What kitchen appliances do you have that are "dust collectors" and what kitchen appliances do you have that you consider extremely useful?

I had a juicer I finally gave away last year. I made one batch of apple juice and once of carrot, that was it. Both the first few days I had it, then, it just needed to be dusted and took up counter space. For all the work and cleaning the damn thing and throwing out pounds of pulp, it was a PITA, I’ll buy my juice juiced already thanks. haha

I have a mini food processor which is my right hand man. I have a bread machine. I make most of my bread by hand but my bread machine is superior for kneading stiff or really wet doughs. I also have an ice cream machine. I use it about once a month.

We have 4 blenders, one handheld, 2 standard, and one personal. The personal blender gets used a lot for smoothies and protein drinks though not by me. We also have a toaster oven which I use a lot since it’s nice when you’re only cooking for one.

I have a really nice electric skillet that I’ve had for years and probably used less than a half a dozen times. I hardly ever use the toaster… Now the can opener is a hard worker in my kitchen!

My kitchenaid mixer catches dust all year long but this week I sure wish it had been sitting on my counter catching dust instead of sitting in storage from our previous move! I made a lot of cookies in the last three days. I did them all by hand.
We use the keruig coffee pot every day and of course the microwave. When I’m dieting (which I need to get back to) I use the blender a lot.

I have gotten rid of a multi purpose food processor and a deep fryer. Both were more trouble to clean than they were worth.

I really miss my bread machine, but not enough to buy another one. I did buy a small, hand held mixer. I love my blender for smoothies and purees.

I have a really nice la pavoni espresso maker that has a us plug. To run it here I would have to buy a 1000 watt transformer thing. So there it sits. I uses to love it.

Considering I pan-fry pretty much everything, the pan is the most useful to me. I also boil water in pots, too, and use the cutting board to cut. I never use a bread-maker or a mixer or any machine like that since my cooking is so basic and time-wary. I don’t even use any fancy utensils like ladles or spatulas…I just use a fork or my hands.

rarely use (lives in basement)
Ice Cream Maker
Air Popper
George Foreman Grill

use on occasion
Crock Pot
Chaffing Dishes

always use
Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer
Keurig Coffee Maker
Nespresso Espresso Maker
Electric Water Boiler

We love the indoor grill, and use it regularly. My fiancé had never had one, so he didn’t understand, but now he appreciates it as a must-have. We use the cuisinart that has reversible plates, so it is a grill on one side and a griddle on the other. The grill side is great for bacon and other breakfast meats. They also make great hot sandwiches (grilled cheese and paninis). We just upgraded to the deluxe model that has separate controls for top and bottom grate, with sear option, and a prop for the top plate so it doesn’t touch the food. We’ve cooked steaks and I reheated pizza on it the other day – excellent results. The smaller, non-deluxe models has waffle plates you can buy for it, so we debated between that and the larger one with separate controls, and opted for the latter.

Another must-have for us is a grind and brew coffee maker. We put the whole beans in the hopper and set the timer and it grinds them fresh and brews them up immediately so we can have a hot cuppa as soon as we get out of the shower. With three adults in the house, we drink a good amount of coffee.

We use the blender, toaster, and stand mixer periodically. We don’t use the vacuum sealer as often as I thought we would… 20 years ago, I used it a lot. We have the ice cream attachment to the stand mixer and have only used that once, the pasta and sausage-making attachments have also only been used a few times. We haven’t used the meat grinder attachment at all, yet. We have a dehydrator we’ve used a couple times. We’ve debated a crock-pot and/or pressure cooker, but haven’t bought one yet.

Dust collectors : meat slicer, small “bullet” blender,

Occasionals: wok, crock pot, ice cream maker, tortilla warmer

Can’t live without: coffee pot and, no, that’s about it.

I have a very expensive panini maker that sits unused in a rarely opened cabinet because it’s easier just to use my cheap little Foreman Grill. But right now, my favorite little appliance is my new SodaStream sparkling water maker. I just love it.

