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Thread: Best and worst kitchen gadgets

  1. #11
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    Best: The Korean knife we bought years ago in a folk village (museum) near Seoul. Wooden handle, curved blade, infinitely sharpenable. A Vitamix. We've had it since January and have used it at least 3x every day. Canning jars -- we use them for leftovers, food storage and lots of other things.

    Worst: A blender we had that came with a spout on the side, supposedly for making drinks and dispensing them. All very well as a concept, but I don't think anything ever flowed out the spout. We gave it away to a family member who must make thinner smoothies than I do -- she loves it.

    Most annoying: My cherry pitter, of which I was found, which broke while pitting a cherry. I'd like to replace it, but the new one needs to last longer.

  2. #12
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    Love my immersion blender, if only because it makes mayonnaise in about 5 seconds. I have an electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot) that does what slow-cookers do in much less time (and it has a slow-cook option in case I want to stretch out the process). A Krups coffee grinder gets high marks for having lasted 30 years or more. My Vitamix is good for smoothies, frozen fruit desserts, and hot chocolate; I use it daily. A stainless steel and glass universal lid fits several pans, and I have a cheap stainless pot set--about three quarts with steamer and double boiler inserts. It's beat up and missing a handle, but I'm unaccountably smitten with it. A good meat thermometer and set of sturdy stainless steel utensils with silicone grips (solid and slotted spoons, ladles, spatulas, pasta fork) round out my favorites.

    The worst: silicone baking utensils--floppy and impossible to clean.

    Reading Mary B's post reminded me--canning jars, several sizes--good for brewing a big batch of refrigerator tea (or kombucha some day), drinking my morning coffee mocha, storing small quantities of things. I have plastic lids in a couple of sizes for them.

    ETA: A Deni meat tenderizer with razor-sharp blades. In combination with the Instant Pot, it can render a lug sole toothsome.
    Last edited by JaneV2.0; 9-16-14 at 6:46pm.

  3. #13
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    Good stuff: Two large plastic-handled kitchen knives that a long gone chef from a long gone job gave me. They look like new, hold an edge like nothing I've seen, are easy to sharpen, and are well balanced. And my Kitchen Aid mixer. It's 37 years young and going strong. A Ikea set of plastic cutting boards. They were $3 for the set, I use them almost daily, run them through the dishwasher constantly, and they are still in great shape after about 5 years of abuse. They are the first things I ever bought from Ikea. Bad stuff: an expensive Pampered Chef rubber spatula/scraper that is always sticky, no matter what I do. I keep thinking I'll pitch it, then I find it in the drawer, again!

  4. #14
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    All of the kitchen appliances we love except a tomato and fruit strainer. It usually works for awhile and then keeps clogging up no matter what I do.

    I have s lot of kitchen appliances because I used to do quite a lot of home cooking and TH err y all are great brand names which have lasted me for years now.

  5. #15
    Senior Member Blackdog Lin's Avatar
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    Our best:
    - the rice cooker. 30+ years old and still going strong. We've been rice-eaters our whole married lives.
    - a crockpot. On our third one, but I wouldn't want to be without one. Invaluable for working people and busy retiree days.
    - of all things, an electric soup-pot, circa 1990. I was annoyed when our BIL gifted it to us (ANOTHER kitchen gadget that I'll end up having to store somewhere?!!!), but I use it all the time. Perfect for the infrequent cheese dips and deep-fried whatevers. Its highest setting is 400 degrees, so for all my deep-frying I just turn it all the way up and fry away. If it ever died I would have to try to find a new one. It's the only way I know how to deep-fry fish, and veggies.
    - we actually use our electric hand-blender several times a year.

    The kitchen gadget list of stuff that was NOT worth buying: too long to list here.

  6. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by catherine View Post
    Favorite gadgets:
    Worst:
    1) Cheap toaster oven. We just threw ours out and replaced it with a regular toaster that my son didn't need any longer. Toast took forever.
    2) Coffee grinder. My DH loves it--I hate it. You wake up and it's nice and quiet early in the morning and then your peace of mind is utterly destroyed with that loud "waahhhh wahhhh" of the grinder. I don't care if my coffee is not freshly ground two minutes before I drink it. Give me peace
    How about pulling a sneaky switch on him?

    Before bed, you grind the coffee and put in Tupperware in the frig. Tell him.
    Next morning he gets coffee and you get peace.

    You don't need the frig, of course. But it will keep the coffee "fresher."

  7. #17
    Senior Member larknm's Avatar
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    Best: Cutting board

    Worst: microwave (we just store stuff in it, never cook with it)
    I think deep in our hearts we know that our comforts, our conveniences are at the expense of other people. Grace Lee Boggs

  8. #18
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore View Post
    Best: hand held blender. What a great idea, blending without having to use the blender. Yea the salad spinner is also one of my favorites.
    +1

    I had one for years and it finally died 7 or 8 years ago. The second one is still going strong. We use it 4-5 times per week. Used it twice yesterday. First to turn this week's CSA tomatoes into sauce to freeze. Then ground up the red chiles from last week's CSA box that I had dehydrated over the weekend.

  9. #19
    TxZen
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    Best:
    1. Rice Cooker- love my sticky rice
    2. Garlic Press
    3. Small Handheld grater
    4. Immersion Blender

    Worst:
    1. Juicer
    2. Panini Press- It was a gift (rolls eyes)

  10. #20
    Senior Member Rogar's Avatar
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    My kitchen is very small and really don't have room for many gadgets, but the crock pot, good knives and sharpening steel, and an inexpensive Oster blender get a lot of use. Probably my worst was a juicer, which was troublesome to clean and took up way too much space. It went to the Goodwill.
    "what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" Mary Oliver

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