Sara’s Picks for Best Appliances of 2018

The Sous Chef from Breville
It happens at the beginning of every traditional holiday. We become obsessed with the food, the entertaining, the cooking and baking. Our friends and families are dear to us, but the onerous task of preparing Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas dinner, Hannukah celebrations, Easter dinner and Passover Seders is enough to make a home-chef cry.

Breville has created a superhero for us. The Sous Chef is the kitchen appliance of our dreams. With 3 feed chute options and 8 precision tools the Sous Chef 16 Pro brings professional prep to any kitchen. The extra-wide feed chute cuts longer slices and makes processing faster and easier. The mini feed chute prevents long thin ingredients like carrots from tipping over during slicing. It includes: julienne disc, French fry disc, whisking disc, reversible shedding disc, micro serrated universal SS blades, dough blade, mini blade, and motor overload protection. And it has a 16 cup capacity.

• 10:00 a.m. Plan the menu, line up the ingredients and hit the on button on what I call my new best friend.
• Peel 10 potatoes in 40 seconds, and cut them into perfect dice in another 40 seconds.
• Peel more potatoes and cut them into French fries.
• Insert the julienne disk and in seconds your potatoes are ready to make potato latkes.
• Peel carrots and cut into discs in seconds for my honey and orange glazed carrots.
• Throw in some peanuts and cashews to make peanut butter (smooth or chunky) like you've never tasted before. (the secret is in the quality of the nuts).
• Knead bread dough and let it rest.
• Knead pasta dough and let it rest.
• Grate some Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on pasta.
• Now that Romaine lettuce is persona non grata, insert the disk for coleslaw with two colors of cabbage, a bit of minced onion and carrots.
• Three pulses of the machine will mince some herbs to season every dish with freshness.
• Can't forget the cookies. Make almond flour and chickpea flour for the gluten free folks.
  Now to tidy up, and happily this gorgeous, powerful machine washes in minutes.
• 10:45 a.m. Enjoy a nice cup of Earl Grey and relax before I begin cooking.

Lattisima One from DeLonghi and Nespresso
Our preferences for coffee are as personal as our fingerprint. No two are the same: Americano with Oat Milk; Decaf with Almond Milk; Cappuccino with whole milk; Latte Machiatto with 2%; Espresso (black). What is a hostess to do? Stop offering coffee? Absolutely not. Just when we thought our Nespresso machine was sheer perfection, along comes Lattisima One.

I fill the milk container with Almond Milk, slip a coffee capsule into the machine, press the appropriate buttons and inhale the wonderful coffee aroma. Then I aim the nozzle of the milk container toward the cup and press the button. Foamy milk comes out in seconds and when it's done, there is one more splash of coffee for good measure. It's such fun to use, that everyone wants to make their own. So there's nothing left for me to do except relax and enjoy my Cappuccino. DeLonghi/Nespresso have their finger on the pulse of our coffee culture.

All Day Compact Grill from DeLonghi
It's always exciting to see the pretty new appliances produced each year by DeLonghi. And the one that I just love is the "apartment size" compact grill. While it takes up little room on the kitchen counter, it does a multitude of jobs. Three different non-stick elements can easily be clicked in and out.

On the first day of Christmas: Two grilled cheese sandwiches, two Belgian waffles, a half dozen strips of bacon (and a partridge in a pear tree.) On the second day of Christmas: Gluten-free Honey Waffles with Apricot Ricotta, Sandwich al Pizzaiola, two Turkey Burgers, grilled eggplant, zucchini and peppers (and a partridge in a pear tree). I could go on and on…. This Compact Grill fuels the imagination of everyone in the family and with easy- going flair, puts the fun back into cooking.