I don’t own anything that I never use…

Rarely/Occasionally use:
Food steamer (would use more often but it’s got like five pieces minimum and it’s a lot to clean)
Bread machine
Food processor
Crock-Pot

Use regularly:
Mandoline slicer
Handheld mixer
Microwave

Use daily:
Keurig coffeemaker
tea kettle/French Press
Coffee grinder
Toaster

I recently got rid of an electric wok. It was cool to have, but I just didn’t use it often enough to merit the waste of space.

We have a very nice bread machine that we never use. It works fine, we just don’t use it.

I finally got the chance to use my 3 pot crockpot at our family Christmas party on Saturday. We were serving tamales, 3 different kinds (not homemade, from Costco) and it worked out great. I would like to have a soup party in the near future using this keen device.

In the last 6 months, I’ve gotten and used my stick blender and my mandoline multiple times. They’re both wonderful.

I would like to get a standard sized food processor. I used to have one of those mini ones, but it was really loud and didn’t work in the way that I needed it to, so I got rid of it. There’s a lot of recipes that I simply don’t make, because you really do need a food processor, rather than a blender.

I wouldn’t mind having one of those vegetable spiralizers. I think we’d eat lots of more veggies than we already do if we had one of those.

I have a rice cooker that I’ve never used. I plan to change that soon and start using it.

I wouldn’t mind getting a coffee grinder that would be exclusively used for grinding spices, rather than coffee beans. I drink instant coffee.

@Kardamom- we have a coffee grinder that he bought for spices, and he does use it fairly often. I’d forgotten about that one.

@hearkat I’ve always used ground spices from jars, but I think it would be fun to experiment with using whole spices and grinding them myself, especially because I would like to make some mole from scratch.

Indian spices are probably terrific when ground fresh. Have you ever smelled whole cardamom pods? That’s where I got my name from.

I know where your name is from, and he uses cardamom often, but I can’t honestly say if he’s used the whole pods. He often toasts the seeds and chops them or uses the mortar and pestle – it always smells so good.

@hearkat Oh yeah! That’s also what I’d like to get, a mortar and pestle! Thanks for reminding me. I think some people would find that kind of work a chore, but I love the idea of grinding stuff by hand, especially if it involves ending up with mole sauce : P

I have the coolest toaster ever made – all you do is drop in your bread. It lowers, toasts, then raises, all without a touch. It gets used almost daily. The microwave it the most indispensable appliance in the kitchen (after the stove, of course). I use it mostly to heat ingredients and reheat food.

I like the Crock Pot a lot, and use the Nesco roaster a few times a year.

The countertop mixer, bread maker and dehydrator are never used, but if I got rid of them, I’d pine for them.

@jca remember, of you get a waffle maker, the waffles freeze and toast well. That won’t increase the number of time you use it, but it will increase your enjoyment. Make a BIG batch and freeze the leftovers. Jiffy Cornbread Mix makes the best waffles! And if you like beans and cornbread, there’s nothing better than a Jiffy waffle with a ladle of beans on it!!

@ibstubro Yum! Beans with waffles, never thought of that. I especially love butter beans!

Jiffy Cornbread waffles! Heaven. It’s my own exclusive creation as far as I have ever heard. I’m sure you could use any cornbread batter…whatever you’re accustomed to eating with beans.

@ibstubro Just know that Jiffy brand of cornbread has lard in the ingredients. Better to go with Krusteaz or homemade.

I used the mixer for the first time today! I made festive cookies.

I have never used our crock pot or hot dog cooker.

You should really try the crock pot, @Valerie111. They’re great.
Yard sale the hot dog cooker. That’s just silly.

+1 for stick blender, which I use for soups especially.
And lately I’ve been using mortar and pestle for mashing nuts to toss into stir-frys (@Kardamom you will love it, do get a set!).

For collecting dust there is a big aluminum pot with a built-in stirrer that is supposed to be good for popcorn but works badly, somebody gave us that. Also we have a hot air popper that works much better.

I acquired a stick blender recently…have yet to use it. Thanks for reminding me!

@ibstubro If you like to make soup, you’re going to love the stick blender!

If you have anything in your house that you are not using and not going to use, please donate it to a charity thrift store.

That’s where I bought all this crap, @YARNLADY lol. That or I get it at my auction, then donate it when I don’t like/use it.