The 2 Kitchen Items Kardea Brown Can't Live Without

The modern kitchen is equipped with high-end appliances designed to make cooking and baking easier. From money-saving air fryers to latte-making espresso machines, 21st-century kitchen gadgets are all about ease. While there are dozens of handy appliances worth installing in your kitchen, which ones are truly indispensable? To know for sure, you'll have to turn to the pros. Chowhound spoke with Emmy-nominated host of "Delicious Miss Brown" and New York Times best-selling author Kardea Brown at the NYC Wine & Food Fest to get the scoop on her must-have kitchen items.

You might think the Food Network star would put a cast iron skillet or snazzy Dutch oven at the top of her list, but Brown's must-have kitchen appliances are less about cooking and more about the prep work that comes before it. "Oh, two things," Brown said about her essential kitchen tools. "My food processor, my kitchen stand mixer. I can't live without those things."

Brown's selections for her must-have kitchen tools make prepping recipes as easy as pie. A food processor works by quickly chopping, slicing, mincing, and puréeing multiple ingredients at the same time, eliminating tedious knife work and making dishes like tuna salad, hummus, and fritters less time-consuming and physically demanding. Similarly, stand mixers take on heavy mixing tasks, reducing the amount of elbow grease that goes into kneading and whisking while giving you more agency to move about your kitchen as you prepare multiple dishes at once. Plus, stand mixers are often armed with helpful attachments for meat grinding, pasta making, and grain milling, just to name a few applications.

Considering their practicality and convenience, Kardea Brown's essential kitchen appliances aren't surprising. Luckily, stand mixers and food processors aren't just reserved for the top dogs. You too can benefit from their functionality.

Before purchasing a food processor, consider who you're cooking for. If you frequently make meals for a crowd, a larger food processor is essential. If you're cooking for one, a smaller food processor is the economical choice. If affordability is your priority, consider buying an Ourokhome manual food processor that works by pulling on a handle repeatedly to operate the blades. For less manual labor, a pricier automatic Cuisinart food processor that spins its blades at the flick of a switch is a better bet.

When you buy a stand mixer, which is typically more expensive than a food processor, get the most bang for your buck by purchasing a high-power model with optimal motor strength that effectively whips dense mixtures. To prevent spills and splatters, check product reviews to ensure that the stand mixer is stable and sturdy during use. If you don't need attachments and extra frills, save money by purchasing a stand mixer that doesn't include outlets for extensions. Finally, consider buying two bowls for your stand mixer so you can utilize its convenience for multiple dishes without wasting time scrubbing it between recipes.