Whether your kitchen is due for an upgrade or you just fancy a bit of a change up, a new kettle and toaster set could do the trick. Especially if, like me, there’s nothing more satisfying than having matching homewares.

With a huge range of different styles and colours to choose from, you’re sure to find a set regardless of your kitchen style. Kitchenware brands like Smeg, Breville and Sunbeam, offer a variety of 2 and 4 piece toasters as well as funky vintage and modern kettles in bold, bright colours like cherry red, pastel blue and sunshine yellow, as well as classic colour-ways like black, white and stainless steel.

Ahead, we’ve rounded up a bunch of kettle and toaster sets that’ll fit into any budget so you can find a set worth investing in.

White kettle and toaster sets

Westinghouse Diamond Kettle & Toaster Breakfast Pack in White, $88

Sunbeam Alinea Collection Kettle Ocean Mist White, $129

Sunbeam Alinea Select 4 Slice Toaster White, $129, originally $149

Black kettle and toaster sets

Sunbeam Diamond 2 Slice Toaster and 1.7L Kettle Set in Black, $159.99

Delonghi Brillante Exclusive Kettle Black, $99

Delonghi Brillante Exclusive 4 Slice Toaster Black, $129

Stainless steel kettle and toaster sets

Morphy Richards Equip 1.7L Kettle & 2 Slice Toaster in Brushed Stainless Steel, $122

Breville the Bit More Plus 2 Slice Toaster in Brushed Stainless Steel, $69.95

Breville the Compact Kettle Brushed Stainless Steel, $89.95

Red kettle and toaster sets

Smeg 50’s Style 4 Slice Toaster in Red, $299

Smeg 50’s Style Variable Temperature Kettle in Red, $269

KitchenAid dPro Line 1.5lt Electric Kettle in Candy Red, $379

KitchenAid Pro Line Series 2 Slice Automatic Toaster in Candy Red, $379

Blue kettle and toaster sets

Breville Luxe Collection Toaster & Kettle Set in Damson Blue, $379

Delonghi Icona Capitals Lisbon Kettle Azure, $129, originally $139

Delonghi Icona Capitals Lisbon 4 Slice Toaster Azure, $159, originally $169

Yellow kettle and toaster sets

Delonghi Icona Capitals New York 2 Slice Toaster Yellow, $139

Delonghi Icona Capitals New York Kettle Yellow, $129, originally $139

Sunbeam Chic Breakfast Collection Pack in Yellow, $99

Green kettle and toaster sets

Russell Hobbs Legacy 4 Slice Toaster in Green, $59

Russell Hobbs Legacy Kettle in Green, $59

De’Longhi Distinta Flair 2 Slice Toaster, $119

DeLonghi Distinta Flair Electric Kettle 1.7L, $109

Pink kettle and toaster sets

Morphy Richards Evoke Kitchen 1.5L Jug Kettle and 4 Slice Toaster in Rose Quartz, $189

Morphy Richards Scandi Dusty Pink Aspect Kettle and Toaster Pack, $341.26

The post These Colourful Kettle and Toaster Sets Will Perk Up Your Mornings appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

TikTok just seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. This week, users have been sharing their favourite hacks that have become standard practice in everyday life. One particularly noteworthy example is a neat trick for separating your egg yolk from the whites.

There are plenty of occasions in cooking that require you to separate an egg yolk from the gooey whites. Perhaps you’re whipping up a meringue and need to rid yourself of those pesky yellow blobs. Or, maybe you only want the yolks and have no need for the white soup around it.

Carrying out the action of separation, however, is easier said than done. The egg-shell method is a common choice, but it’s not always effective. So, short of stabbing the yolk with a fork to remove it, what else can you do?

TikTok has come through with a video hack on how to perfectly separate your egg yolk from its pool of whites. And all you need is a clove of garlic.

Observe.

@jagermeister5050

#fyp #foryoupage ???? Duet this video if it work

♬ Ultimate life hacks – Kelly – The Life Bath

An easy way to separate your egg yolks and whites

As the user @golddiary shows us above, garlic and eggs do go together – quite beautifully, in fact.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Crack your eggs into a bowl.
2. Peel a clove of garlic and rub it between your fingertips.
3. Carefully pluck the egg yolk from the whites and place it in a separate bowl.
4. Success!

Garlic works in mysterious ways, and one of these is its ability to serve as a sticking device for egg yolk. As you can see in the video, no fork, ladle or spoon is required here. Gently pinching the egg in your fingers allows it to be removed cleanly from the whites.

