The kitchen is filled with the familiar hum of the fan. Your air fryer, sitting on the countertop like a small robot, churns out hot air at frozen fries—your go-to for “healthy crisp without oil.” You bought it with the best intentions: for that feel-good factor of nourishing your body amidst a busy week. For a while, it worked well. But soon, the same meals started to repeat: nuggets, potatoes, reheated pizza. Over and over.
One evening, scrolling through your feed while the air fryer hummed, you come across a new, multi-functional machine. It promised to roast, steam, grill, slow-cook, bake, dehydrate—nine functions in one. Suddenly, your air fryer seemed limited.
Looking at your countertop, you realize: the era of single-task gadgets may be coming to an end.
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From Single-Task Gadgets to Multi-Function Kitchen Helpers
Spend just a few minutes in a small kitchen and you’ll quickly notice a familiar sight: appliances crowded together—an air fryer, a rice cooker, a blender, a toaster—each one claiming to “change your life.” But in reality, they’re often used for only a few recipes before they fade into the background. Enter the new wave of multifunction cookers, quietly reshaping the kitchen game.
Rather than loudly boasting about fries, these new machines offer multiple cooking modes: air fry, slow cook, steam, grill, roast, bake, sauté, reheat, and dehydrate. You soon realize your air fryer isn’t obsolete because it failed—it’s obsolete because it’s too limited.
Take Clara, 34, who lives in a 35 m² apartment with a tiny kitchen. For years, her air fryer ruled the space, next to a tired microwave and a dusty rice cooker. “I had three machines for three tasks,” she laughs. “And I mostly cooked pasta.”
Last winter, she replaced everything with a multifunction cooker that combined air frying with eight other modes. By the second week, she was slow-cooking chili while working from home. By month three, she was steaming salmon, baking banana bread, and dehydrating apple chips on Sundays. The real surprise wasn’t the recipes—it was the space she regained in her kitchen and mind.
These 9-in-1 gadgets act as mini kitchens disguised as a single pot. Beneath the lid, you’ll find a heating element, a convection fan, and precise temperature controls for pressure cooking, slow cooking, steaming, and baking. This combination opens up endless cooking possibilities, adapting to your life instead of forcing you to adapt to it.
How to Get the Most Out of Your 9-in-1 Cooker
The real shift occurs on weeknights. Rather than dumping frozen food into the fryer, you begin with a simple base: vegetables, protein, seasoning. Use the sauté mode to brown onions and garlic, then add lentils or rice, pour in stock, and switch to slow cook or pressure cook.
By the time you’re back from a shower or call, your meal isn’t just reheated—it’s fully cooked. If you want to add a crisp touch, finish it with a quick air-fry or grill. One pot, one lid, three cooking modes in just 30 minutes.
The biggest trap is sticking to the function you know best. Air fryer users tend to only air fry, while slow-cooker fans only make stews. We’ve all been there: buying a Swiss Army knife and using only the small blade.
A gentler approach is to try one new function per week. This Sunday, try steaming veggies instead of boiling them. Next Wednesday, experiment with one-pot pasta using sauté and simmer. The following week, try dehydration for snacks. Let’s be honest: nobody does this every day. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s about gradually building new habits so you’re not stuck in a cycle of the same three recipes.
Ultimately, the true luxury of these devices isn’t the number of functions. It’s the time and mental load they save. A chef I spoke with, who uses a 9-in-1 cooker at home for his kids, said, “People think gadgets kill creativity. I think they kill excuses. When you can roast, steam, and crisp in one place, the barrier between ‘I should cook’ and ‘I actually cooked’ shrinks dramatically.”
Core Functions You’ll Use Most
- Air fry/convection: Creates crispy textures without deep frying.
- Slow cook: Ideal for stews, soups, and curries that need less attention.
- Steam: Perfect for fish, dumplings, and vegetables that retain their fresh flavor.
- Bake/roast: Great for small cakes, gratins, and Sunday roasts.
- Dehydrate: Turns fruit, herbs, and leftover bread into healthy, low-waste snacks.
A Simpler, More Effective Way to Cook
When you replace multiple gadgets with one multifunction cooker, there’s a subtle psychological shift. You begin planning meals around ideas, not appliances. You stop asking, “Should I use the stove or the oven?” and instead ask, “Do I want it slow-cooked and melting, or fast and crispy?”
This doesn’t turn anyone into a food influencer, but it does make cooking more sustainable. It shrinks the gap between what you want to eat and what you can prepare quickly when you’re tired. You might still make frozen fries on a Thursday night, but on Sunday, you’ll slow-cook a vegetable curry without worrying about timing or using multiple pans.
For small homes, shared apartments, or busy families balancing work and kids, these multifunction cookers act as silent decluttering tools. They replace several gadgets, saving space and reducing the need to clean and store extra devices.
While the emotional impact is hard to measure, it’s real. A single, reliable appliance becomes your go-to for cooking when everything else says “order in.” It provides a way to eat better without drastically changing your routine. It encourages experimentation without the fear of failure. **Goodbye air fryer as the star, and hello versatile workhorse in the corner.** Before you know it, you might cook more like an adult and scroll through food videos less.
Key Takeaways for a More Efficient Kitchen
- 9-in-1 versatility: Combines multiple cooking functions, replacing several gadgets.
- Layered cooking: Use different functions in sequence to create restaurant-quality textures with less effort.
- Gentle learning curve: Explore one new function per week to build new cooking habits without feeling overwhelmed.
