Kitchen

[divine]

My pressure canner and all my canning supplies

My bread machine

My very old (almost antique) crockpot

And I agree with glmama, my mandoline

I'm sure there are others but they're stuffed away somewhere and out-of-mimd at the moment.

[house cat]

On 1/2/2014 glmama said:

I never use my Mandoline. It wasn't pricey. But it sits in it's packaging. Begging to be used!

Oh my! I hated mine! I sent dh out to buy one last year, because I had a lot of cooking to do. He got me a Cuisinart mandolin. It was awful. I washed it, stuck it back in the box and returned it. I rarely do that, but it was a piece of junk metal.

[Tigriss]

On 1/2/2014 house cat said:

On 1/2/2014 glmama said:

I never use my Mandoline. It wasn't pricey. But it sits in it's packaging. Begging to be used!

Oh my! I hated mine! I sent dh out to buy one last year, because I had a lot of cooking to do. He got me a Cuisinart mandolin. It was awful. I washed it, stuck it back in the box and returned it. I rarely do that, but it was a piece of junk metal.

I love my mandolin. How else am I going to be making all those nice cuts, especially for slaw, potato dishes, salads, etc.....I love it all. It really makes veggie prep so much easier. I hardly use my disks for my processor because it is harder to clean. Now if I could grate cheese on the darned thing, that would be awesome. I hate grating cheese for some reason.

[coffee drinker]

On 1/2/2014 denisemb said:

Oh, man, I'm the queen of impulse kitchen gadget buys - but I'm learning! Luckily none of these were costly, but...

EVERY manual chopper/dicer/shredder/mandoline gadget known to man. I know some people like them, but I find the cleaning aspect (and cutting things to fit the tiny "base") more time consuming than using my trusty Nakiri knife and cutting board. (I do, however, appreciate my 25 y.o. inherited electric Sunbeam Oskar Jr. for chopping/slicing shredding large amounts.)

WP Mini Pie Baker: Works well and was a novelty at first...but why do all that prep for 2 tiny pies when you can do a whole pie and have leftovers for tomorrow?

Presto Options Multi Cooker/Steamer: This was purchased with the idea of its ability to deep fry; then I discovered how little I deep fry.

Almost forgot the egg toaster! Another novelty sitting back in the cupboard.

Time for me to Freecycle in 2014...

Luckily, all my big ticket purchases are used fairly regularly: KA mixer, rotisserie, Ninja, WP Multi Cooker, induction burner.

I also have one of those Sunbeam Oscars which was a Christmas gift from my BIL at least 40 years ago. It's in use constantly and still works like day 1. It was made in France. Can you believe that? France!!! I was putting my Rowenta iron away today and looked to see where it was made. Shocked that it was made in Mexico and not China. Keep in mind, the iron is not new -- it's at least 10 years old or more.

As for buyers' remorse items -- too many to mention, but the Ron Popiel's (sp?) pasta machine and rotisserie bought from QVC are right up there. Well over $200+ for both and they got donated. When we moved, I gave away my bread machine because I thought it would never get used and I regretted that. Wish I had it, but will not buy another.

Just thought of 2 more. Keurig coffee maker and the Vitamix that my DH insisted on buying. Not that I have buyer's remorse for the Vitamix, I don't. I just don't do smoothies. I know there are many other things that can be made with the Vitamix, but I just don't feel I get enough use from it. The Keurig is a waste of money for those coffee pods or whatever they're called.

[TexasMom1]

My clunker is the Cuisinart Griddler Gourmet. The counter top grill that has removable plates. The grease comes out of the corner into a plastic collection cup as well as when you lift the lid, some grease leaks out the back. I always have to put it on top of something to collect that back grease. I have come to really hate it and need to just toss the darn thing. I know when to say uncle.

[Sabatini2]

I'm pretty thrifty, & rarely buy gadgets. But years ago, my youngest kid asked for homemade waffles, & that was right around the time that panini sandwiches were all the rage. Enter the Wolfgang Puck panini maker w/ interchangeable plates!

I made paninis once, waffles twice, & one time grilled some center cut pork chops. That was it, & it's been rusting in the cellar ever since. It was a royal PITA to clean.

[lovesrecess]

I also have a very small kitchen and almost no storage space so I am not tempted by most of the big contraptions that I see everywhere. The things I am willing to give up my space for are:

an old school, fixed-plate George Foreman grill....tossed the last round one that I bought from QVC; it should have been recalled it is so dangerous and poorly designed.....went to Walmart and bought the largest, oblong-shaped one I could find; if you clean it while it is still slightly warm after using, it is a snap to clean up.

silpat sheets: just found the Costco version of these at half the cost so am super-happy about this.....can't imagine baking anything on a cookie sheet without my Silpat sheets

WP mini pie maker: I find these require too much pastry for pies so I now make crustless pies for breakfast for DH who eats no carbs....I use Carbquick, eggs, sausage, etc. I use it almost every day.

Cuisinart mini chopper: you get a lot of bang for your buck with this little machine; wouldn't trade it for anything and takes up small amount of space when not in use.

Waring professional waffle maker: great waffles that are pretty-much foolproof; DH loves this because it reminds him of a hotel breakfast bar.

[CinNC]

On 1/2/2014 TexasMom1 said:

My clunker is the Cuisinart Griddler Gourmet. The counter top grill that has removable plates. The grease comes out of the corner into a plastic collection cup as well as when you lift the lid, some grease leaks out the back. I always have to put it on top of something to collect that back grease. I have come to really hate it and need to just toss the darn thing. I know when to say uncle.

I thought the same of mine until I bought the waffle plates for it. It makes the best waffles!!

[Mominohio]

On 1/2/2014 chickenbutt said:

On 1/2/2014 house cat said:

On 1/2/2014 chickenbutt said:

A long time ago I was on a deep fryer crazy ride. Glad I got over that.

I'm pretty thoughtful about kitchen gadgets, fortunately, so I don't really get pulled in by the hype. The biggest ones they seem to be on these days are the gadgets for chopping. You have to chop the stuff up first. Why not just take another 2 minutes and finish it, while you have the knife in your hand and all you have to do is wash a knife? I'm as lame as the next person but if I have to cut the stuff up first I can go ahead and finish it. I won't be in any more pain than if I had to put all my weight into pushing one of those things down a bunch of times. Then you have to wash all those parts AND store them.

I do like a good gadget, though. It just needs to make sense to me.

I agree. I have a small kitchen, so I'm very picky about what I bring into it. In addition, I'm probably weird, but I actually like slicing, dicing and prepping by hand.

Ooh, I thought I was the only one! Even with arthritis I like the prep a lot. It's the fun, relaxing part for me. I love getting everything out and ready, doing all the chopping, etc, and setting myself up for the cooking. Even with arthritis I don't mind.

Besides, if I've learned anything, I've learned that USING the hands helps ward off pain and inflammation to some degree. I'm not talking about building a house or anything, but just basic tasks and even just flexing the fingers and moving them more. I find the pain and inflammation to be much worse when my hands are stagnant.

Chickenbutt, I agree about the good a little prep work does for the arthritic hands. And I don't have a dishwasher, so all the time with hands in hot water cleaning up from prep and cooking makes them feel better for me.

[rezski]

I love my griddler for paninis and I use my Costco version of Silpats all the time for non stick baking. I have a huge real Silpat that I knead bread dough on. I use my stick blender and Ninja blender a lot as well.