NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast
Michele Norris Shares Kitchen Must-Haves and the Nerds Break Down Switching Banks for Better Rates
Mon, 21 Apr 2025
Find out when it’s worth splurging on kitchen gear and how to switch banks without losing your financial footing. What kitchen tools are actually worth the money? Is switching to an online bank really worth the hassle? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss the value of investing in high-quality kitchen gear and what to consider when moving your money to an online bank so you can make smarter, more intentional financial choices. They begin by speaking with Michele Norris, host of the podcast Your Mama’s Kitchen. She explains how you can align your purchases with your cooking habits — without falling for social media hype. Plus, they discuss how to think about home kitchen upgrades, including tips and tricks on choosing the right knife or stove, knowing when to skip premium brands, and avoiding aesthetic-driven purchases that don’t match your lifestyle. Then, NerdWallet consumer banking editor Ruth Sarreal joins Sean and Elizabeth to discuss how to evaluate whether switching banks makes sense. They explore how to compare rates and fees, keep your auto-payments organized, and transition smoothly without damaging your credit or missing a bill. NerdWallet’s roundup of the best online checking accounts: https://www.nerdwallet.com/best/banking/online-checking-accounts In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: high yield savings account, switching banks, best kitchen appliances to buy, online-only banks, SoFi checking account, bank account switching process, best knives for home cooks, Vitamix vs Ninja blender, Le Creuset alternatives, when to splurge on appliances, budgeting for kitchen upgrades, online banks vs traditional banks, how to switch banks, ATM access with online banks, pros and cons of online banks, choosing a stove, best air fryer to buy, kitchen appliances worth the money, countertop appliances, instant pot storage, what to look for in a blender, managing multiple bank accounts, best checking accounts, how to avoid bank fees, how to transfer auto-payments, comparing bank APYs, personal finance for home cooks, financial planning for kitchen purchases, emotional value of kitchen gear, and sentimental kitchen items. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend.
Chapter 1: What kitchen tools are worth splurging on?
Sean, what's the most expensive kitchen item you own?
Well, when my house was being built, I splurged on an oven with a gas range instead of the standard electric range. And let me tell you, Elizabeth, it has more than paid for itself with delicious meals. What about you, Elizabeth?
It's probably the ice cream maker I received as part of a team building activity, but never use. Thank you, NerdWallet.
Well, this episode, we're talking about where it's worth splurging when it comes to home kitchens. If you're thinking of upgrading your appliances or maybe just buying a really fancy knife set, this one is for you. Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds. I'm Sean Piles.
And I'm Elizabeth Ayola. This episode, we talk with a listener and a fellow nerd about switching banks amidst falling yields on savings accounts.
But first, we are going to chat about where it's worth spending your money in the kitchen and when you might be able to get by on that knockoff version of whatever countertop appliance is trending at the moment. My partner, Garrett, is the cook of the house, and I like to encourage him along by buying nice things for the kitchen every once in a while.
And let me tell you, some of this stuff can get so expensive. Elizabeth, what was the last kitchen gadget or appliance that you bought, and how much did it cost you?
It was a small cutting knife that I bought from Target for like 12 bucks. But whether you need to buy a knife set or restock your spices, all that stuff can add up. Now we're going to chop it up with Michelle Norris about where it's worth spending a lot of money in your home kitchen.
Michelle is a host of podcast Your Mama's Kitchen, author of Our Hidden Conversations, and a contributing editor on MSNBC. I will also add that Michelle has an impressive resume. She has won Peabody, Emmy, DuPont, and Goldsmith awards over the years. Welcome to Smart Money, Michelle.
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Chapter 2: How can you balance quality and budget in kitchen purchases?
This is a really good question, and it depends on the individual. So I'm going to try to give you a blanket answer, but you're going to have to edit this based on where you live, how you cook, how often you cook, and what your budget is. Generally, I think if it's something that you're going to use all the time, it's worth getting the best that you can get. Get the best knives that you can get.
