JUMP TO Section Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options.- Best all-in-one food processor
- Best affordable all-in-one appliance
- Best all-in-one toaster oven
- What else we tested
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- Companies love to claim their kitchen appliances are 'all-in-one' solutions.
- We put seven multi-functional devices to the test to see how many appliances they can replace.
- The CookingPal Multo came closest to doing it all, but consider the cheaper Instant Pot Duo Crisp.
Do you ever feel like you're in the black-and-white segment of an infomercial as you struggle to find space in your kitchen for all of your small appliances? While there isn't a countertop machine that can do it all, the devices in this guide come close.
We looked at small appliances that do much more than their single-purpose counterparts. For instance, we included a food processor that weighs and cooks your ingredients, a multicooker that air fries and sous vide cooks, and a smart toaster oven that steams and sous vide cooks—all offer easy-to-follow, step-by-step recipes.
Since the devices perform such a diverse array of tasks, it didn't seem helpful to compare them directly via standardized tests. Instead, I tried various recipes and relied on my years of professional appliance-testing experience to assess their performances. The multi-purpose machines below are the best ones I've found.
The best all-in-one kitchen appliances of 2023
Best all-in-one food processor: CookingPal Multo - See at Cooking Pal
The CookingPal Multo is the best smart cooking food processor we tested, allowing you to cook a main course and sides simultaneously.
Best affordable all-in-one appliance: Instant Pot Duo Crisp - See at Instant Home
The Instant Pot Duo Crisp is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, air fryer, and sous vide machine all in one, making it one of the most useful and economical small appliances we tested.
Best all-in-one toaster oven: Anova Precision Oven - See at Anova
In addition to baking, toasting, and air frying, the Anova Precision Oven offers sous vide cooking, and you can control it and monitor the internal temperature of your food using your phone.
Best all-in-one food processor
The CookingPal Multo is the best smart cooking food processor we tested, allowing you to cook a main course and sides simultaneously.
- Included accessories: Three-piece steamer set, spatula, butterfly whisk, simmering basket, measuring cup
- Cooking capacity: 3.1 quarts
- Cooking modes: Saute, steam, weigh/scale, knead, keep warm, chop, whisk, grind, grate, mix/blend, slow cook, sous vide, boil, emulsify, stir, and clean
- Dimensions: 17.3 x 16.5 x 19.3 inches with steamer, 17.3 x 12.2 x 14.5 inches without
- Dishwasher-safe: Yes, everything except the base, tablet, and electrical cords
- Warranty: 2 years
Pros: Comes with a tablet for remote control and monitoring, dozens of easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions, the steamer set lets you bake and steam sides while cooking in the main bowl, built-in scale, dishwasher-safe
Cons: Didn't always chop ingredients evenly, pricy, cleaning mode doesn't clean well
The CookingPal Multo is an upstart cooking food processor designed to be a more affordable and user-friendly alternative to the Thermomix. The Thermomix and Multo are incredibly similar. Both have:
- Step-by-step cooking instructions
- Manual operations
- A built-in scale
- A steamer set that allows you to bake or steam sides while you cook in the main bowl
We gave the Multo the edge over the Thermomix TM6 because it:
- Is about $500 cheaper
- Comes with a tablet that allows you to control and monitor the cooking process remotely
- Doesn't require a subscription fee to access the recipes
However, if you have the extra money to spend, want more recipes, like a more powerful chopping blade, and don't care about having a remote control tablet, go with the Thermomix.
That said, I had a lot of fun with the Multo. I tried a wide variety of recipes and was consistently surprised to have them turn out great. One highlight was vegetarian chili and cornbread. First, I made the cornbread batter in the bowl. Then, I transferred it to a loaf pan and made the chili in the bowl. I put the loaf pan with the cornbread batter in the steamer basket and put it over the bowl while the chili simmered. The heat from the chili baked the cornbread, which worked like a charm.
