Over 25% Of People Think This Is The Most Overrated Small Kitchen Appliance

Are you one of those cooks who likes to do everything by hand — mixing cold butter into flour for pie crust, slicing potatoes into perfect matchsticks for French fries, and beating egg whites to stiff peaks — or do you prefer to streamline the process where possible? If you fall into the latter camp, then your kitchen just might be populated by countertop appliances such as Instant Pots, slow cookers, blenders, toaster ovens, food processors, and juicers. These handy items help us to quickly and efficiently pull together a variety of favorite meals, desserts, snacks, and beverages, with some of them, including the Instant Pot and air fryer, attracting enthusiastic devotion and viral recipes such as butter chicken (via The New Yorker) and twisted bacon (via The Kitchn).

But as anyone living in a small apartment knows, these helpful appliances can quickly clutter a kitchen. Those that are really earning their keep will continually be reached for, while those that are overrated will be stored under the counter or above the cabinets — or, more likely, sold on Craigslist to make room for something better. Here at Tasting Table, we were curious which small kitchen appliances our readers have found to deliver less than promised, and one pricey item in particular was named by a majority of those polled.

Have you ever owned a Vitamix? If so, then you know that this multipurpose blender is touted as being able to handily mix together hot and cold soups, doughs, nut butters, non-dairy milks, and more. While many home cooks and chefs alike adore the Vitamix (via Epicurious), lots of people also balk at its price, with its priciest model, the Ascent, selling for up to $800 (via Vitamix). Perhaps for that reason, the majority of the 515 Tasting Table readers we polled, nearly 26% of them, named the blender as the most overrated option for countertop appliances.

Hot on the Vitamix's heels in the poll was the pod-based coffee maker, such as those from Cuisinart and Nespresso (via Consumer Reports). Nearly 24% of poll respondents felt this type of coffee maker is overrated. Almost 20% of respondents named the juicer, a gadget famous for never actually getting used (via Which?) as the most overrated small kitchen appliance, while beloved choices the air fryer and Instant Pot didn't get too many votes for being overrated — just 17% and 13%, respectively. 

Based on reader sentiment, it feels like a good time to review the best uses for the air fryer and the best uses for the Instant Pot — and get cooking.