And then take care of them. If you're cooking, you're going to use a knife every day. And... A really good knife can make a difference. It's about safety, making sure that you keep the knife sharp, that you're less likely to cut yourself. That knife is less likely to sort of slide outside the onion and cut you accidentally if you get a good, clean cut through something.
You don't necessarily have to buy the $500 Japanese knives. That may not be necessary. But get at least a good carving knife or a paring knife, something that you use every day to chop. And then something that's a little bit heavier that you can use, say, to chop root vegetables.
If you want to cut up a chicken, you know, something that has a little bit of weight and a really nice sharp edge on it. And then take the time to, if you're getting the knife set, invest in what you need to keep it sharp. So that's an example of where it might be worth spending money.
I like your tip about being selective around what kind of knives you get because I bought my partner a very nice knife block for Christmas. And I think it came with eight knives. We use two of them on the regular. So that's a good point around just knowing which ones you're actually going to be using day in, day out.
If you're on the keto plan and you don't eat a lot of carbs, you don't eat a lot of bread, you don't need the bread knife. You know, you might not need the whole set. So there is a lot of talk with the Duchess on TV, Meghan Markle, about Le Creuset. And this is another example, you know, do I really need an actual Le Creuset pot?
Well, it depends on how much you cook, and it depends on if you're willing to make an investment. There are some pretty good alternatives, and there are some pretty good knockoffs. So you might not need to spend the money, but, you know, Stob, Lodge, there are a lot of other people who make cast iron or enamel cookware that are also very, very good.
One of the questions that people ask, do I really need a Vitamix? You have lots of options. There's Vitamix, there's the Ninja, there are a couple of other high-end blenders. Vitamix is going to set you back. It's going to cost a couple hundred dollars. They go on sale every so often. That's a good way to get it is when they go on sale.
Sometimes you can buy refurbished or open box items, but this is another individual question.
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Chapter 3: Which kitchen appliances and brands are worthwhile investments?
I'm wondering whether there are some kitchen items that people should never be cheap about, even if they are beginner cooks.
A stove is an item that gets a lot of wear and tear. And so you want the best one that you can afford, not just for cooking, but for safety. So, you know, whether it's electric, whether it's induction, whether it's gas, you want to make sure that it's safe. But I would say a word about replacing a stove. Again, this is know your skill level, know how you cook.
We are inundated, particularly on social media, with people who have these high-performance kitchens. And, you know, it looks like a restaurant stove. Do you need a griddle? Do you ever make pancakes? Do you need all six burners? Do you need a super high-performance stove? Because if you don't cook, you're going to burn everything. Trust me on this.
The other benefit that people don't recognize, perhaps, in some of the higher-performing stoves, and some of the mid-range stoves are starting to pick up on this now also, is the simmer function.
So if you like to make a nice ragu on a Sunday and you want to make a pot of greens on a Sunday, you want to make a lovely soup of some kind, you can keep it on such a low simmer that you can keep it on the grate or on the induction stove. surface for three, four hours and not worry about it burning up or reducing too much.
It's this constant, low, just barely there flame that lets something really cook down, that lets the flavor sort of marinate and move all throughout the dish without worrying about it burning or sticking to the bottom.
You're making me want to make a nice sauce for some pasta now. But I completely agree that a good stove can really make the difference between whether you want to cook at all or not. I had plenty of crappy apartments in my early 20s where I was fighting my stove every egg I cooked.
And I ended up eating out a lot more than I probably should have because it was such an uphill battle to cook anything.
And I love this conversation about stoves because as, I guess, a newbie to appliances, and even though I'm renting, I have an electric stove in my house. I am Nigerian, so I cook a lot of stews and sometimes fried foods. And what I'm finding is that the stove top is staining with oil. on the electric stove. And I grew up with gas stoves.
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Chapter 4: What kitchen items should you never be cheap about?
All right, Michelle. I want to ask a quick question around protection plans on expensive kitchen items. Do you think that that's worthwhile? I know that some tend to already come with a warranty anyway, but do you think it's worth people, after maybe splurging on the items, as we said, that are important, getting a protection plan on that?