I also made pork sausage and sauerkraut, creamy chicken fricassee with rice, cauliflower pizza, and more. The results were often just as good as if I'd made the dishes in a more traditional way. However, it was much faster and easier with the Multo.
All of the parts of the Multo are dishwasher safe except for the base and the tablet. It has a cleaning mode, but it wasn't enough to remove the stuck-on grime. Instead, I had to rely on the dishwasher.
The most significant negative I found with the Multo is it didn't chop ingredients to a uniform consistency. It might chop some vegetables to bits while other pieces were untouched. I'd often have to stir the contents and rerun the chopping cycle to get the job done.
Best affordable all-in-one appliance
The Instant Pot Duo Crisp is a pressure cooker, slow cooker, air fryer, and sous vide machine all in one, making it one of the most useful and economical small appliances we tested.
- Accessories: Air fryer lid, air fryer basket, heat-resistant pad for the lid, broil/dehydrate tray, steam rack
- Cooking capacity: 8 quarts
- Cooking modes: Pressure cook, saute, slow cooker, steam, sous vide, air fry, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, keep warm
- Dimensions: 14.76 x 13.58 x 15.28 inches
- Dishwasher-safe: Yes, everything except the base and the lids
- Warranty: 1 year
Pros: Comes with an app with more than 1,000 recipes, easy to use and set up, able to air fry, pressure cook, sous vide, and slow cook
Cons: Didn't sear well, heats up slowly, recipes are kind of bland
In our guides, the Instant Pot Duo Crisp is the best multitasking electric pressure cooker, sous vide machine, and air fryer. Plus, it's less than a third of the price of the other appliances we feature.
The Duo Crisp took about five minutes to set up and has intuitive controls with buttons for each function. The cooker has separate lids for air frying and pressure cooking modes, an annoying feature since you need to find space to store the extra lid when not in use.
It's no surprise the Duo Crisp is excellent at pressure cooking considering "Instant Pot" has become synonymous with "electric pressure cooker." A 3.5-pound chunk of pork shoulder became juicy, easy-to-shred pulled pork in about 75 minutes. Rice took about 20 minutes and had an excellent, uniform consistency. And dry beans were nearly perfect after an hour of pressure cooking.
The Duo Crisp was slow compared to single-task appliances when air frying, sous vide cooking, and slow cooking. For instance, a pound of frozen fries takes about 8 minutes to get golden and crispy in dedicated air fryers. The Duo Crisp took 11 minutes. The sous vide water bath took half an hour to get up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit, 20 minutes longer than our guide's best sous vide machines. Slow-cooked pulled pork was shreddable but still had some tough pieces.
Still, I was happy with the "good enough" performance, especially at this price. The Duo Crisp has a permanent spot in my kitchen.
I tested several recipes from the Instant Brands Connect app (available for iOS and Android), and overall, they turned out rather bland. The "perfect seared chicken" didn't sear as well as other multicookers I tested. And the Thai green curry was just so-so. However, there are hundreds of Instant Pot cookbooks and recipes available online. I've used several recipes from "The Step-by-Step Instant Pot Cookbook" for testing and personal enjoyment, and they are accurate and delicious.
Cleaning the Duo Crisp is simple. Everything but the lids and base are dishwasher safe. I like the durability of the stainless steel pot and how it can handle metal utensils without getting scratched.
Read our comparison of the Instant Pot Duo Crisp vs. the Ninja Foodi.
Best all-in-one toaster oven
In addition to baking, toasting, and air frying, the Anova Precision Oven offers sous vide cooking, and you can control it and monitor the internal temperature of your food using your phone.
