The Coolest Kitchen Appliances

Let’s be honest, the kitchen can often be a rather cold and functional place – a space in the home where you cook your breakfast, lunch and dinner at a usually breakneck pace (we all lead busy lives), and resign to the living room to put your feet up.

But what if I told you there are some ingenious, innovative and really quite marvellous appliances and gadgets that could transform your kitchen from a merely utilitarian space into an Eden of endless fun and quirky cool.

Forget Jamie and his 15-minute makeovers or Paul Hollywood encouraging you to engage in suspicious dough-based activities. What you really need to keep energetic and enthused in the kitchen is one – or indeed all – of these funky and fun kitchen appliances.

Toast Printer

We’re all familiar with the general concept of a printer – you put the paper in and your chosen printed document comes out the other side. It works perfectly well in an office, so why not apply the same logic to a toaster? No freshly printed sheets of A4 here – just freshly toasted bread time and time again.

The Transparent Toaster

There’s myriad of things in the history of the known universe that we’re intrigued about and furrowing to find the answers for, but the inner mechanical workings of a toaster probably isn’t one of them. Nevertheless, if that’s the kind of thing that floats your boat, the transparent toaster will keep you gazing and transfixed at its transparent miracles for ages.

Pop Art Toaster

Now this is a bit more like it. Not quite Andy Warhol – you don’t get toast with a burnt imprint of Marilyn Monroe’s face on it – but a quirky, funky kitchen accessory oddity. Change the setting to get a funny face or a message saying ‘Bite Me’ on your slice of fresh white. Guaranteed to bring a smile to your face whether you’re down in the dumps or suffering from a winter cold.

Keyboard Waffle Maker

Waffles are tasty and wonderful enough – but now they’re even more wafflingly wicked with this waffle maker that creates them in the shape of a keyboard.

Cravendale Magic Milk Jug

It’s estimated that over 330,000 tonnes of milk – costing a whopping £250 million – is thrown away by British households every year. As a solution to this extraordinary level of waste (and an extension of their research into what bacteria turns milk sour), Cravendale have manufactured the Magic Milk Jug. With an LCD screen that tells you if the milk is ‘Fresh’ or ‘Sour’, you’ll never drink gone-off milk again – and will help you reduce unnecessary wastage of the cow juice.

The Shark Tea Infuser

Jaws of the Typhoo world. Orca of the brew. Oh OK, that might be over-dramatizing it somewhat, but there’s no denying this shark-shaped tea infuser is a fun twist or the rather turgid, traditional tea strainer. You can hum the theme from Jaws waiting for your brew as it floats atop your cup.

Lego Salt And Pepper Shakers

Those little blocks of interlocking plastic have made something of a cultural resurgence of late, creating its own distinctive variations on films and video games. Here though, you can disperse your condiments through red, white and black Lego blocks. Simultaneously retro and contemporary. Someone pass the salt, please.

ON/OFF Mug

Sometimes it’s difficult to gauge if your cup of tea is piping hot or mildly tepid – until you put it to your mouth and either burn your lips or suck on cold tea. Here, the solution presents itself. Hot contents display ON, cold OFF, guaranteeing you the perfect beverage temperature every time.