Plastic-Free Small Appliances (the Contentious Ones)
The countertop appliances where "plastic-free" gets genuinely hard and contested - air fryers, toaster ovens, slow cookers, stand mixers. Pick an appliance type below.
Why plastic matters here
Most of these appliances share a problem that isn't really about plastic at all: PTFE (Teflon) and other nonstick coatings on the surfaces that touch hot food, plus plastic parts in steam and splatter paths. Unlike a water bottle or a cutting board, many of these categories have no clean fully-plastic-free option - so the honest answer is often "here's the least-bad choice, and here's the uncoated-cookware workaround that sidesteps the appliance entirely." That's why we group them as the contentious ones and rate them bluntly rather than pretending a perfect pick exists.
Browse by type
Air Fryers
Countertop convection fryers - and the honest question of whether any of them are actually…
Blenders
Countertop and immersion blenders.
Electric Kettles
Countertop kettles for boiling water - tea, pour-over coffee, cooking.
Rice Cookers
Electric rice cookers and multi-cookers.
Slow Cookers
Crock-style slow cookers - where the contention is the glaze and the lid, not the housing.
Stand Mixers
Stand mixers - where the bowl is fine and the beater is the contentious part.
Toaster Ovens
Toaster ovens and convection/air-fry ovens - and the pop-up toaster question.
What to look for
- The cooking surface is the whole question - PTFE/nonstick coating vs bare stainless or uncoated
- "PFAS-free" and "ceramic" coatings are better than PTFE but are still applied coatings that wear out
- Watch for plastic in steam, splatter, and drip paths, not just the cooking surface
- Often the cleanest answer is a plain oven/cooktop with uncoated cookware, not a dedicated gadget
Related:Blenders· Rice Cookers· Electric Kettles· Cookware