Those electric kitchen helpers.

Iffen you try to take away my electric gadgets and appliances, I may have to take my cane to you!

I will speak up in defense of my wonderful crank apple peeler. I have carpal tunnel and one of the things that can be very difficult and painful is peeling apples, potatoes...etc
With the crank peeler it saves time and pain so for me it is invaluable. However, if I did not have this issue then I probably would not see the importance of this handy gadget.
Bev

I have lots of electric gadgets but don't use most of them very much.

I have a manual can opener, and a drip coffee maker. As long as I have a way to heat water, I'll have my coffee.

The fridge stays on, of course, and the stove top gets used several times a day. The convection oven is also used several times a day.

I use the regular oven only for stuff that's too big to go in the convection oven, which isn't often.

There's a dishwasher in the kitchen, but I find it easier washing by hand. The dishwasher is good for large baking pans, and canning jars.

The small electric appliances are used periodically as needed, some of them more often than others.

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hmm, you ppl are inspiring! i want to ask, so many use those kitchenaide mixers, could i replace having a hand mixer, bread machine (only used for making dough), and other things like those, with this one appliance? i wouldn't say i avoid gadgets, but i do love those that can do tons of stuff, not just having one appl. for each process. are they worth the money? i am guessing yes, since so many are saying you have them. i just want to downsize and thought this thing might help with that.

Chewie,

I could go on all day about the Kitchen Aid...honestly I should be a sales rep for them.

Anyway....the answer is a resounding yes. They are sturdy...very sturdy and I use mine to mix dough, make pasta, slice large amounts of veggies, grind meat, pulp things, juice stuff and the list goes on. As soon as my next 2 attachments get here, I'll be using it to grind wheat and other grains and make sausages.

Oh. And you can mix stuff too.

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Christy
Growing Human
http://growinghuman.blogspot.com

When wearing narrow lenses of hate and ignorance, is it any wonder one finds it difficult to see clearly? - Me

yes, a kitchenaid can replace both a hand mixer and a bread machine used for dough only. Just be sure to get one of the higher powered kitchenaid's, especially if you're using whole wheat flour, as some of the lower powered kitchenaid's have problems with dough. I got a Kitchenaid Pro 600 for this reason.

Amazon has them for $300 right now, about $200 off official list price, and about $100 off usual sales prices at other places.

I've seen them go to about $270 sometimes without rebate if you're not particular about the color. I got mine when they also had a $50 rebate, so I paid only $210 for mine. If you're not in a hurry, just keep checking Amazon, particulalry during their Friday Sales, and you might get a deal.

--sgl

The KitchenAid Artisan 5-Quart Stand Mixers is on sale right now at Amazon for $244 with free shipping. Amazon KitchenAid Artisan

All kinds of colors.

Not something I would use right now - although last year I really thought I needed one - but maybe someone else here can.

Deb.

I am happy with the gadgets I have because I use them and feel they are time savers for me.

For example, I can plug in the rice cooker and go work in the garden until DH comes home. I don't have to stay around and watch it because it'll turn off when the rice is ready. I eat a lot of rice so this is handy for me.

OTOH, I got rid of my electric can opener because I didn't use it very much and felt it took up too much room.

Don't even try to sneak off with my dishwasher...

/VM

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Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.

I am really enjoying the post her.

Some laughs and fun people.

I promise I will never try to touch another persons kitchen gadgets. Sounds like some really like there helpers. I dont want to ever get hit with on of these...

LOL

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"We spend money we don't have on things we don't need to create impressions that won't last on people we don't care about."
~T.Jackson

My site.

I've got gadgets:
crock pot
toaster
coffee maker
blender/food processor (can't make violet jam without it)
latte maker (for hot coca, done in 5 minutes, would take me 15 on the stove)
microwave
dehydrator

no electric can openers here. I just can't figure out how to use them.

I want to be buried with my Kitchenaid mixer. I also use an electric coffee grinder and percolater, toaster, and my electric stove, fridge and dishwasher. Sure I COULD live without them, but I'm happy that I don't have to.

