We all know that the kitchen is much more than a room or area where food is prepared, cooked, and stored. With more time being spent indoors and at home, it’s where the family is gathering and sharing meals together more often. It’s where all that meal prep takes place, yummy desserts are baked, new recipes are tested, and family favorites perfected. It’s where leftovers are stored, and dishes are cleaned. It’s where family life happens.

So it’s important to have the right appliances ready to make everything possible, with the style and efficiency features that work best for your life. Here is our list of the top must-have kitchen appliances that get the job done.

1. Range

A stove and oven in one … it’s a truly versatile appliance. What that means for you: A convenient way to cook, bake, roast, and broil your favorite dishes and meals. And there are many types that you can choose from, depending on what works best for you. But there’s more to a range than just the range itself. That leads us to …

2. Range Hood

This often seems to be the overlooked kitchen appliance (and not just because it’s above your sightline), but it’s one of the most important. Hoods feature vents that remove odors, heat and smoke while cooking to keep your home air quality healthy. They also provide additional lighting for food prep and cooking.

3. Refrigerators and Freezers

This duo is the bedrock of the whole kitchen. There are many styles and designs out there in French doors, side-by-side, bottom freezer, and top freezer. The benefits of a truly great fridge and freezer have never been more important now that we’re staying home more often.

A stand-alone freezer also deserves an honorable mention. More family time at home may mean stocking up on more of everyone’s favorite frozen snacks or prepped meals, and a roomy chest or upright freezer can give you the extra storage space you might need.

4. Steam Oven

If you’re a fan of the more innovative appliances, you’ll want to consider this. A steam oven combines a convection oven (which cooks faster than traditional ovens using lower energy input) and steam (so it tends to lock in moisture for more even cooking). It works to keep more nutrients in your food, retain food’s color, eliminate the need for oil, and prevent flavors from crossing. It’s every chef’s or baker’s dream!

5. Dishwasher

After a long day, you just want kitchen clean-up to be as hassle-free and convenient as possible. (And let’s face it: the kids aren’t exactly going to volunteer.) Enter the dishwasher. It might be your home’s biggest time and effort saver because it does your dirty work for you. Just load, push a button and go relax.

Other Kitchen Gadgets to Consider

Even if you have the must-haves for a well-functioning kitchen, other appliances can make your life in the kitchen even easier. Here are five more gadgets to consider adding to your arsenal.

Appliances Are Affordable with Lease-to-Own*

Whether you need kitchen appliances for your new place or decide it’s time to replace or upgrade what you already have, there’s an easy, affordable way to do that: Lease them through any one of Acima’s thousands of retail partners.

With a lease-purchase agreement, you can get the name-brand appliances you’ve been eyeing and make affordable monthly or bi-monthly payments.* Once you have made the required number of lease renewal payments, you will own the appliance. You also have the option to purchase it early at a discount. And you can do it all without credit, thanks to the no credit option* at Acima.

Other Kitchen Game-Changers to Consider

Chefs of every level of experience know that they can’t rely on large appliances alone. So consider adding these smaller appliances and gadgets to complete your perfect kitchen.

Garlic Press

When cooking with garlic, a garlic press can save you time (and your fingers). Simply place a clove of garlic in the press, and squeeze the handles together to mince it quickly and easily.

Salad Spinner

A salad spinner is a handy kitchen gadget that can wash and dry salad greens quickly and easily. Just place the greens in the basket, add water and spin the handle to wash them. Then, remove the basket and press the lever to spin the greens dry.

Kitchen Scale

A kitchen scale can be helpful when baking or cooking with ingredients that need to be measured by weight. It can also be used to portion out servings of food.

Microwave

An absolute must. It’s the go-to when you don’t have time to heat something up in the conventional oven or stovetop.

Kitchen Mixer

If you are a seasoned baker, you know how much of an arm workout it is to stir all your ingredients together. Opt for a mixer to easily combine wet and dry ingredients.

Slow Cooker/Crockpot

Just put all your ingredients in the crockpot in the morning, let it simmer, and cook all day, and by night you’ve made a home-cooked meal without the hassle.

Air Fryer

This amped-up countertop oven uses rapid circulation to fry foods without all the extra oil (and extra calories). Bonus: Since most units have dishwasher-safe components, clean-up is a breeze.

Electric Grill

Clamshell grill, panini grill, griddle … all are easy to use and clean, compact, and smoke-free pros. Plus, grilling tends to be better than pan-frying for healthier, more delicious dishes.

Food Processor

Let’s be honest: chopping food is no fun and takes forever. Using this takes up a fraction of the time. They typically come with different blade attachments, so you can opt for the one that works best depending on what you need to be chopped.

Immersion Blender

They don’t just make smoothies. Need to mix sauces, dressings, juices, or soups? The blender is your friend. It’s typically less powerful, and its blades are less sharp than a food processor, so it’s better to use for liquids and ices.

Toaster

What is that perfect crisp? Up to you! Many toasters have a knob for adjusting so you can choose how dark you would like your bread slices to be toasted.

Pasta Maker

Ravioli, lasagna, fettuccine, tagliatelle, you name it, the pasta maker can simplify the process of rolling and cutting noodles, or other kinds of dough, to make fresh pasta.

Coffee Maker

There are tons of choices out there, from something fast and automated to classic presses and drip machines. So depending on how you take your coffee, find the one that works best for you to enjoy a fresh brew at home.

Go Shopping and Get Cooking

Sometimes there’s a lot of hustle and hard work into cooking. These essential kitchen appliances help make everything a little simpler for you. Need to furnish other rooms of the home while staying comfortably within your budget? While you’re on our site, see how else we can help and find one of our 15,000 Acima retailers to start shopping today.