Kitchen Gadgets.. The brilliant and the useless

urloved33

love my

smoothie for one
crock pot
toaster and....coffee pot
wax warmer

nothing is useless in my kitchen...only functional things can stay.

marissafit06

Best: Kitchen aid Mixer, blender, immersion blender, peeler, apply corer, and cheese slicer
Useless: waffle iron - we prefer pancakes, crock pot, food processor

These are more to do with how we cook then anything else

MsJulesRenee

Not really gadget person, as long as I have a good set of knives and my hand mixer I'm happy. However, cherries were amazing this year so I bought a cherry pitter- used it all summer for recipes and bringing cherries to work. It's way easier and cleaner to eat cherries when you don't have to spit the pit out. It also pits olives. Apple corer and a mini whisks to make eggs in the morning are also really helpful.

sonyaruns

Good: Food processor for my kitchen aid mixer - love that the food falls down into a separate bowl.
Good, heavy stainless steel pots and pans - easy to cook with and attractive as well

mlcollins89

Good:
Spiralizer
Crockpot
Dutch oven (LOVE)
Food Processor
Magic bullet

Bad:
Cheese cutter. We have like 3. We keep getting them as gifts...I'll just use a knife, thanks!
Toaster. We maybe use the toast 3 times a year

PaulaWallaDingDong

All I can say is that the cookie scoop and parchment paper are the best inventions ever.

LKArgh

Good, as in used a lot in my house: Standing mixer, food processor, dutch oven, popcorn air popper, blender (one that also crushes ice), electric grill/sandwich maker, potato ricer, orange juicer, ice cream maker, all sorts of pans and muffin tins etc, scissors, rolling pin, silicone oven gloves.

Things bought and rarely used: juicer (too bulky, and blender serves the same purpose), waffle iron (usually it is simpler to make pancakes or crepes and my kids prefer them), coffee pot (only one who drinks filter coffee is me, so I just use a single serve coffee press), potato peeler and apple corer (thing bought and then pretty much forgotten about), cookie press (too messy and kids prefer cookie cutters anyway), fondue set (used maybe once every couple of years or so).
Things I have never bought, although I love all sorts of gadgets, because I suspect I would never use: microwave, bread maker, spiraliser

fatfrank44

kristydi wrote: »

Loving this thread guys

I have kitchen scissors, fabric scissors, and just regular around the house scissors. My husband has his own pair, because he kept using my facric or kitchen scissors to open packages. Everyone knows to LEAVE MAMA'S SCISSORS ALONE!


[/quote]

You touch my fabric scissor on pain of death

Jruzer

One I haven't seen on this thread is a silpat -- it's a silicone liner that goes on a sheet pan and prevents the food from burning to the tray. It washes really easily and is nonreactive. Ours gets used all the time.

It's especially good for foods with a lot of butter, white flour, and sugar.

emmacken

Good/useful:
Bottle opener (I like beer)
Mason jars
Crock pot
Immersion blender
My aluminum pan that I can use on the stove top and then immediately transfer into the oven. Though, I'd probably have a le creuset if they weren't so expensive.

Bad/useless:
Wok (I can't get the thing to heat up well on my electric stove)
A microwave s'mores maker
A chocolate milk mixer
Quesadilla maker

The above were mostly gifted to me by my well-meaning mother, but they are either too specific or were of such poor quality that they broke within the first couple uses.

Kalikel

emmacken wrote: »

Good/useful:
Bottle opener (I like beer)
Mason jars
Crock pot
Immersion blender
My aluminum pan that I can use on the stove top and then immediately transfer into the oven. Though, I'd probably have a le creuset if they weren't so expensive.

Bad/useless:
Wok (I can't get the thing to heat up well on my electric stove)
A microwave s'mores maker
A chocolate milk mixer
Quesadilla maker

The above were mostly gifted to me by my well-meaning mother, but they are either too specific or were of such poor quality that they broke within the first couple uses.

Lodge sells enameled cast iron that's just like Le Creuset, but a hell of a lot cheaper. They don't have the variety of colors or the French name, but the stuff is every bit as good. I have some of both and there is no difference in quality. Cast iron is cast iron.

courtney_love2001

Love:
Cuisinart Food Processor
Garlic press
Kitchen Scissors

Useless (but would be good in a certain instance)
Cherry corer
Apple peeler- the one that spins the apple

cmtigger

Jruzer wrote: »

One I haven't seen on this thread is a silpat -- it's a silicone liner that goes on a sheet pan and prevents the food from burning to the tray. It washes really easily and is nonreactive. Ours gets used all the time.

It's especially good for foods with a lot of butter, white flour, and sugar.

I hate adding to the landfill, but I had one and I could never really get it clean, so I use parchment paper. I have about a lifetime supply from the restaurant supply.

rhianna818

aggelikik wrote: »

Things I have never bought, although I love all sorts of gadgets, because I suspect I would never use: microwave, bread maker, spiraliser

You don't have a microwave! lol I've lived w/o one in the past but it just makes life so much easier. Steaming veggies, potatoes, popcorn, melting chocolate. I understand these are possible w/o one but it's so quick and easy.