Our power grid is not the greatest, and we often lose power for a full day or more. The first thing I do when a thunderstorm is coming is fill some water bottles (even though we can use the generator to power the well if we have to), and THEN I make coffee. I want to get a hand cranked coffee grinder so that if we have a long outage I can grind it by hand, boil water on the grill or woodstove, and use my French press. I'm such a slave to coffee!

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Melissa
Reformed hoyden. Please forgive me if I relapse.

Except for the stove and refrigerator the one electric kitchen appliance that is used nearly every day in my home is the toaster oven, mostly for making toast. More generally useful than a toaster, less heat produced than using the broiler in the oven for two or three slices of toast.

Once a week I use the stand mixer to make bread with - four or five loaves at a time. Once every two weeks or thereabouts I use the grain mill to mill 24-36 cups of flour.

Usually at least one weekend day I'll get out the electric skillet. It's a large, rectrangular model that allows me to cook six pancakes or slices of French toast at one time. I can make the whole meal and enough to freeze some for weekday breakfasts for the kids in three to four passes.

If I'm making relish or something where I need to shred or chop a lot of stuff at one time I'll pull down the food processor. Otherwise it's about as fast to chop it by hand with a knife than it is to get it down then wash everything.

Once in a while I'll pull out the crockpot and use it but I'm not real keen on leaving those things cooking when I'm not at home.

During the season the food dehydrator runs for days.

We have some other small electric appliances that will soon be finding their way to the Goodwill for lack of use.

It's funny, we spent time in two kitchen goods stores over the weekend and I was not able to find twenty dollars worth of stuff that I wanted.

.....Alan.

I too love gadgets, but compared to some of the posts here...I guess I don't have too many.

DON'T have an electric coffee maker...we just make it on the stove
DON'T have an electric can opener...never liked them
DON'T have a stand mixer...learned to cook with a hand mixer and still have one
DON'T have a rice cooker...don't eat that much rice I guess...
DON'T have an apple peeler, but I used to have one and absolutely LOVED it...made short work out of a 1/2 bu. for dehydrating!
but
DO have a solar-oven
DO have a blender
DO have a food processor
DO have a crockpot
DO have a toaster
DO have a breadmaker
DO have a dishwasher (came with the house) that I use about once a month...if I remember...

It would be more difficult to live without the 'gadgets', but like other posters, I'm finding that arthritis is making it increasingly uncomfortable to do many small things with only "hand power".

RVcook

I love kitchen gadgets, and if it's got a cord (or battery) so much the better! The only one that sits on the counter is the toaster oven, the rest are taken out as needed. I even have a wok that I've never used LOL!

But I will never, ever come close to the number of gadgets/tools/contraptions my husband has in the shop! We've been married almost 30 years, and I still can't figure out where the money came from over the years to buy all the stuff he has!

Cathy

Here's my breakdown of appliances/gadgets...

Those I have and use regularly: electric coffeemaker, dishwasher, microwave, electric stove/oven, grain mill, KitchenAid stand mixer

Those I have and use occasionally: crockpot, electric skillet, electric griddle, popcorn popper, George Foreman grill, waffle iron, toaster, hand mixer

Those I have and never use: bread machine, blender (bread machine will be sold at the next yard sale - blender I'll hang on to for a bit longer)

Those I don't see us ever owning: electric can opener, toaster oven, rice cooker
(I just don't see these fitting into our lifestyle)

Wow, I didn't realize how many gadgets I had until I listed them all..and I'm considered the "minimalist" among the other moms I associate with!

Building codes have gotten kind of crazy when it comes to outlets in the kitchen. When my parents redid their kitchen 5 years ago, they were required to put an outlet every 3.5 feet. I think it doubled the amount of outlets they had. lol.

