A small kitchen punishes gear that sits in a cupboard and never leaves it. This page picks five items that earn their space, and flags one that usually does not. The short answer: buy the Cuisinart Mini Prep for chopping and sauces, the All-Clad cordless immersion blender for soups and smoothies, a set of boards, and a flat digital scale. Skip the Dash egg cooker unless you eat eggs every day.
We have not tested these products. This page compares size, specs, owner reports and return reasons, and checks each item against the job it has in a small kitchen.
Our picks
- Best small food processor: Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus 4 Cup. It chops onions, herbs and nuts and makes pesto, dips and breadcrumbs. It takes about as much room as a large mug and a half.
- Best blender that stores in a drawer: All-Clad Cordless Immersion Blender. A stick blender goes in the pot, so you wash one wand, not a whole jar. It has no cord to wind up.
- Best cutting boards: Joseph Joseph Index set. Four color-coded boards that stand in a slim case. They keep raw meat apart from vegetables.
- Best scale: OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale. It is flat, with a display that pulls out so a large bowl does not cover the numbers.
- The one to skip unless you eat eggs daily: Dash Rapid Egg Cooker. It cooks up to six eggs at once. It is a single-purpose gadget, and that is why it comes with a warning.
How we chose
In a small kitchen, three things matter. First, size when stored. If it needs its own shelf, it needs a good reason. Second, how many jobs one item does. Third, how fast you can wash it, because a gadget that takes ten minutes to clean stays in the cupboard.
We ignored power ratings and long feature lists. A strong motor does not help if the thing takes up half a counter. We also ignored sets of many small tools. In a small kitchen, five items you use beat fifteen you forget about.
Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus 4 Cup Food Processor
The Mini Prep does the chopping jobs that take the most time by hand. Mince a handful of garlic and onion, blitz herbs for a green sauce, grind nuts, make hummus or a small batch of pesto. The four cup bowl is the right size for one or two people. It is simple to run: a lid, a blade and a button.
It fits in a cabinet and can sit on a shelf, and the bowl and blade are quick to wash. This is the reason it beats a full food processor in a small space. A full-size machine slices and shreds better, but it is large and has many parts.
The drawback is capacity. Four cups fills quickly, so a double batch of dip takes two rounds, and it is not made for kneading dough or shredding a head of cabbage. Skip the Mini Prep if you cook for a family of four or more, or if you already chop everything by hand and enjoy it. A good knife and a board will do the same job more slowly.
All-Clad Cordless Immersion Blender
An immersion blender is the answer to the question of where to keep a blender. It is a wand with a blade at the end. Put it in the pot and blend a soup smooth without moving hot liquid to a jar. It also makes smoothies in a tall cup, whips sauces and can make mayonnaise from scratch.
This one is cordless, so it stores in a drawer with nothing to untangle and no outlet to find. That helps in a kitchen where counter outlets are few and far apart. Cleaning means rinsing the wand under the tap.
The drawback is battery life and power. A cordless motor can slow down on thick, frozen mixes, and a battery means charging. A corded blender or a full countertop blender handles ice and frozen fruit better. Skip this pick if you want thick frozen smoothies every morning or if you blend large batches. In that case you need a real blender and the room for it.
Joseph Joseph Index Cutting Board Set
The Index set holds four boards in a thin case: one each for meat, fish, vegetables and cooked food. The color coding makes it easy to keep raw chicken away from salad. The case stands on its side, so the whole set takes little shelf room. Each board is small enough to wash in a standard sink.
For a small kitchen, a set of thin boards takes less space than one large wood block. You can also use a board as a lid for a pot or a surface on top of the stove when counter space runs out.
The drawback is size. The boards are not large, so breaking down a whole chicken or chopping a pile of vegetables for a party feels cramped. Plastic can also scar with use and holds odors more than wood does. Skip the set if you want a single big board for serious knife work, or if you prefer wood. Many people in small kitchens keep both.
OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Digital Kitchen Scale
A scale improves baking more than any other small purchase. It measures in grams and ounces, and the tare button zeroes the weight of the bowl. You can add ingredient after ingredient into one bowl, which means fewer cups to wash. That helps in a kitchen with a tiny sink.
The display pulls out from the base, so you can read it around a large bowl. The stainless top wipes clean. It stores flat in a drawer or leans against the wall.
The drawback is simple: it runs on batteries, and it is easy to forget to turn it off. Its capacity is also limited to a few pounds, which is plenty for most jobs but not for weighing a large roast. Skip it if you cook only from recipes in cups and do not bake. Also skip it if you will never move to gram measures. For anyone who bakes bread, it pays for itself.
Dash Rapid Egg Cooker
The Dash cooks up to six eggs at once, hard or soft boiled, poached or as an omelet, using a small amount of water. It switches itself off and sounds a buzzer. For someone who eats eggs every morning, that is a real convenience, and it is small.
For everyone else, it is a gadget that does one job. A pot of boiling water, a timer and a bowl of ice water also make good eggs, and a pot is already in your kitchen. The Dash takes up space you may not have.
The drawback is the shelf space and the single use. It also needs a cleaning and a descaling now and then. Skip it unless you eat several eggs a week, every week, and you want the hands-off timing. If you only boil eggs on weekends, use a pot.
What to know before you buy
Do I need a full-size food processor instead? Not in a small kitchen. The Mini Prep does most prep jobs. A full-size one makes sense if you shred cheese and slice vegetables in bulk.
Can an immersion blender replace a regular blender? For soup, sauces and light smoothies, yes. For ice, frozen fruit and thick mixes, a countertop blender does better.
Are plastic boards safe for raw meat? Plastic boards that go in the dishwasher are easy to sanitize. Replace any board with deep cuts, because bacteria can hide in them.
Is a scale worth it if I do not bake? Less so. It still helps with portions, coffee and pasta, but a baker gets the most from it.
Why list an egg cooker at all? Because some readers do eat eggs daily. If you do not, skip it.