This gives you a perfect yellow yolk or a yolk-free bowl of whites for all your cooking needs.

This isn’t the first TikTok egg hack that’s had us raving. For example, did you know you can peel hard-boiled eggs by blowing on them? You can read our write up to find out more!

The post The Easiest Way to Separate Your Egg Yolks From the Whites appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Working at a desk all day will undoubtedly take its toll on your back. One of the best ways to support your back and avoid the strains and stresses of working from home is with a supportive back cushion.

Sitting down all day isn’t the healthiest occupational practice , but for many of us it’s a reality. You may be tethered to your desk whether you’re in an office or working from home, and while there’s plenty you can do to improve your overall work situation, like using a proper monitor mount or better office chair, one of the simplest adjustments you can make is investing in a good back cushion.

Back support cushion options

Ausale Memory Foam Lumbar Support Back Cushion $24.97
One of the most frequent posture problems desk workers face is not sitting up straight enough when they work. The Ausale Memory Lumbar Support cushion forces you to sit forwards, and it can also double as a seat cushion if you need a little height boosting and comfort support.

ObboMed- HR-7660 Inflatable Portable Bed Wedge Pillow $63.22
While the ObboMed HR-7510 is largely sold as a bed pillow, its inflatable nature means you could use it to improve your home or office chair’s support pretty easily, and the fact that it’s inflatable means that it’s also a possibility if you do find yourself travelling and working from hotel rooms with poor chairs frequently.

Everlasting Comfort 100% Pure Memory Foam Back Cushion $53.93
Using a regular pillow might force your back forwards into a better posture, but it’s also prone to slipping. The Everlasting Comfort Memory Foam pillow’s selling point beyond lumbar support is the use of dual straps to keep it in place. That should ensure that it provides optimal support while you’re seated.

Viktor Jurgen Neck and Back Massager Pillow $124.20
If you need more than just support, the Viktor Jurgen Neck and Back Massager Pillow may suit; it’s designed to attach to the back of your chair and provide a powered back or neck massage, as well as optional heating elements to reduce those aches and pains that come with too many hours of staring at dull spreadsheets.

Editor’s note: Descriptions and features are as taken from manufacturer/seller claims on Amazon.

The post 4 Supportive Back Cushions for Your Office Chair appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Baking is an activity that involves all of your senses. You have to look at your dough to see if it has doubled in volume, feel the bread as you knead it in order to nail the right level of elasticity, and smell the air to make sure nothing’s burning. Taste… well, obviously. And according to Peter — the first star baker of this season of T he Great British Bake Off — you should listen to your cakes to see if they’re done baking.

Actually, this slice of wisdom goes back further than this season. As he explains in his voiceover, Peter (a 20 year-old accounting and finance student from Edinburgh) learned the trick from a series three (“season three” in American) contestant when he was but a tween:

“John Whaite on series three of Bake Off — he said that his mum taught him to listen to it. If it’s still wet, then it’s going to sound like it’s boiling away. But if it’s just a nice, moist cake it’s just got a gentle, gentle sound to it.”

This makes sense. If your cake still has a lot of water inside of it, that water is going to be boiling off and evaporating, and it’s going to make noise. After most of it has been baked off, it’s going to make less noise.

You may have to calibrate your ear the first couple of times, so listen to your cake at a couple of different points, taking not of how it sounds when you know it is definitely under-baked, and use other cues to help you identify that perfectly done point. Once you’ve got it dialed in, you’ll have one more sense you can use when baking — and as someone who still experiences a fair amount of anxiety around baking, I personally welcome this sonic yardstick.

This article was originally published in October 2020.

The post Listen to Your Cake Before You Take It Out of the Oven appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Wondering what the heck to make for dinner tonight? I know how it is. Lucky for you, we’ve been blessed with the news of a viral cooking hack that might help a little. And you better believe I’m about to share it here with you all.

As 7 News has recently shared, an Australian mum’s trick for nailing roast potatoes has gained a whole lot of attention online because of how simple her approach is.

Dropping her wisdom on the Mums Who Clean Facebook page, Vicki revealed that her secret to cooking drool-worthy potatoes is, wait for it… dry French Onion soup mix.

In the post, which won Vicki a whole lot of attention when she published it a few months back, the Aussie mum wrote:

“When doing roast spuds, peel, cut and place in a baking dish then …. get French Onion dry soup mix and sprinkle over top of spuds. Then sprinkle your oil over that and bake. It’s the only way I do roast spuds now.”

