Kitchen Gadgets.. The brilliant and the useless

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  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
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    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
    marissafit06 Posts: 1,996 Member
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    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
    MsJulesRenee Posts: 1,180 Member
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    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
    sonyaruns Posts: 24 Member
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    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
    mlcollins89 Posts: 87 Member
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    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
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    All I can say is that the cookie scoop and parchment paper are the best inventions ever.
  • LKArgh
    LKArgh Posts: 5,179 Member
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    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
    fatfrank44 Posts: 11 Member
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    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
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
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    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
    emmacken Posts: 161 Member
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    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
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    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
    courtney_love2001 Posts: 1,468 Member
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    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
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
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    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
    rhianna818 Posts: 85 Member
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    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.