Small appliances--which do you use?

[spinbaby]

I’m curious about which small kitchen appliances you find useful and why.

My list:

Microwave—use it a lot.

Toaster—hardly ever. I’m thinking of ditching our giant 4-slice monster that takes up counter space and getting a cheap small toaster I can keep in a cabinet.

Toaster oven—completely useless and long gone.

Kitchenaid mixer—don’t use it often, but when I need it, I really need it.

Hand mixer—useless and gone.

InstantPot—use it at least once a week, usually to make oatmeal.

Slow cooker—packed away since the InstantPot arrived. Still get it out for parties.

Warming tray—seemed like a good idea at the time, but I don’t use it.

Blender—comes out about once a month for a smoothie.

Food processor—I own a big one and a small one. They both get a workout.

Immersion blender—never used it, long gone.

Souse vide circulator—used surprisingly often, usually to make steak.

Waffle iron—I own two. I don’t know why because I make waffles maybe once a year.

Electric kettle—an absolute kitchen staple for making coffee and tea.

Coffee maker—another appliance long gone. I use a pour over coffee maker that takes no counter space.

George Foreman type grill—I switched to a cast iron grill pan and never looked back.

[brewens]

1. I use Big George's grill a lot. It doubles as a waffle iron if you don't mind weird looking

waffles. That and my slow cooker are about it.

[DURHAM D]

2. Soda Stream - use often. nt

[alittlelark]

3. Interesting question.

VitaMix - used regularly

KitchenAid - every few weeks

Toaster - daily

Juicer - in spurts

Bread machine - weekly

Dehydrator - heavy fall use, then sporadically

Microwave - got rid of it

[Freddie]

4. Good question

Toaster - every weekend

Keurig - every day

Microwave- often

Blender - very rarely

Immersion blender - used once. Got a Cuisinart, it does lots of things but it’s too heavy and awkward

Hand mixer - pretty often

Air fryer - maybe once a week but I like it

Appliances I got rid of over the years - juicer, Fry Daddy

[Siwsan]

5. I have a few I use, often.

Every day use: microwave, coffee percolator. Several times a week: toaster oven, electric mixer. Occasionally: slow cooker, immersion blender, toaster, Foreman grill. Just about the only thing I use the immersion blender for is to make garlic or ginger paste.

I've got a food processor and blender but very rarely use them. I'd rather chop, slice and blend, by hand, when ever possible.

[Phoenix61]

6. I urge caution on the cheap toaster idea.

It’s more complicated than you would think. The cheap ones have very few wires so you get striped toast. If you set it higher than you get charcoal stripes on your toast. What really complicated the whole issue was when they tried to make a toaster that would work for bread and bagels. Bagels are twice as thick so the slots have to be wider. This puts the bread, which is much thinner, too far from the wires to toast evenly unless there are lots and lots of wires. I swear I bought and tossed 4 toasters after a really old one (pre-bagel) died.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

19. My current toaster is an Oster.

When you punch down the lever to start toasting, the wires that do the actual toasting come closer together. If I put in a bagel, they don't get as close together. So it's excellent for bread and bagels. Or for thick sliced bread.

[hlthe2b]

7. I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Watching all those tiny house shows made me wonder which

I absolutely need to have to function without a lot of inconvenience.

So those I use nearly daily or at least twice weekly on average:

**Instant Pot (I make a gallon of yogurt in it twice weekly and it is my go to to make soups, beans of any kind)

**Zojirushi electric water boiiler/warmer (very energy efficient and I use it multiple times daily for pour over coffee, tea, and for making various iced teas brewed at just the right temperature--or any time I need hot water. It is great to use to pre-warm espresso cup when I use my Nespresso too.

**VitaMix blender (I have a food processor I use about once a year. The vitamix I use daily). It is a work-horse worth the extra $$

**microwave oven. Honestly, I could live without an oven, but how one functions readily without a microwave now escapes me.

Those I use at least weekly or twice monthly:

** Nespresso (no frills model espresso machine. I've had it for more than a decade and it has been a work-horse of reliability

**Aerolatte handheld frother. I used to have a separate milk frother, but have found microwaving the milk and then using this little gadget works just as well or better for the occasional latte.

**Zojirushi rice cooker/warmer with GABA Brown rice setting (I could readily use my Instant Pot, but this setting warm soaks/sprouts the rice to increase GABA content which I find beneficial). Though my diet is lower in carbs nowadays, I still eat small servings of brown rice a couple times/week. I tend to make it in the rice cooker and then freeze a cup or two in airtight containers for later. So this appliance doesn't get used much, but still valued. I could also readily use it for steaming veggies, fish, etc, but tend just to use the microwave for that.

