: Reviewed / Betsey Goldwasser
Best Air Fryer
Philips Airfryer XXL

The Philips Airfryer XXL was the most user-friendly air fryer we tested, making it our top choice. During testing, this air fryer made our favorite french fries thanks to the combination of crunchiness, tenderness, and potato flavor that make great fries so delectable. Battered Nashville hot chicken came out with a crackling crust as if it had been deep-fried, and hamburgers rivaled ones made on the grill. What makes the Philips Airfryer our top pick is that it’s consistently the very best at air frying, even with large family-size portions of healthier fried foods. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Huge capacity

  • No preheat required

  • Foods come out crispy

Cons

  • Takes up a lot of space

  • Noisy

  • Heavy

$175.56 from Amazon

$189.56 from Walmart
Home Chef Banner
Credit: Home Chef
Best Meal Kit
Home Chef

Like its name suggests, Home Chef provides customers with the tools necessary to become true masters of the kitchen. From Home Chef’s fresh, high-quality ingredients to well-written recipes that break down intimidating cooking methods into digestible steps, everything about this service made me feel like we were preparing restaurant-worthy (or at least guest-worthy) meals without running around like a maniac. Read the full review.

Visit HomeChef.com

Pros

  • High-quality ingredients

  • User-friendly recipes with accurate timing

  • Large variety of options and extras

Cons

  • Lots of packaging

Buy now at Home Chef
The ChefSteps Joule sous vide machine cooks carrots.
Credit: Reviewed.com / Jackson Ruckar
Best Immersion Circulator
Breville ChefSteps Joule

The Breville ChefSteps Joule impressed us with its sleek, minimalist design, easy-to-use app, and precise temperature control. With voice control integration and an ever-improving app available across many platforms, using this beautiful device is simpler than ever, and the core product is still excellent at heating water quickly and evenly to turn out perfectly cooked steaks and more. Read the full review.

Pros

  • Sleek design

  • Fast heating

  • Very accurate

Cons

  • No controls on the device

Buy now at Amazon

$199.95 from Walmart

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