2010's hottest kitchen gadgets: silicon spatula, mandoline, thermometers...

A shrinking global economy (read: shrinking budgets) means that kitchen gadgets are also getting smaller.

There has been a major shift in the realm of kitchen gadgets - instead of purchasing high-end stoves and big ovens, people are buying smaller, more specialized accessories, which until now were reserved to the kitchens of professional chefs, according to AllRecipe's "Measuring Cup" Report, released on December 9.

With an increasing number of men in the kitchen, the male tool of choice is the meat thermometer (men were also more likely to search for meat-heavy recipes), while women preferred colorful silicon spatula sets.

Top 10 kitchen gadgets of 2010:

1. Silicon spatula set (#1 "most wished for" on Amazon US)
2. Digital meat thermometer
3. Microplane (brand) Grater
4. Mandoline
5. Kitchen Scale (#8 "most wished for" on Amazon UK)
6. Salad Spinner
7. Cake Decorating Set (#7 "most wished for" on Amazon UK)
8. Bamboo Cutting Boards
9. Candy Thermometer
10. Apple Peeler

Countertop appliances (like blenders) are also competing with the traditional stovetop; as people resort to cooking at home to cut costs, smaller and more novel technologies are overtaking traditional ones.

Page views for meals prepared using countertop appliances grew in 2010, with blender recipes growing 43 percent from 2009. Views of recipes using a Slow Cooker grew 31 percent.

Other popular small kitchen appliances on Amazon (US and UK) include:

Handheld mini blender (Cuisine Art Immersion Hand Blender, approx. $30/£19) is the top "most wished for" and best-selling small appliance on Amazon US.

Slow cooker (Hamilton Beach 33967 Set n Forget 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker, approx. $45/£28) is the second "most wished for" and the third best-selling.

Mini food processor (Kenwood CH180 Mini Chopper, about £6/$9.50) is top best-seller, "most gifted" and "second "most wished for" on Amazon UK.

These findings are based on AllRecipe surveys and data conducted on the site's online community of more than 25 million "home cooks" (regular people who cook at home).

All Amazon figures are as of December 10.