When you give the gift of a new appliance, you’re gifting something the whole family can enjoy. Instead of a small present for every family member this holiday season, consider an appliance that can treat everyone all at once (and every day), like a new stove to cook delicious meals on, a mini fridge that’s just for snacks, or a robot vacuum that makes chore day easier all around.
Give the gift of a new appliance in the kitchen for everyday enjoyment
Make cooking feel special again with a new appliance set for your family kitchen. Appliances are a big investment, and I’m honestly a little surprised that they aren’t treated as gifts more often—you’ll likely spend more on new appliances for your home than on any other single purchase! Yes, large appliances are necessities, but so are items like socks and mittens, which are common gift items during the holidays.
If it’s time for an upgrade, give your family the gift of a new appliance this holiday season with a great new fridge, range, or dishwasher. I particularly recommend treating your family to an induction range for the holidays: It’ll make cooking faster, easier, and more precise, so things like frying eggs at breakfast and boiling water for pasta at dinner fly by in a breeze.
Going induction is like giving your family the gift of extra time every day, with fast, efficient heating times. My mom and I compared our ranges once and found that a pot of water for making tea took about six minutes to boil on my electric stovetop, but two minutes on her induction range. Talk about time-saving!
Get more fridge or freezer space with a secondary appliance
Every family has a different name for this one: The second fridge; the basement freezer; the beer fridge. In my family, it’s the ice cream fridge, and it reigns supreme.
The idea behind this gift is simple. When you buy a secondary fridge or freezer for your family, it truly is a gift that everyone can enjoy all year round… With the promise of extra snacks to fill all of your new chilled shelves. Whether that means filling your new fridge with your family’s favourite beverages, fruits and veggies, or ice cream pints and bars, a new fridge comes with the promise of year-round enjoyment.
We mostly use our secondary fridge for bubble tea ice cream bars and cake for when the whole family gets together. As you might have guessed, it’s pretty universally adored as a result.
Enjoy hands-off chore days with a new robot vacuum for the family
Robot vacuums make amazing gifts, and they’re definitely a holiday present for the whole family. After all, household chores are something that we all pitch in on! With one less chore to be done every week, that means the whole family has more time to spend together. You can use your robot vacuum to get your floors sparkling clean at the touch of a button, and luxury models will even self-empty, memorize maps, and let you spot clean from your smartphone. I find them to be a particular treat during the busy holiday season, when your home is filled with family and friends but you’re just too busy sleeping and socializing to clean the crumbs off the kitchen floor before bed.
For a robot vacuum that’s a major treat for the whole family, try a model with smart mapping and self-emptying capabilities. Or, check out my post covering other premium vacuums that make great gifts for the holidays.
Turn laundry day into something the kids volunteer for
Maybe this is just me, but when I have a nice washer and dryer in the home, I love doing the laundry. There’s something so satisfying about choosing the perfect settings for your dirty clothes, listening for the machines to chime, and lifting perfectly-spun or dried clothes out of your washer and dryer.
Replacing your old machines with ones that are easy to use for the whole family is a great way to get everyone involved in your household chores. Try a set of side-loading machines for your replacement: They’re easier to load and unload, even for younger kids who might not be able to comfortably reach into a top-loading machine. (Plus, side-loaders are gentler on your clothes and use less water, which will help keep your household costs down!)
To create an even more pleasant experience in your laundry room, opt for a machine like those from Samsung, LG, or Whirlpool, whose machines will play your family a song when they’re finished.
Give the gift of a new appliance with something small
New appliances don’t have to be something huge. You can go with a small appliance too, which your whole family can enjoy even if it isn’t time for a major appliance upgrade.
For a couple of years, my big thing was soda machines. (I really only stopped buying them for family members because we all have one now, thanks to yours truly.) I bought mine back around 2017 and quickly found that having the option of fresh, cold, fizzy water helped me keep my water intake up. Overnight, I went from a reluctant three glasses of tap water a day to an enthusiastic five or six, alternating between filtered water from the fridge and fizzy water from my soda machine.
The SodaStream line is easy to find and offers lots of different models, including one with a comfortable pull-down handle instead of a push-button design. They’re great for simple, no-fuss sparkling water production. But for families who enjoy a mix of beverages, the Drinkmate range is worth a look, too. Drinkmate’s carbon dioxide injector is part of the line’s bottle caps instead of their machines, making them washable between uses. That means you can fizz any thin liquid in a Drinkmate bottle, including wine, juice, and cocktails.
(I still find that cold water takes a fizz on the best, though: Once you get into heavier liquids like mango juice, the bubbles just don’t want to stay.)
Grab a great new small appliance that you can use together
Daily-use items like soda machines are a great way to improve your family’s quality of day to day life, but more specialized appliances can be an awesome purchase, too. Small appliances like popcorn makers are great for family movie night, and frozen dessert makers can be fun for the whole family to use together.
My mom and I went through a string of specialized snack appliances when I was growing up, from shaved ice makers to waffle irons. We always used them together, and even though we definitely didn’t need them as a vital part of the kitchen, we made some great memories over each and every one. (Pro tip for holiday gifters: If you’re going to give someone a shaved ice machine, make sure it’s electric, not manual. We hated our manual shaved ice machine—but we hated it together, which left me with some great memories of making shaved mint chip ice while bemoaning the state of our arm muscles.)
With a great appliance, you can give the gift of making memories together. With or without the extra elbow grease.
Shop major appliances and small appliances online at Best Buy today.