- Accessories: Pan, two racks, attachable food probe
- Cooking capacity: 1.2 cubic feet - 16.9 x 12.4 x 10 inches
- Cooking modes: Steam, convection bake/air fry, proof, bake, dehydrate, broil, sous vide, roast, toast, defrost, reheat
- Dimensions: 22.4 x 17.7 x 14.1 inches
- Dishwasher-safe: No
- Warranty: 2 years
Pros: Great at sous vide, baking, air frying, and roasting, cooks evenly, comes with probe thermometer that connects to the oven, can sous vide without vacuum sealing, remote WiFi control via the app, dozens of step-by-step recipes
Cons: Temperature didn't remain consistent in our tests, slow to preheat and toast, unresponsive touch buttons on the handle
The Anova Precision Oven is the best combination toaster oven in our toaster oven guide because it performs all of the functions of a regular convection toaster oven, including air frying, in addition to sous vide cooking and steaming food.
The Anova Precision Oven has smart connectivity via the Anova Oven app (available for iOS and Android). The touch buttons on the handle weren't as responsive as I would have liked, so I controlled it with the app. The app has dozens of step-by-step recipes that automatically control the oven. And a temperature probe tracks the cooking process, so the oven can alert you when the internal temperature is where you want it.
I liked that I could preheat the Anova from anywhere. When I bought a frozen pizza, I preheated the oven while in the checkout line. This was particularly useful because it took longer to preheat and toast than other units we tested.
Yet, the Anova Precision Oven cooked pizza, cookies, and chicken quickly and evenly, producing delicious results.
Sous vide cooking with the Anova was unique because I didn't need to vacuum seal the ingredients. This allowed me to keep the temperature probe in and stop the cooking process when it was at the right temp.
The Anova Oven has become my main appliance for sous vide cooking. I've made countless steaks, pork ribs, leg of lamb, and more. The results are better than an immersion circulator.
The biggest negative with the oven is the temperature didn't stay consistent. Over two hours, we found the oven temp varied by 16 degrees.
Check out our guide to the best toaster ovens.
What else we tested
Thermomix TM6 Cooking Food Processor - I had a hard time deciding between the Thermomix and the Multo. I used both for 5 months. The Thermomix does a better job of chopping ingredients evenly and quickly. The recipes are a little more accurate and easier to follow. And you can access 70,000+ step-by-step recipes through the companion Cookidoo app (available for iOS and Android).
However, after the 30-day free trial, you have to pay $55 per year to access the recipes. On top of the $1,500 price tag, the subscription cost doesn't seem worth it when you can get the Multo.
Cuisinart Complete Chef Cooking Food Processor - The Complete Chef is the most affordable cooking food processor I tested. It's a fun appliance, and I still recommend it, but it performed worse than the Thermomix and Multo in several areas. There are only 200 recipes. The processor isn't WiFi-connected, so you need to scroll through the recipes to find the one you want. Scrolling alphabetically to "Swedish meatballs" was a pain.
The recipes could also use some tweaking. For instance, the banana pancake batter was much too thick. I had to add milk to create a good consistency for pancakes. The chopping blade and stirring blade didn't sufficiently chop and stir on the first try. Also, the directions don't always list the ingredient quantity at each step.
Lastly, unlike the Thermomix and Multo, there isn't a steaming basket to install on top of the lid to cook two things at once. With the Thermomix, I cooked meatballs in the basket. But, I had to use an oven when cooking meatballs with the Complete Chef.
Ninja Foodi Deluxe XL Pressure Cooker & Air Fryer (FD401) - The Foodi was the first multicooker to combine pressure cooking and air frying in one appliance. It does a great job of both, but the Instant Pot Duo Crisp did a better job of pressure cooking quickly in our tests. Plus, the Duo Crisp has sous vide cooking.
The Ninja Foodi excelled at slow cooking and searing meats. If you are more interested in these functions and air frying and don't need sous vide, you might prefer the Ninja Foodi.
- The best food processors
- The best toaster ovens
- The best Instant Pots and electric pressure cookers
- The best sous vide machines
- The best air fryers
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- The best toaster ovens
- The best Instant Pots and electric pressure cookers
- The best sous vide machines
- The best air fryers
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