Which Kitchen Gadgets Do You Actually Use?

[Anne_in_VA]

I use my electric tea kettle - best $5 I ever spent. I just turn it on when I want some tea and in a couple minutes I have boiling water! I used to hate having to fill a kettle and put it on the stove to heat the water.

I never used my blender and recently gave it to DIL.

[chiver78]

I use my mini-chopper all the time.

[sheilaincali]

I use my George Foreman grill probably twice a week. DH uses the food dehydrator about 3 times a month to make beef jerky or to dehydrate fruit for homemade trail mix. We use my big Kitchen Aide mixer on average of 2 or 3 times a month as well.
We never use the bread machine. The salad spinner got used for about a month and hasn't been used in 2 years.

[dakota4600]

I love my food scale. I'm a dork though. Even if the bag says 8oz. I'll measure it out on my scale to make sure. Usually it is pretty close. Plus it really helps with portion control.

My other favorite is my vacuum sealer. It allows me to buy & cook in bulk and not have to worry about freezer burn. Since I got it I don't think we've had to throw away an unidentifiable clump of frost. Even though the bags are a little pricey, it is cheaper then throwing food away.

I use my food processor a couple times a month for batch cooking. For just one recipe I'll hand chop the stuff.

Our stand mixer gets used once a month.

Hand mixer usually once a week.

I used the bread machine once and decided any time savings was eaten up by handwashing the parts, plus you can't do a double recipe in it and took up a lot of space, so it is back in storage. DH's mom gave it to him when she upgraded to a newer one.

Never use the Foreman, though I really should get it out to do porkchops.

I gave away my salad spinner since it sat in the cabinet for over a year. Another thing I was glad I didn't pay for.

[rr234]

I love my immersion blender. I use it for making soup and yogurt/frozen berry smoothies. I use my electric kettle popcorn popper at least weekly. The George Foreman is great for grilled cheese....no flipping. The food processor gets used once and a while, and my regular blender probably has an inch of dust on it. Such a pain to clean.

[mizbear]

I use most of mine. I can't say what my favorite is because I have a small galley kitchen and I had to give up some items and don't get to use other items as much due to space and have never replaced others.
My Jack Lalanne juicer is probably one of my favorites because I can make fresh apple juice. Or fresh whatever juice- I made carrot cake one time and used carrot juice in place of some of the liquid and carrot pulp in it- YUMMY! Made me actually like carrot cake for once.
My food pro comes in handy because I can buy blocks of cheese and shred them myself. I have a box grater, but it gets a little tiring when you shred massive amounts of on sale cheese or if you are making freezer meals.

[chicg]

I use my blender every morning in warmer weather to make smoothies for breakfast. If I rinse/clean right after I use it, it makes cleanup a lot faster since nothing gets stuck/dried on. Keeping it on my counter avoids the cumbersome process of dragging it out. I don't do toast or coffee often, so I stored those instead. I don't like the George Foreman, I opt for a grill pan instead (fry pan with grill slats) which I use all winter if it's too cold for me to grill outside. If we're including grills, I use my small Weber almost daily spring-fall. I like the choppers but living by myself, it's usually easier to just chop with a knife since quantities are smaller.

[mommax4]

I've tried to get rid of the gadgets we don't use each time we move. So far so good, although there's always a few more gathering dust. We use the Kitchen Aid stand mixer a couple of time a week, a regular blender a couple of times a month, iced tea maker every other day. Most other gadgets are occasional use only-cookie press at Christmas, immersion blender for soup every couple of months.

[mizbear]

My toaster gets used more often when I make bread in the bread machine- I am too cheap to pay $4 a loaf for bread and I rarely eat white bread.
momma- How do you like your Kitchen Aid? I have been looking at what to replace my stand mixer with when the time comes ($99 off brand) and am stuck between Kitchen Aid and Cuisinart

[mommax4]

I really like our Kitchen Aid. We mostly use it to make pancake batter. However, it can handle thick, double batch of sugar cookie dough just fine as well. I have several of the attachments for it too. I like the shredder/grater attachment for zucchini in the summer (in part because I don't have a food processor). We also have the meat grinder attachment and the pasta attachment, but those don't get very much use at our house.

The only complaint I have is that the enamel coating on the batter attachment, which we use to make pancakes of course, is starting to chip. I'll probably just have to spend the money to get a replacement one some day.

[oreo]

Kitchen aid Mixer - use 1 or 2 times/week
Blender - use once a month
Toaster - use every day
Toaster oven - use once a week
Rotisserie chicken oven - use 2 times/month
Salad Spinner - use every time I buy lettuce (maybe once a month) I actually have 2, one for large amounts and one for smaller amounts--I need a really tiny one for my herbs-less paper towel waste
Waffle iron - use once a month
Bread machine - use twice a year but I should use it more often because I really like it
hand mixer - hardly ever use
Food processor - used to use a lot but don't use it as much any more. I mostly cut stuff up by hand rather than clean it but it is nice to have when you really need it for making something.
Vacuum sealer - used to use it more but it is such a pain to use I just double or triple bag everything I put in the freezer now and don't store it for more than a few months.

[MittenKitten]

I use my large food processor for making hummus, usually 2-3 times a month. I also use my smoothie maker on occasion. Need to start using it more. Toaster gets used every day for the kids waffles. Oh and I LOVE my waffle/Panini maker. Although I wish it made more then 2 Belgium waffles and made 4 normal ones instead.

Bread maker was used when I first bought it but now sits in the cabinet. I think I last used it 5+ years ago. Opps might be time to get rid of it....

[steph08]

I love our foodsaver vacuum sealer - it is great when we process our own venison! I love my Kitchenaid and George Foreman grill as well. We don't use our blender much but I do use the salad spinner in the summer when we grow our own lettuce.