** portable induction plate (nice as a supplement to burners and likewise makes for a great "warmer"

Those I use occasionally and could probably part with, but I still hate not having them on occasion

**electric nonstick wok

**Cuisinart Food processor (I have one recipe I prepare fairly frequently that really needs a food processor, but it is not something I could not probably live without)

**Zojirushi Bread maker: I used this all the time in the past and love it, but since I've been low-moderate "carbing" in recent years, it has not gotten much use

**Burr Coffee grinder: RARELY use, but once in a while I buy whole bean coffee (usually inadvertently) and have found Starbucks frequently doesn't want to grind it for you if you bring a bag in with you--even if it is Starbucks. (grrrr). So, it is sometimes a life saver.

**Toaster: Rarely used since I rarely eat bread any more.

**Hi end slow cooker (I sold one on Ebay; the other one has been largely replaced by the Instant Pot, but because it has a separate warmer and a "travel bag" I still keep it to bring to pot-luck suppers. Still probably unnecessary.

For emergency power outages, I have a butane burner tucked away. Given I have a propane grill outside, this is probably not necessary, but it would certainly be more pleasant to use this little burner inside than go outside during a blizzard...LOL

[TreasonousBastard]

8. Hmmm... Just cleaning out the cabinets...

Microwave-- daily: reheating coffee to popcorn to frozen veggies and more

Toaster oven-- small baking/broiling jobs

Electric corn popper-- never any more. Took apart for parts

Toaster-- almost never, heading for the trash bin

Waffle irons (3) still trying to get the perfect waffle out of them

Pressure cooker-- keep saying I should use it more

Burr coffee grinder-- PITA using the motor for something else

Blade coffee grinder (2) -- using for spice grinding and craft stuff

Plug in fry pans (2) -- Use when taking food to potlucks

Hand mixer-- use weekly for batters and stuff

Stand mixer-- using for the bread hooks

Immersion blender (2)-- mostly use the one with the whisk attachment for whipping cream

Slow cooker (3) -- use the big ones when making soups, stews and stuff for freezing

Electric can opener-- using the parts

Coffeepots (too many) -- using the French press now, but when I get tired of it (and I will) I'll go back to the drip gadgets or the big coffeepot. Or one of the three small coffeepots (...don't ask)

Induction kettle-- absolute necessity

Rice steamer-- I have a rice steamer? When the hell did I get a rice steamer?

Air fryer (2)-- big mistakes

NuWave countertop induction gadget (2) First, they really pissed me off by selling me two with "buy one get one" so, I got two for a hundred bucks. But, when I got it, I saw they charged me a hundred bucks shipping for the "free" one!

Anyway, they are packed away somewhere.

That's about it.

[Dr Hobbitstein]

9. I rarely use my microwave.

Hate the taste of food reheated in it (especially chicken). If it weren’t for my wife, I wouldn’t have one.

Toaster oven- use it a lot. Toasting and reheating meals. Don’t bother with a pop up toaster.

Instant Pot - I use this a couple times a month.
Ditched the slow cooker for the Instant Pot and never looked back.

I use my Ninja small processor and Ninja blender a lot.

Rice cooker - absolutely essential, IMHO. Perfect rice every time.

Electric kettle. Boiling water quicker than the stove, useful for making sauces, and my wife uses it daily for tea.

Stand Mixer - I use this a few times a month. Works great for shredding cooked chicken breasts quickly. Also I use the meat grinder attachment a lot.

I used to have a lot more gadgets, but I have long since gotten rid of them.

[cyclonefence]

10. The one I feel most equivocal about

is the big, heavy Kitchenaid mixer. I don't use it often (except at xmas, when I churn out baked goods), but when I need it, I need it. It's too heavy to store and take out easily, so it sits there, taking up counter space. But I do love it so.

My husband uses the blender for smoothies and the rice cooker for sushi. The blender is too tall to store easily, but the rice cooker sits in a cabinet with the other sushi apparatur (including his karate headband)

I echo the concern about buying a cheap toaster. Better to do without, and if you need toast only infrequently, try using the broiler setting in your oven. We replaced a cheap one with a good one because I eat poached eggs on toast every other breakfast.

Toaster oven because how else can you make cheesy toast?

Food processor because I use it several times a week, mostly for pizza and pie dough prep, never for chopping vegs because it just isn't good at that.

Microwave for reheating lunch but could live without it. It's wall-mounted though so doesn't take up counter space

Can no longer drink coffee since last round of chemo, so grinder/drip maker sits there. It's going to go in the closet. We do have a Keurig in husband's office that we drag up for company

For a while, we had an ice maker--until it broke--which came out for parties and was a wonderful machine

[customerserviceguy]

11. Your list looks a lot like mine

Except for the food processors, I have a small one, and it rarely makes it out of the cabinet where it is buried.

I'm with you on the cast iron grill pan, I gave away my Foreman grill when I moved, and haven't missed it a bit.