You can pick up a packet of French Onion soup mix for as little as $0.45 at Coles and Woolworths if you’d like to transform your taters tonight.

Want to step up your potato cooking game even further? Well, according to Family Food on the Table you can cook these little spuds in the microwave in 10 minutes if you want to skip the whole oven situation. ( As we recently discovered , you can also microwave sweet potatoes.)

Getty Baked Potato

They’ve written that if you want to try this approach, you should poke each potato five to six times with a fork, then toss them straight onto the microwave plate for 10 to 11 minutes (this is for two medium-sized potatoes).

To check if your potatoes are ready, the Family Food on the Table website recommends giving them a squeeze (wear an oven mitt or use a tea towel) and checking if they begin to open up. You can find the full write up here .

Ta-da! Perfect (and easy) potatoes.

The post The 45-Cent Hack to Cooking Perfect Roast Potatoes appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Whether you’re cooking a meal or phoning it in this Valentine’s Day, treating the evening like a dinner party for two will ensure you strike a special, thoughtful tone.

Basically, if it’s a move you’d bust out for a dinner party, you should bust it out for the dinner you serve on February 14th. Dinner parties are all about impressing people with how mature and considerate you are, which is a vibe that should be extended to your valentine, who is — more than likely — the person you have been around almost constantly for a full year. Attention to detail can be a love language, and can make an at-home meal feel different , even if you haven’t left that home in over 11 months.

Set the table

If you have “nice” dishes, use them. If you have children, banish them for the evening so you don’t have to worry about them breaking the nice plates (have them watch a movie or put them to bed early). Don’t, however, use plates that are so nice you can’t put them in the dishwasher, or plates that are so nice you feel anxious eating off of them. This is supposed to be fun, after all.

Once you’ve picked the plates, you can focus on the rest of the table. Place mats, cloth napkins, and — yes — candles are all things that make the meal feel more intentional and thoughtful. I also recommend place cards, even if there are only two places at the table. Write your Valentine’s name on a cute little card or — better yet — a clementine (get the kind with leaves still attached if you can), set it in front of their chair, and watch their face light up at the adorable, edible detail.

Warm your plates and chill your glasses

If you are going to go through the trouble to cook a beautiful medium-rare steak, or mix a perfectly chilled and diluted martini, you might as well take the extra step of serving them in or on a vessel that won’t negatively affect their temperature one way or other. For plates that will be graced with hot food, just set them in a low-temperature oven (the lowest it will go) on a baking sheet for a couple of minutes right before serving time. (This is also a good brunch move — few things ruin a hot egg like a cold plate.)

If you’ll be serving a salad, pop the salad plates in the fridge (for 20 minutes) of freezer (if you’re in a hurry) to help keep your greens cold and crisp. This may not be necessary, depending on how warm you keep your house, but it’s useful if your plates are fresh and warm from the dishwasher.

If you’ll be serving cocktails, white wine, or even Diet Coke, pop a few fancy glasses in the freezer while you prepare the meal. This is a particularly nice — some might say “crucial” — move if you’ll be sipping martinis, which are at their best when they are icy.

Learn a few fancy plating tricks

I did not expect artful plating to be one of the things I missed during this pandemic, but it is — I miss the stark white plates with their negative space and carefully placed garnishes. People truly do eat with their eyes first , and while sculpting mashed potatoes may feel silly in the moment, it feels thoughtful on the plate. If you’re uncomfortable with that amount of bourgeois decadence, at least finish your dish with a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of good olive oil, or sprinkle on some fresh herbs and crunchy stuff ,.

Don’t forget the butter (and nice salt)

An ample supply of room-temperature butter is what separates my favourite bread-serving restaurants from the rest. If a waiter brings me butter that’s topped with some sort of flake salt, I’m theirs for the night, and will follow them into hell, or at least the more expensive pages of the wine menu. It’s a powerful move, is what I’m saying, and you can harness its power by setting out good butter (which is different from your everyday butter ), nice salt (Maldon or something similar), and a pepper mill full of whole peppercorns.

If your meal or your valentine requires any condiments, pickle, or sauce, make sure to set all that out before dinner is served so no one has to leave the table, and clean the bottles and lids of those condiments before setting them out. You can also transfer them to cute little bowls with cute little serving spoons, but cleaning the hot sauce bottle should suffice.