[muttleynfelix]

A lot of these were wedding gifts from 5+ years ago, but we have the cabinet space, so we have not downsized
crockpot - 3 to 4 times a month
countertop mixer - averages out to be probably 2 times a month
handheld mixer - twice a year
georgeforman - 6 times a year
blender - 6 times a year
breadmaker - Never (I know we should)
electric skillet - 3 times a year (mmm fried chicken)
toster - A couple times a week (well DH uses it, I don't like toast/bread)
toaster oven - Basically every day
one cup chopper - depends - when I was making baby food for DS, I used it a couple times a week. Not so much any more.

[mizbear]

Has anyone tried those new hand held mixers with the skinny blades instead of the old flat wide blades on the beaters? They look flimsy to me. A hand mixer is one of the items I need for my kitchen- my DGM is starting to complain about me borrowing hers everytime I am making something that can't go into my food pro, blender or stand mixer (cheap stand mixer has no clue what slow is).

[blackcard]

Microwave and toaster. 2 Thats it!
Unless you count the coffemaker. Then 3 thats it!
Unless you count that cold water dispenser on the refrig? Thats 4 really all of it!
Ok, maybe the oven once or twice to reheat pizza. Then thats 5 finally all of it!
I think? :/

[cael]

DF is obsessed with his slap chop, lol! My dad has one too and loves it. (I think it's just the commercials...) DF also has an electric griddle he uses for breakfast, and I have a glass tea pot (for loose tea) I couldn't live without.

[upstatemom]

I found it interesting that many of the responses listed a toaster and a toaster oven. We just have the toaster oven and use it to toast bread and bagels as well as reheating food and cooking.
Why have both, just curious?

[mizbear]

I used to have both- but now that it's just me, I don't have to have one to prevent ex from burning down kitchen. My grandparents always had both because we could heat tv dinners/breakfasts in the toaster oven while my grandfather was making toast and my mother's bagels didn't fit in the old toaster(s). I am sure everyone here is old enough to remember the old aluminum foil tv dinner trays. My grandmother still heats certain things either in the toaster oven or in her microwave/convection oven (the thing is almost as old as me and the size of a tube tv- with a dial ) in the summer.

[gsbrq]

Toasters make better toast than toaster ovens...but I have a small kitchen, so I got rid of the toaster and kept the t.o. because I use it several times a week. Only gadget I use more is the microwave.

I love the air popper for pocorn; make it just about every weekend.

I have a little $7 rice cooker that I really like, and several crockpots (different sizes).

Those of you who use electric skillets or griddles...why not use a pan on the stove? Just curious....

[mizbear]

I love crockpots!
I prefer a reversible cast iron Lodge griddle to electric. THey can be gotten in 2 sizes, but more importantly, they are much less likely to catch fire than the electric skillet was...

[blackcard]

Toaster oven and crockpot sounds like work. Quick and easy for me, or call it efficient.
I am more of a salad and soup/sandwich girl.

[mizbear]

blackcard- You can make awesome soups and chilis in a crockpot- and not have to mess with it all day. I make chili in my biggest crockpot and then split it up so I have food in the freezer for a while- or cook a roast that I can slice thin for sandwiches.
But yeah, toaster ovens can be a pain (especially when the hubby makes a mess in them and doesn't clean it up LOL)- but the toaster oven pans are soooo cute!

[Agatha]

Which ones do I use? Well, in priority order, I would have to say:

1. Coffeemaker (daily)
2. My Cuisinart (almost daily)
3. Pepper grinder and/or garlic press
4.Crockpot

Everything is else is purely extra. . .except, of course, my 8 inch steel chef's knife! I have a stainless steel one but my old steel one always takes a better edge.

[sunflower64]

Coffeemaker, toaster and microwave (daily)
crockpot - one or two times a month
handmixer - it depends - sometimes several times a week
food processor - a lot more lately - getting the hang of that machine.

I have an electric skillet - bought it when we did our kitchen remodel when we didn't have a kitchen for several months. Kind of forgot about it until recently and just started using it again for a few things.

I got a big sunbeam mixer when we got married - kind of beat up after 25 years - so a few years ago splurged on the big kitchenaid mixer. Was going to get rid of the other mixer - but it does come in handy at Christmas when making lots of cookies.

George Foreman - once

Blender - not too often

[Clever Username]

My contributions:

Citrus juicer.
Egg slicer (for avacados).

[sunshinegal1981]

Egg slicer? Why not just use a knife? I never understood this.... enlighten me please!!!

[sapphire12]

George Foreman grill. This is the best invention for me.

[constanz22]

I love my George Foreman too!
I use my coffee maker daily, toaster several times a week. I've been using my bread machine every couple of weeks. I had one that I got rid of when I moved 3 years ago because I didn't feel like I used it much and wanted to unload any excess stuff before I moved. In all the truckloads of stuff I got rid of, that was the ONLY thing I missed, so, when I heard a friend was going to sell hers in a yard sale for $15, I bought it and am loving making bread again!
I use an electric hand mixer maybe once a month. My stand mixer a couple times a year.
I use my crock pots (yes, more than one!) regularly, about once per week.

[gsbrq]

Feb 21, 2011 11:23:19 GMT -5 Clever Username said:

Egg slicer (for avacados).

Avocados are super-easy to slice with a knife!

Just cut it in half, tap the knife blade into the pit and twist counter-clockwise to remove, then slice each half while it's still in the "shell". Use a spoon to scoop out. Takes almost no time to do it this way, and it looks beautiful.

There are videos on Youtube if my description isn't clear enough.