A home oven tops out at around 500°F. A Neapolitan pizzeria oven runs at 800°F or more, and that gap is why homemade pizza so rarely tastes like the real thing: at 500°F the crust dries out before it chars, and the cheese overcooks while the base is still pale. Outdoor gas and wood-fired ovens solved this years ago, but they need a garden, a...
KitchenAid makes two kinds of stand mixer, and the choice between them is the one most buyers get wrong. The Artisan is the tilt-head mixer you picture when you hear the name: the head hinges back so you can reach the bowl, it comes in dozens of colors, and it is the default wedding-registry gift. The bowl-lift models keep the head fixed and raise...
Most people who buy an espresso machine want the latte, not the hobby. The traditional route — a semi-automatic machine, a separate grinder, a scale, a tamper and a few weeks of wasted beans while you learn to dial in a shot — puts a lot of people off before they pull a good one. The Ninja Luxe Café Premier is built for them. It...
Vitamix has been selling essentially the same blender since the 1990s, and it keeps selling because the thing works. The 5200 is that blender: a 2 horsepower motor, a 64-ounce jug, a dial, and a switch. At $479.99 it remains the machine most professional kitchens and most serious home cooks actually own. The Ascent X5 at $699.95 is Vitamix’s...
Breville’s Barista series has been the default recommendation for home espresso for over a decade, and the two machines people actually choose between are the Barista Express at $689.99 and the Barista Touch at $987.99. They share the same fundamentals — integrated conical burr grinder, low-pressure pre-infusion, digital temperature...
Bosch has been making bean-to-cup coffee machines for European kitchens for decades, and it is only now bringing that range properly to the United States. The Series 6 is the interesting one: $1,299 buys a stainless steel machine that grinds, brews, and froths 25 drinks at the touch of a screen, extends to 41 through an app, and connects to your...
Bosch has just brought its fully automatic bean-to-cup machines to American kitchens, and the timing is awkward for KitchenAid. The Bosch Series 6 arrives at $1,299 with a touchscreen, 25 drinks on the machine and 41 through its app, and full smart-home integration. The KitchenAid KF3 counters at $999.95 with a deliberately compact body, a...
