March 5 Goat Topic - Small kitchen appliances.
6(In an ongoing series of the community giving this month’s goat @KittySprinkles some time away from meh …)
Small kitchen appliances. In theory, they are to help us cook better, make tasks easier, or offer more convenience. In reality, some work better taking up space in the back of the pantry.
What’s your super helpful appliance and what is one that in hindsight, hasn’t been so helpful for you?
- 12 comments, 7 replies
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My beloved InstantPot. Of course. Second is a hand blender. Third is a smoothie maker. Least? The Amazon Dash Wand.
@OldCatLady My slow cooker and Ninja 3-in-1 has definitely seen less use since I got the Instant Pot.
@OldCatLady Now an InstantPot I might use. I should have looked for a cheap one before Christmas.
@OldCatLady I absolutely adore mine. Best beef stew ever.
@OldCatLady - Did you know you can make wine in an Instant Pot? The crowd over at Casemates may have an opinion on it, but some reviews call it decent.
@sammydog01 The Crock Pot Express Pot is very similar to an IP, has good reviews, and can be had under $65 at Amazon. I got one to give as a gift around Christmas because some friends were awed by the IP and I couldn’t find the IP in stock at the time for a reasonable price. They say they are enjoying it.
My future sous vide cooker!
Defining an appliance as something that plugs in, and hand operated devices as tools, the only appliances I routinely use in the kitchen are my microwave and toaster oven. The crock pots get some use in the winter and the blender for summer smoothies, but only occasionally.
My “well it’s good in theory” - bread machine. I think I’ve used it less than a five times – which was more than the previous owner. $15 for an unused Cuisinart was a fair price, at least.
I despise kitchen small appliances. My mother insists on sending me countertop clutter in the form of appliances. Toaster oven, blender, mixer, steamer, waffle iron, electric skillet, juicer… stuff I’ll never use and have to find a place to store so I have it on hand when she comes for her winter visits. Then there’s the appliances I stupidly bought myself from meh. Slow cookers, vacuum sealers, coffee makers… BAH!
I use my coffee maker every morning, and convection toaster oven daily. No need for a pricey “air fryer” when you have a convection oven.
I really love my Tribest personal mixer. It doesn’t take much room on the counter and is great for my protein shakes, or making the kids a quick milkshake. Keeps me from having to drag out the Blendtec for small jobs.
@mfladd At first I read “personal massager”.
I need to go to sleep.
I don’t cook, so the Amazon Echo is my most used kitchen appliance.
@sligett “Alexa? Order me a pizza.”
I love our waffle iron. We also have a combination panini-press waffle maker griddle, and its ok but it can’t touch a purpose built waffle iron for waffles. We’re probably going to lose the combi-appliance.
P.S. love the sous vide immersion circulator too; we don’t always have time to use it but the steaks… ahhh, the steaks…
We used to have a quesadilla maker. I thought it was a joke but we ended up using it to death. Breakfast TCTs, quesadillas, desert tortilla pies… sigh… I miss it.
Use the immersion blender a lot, for smoothies.
I would say the vacume sealer has made the biggest difference.
I vac seal all my frozen meats. I vac seal cheeses and reseal them too. I use the heat sealer option every day on things like cereal or chocolate chip bags.
I keep it on top of my fridge but due to my height that is reach up easy enough to seal but unable to see the buttons while doing so thus I have memorized heat seal on left vac seal on right.
Most used is a single size, off brand foreman grill. One of my favorite meals is a grilled cheese. I use the little mandolin from the top chip set often for cucumbers. Too many too list on the space hog, never should have bought, needs to go away list.