[The Polack MSgt]

12. My wife and I cook, so I am including items that only one of use as well as the ones we both use

Microwave - daily
Toaster oven - weekly. Toasted sandwiches, stuffed potato skins and French bread pizza
Slow cooker - we have 2 we use several times a month. Potlucks of course, also low and slow cooked stews and assorted donburi such as chicken and daikon with ginger and leeks
Immersion blender - Essential for pumpkin soup and gravy, so several times between Oct 1st and New years, then back in the cabinet
Stand Blender - 2 or 3 times a year
Coffee maker - 2-4 times a week
Rice Cooker - DAILY. My wife is Japanese, you need to know that the word for cooked rice and the word for meal is the same - Gohan
Food Processor - We have a tiny 2 cup model we use occasionally 3 times a year I guess
Toaster - We've had a 2 slice basic toaster for years - used once a month or so

And that's it - we have and use an old stovetop pressure cooker and a mandolin, but those don't count IMHO

[msongs]

13. in hawaii toasters are a cockroach palace. rice cookers cook almost anything.

have a microwave used rarely, blender used rarely, 50s sunbeam electric fry pan used weekly. thats about it folks

[pscot]

14. Today I used the toaster-oven, induction burner,

microwave, kitchen-aid mixer and my 30 year old Little Oscar. Cuisenart gets regular use. I make pesto in the blender and the immersion blender is great for pureeing soups or squash. The instant pot, deep fryer and dehydrator sit high on a shelf in the back pantry. there's probably other stuff back there too. Oh yeah. The air popper.

[spinbaby]

17. I have a little Oscar, too!

He’s well over 30 years old now and used a lot more than my big Cuisinart.

[pscot]

22. I bought mine on Pierre Franey's recommendation

I was a big fan of Cuisine Rapide back in the day.

[tishaLA]

15. I have a 1 BR apartment so I'm cautious abt buying things I won't use

in the kitchen. I don't own a microwave, toaster oven, or a stand mixer, for example, because my use of them wouldn't justify the space they take up.

I use the following very often: immersion blender, sous vide circulator, Instant Pot. I used to use my food processor a ton, but now that I have a mortar and pestle, its use has been cut down significantly. Oh, and my Soda Stream is in constant use for sparking water.

[Phentex]

16. It's something to think about...

Microwave - a few times a week

Toaster - me occasionally, my people use it a lot

Toaster Oven - same as above

Vitamix - daily

Hand Mixer - rarely

Stand Mixer - Holidays and a few other occasions but not much

Slow Cookers - a few times a year

Food Processor - a few times a year

Immersion Blender - a lot in winter for soups

Waffle Maker - a few times a year, used to be more when kids were home

Coffee Maker - Daily

Coffee Grinder - Daily

Electric Skillet - a few times a year

Fry Daddy - outdoors a few times a year for things like tempura

Electric Knife - Thanksgiving

Spice Grinder - I have this for some reason

[Callalily]

18. Hmmmmm....my list

Microwave - use a lot to boil water for coffee (pour over), water for tea, and warming up leftovers.

Immersion Blender - don't really like it, but I use it occasionally

Hand mixer, slow cooker, blender - use occasionally

Waffle iron - use occasionally. I make Belgium Waffles and use Ina Gartens overnight Belgium waffle recipe. It's fantastic!

George Forman Grill - I have a small one and used to use it a lot. Not so much anymore.

Toaster oven/air flyer/convection oven - my new addition and I just LOVE it. I use it for almost everything from baking bread, muffins, making potatoes, broiler things, etc.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. The only small appliances I use regularly are the microwave and toaster.

And even the toaster doesn't get as much work as it should.

I also have a crockpot, a bread machine, and an electric counter-top grill (NOT a George Forman) all of which I use periodically. Oh, and a hand electric mixer which is very rarely used.

I don't understand why anyone would bother with a popcorn popper since making real popcorn in a regular pot is incredibly easy and is faster. Well, I know for sure it's faster than microwave, because I once did that.

No blender, no food processor, no instant pot, no pressure cooker, just to name a few of the other common and popular appliances.

I also have a fairly small kitchen with limited counter and storage space, so that's a factor.

[locks]

21. I have always used a toaster oven

Recently got a Black and Decker Airfry. It's great, I use it every day for toasting, warming, airfrying and baking. Also use the microwave but there are pans and dishes you can't put in it. My oldest device is the small food chopper my daughter gave me 40 years ago, still works fine. Use my blender every day for fruit Smoothies. Hand mixer for all baking. Small Black and Decker coffeemaker every day.

[CottonBear]

23. Large toaster oven, drip coffee maker & tiny microwave daily

The toaster oven has a turbo/convection feature which works really well. We bake/cook/roast/heat/ toast & reheat in our toaster oven daily.

I use a small 25 year old Krups coffee grinder to grind coffee beans.
I use a small hand mixer when I bake, however, I usually whisk and mix by hand.