Enhancing a kitchen with retro small appliances is a wonderful way to add colorful character to the space. Whether it's a pastel Smeg toaster or KitchenAid's iconic stand mixer, some of the most premium appliances capitalize on silhouettes that have endured decades of change.
If you're exploring vintage kitchen ideas, incorporating retro small appliances into your space is one of the smartest ways to style it. These look the part — delivering chrome, curves, and colors — and compete with the best stand mixers, toasters, blenders, and more. You can take my word for it, I'm a small appliance expert and I've tested them all.
The best retro small appliances for your kitchen
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Add a dash of nostalgia to your baking set-up
KitchenAid and Smeg are two of the biggest names in baking appliances. That's great news for anyone who wants to add a dash of the 1920s to their kitchen style. I'd recommend starting with a stand mixer, hand mixer, blender, or toaster oven from these brands. Complete the look with a design such as this vintage weighing scale from Walmart.
These appliances and vintage accessories are perfect for styling open shelving in a kitchen too, helping to create an eye-catching focal point and decorative display.
KitchenAid is best known for their iconic, American-made stand mixers. There's a reason why. This boasts ten power settings that effortlessly whip up cake batters, cream, and bread doughs. If you're short on space, there's always the Artisan Mini. It's just as good, just as retro, but much smaller.
Here's our full KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer review
This is at the top of our best hand mixers buying guide because of its good looks, great functionality, and completely cordless design. It's powerful and robust, so the only people we wouldn't recommend this to are those who often forget to charge.
Here's our full KitchenAid Cordless Hand Mixer review
Wonder by name and nature, this toaster oven is one of the most compact, retro designs on the market. We tested it across air frying, toasting, baking, and reheating — it passed them all and then some. The useful baking sheet means you'll make gooey, chewy cookies in no time.
Here's our full Our Place Wonder Oven review
A classic coffee station set-up
Vintage-style coffee stations are some of my favorite set-ups, and retro small appliances can enhance your coffee bar ideas with colorful character and eye-catching shape.
These retro designs are not only provide some of best coffee makers available on the market, they can bring beautiful style to your kitchen ideas, too – what's not to love?
Coffee lovers, get ready. This Dutch-made drip coffee maker is one of the best. It brews quick delicious coffee and comes with a lifetime guarantee. The distinctively boxy silhouette will make a countertop statement. All that's left to decide is, which color do you want?
Here's our full Technivorm Moccamaster KBGV Select review
No coffee station is complete without a grinder and Smeg does it like the best. This stylish model is technically perfect and it doesn't make much noise either. There are plenty of color options too.
Here's our full Smeg coffee grinder review
I loved this kettle so much that I bought it for my own kitchen (I actually also bought the matching KitchenAid toaster too). It achieves perfect temperatures and has an immense 1.5L water capacity.
There's more detail in our best electric kettle buying guide
Create a retro breakfast bar
The breakfast bar is one of the most informal places in your home, which is why it's so fun to style. You don't need to dedicate a huge amount of space to your breakfast bar, tie a small section of your kitchen countertop together with vintage-themed breakfast bar essentials.
Smeg's toasters, juicers, and blenders will work particularly well to inject fun color, simple shapes, and a homely, nostalgic aesthetic to your kitchen.
Smeg's large toasting slots make this perfect for large homes and artisanal loaves. It's simple and delivers reliable results. If your retro style is centered around Smeg, this is a must-have.
Here's our full Smeg Four Slice Toaster review
This wins full points 50s for style. You can buy a bigger, family-sized Smeg blender, but I particularly love their small, portable model. With neat lids, you can take your blends on the go with you.
Here's our full Smeg personal blender review
Of course, Smeg's juicer is beautiful. It comes in a range of finishes, including their Smeg x Dolce & Gabbana Mediterraneo collaboration. If you need to juice citrus fruits and want some retro-appeal, look no further.
Here's our full Smeg Citrus Juicer review
Final thoughts
I could have carried on listing iconic Smeg and KitchenAid appliances (the KitchenAid immersion blender and Smeg stand mixers both deserve shout-outs), but this isn't an advert for those two brands. There are lots of ways in which you can incorporate vintage styles and retro small appliances into your home. If you need more inspiration, you could always take a look at vintage furniture for the kitchen.
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