Small Appliances
Blenders, food processors, rice cookers, pressure cookers, and sous vide machines
How to Use an Aroma Rice Cooker
The cup is 180 mL, not a US cup, and that one fact explains most Aroma complaints. A chef's model-by-model guide to the buttons, the fill lines, and the steam tray.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 9, 2026
How to Make Ice Cream in a Blender
A blender cannot churn, so it does the job in two steps instead of one. A chef explains both methods, the ratio that keeps the base scoopable, and why yours came out icy.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 8, 2026
How to Use a Food Processor
A 14-cup food processor bowl is rated for 14 cups of sliced vegetables but only 10 cups of thin liquid, and the assembly order decides whether it starts at all.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 8, 2026
What Is a Food Processor Used For?
A chef's list of what a food processor is actually used for, grouped by technique, plus the four jobs it does badly and why its bowl holds less than the box says.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 7, 2026
Best Blenders for Acai Bowls of 2026
The best acai bowl blenders of 2026, chosen by CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield: 10 machines ranked on the one thing that decides this job, whether they can move a frozen puree block with almost no liquid.
10 products reviewed · Updated Sep 7, 2026
How to Use a Ninja Blender
A Ninja loads backwards from every other blender, and its 72-ounce pitcher only takes 64. A chef's operating guide, straight from the owner's guides.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 6, 2026
The 9 Best Stainless Steel Rice Cookers of 2026, Tested by a Chef
Most rice cookers sold as stainless hide a nonstick pot. Chef Nora Whitfield verified the inner pot on 9 machines and names the ones with bare 304 stainless.
9 products reviewed · Updated Sep 5, 2026
How to Cook Brown Rice in a Rice Cooker
The exact ratio, the real cycle time, and why brown rice is the one grain that exposes what kind of rice cooker you actually own. Plus the fix for a machine with no brown setting.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 5, 2026
Best Quiet Blenders of 2026
The best quiet blenders of 2026, chosen by CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield: 10 machines ranked on published decibel data, sound enclosures, and what the numbers actually mean.
10 products reviewed · Updated Sep 5, 2026
How Much Rice Per Person? Portions for 1 to 100 People (Chef's Chart)
Plan on 1/4 cup uncooked rice per person as a side and 1/2 cup as a main. Full charts for 2, 4, 6, 10, and 50 people, by cup, gram, and pound.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 5, 2026
Food Processor vs Blender: What Each Machine Actually Does
Food processor vs blender, settled by mechanism. A blender pulls a vortex and needs liquid. A processor sweeps the whole bowl and does not. Who wins what.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 4, 2026
Best Blenders with Glass Jars of 2026
The best blenders with glass jars, tested and verified by CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield: 10 machines with confirmed glass jars, ranked on thermal shock, power and jar life.
10 products reviewed · Updated Sep 4, 2026
How to Use a Rice Cooker
What the machine is actually doing, what every button means, how long a real cycle takes, and the three parts nobody cleans. A chef's operating guide.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 4, 2026
Best Blenders for Protein Shakes of 2026
The best blenders for protein shakes, chosen by CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield: 10 machines compared on ice crushing, powder clumping, cup leaks and noise.
10 products reviewed · Updated Sep 3, 2026
How to Make Sushi Rice: Ratios, the Sushi-zu, and the Four Minutes That Matter
Sushi rice done properly: rinsing, the soak argument, exact water ratios, a 4:2:1 sushi-zu in grams, and the cut-and-fan technique that makes grains gloss.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 3, 2026
Rice to Water Ratio: The Chart for Every Type of Rice (Stovetop, Rice Cooker, Instant Pot)
Exact rice to water ratios for white, jasmine, basmati, sushi, brown, wild, and arborio rice, by volume and by weight, plus separate numbers for each method.
0 products reviewed · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Best Food Processors of 2026
Best food processor picks for 2026 from CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield, comparing 8 machines on bowl capacity, motor power, disc sets and feed chute width.
8 products reviewed · Updated Sep 2, 2026
The 9 Best Rice Cookers of 2026, Tested by a Chef
CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield ranks the 9 best rice cookers of 2026 on heating type, inner pot build, keep-warm quality, and how they handle brown rice and sushi rice.
9 products reviewed · Updated Sep 8, 2026
Best Blender Food Processor Combos of 2026
Best blender food processor combo picks for 2026 from CIA-trained chef Nora Whitfield, sorted by the one thing that matters: real slicing discs or just a chopper.
11 products reviewed · Updated Sep 2, 2026
Best Stainless Steel Juicers of 2026
Chef Nora Whitfield reviews the 12 best stainless steel juicers of 2026, checking which parts are actually steel, the alloy grade, and which listings only look stainless.
12 products reviewed · Updated Sep 2, 2026