Bake Off-style appliances you need in your kitchen kit

Posted on 19th September 2024

Want to be a star pâtissier? With The Great British Bake Off competition soon returning to our screens, we’re helping you make it happen with these first-class kitchen appliances…

From ovens and fridges to the all-important stand mixer, KBB journo Sally Smith rounds up the high-performance Bake Off-inspired appliances, that can help you up your skills while giving your kitchen bonus style points.

Forest green stand mixer in a white kitchen with cakes on a cooling rack on the right. — This Artisan tilt-head 4.8-litre stand mixer from KitchenAid in Juniper includes standard accessories such as a dough hook, wire whisk and paddle, a three-litre stainless steel bowl, transparent pouring shield and flex edge beater. Priced £549.

Bake Off-inspired appliances you’ll need

Even if you are a complete novice, the classic stand mixer provides all the tools you need to mix, whisk and beat like a professional baker. It certainly offers consistent results so you can expand your baking repertoire.

A combination convection and steam oven will give you the confidence to bake bread, pastries and cakes without having to worry about soggy bottoms, uneven bakes or sponges drying out. An induction hob with bridging zones will let you juggle pans as you go. And the pre-set power levels with low-temperature settings for melting chocolate, butter or making jam will be invaluable when it comes to keeping your stress levels down in the kitchen.

Bake Off-inspired built-in oven with a slide-and-hide door in wood cabinetry. — NEFF’s N 90 B69VY7MY0 ‘slide and hide’ built-in oven with steam function can be the star of your Bake Off-inspired appliance kit. It a door that slides away under the oven so you can check on your bakes with ease. It also features an extra-large full-touch TFT display – simply swipe to set the time, adjust the temperature and change oven settings. Priced £2019.

Dark cabinetry with built-in smart ovens that can be used as microwave fan or steam ovens. — Caple’s Sense Premium CMS260BG is a smart combination microwave fan and steam oven. It has 15 functions including steaming, turbo grilling, fan heating and multistage cooking, with Wi-Fi connectivity for pairing with the CapleHome app. Available in black glass, priced £1312.62.

Let’s get technical

The latest multi-functional countertop ovens offer up to 10 cooking, steaming and baking functions so you can easily double up on oven capacity. They’re an ideal oven option for a smaller kitchen. High-tech food processors can blend, chop, grind and whisk – a handy addition for any serious baker.

Built-in combination oven programmes can be tailored to your own cooking preferences and pre-set to get precision results time after time. Warming drawers to prove your dough have become an integral part of the baking process, with temperatures ranging from 30°C to 80°C, so making bread couldn’t be easier.

Multi-functional oven in a light blue kitchen with a small cake on a stand next to it. — Smeg’s 10-in-1 multi-function countertop oven includes a Bake function for even rising for cakes and pastries, Bottom for base baking and crisping pastry tarts from the bottom up, Air Fry, and steam options Pure, Convection and Grill. Priced £849.95.

Closeup of a steam oven with multiple trays. — The Sub Zero & Wolf [ICBSO24TE] E Series transitional convection steam oven circulates heat evenly and consistently, with 11 cooking modes including Keep Warm, Gourmet and Quick Preheat that heats up the oven 50% faster than normal. It also has a self-cleaning feature. Priced £9480.

Good to know

The range of appliances for a Bake Off-inspired kit you need will depend on how much and what type of baking you are planning. Plan storage and worktop space carefully, as stand mixers, processors and general baking paraphernalia and ingredients will take up a good amount of space. Countertop appliances may be best stored in pantries or hidden away in breakfast units to avoid excess clutter in the kitchen.

And remember you’ll need plenty of electrical sockets on island units, along worktops and in cabinets, to give you the flexibility to use all areas in the kitchen when you bake.

A pink fridge in a neutral kitchen design with wood flooring and matt black accents. — The CDA Florence retro-inspired fridge-freezer with a 234-litre fridge and 96-litre freezer capacity includes a ‘quick cool’ mode that maintains a temperature of 2°C for 12 hours, and a ‘quick freeze’ setting that holds the temperature to -24°C for 24 hours when freezing large quantities of fresh food. Priced £999.

Closeup of a built-in hob with flexible zones in a neutral design. — Franke’s 65cm-wide Maris induction hob has two Flexi zones and four autocook functions, including ‘melting’. The cooking space can be maximised by combining two cooking zones at the same power level. The K Link technology allows for gesture controls. Priced £784.

Buying tips

Having enough fridge space is a must if you’re a regular baker, so it’s worth taking time to find the right size and model that will suit your needs. A wide fridge-freezer, with double doors and height-adjustable shelves, will make it easy to store any bigger showstopper bakes and provide more capacity to store all the groceries as well.

If you’re looking for a retro 1950s vibe, there are more brands now that offer fridge-freezers in a range of colours and shades with high-tech functionality such as rapid chiller functions that will help speed up the baking process.

Bake Off-inspired food processor for baking cakes. — Magimix’s 4200XL food processor has a three-litre capacity and includes a stainless steel blade, blender, mixer, egg whisk, slicer and grater discs, dough blade and an extra-wide feed tube. Available in satin, silver, red, black and cream, it’s priced £340.

What will it cost?

A classic stand mixer will definitely be a statement piece in the kitchen and will cost around £500 to £600, but it will see you through a lifetime of baking. A food processor will be a bit cheaper, though, at about £350.

If you want to opt for the iconic ‘slide and hide’ built-in oven with steam function, expect to pay just over £2000, but the latest multi-function countertop ovens will be significantly less, coming in under £1000. The four-door fridge-freezers will be quite an investment at £9000-plus, and a retro-style, tall, freestanding fridge-freezer will add that vintage look for £1000.