Gizmo Guy: Something New

Another bride, another groom, another useless crystal vase to ship out after their honeymoon?

How about sending, instead, a snazzy food prepping appliance that will bring the happy couple much more joy and nourishment, day in and night out, for as long as they both shall live (or until the gadget breaks down)?

Ah, Bellini must be Bellissimo!: Sounds Italian but it's designed in Australia, with a motor made in Britain, assembled in China.

And describing the Bellini Intelli Kitchen Master is even more complicated, though as performance goes, it's super-fun and easy to use. This is the pricey ($549-$599) gizmo for the young couple who might not know how to cook beans but are restive with the take out/eat out routine.

The Bellini isn't just a food processor, it's also a food cooker. One that chops, blends, whips, mixes, sautes, steams, stirs, and boils, sometimes simultaneously! So often, stuff goes into the tightly topped two-liter bowl and out comes dinner - usually in portion sizes serving four or even six. So there will be leftovers. Miraculous.

Step-by-step instructions in the newly Americanized spiral-bound Bellini cookbook are simple to follow, so long as you can "rough cut" veggies and cube meats. And measure ingredients on the included electronic scale - a sleek, small, glass-topped thing.

Adding more tech-pertise, Bellini packs an LCD screen with companion dials to automate the temperature, run time, and churn speed of each step in the recipe, guaranteeing users won't over-pulverize.

Gizmo Guy was thrilled with a Bellini-made Carrot Ginger Soup - as tasty as he's had anywhere. And delighted to produce a Chicken, Bacon & Pea Risotto that didn't require manual stirring for 25 minutes.

Strong suits are dips, sauces, sides, drinks, and sweet things - though you still need an oven to finish the baking. For the health conscious, fish and veggies cook nicely in the Bellini's top-mounted steamer baskets.

From Avondale, with love. Newlyweds' first apartments are often cramped and under-accessorized, with zero outdoor space for barbecuing.

To the rescue comes Chef's Choice International, the Chester County appliance maker (best known for electric knife sharpeners) with a surprisingly effective Professional Indoor Electric Grill ($149.99 at surlatable.com.) Yeah, we're suspicious of the category, too. But grilling a feast of seared steak, swordfish, and peppers on this thing produced far less lingering smell and smoke than cooking the goodies under the broiler would. The heavy-duty cast iron grill plate leaves its marks nicely. Instead of flaring, the dripping grease is diverted into a sizzle-squelching pan you've pre-filled with water.

Pizza party.One in eight people eats pizza every day, and 93 percent of Americans have consumed some in the last month. And some (such as my local foodie friend, Gary Jones - who can be found at reluctantgourmet.com) - are so fixated that they build wood-fired pizza ovens in their backyard. If your newlyweds are so obsessed, they'd likely enjoy an electric-powered Black & Decker 5-Minute Pizza Oven ($135-$149.99) or a propane-powered, Cuisinart Alfrescamore Outdoor Pizza Oven ($249.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond.)

B&D's billing is a bit misleading, in that you first pre-heat the oven for five minutes - which sure beats the 20 it takes to warm an oven. Actual baking can then be managed in as little as four or five minutes with some regular and thin pizzas, as this purpose-built oven cranks to a serious 600 degrees. It also does extra duty as a frozen snack warmer and cookie/roll baker.

Be forewarned: This bulky bubba demands lots of counter and storage space and becomes hot to the touch.

If the newlyweds have access, a propane-gas-fired Cuisinart Alfrescamore offers outdoor party fun while preserving your inside air conditioning.

Designed to sit on a picnic table or companion folding stand, the Cuisinart comes with a 12-inch pizza stone and pizza peel I found hard to use when "unpeeling" homemade dough through the open mouthed front (no problem with slippier pre-mades). The oven accommodates a wood chip cup for smokey flavor enhancement (such as hickory or mesquite), and a heating tray underneath to keep one pizza warm while making another. Takes a screw-in liquid propane bottle (14 or 16 ounce), good for about 90 minutes' use. Also connects to a large tank with optional hose. Stoking the beast to a suitable bake temperature (400 degrees) takes at least 15 minutes, even on a hot day.

Drink to Me Only. If they bonded at Starbucks, the happy couple deserve a really fine coffee-making setup at home. Which begins with a Capresso 565.05 Infinity Conical Burr (coffee bean) Grinder, the maker's weightiest, quietest, metal-clad model. Best price is $124.75 at amazon.com.

If they met on a jogging path, keep their healthy lifestyle going with a Conway Juicepresso CJP-031 cold juice presser ($499.99). Slowly crushes fruit and vegetables to extract the greatest volume of juice, most nutritional value and longest life in the fridge, they claim+the company claims. Cleans easily, runs quietly and has cool looks with a small footprint.

If the dynamic duo connected over cocktails, mix more merrily (and also prep substantial dishes) with the Blendtec Designer 725, the Land Rover of blenders ($629-$649.) Its touch screen interface and special slope-sided jar clean easy. Boasts such unstoppable performance and robust construction that the maker guarantees it for eight years.

215-854-5960@takiff