Discuss the division of labour beforehand

If you are presenting the meal as a “gift,” then cleaning up the mess you make in the kitchen should be part of it. One of the best things about going out for Valentine’s Day is not having to clean anything, so don’t foist an unexpected chore on your partner or spouse.

If the meal is a combined effort, divvy up the labour before February 14.

Decide who is making the main, who is making dessert, and who’s in charge of the drink program, mood music, and cleaning up ahead of time so you don’t end up bickering on an evening that is supposed to be romantic. Do this even if you’re getting takeout. Tossing the plastic takeout container in the dishwasher after dinner isn’t as big of an ask as cleaning grease out of a cast iron pan, but it is still an ask, and you might want to ask for other after-dinner activities instead.

The post Treat Valentine’s Day Like a Dinner Party for Two appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

There is no timeline yet for when a coronavirus vaccine will be deemed safe and available for kids under age 16. However, you should still be keeping them up with their regular wellness checks and immunisation schedules, even as we continue to work our way through this pandemic.

For some kids (and adults), even the thought of that needle can send them into a panic. They’re probably never going to love getting a shot, but you can help reduce some of their anxiety with a little preparation.

Prepare them

Springing a shot on a child, once they’re old enough to know what one is and they have shown some anxiety over it, is usually not a good idea. I didn’t offer up the information when my son was very little and largely unaware of what was happening; but by the time he was old enough to ask whether he was going to get a shot, I answered honestly.

It’s important to explain to kids in basic language why the shot is important (“It prevents you from getting certain diseases that could make you very sick”), acknowledge any anxiety they have about it (“It sounds like you’re feeling a little nervous; I’ll be right there with you the whole time”), and be honest about what they’ll experience. A shot does feel painful to some people, even if it’s just for a moment; to say they “won’t feel a thing” isn’t necessarily true and may make them feel like you lied to them. Instead, focus on the briefness of the discomfort: “It only hurts for a second, like a small pinch, and then it’s done.”

You may want to choose a relaxation technique or breathing exercise that you can do together when it’s time for them to receive the shot, such as counting down from three, singing a favourite song, or doing some deep breathing together. Don’t forget to vocalise whatever relaxation technique you’ve practiced to the doctor or nurse before they get ready to administer the shot. If you don’t, the doctor may give your child directions that are contrary to what you’ve practiced, which may be confusing for them.

It’s also worth noting that if they’re not displaying any worry over getting a shot, there’s no need for the extensive prep — that will only make them think maybe they do have something to worry about. Follow their lead on this.

Give them some control

Getting a vaccination can be anxiety-inducing, even for adults. And the central part of the experience — whether or not to actually get the shot — is not in their control. But there are lots of other choices you can let them make to help them feel like they’re directing the action, rather than have the action happen to them against their will. To start, before you leave home, ask them if there is a comfort item, such as a stuffed animal or favourite blanket, they’d like to bring with them to squeeze or provide a distraction.

When you go into the exam room, let them choose to sit in your lap or on their own. They can choose which arm gets the shot, and which Band-Aid will cover it up. (If you’re not sure whether their doctor will have a selection of Band-Aids, you could bring one from home and they can choose between yours and the doctor’s.) If you’re both getting a flu shot, ask if they’d like to watch you go first, and they can help you be brave. I’m not suggesting you flood them with an overwhelming number of choices, but letting them have a say in a couple of these things can ease a feeling of helplessness.

But perhaps most importantly: Remain calm yourself throughout the entire process. It can be heartbreaking to watch your child experience fear or pain, but they will feed, at least partially, off your own emotions. If you seem anxious, it is likely to make them even more nervous. Be encouraging throughout the experience and praise them afterward for being brave.

End with some kind of treat

There are different views on whether rewarding a child with treats is ever ok or always a terrible idea. I personally fall into the “I won’t bribe you to behave , but I will celebrate your bravery after you’ve done a hard thing” camp — and it takes bravery to get a shot when you’re scared of that needle.

Not all treats have to come with a cheap plastic toy or be covered in sprinkles. You could promise you’ll cue up their favourite movie when you get home or play their favourite game after dinner. Maybe you’ll swing by the playground after their appointment or you’ll add bubbles to their evening bath. You can focus your “treat” either on something they love to do or something that will comfort them.

The post How to Handle Your Kid’s Fear of Shots appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Ever since I interviewed food journalist Alicia Kennedy about her daily eating habits , I have been longing for tomato toast, a decidedly summer treat that feels out of reach in the middle of February. Big, juicy tomatoes are not in season at the moment — but tiny tomatoes (such as cherry or grape) are juicy, sweet, and easy to find all year round and, lucky for me, they make a fantastic tomato toast.

