View Full Version : Best and worst kitchen gadgets
I was just wondering what your worst and best kitchen gadgets are. I have made some dreadful purchase in the past. For me it is:
Best
1. very sharp expensive set of 5 kitchen knives with a really good sharpener.
2. Kenwood chef, I regularly use the dough hook, grain mill, k beater etc
3. Waldner grain roller for making flaked oats and rye.
4. Slow masticating juicer, I use for jams, jellies, juice, mincing etc.
worst
1 cheap juice extractor, needed unblocking after just 1 fruit
2 pizza oven, standard oven works better
3 pineapple peeler, better with a knife.
4, rice cooker, so easy to cook rice on the hob and takes up so much space
iris lilies
9-16-14, 8:58am
Salad spinner? Anyone? :D
I love having a good rice cooker around. Persons of Asian descent often have them sitting permanently on their counters. That is not me, but we eat rice at least 1X weekly and there is nothing simpler than measuring it all out, turning it on, and sitting down in the living room with a glass of wine. The machine will tell me when the rice is ready, I don't have to stand over the stove and (invariably) have it boil over, leaving me with sticky mess to clean up.
Favorite gadgets:
1) KitchenAid mixer (I don't even use it that much, but I'm so glad I have it every time I use it)
2) Not really a "gadget" but when I replaced the cabinets in my kitchen, we had 5 inches left between the stove and the dishwasher and so I put in one of those skinny spice racks and I LOVE it!! What a space saver, and it's so easy to just grab a spice when cooking.
3) Keurig coffee maker
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
Most interesting and fun
One of my vendors once gave me as a gift a wine de-corker that works with a small compressed air canister, so you just stick this needle into the cork, push it down, and then press the button and "pop!" goes the cork. iris lilies, maybe this gadget would pair well with your rice cooking/wine sipping
Gardenarian
9-16-14, 1:59pm
Swing-away brand can opener. I've had the same one for almost 25 years. Perfect.
Electric kettle - energy saving, doesn't heat up the kitchen, boils water more quickly than stove, and no more burned-out kettles.
"New" design toaster that started a fire.
Microwave popcorn popper that melted in the microwave.
Best: German knives that are always sharp.
"New" design toaster that started a fire.
Microwave popcorn popper that melted in the microwave.
Best: German knives that are always sharp.
what make are your German knives? I went with the Japanese Global ones?
ApatheticNoMore
9-16-14, 3:15pm
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.
Best - salad spinner, handheld blender, KitchenAid mixer, small flat digital weigh scale, large thermos for making my own yogurt
Worst - cheap knives, cheap scissors (cannot find good ones anymore), pizza stone and peel which I never use.
Gardenarian
9-16-14, 3:48pm
Worst: Immersion blender. We got one as a gift, and I told dh to return it (it was from his mom.) We've never used it. Not once. Maybe it's useful to someone...another item to go on Craigslist.
Salad spinner? Anyone?
I love having a good rice cooker around.
Yes, in fact! I love my salad spinner! We eat salad every day and I like to have it dry without using and having to wash lots of kitchen towels.
Your post was the height of irony for me, Iris Lily, because I view a rice cooker the same way you view a salad spinner (that is, "Why would I want to take up space with that?") I cook rice in a pot... add water and rice, cover, set timer for 7 minutes and burner on high. When timer goes off, reduce to lowest setting and it comes out perfectly every time.
I do think my immersion blender is worth the small amount of space it requires, and use it frequently for soups, refried beans, etc.
Generally, vegetable peelers, knives, a box grater, and tongs are the most-used items in our kitchen.
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.
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.
early morning
9-16-14, 7:23pm
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!
Tussiemussies
9-16-14, 9:11pm
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.
Blackdog Lin
9-16-14, 9:13pm
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. :)
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."
Best: Cutting board
Worst: microwave (we just store stuff in it, never cook with it)
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.
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)
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.
Tiny kitchen. No real gadgets, not even a salad spinner or rice cooker or traditional coffee pot or blender. I do have a simple two slice toaster, a coffee press, bad knives, a mini chopper I only use for onion. Oh, I do love my electric knife - I like to make multi-layer cakes and freeze them and slice them thin with the electric knife. I also have a crock pot. That's it.
Simplemind
9-19-14, 11:24pm
My Rabbit corkscrew.
Worst: microwave (we just store stuff in it, never cook with it)
I do heat things very often with our microwave, but I also find it an excellent location for proofing bread and putting prepped food where it is out of the possible reach of our cats!
Best: food processor, slow cooker/deep fryer combo (yes!), a silicone tube you use to skin garlic, an apple corer, a set of good Emeril knives, and a Good Grip OXO vegetable peeler. And an electric kettle. And my veggie Spiralizer, which is AWESOME!
Worst? None...if they don't work well, out they go! Vamanos pest!
Wish list: waffle maker, yogurt maker, rice cooker. And lots more cabinet space!
Tiny kitchen. No real gadgets, not even a salad spinner or rice cooker or traditional coffee pot or blender. I do have a simple two slice toaster, a coffee press, bad knives, a mini chopper I only use for onion. Oh, I do love my electric knife - I like to make multi-layer cakes and freeze them and slice them thin with the electric knife. I also have a crock pot. That's it.
Come on, Float On, you need good knives. I never thought about it until I was "educated" by DH who has several knife sharpeners (the old fashioned sharpening stones). So, it's great that you are a minimalist in the kitchen, but get some good knives and give the rest away. If you had good knives you could also get rid of the electric knife.
ToomuchStuff
9-21-14, 2:07am
Come on, Float On, you need good knives. I never thought about it until I was "educated" by DH who has several knife sharpeners (the old fashioned sharpening stones). So, it's great that you are a minimalist in the kitchen, but get some good knives and give the rest away. If you had good knives you could also get rid of the electric knife.
I grew up in a household where two generations liked electric knives, typically for turkey carving (that was about it). In general, though, I don't think of things one uses in the kitchen a lot, as gadgets. This includes knives, silverware, etc.
To me a gadet is a rarely used item, that for some reason you choose to accept the inconvienence of storing it, for the convience of using it.
To me, I think that would now constitute things such as bottle openers/can puncturer's.
Tiny kitchen. No real gadgets, not even a salad spinner or rice cooker or traditional coffee pot or blender. I do have a simple two slice toaster, a coffee press, bad knives, a mini chopper I only use for onion. Oh, I do love my electric knife - I like to make multi-layer cakes and freeze them and slice them thin with the electric knife. I also have a crock pot. That's it.
good knives are the most important kitchen item IMHO, a very sharp knife will replace so many gadgets.
Best is my slow cooker. I use it often, mainly for soups. I love putting in all of the ingredients in the morning, and coming home several hours later to a delicious dinner. All kinds of meats cook wonderfully in it too.
Worst is the dang electric can opener that we received as a gift - it is so difficult to use. Will donate it and go back to using my old one.
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