5 Super Hardworking Multi-Tasking Appliances Even Your Mother Will Approve Of

With homes today becoming a lot smaller, there’s no reason why two or even three different appliances need to clutter your space when one appliance will suffice. These mum-approved multi-taskers do more than one job, freeing up extra room in your home. Get them for yourself, or, even better, for the mother who loves you this Mother’s Day.

1. A microwave that also bakes bread, fries, steams and grills

Microwaves have a bad rep for being unhealthy and people tend to use it for convenience’s sake or as a last resort. But this Hitachi Superheated Steam Microwave Oven will probably change your mind about this appliance. The oven comes with five cooking methods: Microwave, Oven, Steam, Superheated Steam and Grill and the modes available in the oven tend to use a combination of a few of the methods. While the other four methods are pretty self-explanatory, the Superheated Steam is a little out of the norm. The function essentially removes all fats and salt from inside the food, draining them off with saturated water vapour. This keeps your food deliciously moist and really healthy. One of our favourite features of the oven is that it also acts like a bread maker. All you have to do is to add the ingredients into the baking pan, put the pan in the oven and the appliance does all the work for you from kneading (dough is kneaded using steam) to baking. There’s a separate dispenser for dry ingredients like yeast, raisins and nuts that you can add during the kneading process. You can also get fried chicken or fried fish with the oil-free deep frying mode that uses Superheated Steam to force the fats onto the surface of the meat, leaving you with a healthy dish that is high on crispiness but low on calories. For stir-fries, you can use the steam-grill function that uses a grill tray and steam lid to cook food. This function generates a large volume of steam and keeps temperature at a stable constant, retaining Vitamin C and moisture in food. There are a total of 232 recipes you can play around with in the appliance, with over 200 modes to explore so there's really something for everyone's palate. The Hitachi Superheated Steam Microwave Oven is retailing for $2,399 at major electronic stores.

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2. A fan that doubles as an air purifier

Bladeless fans aren’t new and you probably would have already seen them in electronic stores around Singapore. But what we really like about the Dyson Pure Cool Link Purifier Fan is that it’s also an air purifier. According to Dyson, it removes 99.95 percent of indoor allergens and pollutants as small as 0.1 microns (e.g. ultrafine particles or tobacco smoke) in the air using a 360 deg glass HEPA filter. There’s also an additional layer of activated carbon granules that traps odours and harmful toxins like paint fumes. The cleaned air then gets released into your home through an amplifier loop system in a high velocity, but it does all of it really quietly so much so that you don’t really notice the machine’s there. Sensors in the air purifier fan detect changes in atmospheric conditions, automatically adjusting airflow to maintain air quality. So a dirtier environment might warrant a stronger airflow, for instance. You can view the air quality of your home through the Dyson Link app, developed to allow you to monitor the progress of your home’s air quality even from a remote location. The Dyson Pure Cool Link Purifier Fan is retailing for $1,099 for the tower version and $699 for the desktop version at major electronic stores.

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3. An iron that also works as a steamer

For people whose ironing is the bane of their existence, a heavy iron isn’t going to make things better. One of the things I look for in my iron is that it has to be relatively light so that I can at least last through a one-hour ironing session without crying for mercy. But the issue comes when the iron is too light and it doesn’t straighten the creases on my shirts. Thankfully, the Tefal Tweeny 2 in 1 iron isn’t like that. It’s incredibly light to hold because the 400-ml water tank is kept separated from the main iron, yet it’s also really powerful because of a formidable steam output. More steam also equals an easier glide across all your fabrics. But it’s not just an iron, because it doubles as a garment steamer. There is no setting to switch from one to another but the large steam output means you can shift from ironing to steaming without any fuss. I also like that the design is really compact, which is great for saving space. There’s a locking system that keeps the iron in place and compartments to stash your cord so it won’t be dangling everywhere when you store the device. The Tefal Tweeny 2 in 1 is retailing for $219 at selected electronic stores.

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4. A food processor that does virtually everything

The Thermomix TM5 kitchen machine sounds like the superhero of the kitchen countertop, since it performs the functions of 12 different appliances. It’s a great addition to your kitchen, whether you’re an amateur home cook with professional aspirations or a homemaker that just wants to get dinner on the table fast. The Thermomix comprises one knife with four blades and a stainless steel mixing bowl that comes with a heating system and temperature sensors. It has the ability to stir, mix, blend and chop, so prepping is made easy. But it can also cook, steam, weigh, grind, knead, whisk, simmer and emulsify to handle the heat of your culinary creations. You can adjust the timer, temperature and speed for precision cooking, but if you are not too savvy, you can always follow the recipes provided by Thermomix which come with exact measurements, timing and temperature so you will get awesome results no matter what. The latest addition to the TM5 are recipe chips, which you can insert into the machine to browse and view through the different recipes by Thermomix on the display panel, making following a recipe a breeze. The Thermomix TM5 is available for $2,320 online at www.thermomix.com.sg/shop and includes the official Thermomix Basic Cook Book with 175 recipes as well as the recipe chip of Thermomix Basic Cook Book for guided cooking of the 175 recipes.

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5. A vacuum that also mops floors

For most of us, we’ll have a separate vacuum clean and mop that serve different functions. We start by vacuuming first to remove fluff and other bits and bobs off the floor before mopping it down to give it a thorough clean. But what if I told you there was an appliance that features both functions in one device so you don’t have to do the same chore twice? The 3.2-kg Philips PowerPro Aqua Cordless rechargeable vacuum cleaner is that machine. While it’s essentially a bag-less vacuum cleaner – instead, dust gets accumulated in a bucket that you can easily dismantle and rinse off – it can also transform as a handheld vacuum for chairs and hard-to-reach corners, be equipped with a mini turbo nozzle to brush down soft surfaces like carpets and fabric sofas and be turned into a mop with its click-on and click-off mopping system. The mop works like this: you fill the water tank with water (you can also mix in a bit of clear detergent in it) and then fit it with the washable and reusable microfiber pads. Attached the water tank to the main vacuum and set it to your desired speed. Then use it like you would a normal vacuum cleaner, except it mops and vacuums your floors at the same time. The mopping system is particularly noteworthy, because it releases the optimum amount of water so you don’t get a floor that is overly wet which can sometimes damage your flooring. The Philips PowerPro Aqua Cordless rechargeable vacuum cleaner is retailing for $699 at major electronic stores.