Slogging over the stove is no fun, especially during the festive season, when there are guests that need entertaining. The right kitchen appliance can make a world of difference, saving you from lengthy hours of preparation and giving you more time to mingle. From ovens for your cookies and roasts to coffee machines and wine preservation system, here are some of the latest must-have kitchen gadgets that make cooking and entertaining a breeze.
Smeg Galileo
Heritage meets innovation as Smeg rolls out Galileo, a new generation of made-in-Italy ovens that aims to revolutionise the cooking experience for the modern home. A redesigned heating system allows for maximum efficiency, while three different cooking modes – traditional, steam, and microwave cooking – lets you put together entire feasts, from appetisers to mains and desserts.
Spearheading the Galileo line is the Omnichef range, an all-in-one oven which highlights the brand’s multi-cooking technology. Enjoy full control over recipes, as different cooking methods can be programmed to operate one after another or simultaneously, without needing to reset temperature and duration parameters.
Make healthy and flavourful dishes with the Steam range, which combines traditional cooking and variable dispensing steam. The Steam100PRO offers steam injections between 20 percent to 100 percent, yielding fat-free results that keep moisture sealed in and flavours intact. Other special functions include sous vide cooking, barbecue, stone cooking, and air frying. There is also a multi-point probe that identifies internal temperatures from up to three zones within an ingredient, ensuring meat and fish are always cooked to perfection.
The Speedwave XL range is ideal for those in a time crunch. This energy-saving microwave oven comes equipped with inverter and stirrer technologies for uniform cooking and accurate temperature control, eliminating the need for a rotating plate. It also has five cooking levels that reduce prep time by up to 40 percent.
The Galileo line of ovens is available at Smeg’s experiential showroom at Marina One Show Gallery.
Smeg EGF03 Espresso Machine
After a lavish feast, wind down over a cafe-worthy cuppa with SMEG’s new EGF03 Espresso machine, which combines beautiful, stylish design with cutting-edge technology. The machine is a paragon in the art of precise coffee-making–featuring integrated, stainless steel conical grinders so you can finely adjust your grind to perfection. The top grinder can be easily removed for thorough cleaning, ensuring your machine maintains pristine performance with every brew.
It also comes equipped with a dual Thermoblock heating system that guarantees zero wait time between brewing and milk frothing, allowing you to prepare barista-level milk-based drinks with ease. Additionally, the stainless steel 58mm portafilter and steam wand add a professional touch, while the pressure gauge ensures every cup of espresso is high quality. Make custom drinks for each of your guests using the EGF03’s intuitive control panel, which includes two pre-set grind options, two brewing options, four pre-infusion profiles, and four extraction temperature levels. The EGF03 also comes complete with non-pressurised and pressurised filters, a milk carafe, stainless steel tamper, and a range of maintenance accessories – basically everything you need to recreate a professional-level barista experience at home.
The Smeg EGF03 Espresso machine is available for purchase at smeg.com/sg.
Coravin Vinitas
Gift your guests their own sampler wine kits using the Coravin Vinitas, a device that fractionises standard-sized wine bottles into single serves for sampling. Primarily designed for wineries, distributors, retailers, and wine schools, the tabletop-sized machine comes with four individual bays that can fractionalise up to 90 samples per hour from any type of source container, including large formats such as kegs, tanks, and barrels.
Its proprietary technology uses pure argon or nitrogen gas to extract wine or spirits from a source bottle and dispense them into sample bottles. Low permeability tubing creates an oxygen-free environment, ensuring each sample bottle is perfectly preserved for up to 12 months, retaining flavours and aromas as if they were newly opened; while an automated smart system features a precise filling function to ensure zero waste when transferring between source bottles.
The Coravin Vinitas is available for lease on a month-to-month duration – ideal for entertaining guests if you’re hosting multiple gatherings over the holiday season. For more information, visit coravinvinitas.com.
Coravin Timeless
From wine experts Coravin comes another worthy addition to any party: their flagship Timeless range, a convenient, easy-to-use wine preservation system – now available in two limited edition colours to usher in the holiday season.
The device comes with a needle which gently passes through cork to extract wine while filling the bottle with argon gas, keeping wine as fresh as the day it was bottled, for months or even years. Inspired by the spirit of exploration, the new colours are an invitation for wine enthusiasts to embark on their own tasting journeys.
Add a touch of refinement to your home bar with the The Timeless Six+ Mist, which comes in a subdued grey shade with silver accents, while the Timeless Three+ Deep Sea Blue features a matte oceanic blue over Coravin’s characteristic all-black device. The range also comes in celebration sets that include thoughtful accessories such as a timeless aerator that decants wines as you pour, a display base, bottle sleeves to keep wines chilled, carry case, needle clearing tool, Timeless Screw Caps, and Coravin Puretm Argon Capsules.
The Timeless range is available at coravin.sg.
Miele
Hassle-free cooking has never been easier than with Miele’s combi steam ovens, now available with automatic cleaning to give you sparkling oven interiors. The 3-in-1 range comes with all the beloved features of its predecessors, including fast heat-up times, short cooking times, and various configurable modes, from defrosting and sous video cooking to yoghurt making and even fruit juicing. Easily adjust parameters such as operating mode, temperature, time, and moisture to suit your individual needs and preferences – or choose from over 200 automatic programmes to prepare meat, rice, bread, and desserts.
The CombiCooking feature is especially useful for keeping flavours sealed in, thanks to the combination of conventional heating modes with added moisture; while the GourmetRoasting function ensures meat dishes always come out tender, succulent, and juicy. The best part of the new generation of ovens is the HydroClean self-cleaning function, which gets rid of stubborn food residue effortlessly, simply by pouring in a specially formulated liquid cleaner, and letting the tech do the rest.
The DGC HydroClean range comes in three colours – Clean Steel, Obsidian Black, and Graphite Grey – with prices starting from $9,300. The range is available at the Miele Experience Center and authorised retail partners.
Gaggenau
Stay focused on creating mouthwatering dishes for your guests, without having to worry about monitoring air quality. Gaggenau’s new 400 series flex induction cooktop makes odour-free frying possible, thanks to an integrated ventilation system that comes with a powerful downdraft between its two cooking areas. Set it to air recirculation or air extraction mode, which automatically determines the best power level to use based on vapour detected in the atmosphere for maximum energy efficiency.
You can also easily cook with pots and pans of different sizes using the expandable cooking zone feature: it even accommodates griddle pans up to 30cm wide, for making teppanyaki or other grilled dishes. Whether you’re utilising the booster function to achieve searing heat, the keep warm function, or the frying sensor for even heat, the induction cooktop allows for plenty of flexibility to your cooking style and needs. Looks-wise, the sleek appliance’s frameless and flush fitting blends seamlessly into any modern kitchen, with precise and intuitive black steel control knobs that light up during usage.
Gaggenau’s flex induction cooktop is available on gaggenau.com.
A version of this article first appeared in epicure.
