11 Powerless Kitchen Appliances And Gadgets That Are Actually Useful

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In our modern world of hi-tech flashing appliances that can tackle everything from slicing veggies to frothing milk, there is still a place for unpowered, simple gadgets that can save time and energy in the kitchen. In some cases, the silent, classic appliances can be more reliable and actually save time and room, especially when their bulky counterparts are tricky to clean the 54 different parts.

Whether you are looking for freshly ground black pepper, a vibrant basil pesto smashed by your own hands, or even wanting to create your own mince, there is an unassuming unpowered gadget to help you out. Using elbow grease instead of electricity, most of these gadgets are more satisfying to use, and they give you a chance to connect more with the process, rather than simply pressing a button and walking away. Let's take a look at 11 powerless kitchen appliances and gadgets that are actually useful.

A pepper mill is an essential part of any home kitchen, allowing you to add a burst of flavor on top of your freshly presented dish before serving it at the table. Black pepper actually increases the taste of other elements in your dish, as it invigorates your salivary glands and allows you to enjoy the rest of the flavors fully, so you should own a pepper mill even if you don't go nuts for the flavor of the pepper itself.

A manual pepper grinder is the traditional option that will make you feel like you are in an Italian trattoria or a fancy steak restaurant. Feeling the resistance as you turn the handle allows you to carefully control how much pepper is released, and many modern mills allow you to adjust the coarseness depending on whether you want a fine dusting of pepper or some larger chunks to sink your teeth into.

While electric salt and pepper mills are very popular, they lack a little of the class that comes with a manual mill. Aside from the fact that they remove the satisfaction of twisting and grinding by hand, they use up batteries incredibly quickly, and most models make an off-putting amount of noise that is guaranteed to spoil your romantic meal. While some electric versions look very sleek and modern, a classic wooden pepper mill will never go out of style, and will always look stylish sitting out on your kitchen countertop or dining table.

If you're looking to take out some tension or stress from your day as you cook, owning a traditional mortar and pestle is a must. This classic kitchen tool will allow you to smash and grind your ingredients by hand, giving an incredible satisfaction as you prepare your homemade meals.

Of course there are electric grinders and mini food processors that can do a similar job, but there is something a bit, ironically, disconnected about using an electrical appliance for this task. When you grind up spices by hand using a mortar and pestle, you can smell the beautiful aromas wafting from them as you crack the shell and reveal the essential oils inside. Chucking them in the food processor and pressing the on switch just feels a bit soulless in comparison.

There is also the issue of heat. Spinning blades quickly as in an electric grinder generates heat can affect the flavor of your herbs and spices, whereas your own arm strength is unlikely to have such an effect. If you don't like to buy one-use gadgets for your kitchen, you needn't worry. A mortar and pestle can be used for various dishes, including creating a vibrant green pesto, smashing a garlic clove with a sprinkling of salt, or simply preparing spices for a fragrant curry, meaning you will end up using it multiple times a week. There are plenty of options to choose from, from lightweight wooden mortar and pestles to heavy duty granite ones, so you will be able to easily find one to suit your kitchen and your budget.

Juicing has become very trendy in recent years, and many health influencers are seen on Instagram and TikTok with electric juicers that take up half their kitchen. If you are planning to make a daily glass of citrus juice, however, then a manual juicer is a much smaller and more economical option that will do the job just as well, and with a lot less washing up.

Manual juicers generally come in two forms — a simple citrus reamer that involves pressing half an orange or other citrus fruit onto the top and pushing or twisting to release the juice; and a citrus press has a handle and a hinge mechanism that requires minimal effort to extract the juice. Both are great options depending on your juicing needs. If an occasional glass of OJ is all you need, a citrus reamer is the smaller and cheaper of the two, and can be stored in a cupboard when not in use. A citrus press on the other hand, will stay out on your countertop and is definitely the better and easier option if you are planning to juice regularly. Either way, you can have a freshly squeezed glass of juice in a few seconds, and the washing up won't take much longer.

Spiralizers are a relatively new kitchen gadget that became incredibly popular in the early-mid 2010s. If you are trying to follow a low carb diet, cutting out pasta and replacing it with noodle shaped vegetables is a great way to feel like you aren't missing out. Spiralizers allow you to take virtually any long vegetable and whirl it into a variety of ribbon shapes within a few seconds. Zucchini is the obvious choice and go-to vegetable for many veggie noodles, but carrots, sweet potato, and parsnips make refreshing, delicious options too.

Electric spiralizers make light work of noodle making, but they are expensive, take up loads of room on the countertop, and can be tricky to clean. Manual spiralizers are a more affordable option, can be tucked away in a cupboard afterward, and are still a lot of fun to use. From the smallest version that feels a little bit like using a pencil sharpener to create your noodles, to the popular version with a crank handle that is easy to use, but still gives the satisfaction when you feel the vegetables turning and creating those crunchy, mouthwatering ribbons. Unless you are spiralizing an entire vegetable patch on a regular basis, a manual version will allow you to eat low carb 'pasta' whenever you want, without the need to plug anything in.

So many food cans nowadays come with ring pulls that allow you to open the can in seconds, that it can sometimes be disconcerting to see a smooth metal circle staring back at you. If you then reach for the electric can opener — good luck. If you can work out how to attach the can without an instruction manual, you're doing well, but why do they always get stuck half-way through? Inevitably, you may find yourself hunting for the manual can opener to complete the half-finished job anyway, so why not just use the low-tech version in the first place?

Like so many of the appliances on this list, a manual can opener has real satisfaction when you use it. It is usually easier to get the can attached, then as long as you give it a good twist to start it off, you should be able to cut though the whole lid in one go. And don't forget the exciting last step, where you feel the thud as it cuts through the very last part, and the lid finally pops free. The fact that a manual can opener can be stored in a drawer — watch your fingers though — immediately gives it a huge advantage over the electric version. In this case, simple is definitely better.