As for kitchen appliances, we've got our fair share, but for the most part, we use them a lot. Here's what we've got:

Rice Cooker - the pressure cooker style that you usually have to go to an asian market to find (we eat a lot of rice, and this style cooker makes cooking brown rice a lot easier);

Toaster Oven - my wife's favorite snack is baked sweet potato, and our toaster oven cooks them better than anything else we've tried;

Microwave - a God-send. used for so many things;

Vacuum Sealer - we buy our meat in bulk, divide it into smaller portions and keep them in a chest freezer. the sealer really helps, and it's great for left overs;

Dishwasher - actually, a glorified drying rack for the dishes since we wash most of our dishes by hand;

Slow Cooker - I absolutely LOVE the slow cooker. can make a week's worth of meals at once;

Coffee Maker and Toaster.

Don't have any of the "gadget" type items like electric can openers because, for the most part, they don't make it any easier for us to do things.

We've actually been thinking about kitchen appliances a lot, because we're designing our future home, and it pretty much revolves around the kitchen. lol. We had to sit down and think about the appliances we'd have in the kitchen and take this into mind when designing the layout (how much counterspace etc...). It's a lot more complicated than we thought it would be, but hopefully, the result will be a kitchen that really fits our lifestyle.

Me too, Deb. Not only am I a lefty, I sorta slid a knife blade through my right thumb and severed some nerves. Mostly numb until you hit the little bump it left. YEOWZA. And that little bump is situated just perfect for whacking with the can opener, lol!

Completely off topic... but where in NM are you? Feel free to pm me if you'd like....


almost forgot... I wanna be buried with my Kitchenaid too. I've yet to find anything that mixer CAN'T do.

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

Gadget-wise I have a 5yr old handheld mixer and a one year or so old HomeCafe style coffeemaker, lol. Oh and two mini sized food processors that were gifts (one when I was starting to make baby food for the youngest and the other just kinda snuck in somehow).

No microwave, no big mixers or processors or other do dads.

It's not that I wouldn't LOVE to have something cool that would do all the hard work when I don't want to, just no room for it and no cash for it, lol.

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~Jessica
Wife, mother, wanna be farmer, sometime photographer, less often writer, avid reader.
Isla Giatta on Etsy

We've got plenty of gadgets, but most we could live without. However, when we were house and appliance shopping, I couldn't find a plain gas stove without all sorts of buttons and electronic gizmos. I just want to turn on the burners and set the oven temp, people, not launch a space shuttle. Anyway, our list:

Microwave - use for leftovers and sometimes defrosting, much better at not heating up kitchen
Toaster - use a lot
KitchenAid Mixer - LOVE IT. Although we sometimes just get the little electric hand-held mixer out because it's less clean up. We use the meat grinder attachment for sausage
FoodSavr - use a little
Coffee Maker - USE DAILY. Love the timer function. But we also have French press that I use for single servings, or when the power is out.
Ice cream maker - use rarely, but increasingly so.
Blender - use frequently
Food processor - Use a lot.
Dishwasher - Please let me keep this. How I love you, dishwasher.
Crockpot - Love it. Go through phases of how much I use it.
Wafflemaker - we make waffles about once a month for dinner.

But I do love to whip cream by hand with a whisk. And now that we have a decent set of knives, we could probably go without the food processor. But the gadgets usually save us time. Otherwise I don't bother with them.

Most of our gadgets have been gifts that we have asked Santa (parents or grandparents) for, or bought with Christmas money.

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Gardening, conserving and learning in the urban Midwest

no gadgets for me. it's more of a space issue...I like my little kitchen, but there's no room for 'stuff'. altho I never was into gadgets anyway. I still mash potatoes with the hand masher. if hub complains of lumps...I tell him to be quiet. LOL what's a couple lumps, I call it 'texture'. sounds professional...like that's how mashed potatoes are supposed to be. then I remind him they are called 'mashed'....not perfect 'smoothe' taters! love my manual can opener, but actually don't open many cans. now...step away from my coffee pot and I've recently fallen madly in love with my crock pot! as for outlets, we have tons. I think hubby has an outlet fetish.....I don't ask. lol