This is a tough one because it depends on whether it's a countertop appliance or whether it's a big item that you plan to use. And I think stoves and refrigerators and dishwashers probably fall in a slightly different category. I think the garbage disposal might be in that category as well if you live in an area where you're allowed to have garbage disposals.
So for a big appliance that you really depend on, if your dishwasher breaks, can you live without it? Probably. Will you enjoy life without it? Maybe not. For your oven, it may be worth doing the extended warranty. For some of the other appliances, I'm not so sure about that. But it's probably not a bad idea to register things.
So if you do have problems, if you do take just a moment to fill out that card that they give you, And send it in if you ever have a problem down the road. You're much more likely to get a much more welcoming response if you actually took the time to register it.
Michelle, before you go, we have two final questions for you. What is your favorite kitchen item and how much did it cost?
I'm thinking a lot about my mom these days because she went to Glory last year and she's just kind of on my mind all the time. And if you had asked me that a while ago, I might have said the air fryer because I too use it every single day. That is an appliance that gets a workout. I have this mixing bowl that is jade green and I've always loved this bowl.
And then when I was going through photos, I realized it was almost this little rosebud moment. I realized that in a bunch of pictures in our kitchen, my mom had the same bowl, jade green. And I got mine, I think from William Sonoba, maybe Soylentop. I got one of these, you know, high-end culinary stores and it was on sale and it just spoke to me and I purchased it and I just love it.
It's where I make pancake batter. If I make cornbread, it's where I make the batter for that. It's something that has a handle on it. It looks like a pitcher, but it's a big and a mixing bowl, and it's jade. And that jadeite, I think is what they called it. I don't know if it was made by corning or anchor hawking, but it was quite popular for some time.
And then I realized what I was doing is buying something from my youth, something that I saw because my mother made her own bread. She made... cakes and pies all the time. She made rhubarb crisps. She was a fantastic cook and a very good baker. And so I realized what I was buying is something that subliminally I remembered from the kitchen counter in my childhood kitchen.
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Chapter 5: How do aesthetics and practicality influence kitchen appliance choices?
All right, let's get to this episode's money question segment. That's up next. Stay with us.
We're back and answering your money questions to help you make smarter financial decisions. This episode, we're joined by Rachel, a listener with some questions about when switching banks to get the best rates is worth the potential hassle involved. Rachel, welcome to Smart Money.
Hi, thank you.
To help me answer your banking questions, Rachel, we have NerdWallet Banking Editor, Ruth Sarial. Ruth, welcome to Smart Money.
Hi, Sean. Thanks for having me.
So, Rachel, I want to start by hearing a little bit about your financial life right now. Like, where do you feel good? Where do you think you might have some room for improvement?
I feel good about lowering our debt on credit cards slowly but surely. And we did start some high yield savings accounts for our children. through Ally, which has a really high interest rate, but we're kind of stuck on saving up for our emergency fund. We can't quite get that right, but we keep hitting those snags of actual emergencies. For example, our roof, we had to put in a new roof for that.
So I think we're struggling with our emergency fund, but I think slowly but surely we're knocking down our credit card debt.
Tell me a little bit more about your credit card debt. How much do you have?
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Chapter 6: Are protection plans worth it for expensive kitchen items?
Some of these online banks' savings accounts is that they'll have sub-accounts so you can really specify what you're putting money away for. You can specify that it's for vacation or say IVF or whatever needs you have coming up.
Rachel, it seems like you've been using your savings accounts with a little bit of that savings bucket, savings goal, sinking fund, whatever you want to call it, functionality, where you've been saving for your kids, right?
Yeah, I had one for about six years now for my oldest and just recently opened up a new one for our nine-month-old. I also have a separate account for myself because I'm a teacher. I have to save up money for myself over the summer. when they save up for you through the school or whatever, it's just an escrow and it doesn't earn interest.
So I figured this is a better option where at least if I'm saving up thousands of dollars for myself over the summer, at least it's earning interest. And yes, I do have to pay taxes on that, but it's better than nothing. So yeah, we have several different accounts now with Ally.
Just so I'm keeping track, you have Wells Fargo accounts, you have Ally accounts and SoFi accounts.
