Need-to-Have Kitchen Appliances for Holiday Hosting

The holiday season is the best time for family and loved ones to come together over tasty home-cooked meals and festive holiday drinks. If you’re the host of these celebrations, then you probably face the difficulty of wanting to spend quality time with your guests while simultaneously making sure everything is prepped for the event. 

Keeping plenty of food and beverages on hand is important, but having the right kitchen appliances for hosting can help you find your groove in the kitchen. If you need a large capacity fridge to keep perishable goods chilled or a convection oven to prepare hors d'oeuvres almost instantly, your kitchen appliances will be your closest allies during the hectic holiday season. If your appliances can service your day-to-day needs and special occasions, selecting a style, finish, and features will feel like the gift that keeps on giving all year long. 

To help you balance your time during your holiday hosting routine and alleviate any stress, we’ve put together a list of need-to-have kitchen appliances that will make holiday entertaining easier and more enjoyable for all. 

The Café French Door Double Wall Oven (CTD90FP3ND1) allows you to customize your finish and handle combinations for a sleek professional-grade look that’s uniquely yours. And on top of gaining twice the cooking space with a double oven appliance, the top oven’s French door design offers a walk-up cooking experience so you can hold your tray of holiday cookies in one hand and easily open the oven with the other hand. And with Precision Cooking built into both the top and bottom oven, your meals will be perfectly executed every time.  

If you’re making a new dish, you can be confident in your cooking results with a built-in smart system that automatically tracks progress, modifies temperatures, and adjusts cook times. If guests are starting to arrive and you haven’t had time to get your meal in the oven, you can save time with a variety of cooking modes that eliminate the need for preheating. 

And if you’re responsible for preparing this year’s holiday feast, achieve unrivaled performance with a top-notch true convection cooking system that offers consistent results on your special occasion favorites like turkey, roast, ham, prime rib, and more.

A warming drawer can be a godsend for any holiday host when preparing food for large groups. If you’re multitasking and working on multiple dishes at once, this handy appliance can keep food warm until it’s ready to serve, allowing you to prep your meal and cook certain courses before the guests arrive. 

It's also a helpful appliance for food safety when you need to keep hot foods hot. When you don’t have the time to reheat your meal or check every item with a food thermometer, you can rely on your warming drawer to keep your food ready to serve. And the sleek, frameless drawer front offers a modern aesthetic to match any decoration or kitchen design.

The GE Profile Stainless Steel Warming Drawer (PKW7000SNSS) is a great option for people expecting a large crowd or intimate gatherings. With a wide range of temperatures, this warming drawer addresses any heating need and maintains any food’s desired texture with the help of Variable Temperature Control and Variable Humidity Control. And always know when your drawer is on with an indicator light that illuminates when it’s in operation—this way, you’ll never forget where you left your appetizers. 

You know about ovens, you know about microwaves, but have you heard of electric speed ovens? When you need to heat finger foods in a jiff, we commonly turn toward the microwave cooking instructions. And while this method is fast and convenient, it doesn’t always produce the highest quality taste. Instead, with this pairing of technology, you can harness the speed of a microwave with the precise cooking results of an oven with the Bosch Built-In Speed Oven (HMC80252UC).

You can prepare the snacks and finish the hosting duties with a versatile appliance that allows you to effortlessly reheat leftovers, roast veggies, defrost frozen items, and prepare entire meals. And the flush design can be installed vertically or horizontally to match Bosch wall ovens, steam ovens, and warming drawers so your kitchen can appear as a uniform and cohesive entertaining space. 

If there’s one thing all kitchens and entertaining spaces have in common, it's a refrigerator. Whether or not your fridge is equipped with all the bells and whistles, every host needs a way to keep fresh foods fresh. As you choose one of the most important appliances in your home, consider size, features, and efficiency.

The LG Black Stainless Steel Side-By-Side Refrigerator (LSXS26366D) maximizes food storage space to accommodate all your holiday cuisine with a generous 26 cu. ft. capacity. LG’s Door-in-Door design keeps all your favorite snacks and beverages at your fingertips and reduces cold air loss to conserve precious energy—all at the push of a button.

With convenient slide-out, tilting and adjustable door bins, and multiple crisper drawers, it’s easy to keep your large refrigerator organized for holiday hosting and nightly meals with family. And when you need to find something in a snap, the intuitive LED display illuminates your entire appliance.

If you’re throwing a big holiday gathering, we can confirm you will need plenty of ice. Before you rush to the store to stock up on bags of ice, consider an ice maker for your home.

Having a dedicated portable or built-in ice maker can make enough ice to keep the party going all through the night. If you have the space available, consider a built-in ice maker beneath a kitchen counter. Portable ice makers are great if you live in a smaller dwelling or decide to take the party outdoors. If you really want to make an impression on your guests, consider the KitchenAid Automatic Ice Maker with PrintShield Finish (KUIX335HPS).

The fully flush installation allows the ice maker to blend in with surrounding cabinetry for a refined built-in look. The Clear Ice Technology helps produce cubes of ice that are uniform in size for everyday use. And because it holds 25 pounds of ice, there will always be enough ice for entertaining.

If you’re hosting the holiday bash, you’ve got to have plenty of wine on hand. Zinfandel, Pinot noir, Malbec, rosé, Chablis, and even a wine bag if your kids are home visiting from college—the list goes on. Different wines are best enjoyed at different temperatures, so a wine fridge will help preserve your favorite bottles and keep them ready to drink at your desired serving temperature.

From freestanding to built-in, there are different types of wine fridges for you to choose from. Whether you’re a collector or just want to keep a bottle close-by to get through the visit from your in-laws, the KitchenAid Wine Cellar (KUWL304ESS) is a great way to improve the look of your hosting space and impress everyone at your party.

This wine cellar features two temperature-controlled zones to help preserve the flavor and integrity of individual wines and allows white and red wines to be stored at separate temperatures. The 46-bottle capacity is the perfect size for any wine aficionado to last through the holiday season. 

If you have a love for entertaining but are new to the world of cooking, a range is the easiest way to get started in the kitchen. Electric, gas, dual-fuel, convection, and double ovens make ranges more versatile than ever. The Samsung Freestanding Gas Range (NX58R5601SS) offers a modern look, a large-capacity oven, and a 5-burner cooktop with a griddle and continuous grates. 

A powerful convection fan helps cook food faster and more evenly, allowing you to save time and produce superior cooking results. A 5.8 cu. ft. oven allows you to cook multiple dishes at once and accommodate your turkey, casserole dishes, and racks of cookies.  And when you want to take a peek at your dinner, check the cooking progress in the Wide View Window without opening the door and losing heat.

You’re always invited to shop with Don's Appliances for all your hosting needs. And when the celebration winds down, don’t forget about a reliable reliable dishwasher to take care of all the afterparty messes. 

If you have questions or want to upgrade your appliances before hosting the big holiday meal, give us a call or visit our store to shop our entire catalog of kitchen appliances and cooking accessories. Now, that’s something to be thankful for.