There are a lot of cool kitchen gadgets that I wish I could afford.
It took me long enough to have the money for a real KitchenAid mixer. These machines are as popular in restaurants as they are in homes throughout the developed world. They’re made from metal so durable that they could probably survive a drop from a plane. I was also swooned by pressure cookers when they became extremely popular a few years back. I bought one but I haven’t used it for more than a handful of times. You’d think that that would make me leary of spending money on any random kitchen gadget before establishing a need, but recently I was enthralled by videos of air fryers on the internet. People are replacing their toaster ovens and other kitchen appliances with these fancy contraptions. They can replace deep fryers while preparing traditional fried food, all by circulating hot air. Some people apply a small amount of oil to their air fryer while they’re preparing a meal, while others opt for no oil at all. As open as I was to trying an air fryer on a whim, I had a similar mindset towards heat pumps. I have only used traditional air conditioners over the years, which are split systems with air handlers inside and condenser units outside. These work by chilling air that is passed through the air handler. Heat pumps are different altogether. They get an indoor space cool by absorbing heat from its air and expelling the heat outdoors. I was surprised when I learned about how energy efficient this method of cooling actually is.