The Most Popular Kitchen Gadget In New York Costs Less Than $10

If you grew up cooking alongside a parent, grandparent, or caretaker, you might remember a much simpler selection of tools, equipment, and gadgets than is common in many kitchens today. If your family was really into cooking, maybe they had a nice blender, a food processor, or even a bread maker (remember those?). These days, however, the arsenal of a home cook seems to grow each year. Their tools have expanded far beyond wooden spoons and stainless steel mixing bowls to include in-demand items such as the perennially popular Instant Pot and the superstar air fryer.

Given the wide range of gadgets, you might expect folks in New York — the Big Apple with thousands upon thousands of high-end restaurants (via World Cities Culture Forum) — to favor a wildly expensive or difficult-to-use kitchen tool, like a professional mandoline slicer or a fancy sous vide machine. But according to data compiled by Surety First using Google Trends, the most-searched kitchen tool in the Empire State is actually a rather basic and cheap one.

You know those simple plastic ice cube trays that come with the purchase of a refrigerator? According to Surety First, that basic kitchen tool is the favorite of New Yorkers — or, at least, is the most-searched kitchen gadget in that state. Ice is indispensable for making smoothies, iced tea, and cocktails, but still, we're a bit surprised by this result.

In other parts of the country, more techy gadgets dominated. Surety First shared that Alabamians preferred a deep fryer; Californians a juicer; Hawaiians a rice cooker; and residents of many, many states favored the ever-popular air fryer. But of all the interesting choices, we've got to give it up for Georgians, who most commonly search for a kitchen item we've never even heard of: a taco holder, as seen on Amazon. As per The Taco Trail, these tools are ridged pieces of metal used to hold taco shells when frying and on the table so the fillings don't spill out. They definitely need a test run with a batch of our avocado crema-topped fish tacos or our cabbage-strewn cauliflower tacos.