So long, Smeg: These are the new essentials of a middle-class kitchen

Blenders
Cupboards
Rice cookers
Pantries
Cookers and ovens
Outdoor ovens
Drinks storage
Kitchen lighting

Blenders, Cupboards, Rice cookers, Pantries, Cookers and ovens, Outdoor ovens, Drinks storage, Kitchen lighting

Painted shaker cupboards have fallen out of vogue in favour of natural timber cabinetry

Until recently, a retro-style Smeg fridge was a middle-class kitchen must-have, along with a range cooker (preferably an Aga) and a walk-in pantry with a glazed Crittall door. The current cost of living crunch is reshaping the modern kitchen, however, pushing buyers to invest in more cost-effective designs and practical appliances.

“Everything had to look so beautiful, but now there is a general paring back,” explains Lucinda Sanford, an interior designer and project manager.

“We’ve hit peak kitchen. People are getting real. They can’t afford to buy statement appliances, and they want life to be less complicated. Sleeker, integrated kitchens are more fashionable now.”

Appliances are no longer the stars of the kitchen, agrees architect and designer Max de Rosée. “It used to be all about a bold fridge or range cooker, but now luxury is subtlety and restraint.”

As a result, brands such as Aga, whose iconic cookers cost more than £12,000, and posh pot maker Le Creuset, whose 24cm family-sized casseroles cost around £305, are reporting a decline in sales, while Smeg, whose standalone 1950s-style fridges sell for more than £2,000, is reporting “challenging marketing conditions”.

Austerity isn’t the only reason, though, why middle-class consumers are turning away from some kitchen classics. They’re also being courted hard by newcomers such as SharkNinja, the US appliance brand that reported £81.5m profit for 2023 and sells pizza ovens, soup makers, soft-serve machines and rice cookers.

Our Place, which promises to replace a cupboard’s worth of cookware with an aesthetic-looking non-stick, multi-use “Always Pan”, and Gordon Ramsay-endorsed HexClad, which produces stainless-steel and non-stick pans, are also preying on middle-class shoppers.

These new gadgets and appliances make cooking fun, healthy and easy. Yet the marketplace is crowded, and a recent McKinsey white goods report highlights that consumers are increasingly favouring durability, efficiency and affordability when choosing products.

Here are the products that are making their way into the modern middle-class kitchen, and the ones that are being left behind.

Blenders

Out: Nutribullet

In: Braun blender

Who knew you could make silky purées, soups, cocktails and smoothies with a basic Braun blender? It’s the kitchen gadget of choice for Charlotte Roy, a chef at Plates, Britain’s only Michelin-star plant-based restaurant. “Nutribullets and Thermomixes are overrated,” she says. “Just buy a powerful blender – it’s much more satisfying.”

Graters

Out: Electric chopper

In: Professional microplane grater

Inspired by the frenetic fine-dining kitchen featured on the Disney+ series The Bear, and by TikTok’s never-ending parade of microplane-wielding professional chefs, middle-class cooks are getting serious. Chef’s tools such as mandolins, microplanes and decent mid-weight knives are the current trend, according to Roy.

Cupboards

Out: Painted shaker cupboards

In: Natural timber cabinetry

Natural-wood kitchens with open shelves, beloved in the Seventies, are replacing painted Shaker cabinetry, according to Max de Rosée. The point, he says, “is to emphasise raw materials and keep the space calm yet full of personality.”

Rice cookers

Out: Electric rice cooker

In: Microwave Rice cooker

For perfect grains, we needed to invest £100 in an electric rice cooker until middle-class favourite Joseph Joseph kindly brought out a microwave rice and grain steamer. It takes up much less space, can be washed in the dishwasher and costs just £26.

Fridges

Out: Smeg standalone vintage fridge

In: Cheap integrated fridge

The much-coveted standalone vintage Smeg fridge has no place in today’s more pared-back kitchens. “A fridge behind beautiful hand-crafted joinery lends itself to beauty as well as function,” says Rose Hanson, an interior designer and wife of comedian Josh Widdicombe. No one will know or care how much or how little you spent on the fridge itself.

Taps

Out: Designer kettles

In: Statement taps

At around £3,000, a Quooker boiling-water tap with cooled, filtered and sparkling water costs more than most other appliances put together, but it frees up space on the worktop – no need for a kettle or carbonator – and gives you boiling water on tap. Sanford questions whether we’ll tire of them, given they require regular servicing and new filters, but for the time being Zip, Perrin & Rowe and Quooker have kicked the designer kettle out of the kitchen.

Pantries

Out: Show pantries

In: Hidden pantries

While images of your immaculate pantry might perform well on Instagram (#pantryporn), the fad for a glazed pantry is over, Sanford says. “People have realised that having to keep a pantry tidy all the time is pretty grim. It’s easier to store food behind cupboard doors, and the same goes for appliances and kitchen gadgets.”

Cookers and ovens

Out: £10k+ range cookers

In: App-controlled ovens with steam, microwave and proving functions

Multitasking ovens that double as an air fryer, steamer, pizza oven and microwave are more cost-effective than a range cooker and arguably more functional (some range cookers don’t even have a timer!). You can even use them to prove your sourdough. For ultimate chef status, install two of them side by side.

Hobs

Out: Elaborate cooker hoods

In: Down-draft hobs

The sleekest kitchens have banished cooker hoods altogether. Instead, there will be a downdraft extractor sitting flush with the worktop, behind or beside the hob, to pull cooking steam, smoke and odours out of the room. If you can’t afford one, a simple stainless-steel extractor mounted above your hob is less naff (and cheaper) than a mock hearth.

Outdoor ovens

Out: Pizza ovens

In: Multi-function outdoor ovens

Many of us caught the alfresco cooking bug during lockdown, but why stick to pizzas? The latest outdoor ovens can produce crispy fries and Sunday roasts as well as stone-baked margheritas. While the Big Green Egg ceramic charcoal barbecue still has a cult following (prices from £849), the Ninja Woodfire electric outdoor oven and pizza maker, with an integrated smoker box, is a close contender (£349.99).

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Drinks storage

Out: Bar trolleys

In: Coffee nooks with state-of-the-art machines and frothers

Coffee machines are now the ultimate statement appliance. According to designer Nick Cryer of the design firm Berkeley Place, the astronomical cost of a takeaway coffee is behind the trend for the “café corner” – a space for a state-of-the-art coffee machine, mugs and frother, where once there might have been a more decadent bar or drinks trolley.

“The coffee ritual has never felt more indulgent,” he says. “Miele and De’Longhi still dominate the high-end bean-to-cup scene, while KitchenAid has a new collaboration with Nespresso.”

Kitchen lighting

Out: Pendant lighting

In: Professional kitchen lighting

Any kitchen island worth its salt has two or three pendant lights hanging above it. Now, though, the new generation of home chefs need to be able to see what they’re doing. Bright, functional angled spotlights – more akin to the lighting found in a professional kitchen – are now being factored into designs.