Like its big-tomato brethren, tiny tomato toast is a bright, happy dish, perfect for injecting life into a cold, grey morning or rainy lunch hour. You can keep it simple — with grated tomatoes, olive oil, and flake salt — or you can grate the tomatoes atop of some sort of creamy substrate: cream cheese, labneh , whipped cottage cheese , or avocado. I like to keep the layer of creamy stuff pretty thin; you want just enough to form a hydrophobic layer in between the tomatoes and the toast to keep the juices of the former from seeping into the bread and making it soggy .

In terms of toppings, salt is usually plenty, but I’ve recently been wilding out with chilli oil , air-fried ginger , and scallions . Lemon zest, za’atar, sumac, everything bagel seasoning , your favourite vinegar, and very finely grated cheese are all viable options; just remember that the tomatoes are the star. Leave room for them to shine.

The only drawback to grating tiny tomatoes is that there is less to hold onto while you grate, but I — a very clumsy person — haven’t had any mishaps. Hold the fruit at one end of its oblong body (or grab the stem if it has one), then grate it over the toast, letting the seeds, gel, and juicy flesh fall until you are left with a little nub of smashed skin and flesh. Toss that on the toast as well. (Make sure to use a grater with large holes, not a microplane.) Add your seasonings and any finishing touches you desire, and chomp down.

The post You Should Make Tiny Tomato Toast appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .

Working from home has forced us to get pretty inventive when it comes to desk space. If you keep finding yourself putting your laptop precariously on a pile of books, you can do much better with a top-quality laptop stand. Here’s what to look for when choosing the best one for your WFH space.

Sure, it’s inherent in the name “laptop” that you can place your personal computer on your lap when working from home. Let’s be honest, chances are you’ve done it more than once. But it’s a quick recipe to a sore neck from craning downwards for hours, or uncomfortably hot or pressured legs depending on the make and model of your computer.

It’s far more efficient for both your health and your laptop to sit on a stand, because you can then adjust it to work to your proper eye level, give it sufficient ventilation and make it easier to use external peripherals like a really nice ergonomic keyboard or mouse.

Now, if you’re particularly keen you can always opt for a DIY stand, but you are limited by your skills and your available materials there. If you’d rather select a stand that’s professionally built, here’s a range of options to consider:

Nexstand Travel Laptop Stand $20.38
A laptop stand can help you work from home but it doesn’t have to be limited to just your own domicile. Nexstand’s laptop stand is designed to fold down for easy travel storage, so you can use it when you’re working on the go as long as you’ve got a flat surface. Its 226g carrying weight won’t unduly add to your luggage capacity either.

ViPowermate Aluminum Adjustable Stand $21.99
ViPowermate’s Aluminium stand, like many others, pitches itself at the MacBook crowd, but with so many other silver ultrabooks it’s not as though you can’t use it universally. It states it’s good for up to 20kg, which is one seriously heavy laptop – and more relevantly, an indication that it should be a nicely durable bit of kit.

Soundance LS1 Silver Aluminum Laptop Stand $47.01
Soundance’s LS1 isn’t a complex laptop stand, but it could be a good option if you want a stand that doesn’t – pun not intended – stand out, because it’s a simple aluminium ledge with a loop for the stand part that raises any laptop sitting on it by six inches at default. Yes, you don’t get adjustable angles – but that also means you’ll never have to deal with the adjustable part breaking and watching your laptop sink down either.

AstiVita 100% Bamboo Laptop/Computer Foldable Desk and Stand $56.99
Most laptop stands are solid metal – typically aluminium frames – but if that doesn’t suit your style or environmental outlook, consider AstiVita’s Bamboo stand. It’s designed to work at regular or standing desks, and intelligently incorporates a hidden drawer underneath the stand that you could use for storing connection cables or other small items.

Razer Laptop Stand Chroma $141.50
If you want a laptop stand that’s not only built for elevation but also intimidation factor, consider Razer’s Laptop Stand Chroma. If you’re at all familiar with Razer’s gaming gear, you’ll be able to predict that it’s got Razer’s RGB Chroma lighting built in, but also three extra USB ports, making it a good fit for any additional peripherals – not just gaming gear – you might need to work from home.

Editor’s note: Descriptions and features are as taken from manufacturer/seller claims on Amazon.

The post 5 Laptop Stands for Every WFH Setup appeared first on Lifehacker Australia .