Yes.
How do you keep all of this straight? Does it get confusing ever?
No, I mean, right now I just opened the SoFi accounts and they have zero dollars in them. I'm deciding on what to do with that. Do I really want to switch over, like lose my checking account with Wells Fargo and just keep the savings account? Because I looked into it a little bit and SoFi does have a lot of ATMs around, I was afraid of like, how do I take out actual cash?
Because Ally doesn't offer that, I don't think, or it takes a while for you to get cash money out of those accounts, whereas SoFi sends you a card.
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Chapter 7: What are Michele Norris’s favorite kitchen items and their sentimental value?
what are some other cons that I might not be thinking of besides the, the whole, like the actual cash? I mean, there aren't, I don't think there are drive-thrus, um, ATMs. That's the con, um,
Ruth, are there any other cons or maybe huge pros that we haven't addressed around online banks that you think Rachel should keep in mind?
Yeah, as far as cons go, generally online banking is tough if you prefer to do bank tasks in person, like go to a teller. And you mentioned ATM. So if you often need to deposit cash, you'd need to make sure that your online bank makes it easy and ideally free to do so. Because some online banks don't accept cash, as you mentioned, or they may limit how much you can deposit online.
or they might charge a fee for making cash deposits, though some do let you deposit cash for free. As for pros, again, the much higher interest rates are a great incentive for switching to an online bank. And then along with that, you'll pay fewer fees because online banks don't have the overhead costs that come with having branches.
They're able to minimize or not charge fees, and they can pay higher interest rates.
And Rachel, have you looked into any fees that you might have to pay from either your Wells Fargo account and how that might compare to Ally or SoFi?
No, I have not.
That might be a good thing to consider as you're looking at these three different banks that you could go with. Which one maybe gives you the best interest rate? Which one has the lowest fees? Which one is as accessible as you want it to be? Those seem like the three big categories that would be important to you.
Yes, definitely.
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Chapter 8: When is switching banks worth the hassle for better rates?
Being a customer of both types of banks can be really useful. Traditional banks do offer some advantages. You can generally get that in-person service. And the biggest traditional banks have a lot of branches and a good number of ATMs. So access to those kind of things is convenient.
If you need like quarters or crisp bills, for example, it's helpful to be able to walk into a bank and get those things. And the big banks do generally offer robust online and mobile services that can compete with those of online banks. But the biggest downside of traditional banks is a really big one. And as we just mentioned before, it's interest rates.
So traditional banks, APYs are generally dismal, like 0.01%. So you have no reward for keeping your money with them. And another big drawback is that many traditional banks still charge expensive overdraft fees and other fees, whereas a lot of online banks and credit unions have eliminated those.
Well, I want to talk about credit unions for a minute, actually, because that hasn't been discussed so far. I am a huge proponent of credit unions. They're a way where you can keep your money in your community. They tend to offer really favorable rates for their members on things like auto loans, and they may allow you to align your money with your values a little more.
And Rachel, it seems like that's something that's important to you, too, having your money in an institution that reflects some of your values. Have you considered a credit union?
no i have not i bet you have a bunch in your area that might be worthwhile to look into you would have the likely convenience of being able to go in and get a check if you want a check or cash if you need cash there will be atms around so it's a nice mix of having the infrastructure of a traditional bank
with some of the alignment with your values potentially that you may not have with a traditional bank. The downside is that they might not have all of the bells and whistles that a fancy online bank might have. But in my experience using both a credit union and an online bank, I find that I have my needs more than met with both of them.
I want to talk a little more about yields on savings accounts. We've been seeing yields fall due to the rate cuts over the past year, the federal rate cuts over the past year. So Ruth, do you think it's still worthwhile to pursue opening an online bank account? Or is the falling yield that we're seeing on them maybe making other accounts like at a credit union something that's more appealing?
I definitely think those higher APYs are still a huge draw. You can grow your money at a much higher rate with an online bank than a traditional one. Rates have fallen some in the past year, but they're still really strong at a lot of online banks and credit unions. Some of the best online savings accounts right now have rates as high as 4.40% or even higher.
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