Here’s a tip if you’re shopping for good gifts for the home: Seek out things that your loved ones can use every day. Appliances fit the bill surprisingly well — but which ones are worth the cash? Here are four of the best smart appliances suited for gifting that CNET has seen over the past year.
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Instant Pot Ace
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/instant-pot-ace-60-cooking-blender-review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: The $99 Instant Pot Ace blender pulverized a variety of foods during testing, including almonds, spinach pesto and smoothies. The pitcher contains a built-in heater so you can cook and blend food simultaneously, which works well for foods like soups, baby foods and dairy alternatives like rice milk. And the preset modes are useful to make commonly blended foods with the press of a button.
The bad: The blender was only adequate at crushing ice, and there are no manual controls if you want to use the heater without using a preset blending mode.
The cost: $99.00 to $139.00
The bottom line: The Instant Pot Ace is a useful and affordable appliance to add to your countertop, and will make a great gift.
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FirstBuild Paragon Mat
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/paragon-mat-review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 4.0 stars out of 5 (Excellent)
The good: The Paragon Mat is the latest addition to the $299 Paragon Smart Cooking System. The mat lets you set specific temperatures when you’re using a pan to cook, and it will automatically maintain a steady temperature. The automation makes it easy to cook multiple items like eggs or pancakes that are nearly identical to one another, and the accompanying app is helpful.
The bad: There’s a limited number of food guides in the Paragon app that guide you through temperature-controlled pan cooking, which means it could be hard to figure out at which temperature to cook your dish.
The cost: $299.00
The bottom line: The Paragon Mat is a good value-add to the Paragon Smart Cooking System. The countertop system is a good investment for enthusiastic beginner cooks who aren’t afraid to use technology to give them a hand with common dishes.
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Bonavita Metropolitan 8-Cup brewer
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/bonavita-metropolitan-8-cup-brewer-review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: The Bonavita Metropolitan brews excellent coffee for a very reasonable price. It’s simple to use, compact and easy to clean.
The bad: It doesn’t have a thermal carafe. Coffee in its glass carafe cools quickly. Its body is all plastic.
The cost: $82.99 to $91.99
The bottom line: Buy the Bonavita Metropolitan coffee maker for its low price and excellent drip, but slow drinkers should save up for a thermal carafe model.
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June Intelligent Oven (2018)
Product Review: https://www.cnet.com/reviews/june-intelligent-oven-2018-review/#ftag=CAD187281f
CNET rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)
The good: The second generation of the June Intelligent Oven can recognize more foods than its predecessor thanks to a built-in camera and smartphone-like software. The Wi-Fi-connected countertop appliance also has more cooking programs and opportunities to tweak settings to get your food exactly how you like it. At $599, the new June is much cheaper than the original. And it cooks food well, be it cookies or chicken.
The bad: The June stumbles with toast. The oven has a tendency to slightly undercook foods, though it’s easy to add more cook time. And all the tweaks you can make to cooking programs means that cooking becomes more hands-on than you’d expect with a smart countertop oven.
The cost: $599.00
The bottom line: The June Intelligent Oven would make a fun and useful addition to your kitchen, especially as the company continues to update the oven’s software.
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The following CNET staff contributed to this story: Senior Editor Brian Bennett, former CNET staff member Ashlee Clark Thompson, Senior Associate Editor Ry Crist, Senior Associate Editor Andrew Gebhart and Senior Editor Laura K. Cucullu. For more reviews of personal technology products, please visit www.cnet.com.
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