It may seem an unlikely item for a list of must-have gadgets, but according to Ina Garten, a food mill is an excellent item to keep handy. And if it's good enough for the Barefoot Contessa, we are not going to argue. A manual food mill crushes and blends foods using a disc that you turn by hand, mashing and liquifying the food in the bowl below.

One of the reasons Garten loves her food mill so much is the texture it provides. Sometimes you want an ingredient to be blended without being completely smooth, and the food mill creates that rustic texture. Whether you are making baby food, veggie purees, or a silky mashed potato, the food mill can handle it. Plus, any errant skin or seeds will be caught, meaning they won't end up in the final dish. While a blender or food processor can be used for similar tasks, a manual food mill gives you much more control, with disturbing everyone else in the house with the noise.

It has a much smaller footprint than a food processor too, taking up less space in the kitchen, and is easy to clean. If you like to do things the traditional way, a food mill is a low key option for creating purees, sauces, and delicious mash.

For the coffee aficionado, there is nothing quite like making your morning brew using a cafetiere. Also known as a French press, it is a classic, elegant way to make a cup of coffee, where patience really does pay off.

Sure, there are plenty of fancy electric machines that will whip up a cup of Joe for you at the press of a button, but where is the real satisfaction in that? Plus, there is always a chance that something could go wrong with the machine, and being faced with a beeping coffee machine at 6am when you are caffeine deficient is not a good option. Instead, simply pour hot water over your coffee grounds in the cafetiere, leave it to infuse for 4 minutes, then activate the oh-so-satisfying plunging motion that acts like a sieve and separates the grounds from the freshly brewed liquid. No filter paper, no plastic pods, and no electricity. Just empty the coffee grounds into your compost bin, then sit back and enjoy a mindful cup of morning coffee, made the way it should be.

One of the joys of watching professional chefs on TV is how everything they cut is paper thin, whereas our homemade attempts with a blunt knife leave a lot to be desired. Though your food processor probably has a slicing attachment, if you want your next dauphinoise to be restaurant quality, consider using a mandoline instead.

A mandoline slicer takes up virtually no space in your kitchen, but can make a huge difference to both the time taken and the quality of your sliced ingredients. Once you have your vegetable "mounted," all it takes is a few flicks of the wrist and you will have a beautiful pile of flawless, sliced produce that would make Gordon Ramsay proud.

You may be thinking that a mandoline is far too scary an instrument to have in your kitchen, and in some ways you are right. If used incorrectly, a mandoline can cause some serious damage, and this is where you don't want to emulate your chef heroes too closely. They are often seen holding a piece of onion or potato with their bare hands while slicing, but it is crucial that you don't do the same. The blades on a mandoline are razor sharp — much sharper in fact — and if your flesh gets caught, there will be blood, and lots of it. Instead, use the hand guard to secure the vegetable and keep all of your fingers safe as you slice. You will be left with a chunk of veggie at the end, but either cut that by hand or throw it away — don't ever risk your fingers just to get that last little bit perfectly sliced.

Meat grinders are gadgets that you don't see in many modern kitchens, but they can be a great appliance for a keen home cook. As ubiquitous as pre-made burgers are, they can often be filled with ingredients you would rather not eat, and making your own minced meat for your burger gives you total control about what does — and doesn't — go into the final patty.

There are of course electrical appliances to grind meat, but they are much more expensive, so if you are only making the occasional burger, a manual meat grinder will do nicely. To create your mince, you push the raw meat into the top of the grinder and turn the handle to start the grinding process. One of the brilliant things about making your own mince is that you can choose the meat that goes in. Not all burgers need to be beef, and you can create your own turkey, lamb, or chicken mince just as easily. Turning the handle to grind the meat can feel very primal, and you will enjoy your burger more than usual knowing that you crushed all the meat by hand — plus it gets your arms a bit of a workout in the process.

Chances are, your home is full of smart timing devices, from your phone to whatever brand of smart speaker you own, so a wind up timer is unlikely to be on your shopping list. But if you are a keen home cook, it could make your time in the kitchen easier than you realize. If you have a number of dishes cooking all at once, that means many timers. And while you get into an argument with your Alexa over what item is supposed to come out of the oven, a wind-up timer can be a low-tech, reliable support that can help to keep you sane.

The comforting ticking of the timer as it counts down can act as a reassuring metronome to keep you on track, and will confirm as you cook that the time has not run out yet. The satisfying 'ding' at the end will also stand out among the digital chiming noises, alerting you that your souffle is now cooked to perfection.

You also don't need to worry about it malfunctioning or running out of batteries. It will simply sit in your drawer or on the counter top until you need to hear its trusty clicking. If you cook with children, it is also a fun way to get them involved without handing them a screen. Low-tech, certainly, but it does exactly what you need it to do, without using up any batteries.

Whether you are whipping up meringues or making a cake batter, egg beaters can make short work of it compared to a traditional whisk. Although electric versions are commonplace, there are distinct advantages to using the low tech version instead.

As with most unpowered gadgets, one of the big advantages compared to the powered version is control. With baking, precision is key, and an electric egg beater or attachment to a stand mixer can often take your mixture too far before you have time to react. The efficiency of the electric version can also be its downfall, and an over whipped meringue is always going to be a disappointment. Manual egg beaters have a handle on one side that operates both whisks, and it is significantly quieter than the electric counterpart. Sure, whipping up a tub of heavy cream is going to be harder work than using the powered version, but that is part of the fun! You get to watch it go through the different stages of thickness, feeling the burn in your bicep as you do so. Fortunately, the cleaning up is easy, so the extra time it takes to whip can be saved when you do the washing up.