What small kitchen appliances do you like and which ones do you regret buying?

I have a Keurig and I love it for quick cups of coffee in the morning. However, I think my next coffee maker will be a regular one. I read good reviews about the Ninja. Keurig, the coffee is hot but I like it really hot.

I have a crockpot (or two) but I don’t use it. It takes up space in the cabinet. I have been thinking I should use it more often. My mom used to make great pot roast with the crock pot. When you have parties, crock pots are great for keeping food warm, like chicken wings or meatballs.

I have a rice cooker but have not yet opened the box. I got it cheap, maybe $10 at a supermarket. A friend told me rice cookers are great for making rice and also for keeping rice hot. I’ve burned a few pots of rice and I’m paranoid about cooking it, and very diligent now, with paying attention to not burning it.

I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I’ve not used it but maybe one day. I also have a hand mixer but am more likely to use the egg beater.

Instapot, electric grill, microwave I don’t have and don’t use.

I had a bread maker but the loaves were somewhat small and so I stopped using it. I don’t know where it is now. Maybe the attic.

My toaster is a cheap plastic thing I got at a supermarket. Nothing fancy. At work there’s a toaster oven and I set something on fire once (maybe a bagel) and so I’m glad I don’t have one at home. I don’t have a huge amount of counter space so I’m not big on keeping big appliances on the counter.

Have two microwaves use them, one over the stove

Crockpot for chili

Instapot for speeding up cooking and tough meat

Toaster used regularly

Kitchen Aid stand mixer gets used infrequently (got to make a banana bread for wife, bananas are in freezer)

Don’t use blender much, I cut back on fruity juice things because of carbs

Have “Sous Vide” immersion cooker, I use for tough cuts when not in a hurry, some cuts of meat can take 24 hours.

I’m not into buying a lot of kitchen appliances and don’t see the need for all the new ones. The ones I have and use a lot are my Cuisinart food processor and my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I have a Dualit toaster that I use every morning. My stove is a gas stove with a double oven. The smaller one is on top on the bottom if that makes sense and that’s the one I use the most if cooking just for myself.

I forgot I also have a NutriBullet blender which was a gift. Easy to make smoothies.

I also have an electric kettle which I got at Costco for about $22. What I like about it is it boils water very quickly and there’s no worrying about forgetting the kettle on the stove.

I also have an electric nut chopper because every day I put chopped walnuts into Greek yogurt, and so I chop a large amount of walnuts at a time. I have a handheld nut chopper (Amazon, about $12) which is great but it’s more of a chore to chop a large quantity.

@Tropical_Willie: A friend has a sous vide and she was telling me how it makes great meat. I don’t have room or need for one but she did make it sound very appealing.

@jca2 Oh yes! I have an electric kettle too that i use every morning to make my tea.

@jca2 I have a plastic toaster from the grocery store also. I would buy it again. It’s lasted over ten years. I keep that on my counter, and the toaster oven, and the Keurig, all other small appliance are kept in a cabinet. Our microwave is above the stove.

I have thought about getting an electric kettle. I often use the keurig for tea and hot chocolate. I just run plain water through it.

My mom used to set the toaster oven on fire a lot. Lol.

I don’t know how I ever managed without a microwave oven. I have only a few small appliances, and I don’t regret having/buying any of them.

@jca2 Sous Vide requires a “scientific approach”; if you don’t cook it long enough or too low a temp it can end up with trash that can kill you. But accurate temps are what the immersion cooker can do.

A blender and an electric kettle I use daily. A Cuisinart I received as a gift is nice but it I only use it for making pesto in the summer and asparagus soup in the spring. Otherwise my needs are satisfied with pots, pans, whisks and knives, etc.

I have been eyeing Instapots. I could make effective use of that, but counter space is at a premium.

I have done sous vide by heating the water in a stock pot and pouring it in a Coleman cooler to maintain the heat. Add boiling water occasionally to touch up the temperature. It worked well.

I have a Dualit toaster (same one as Queen Elizabeth!) which is superb.

I bought an Insta-Pot a year ago, and find it a waste, as it is not easy to use and does not cook food I like. I tried making a pot roast, and the meat came out tender but dry as the Sahara. There is a reason some recipes take long time, flavor and juiciness take time and cannot be rushed.

Air fryer – use daily (mostly takes the place of microwave and toaster, but also for regular air fryer duties)
Microwave – used daily, mostly by other people in the house
Electric kettle – use daily or almost daily
Electric griddle – use a few times a week
Instant pot – use at least weekly, sometimes daily (mostly for making rice, but also meals)
Stand mixer – use at least monthly, sometimes weekly

High speed blender is not getting so much use, but I’m on the verge of starting to make smoothies and am thinking about going back to making my own almond milk, so this may change

Would like a food processor, but get along fine without one

Got rid of toaster, toaster oven and bread machine when I went gluten-free (cross contamination). Also got rid of Keurig and rice cooker.

Never had a hand mixer or coffee pot

We have one of those water fizzers, but it seems to need new cartridges too often. We’ve been buying carbonated water.

@JLeslie: The reason I like the electric kettle for tea and hot beverages better than I like getting hot water from the Keurig is that the hot water from the Keurig isn’t that hot. The hot water from the kettle is boiling, and then it cools down to a temp that you like.

At work they have a toaster oven, and I put a bagel with butter in it and it caught on fire. I remember having to take the flaming bagel over to the window and opening the window, to let the smoke out. A nightmare would have been having the smoke alarm go off and the building evacuate because of me and my flaming bagel. I never used the toaster oven after that.

@janbb I like the electric kettle so much I gave two as gifts. The Costco price of $22 on sale couldn’t be beat!

We have an instant pot, an air fryer, a crock pot, a nutribullet, and a rice cooker. They all get used, though not often.
We never use the bread maker.

Good:
Toaster oven—So much better than a regular toaster. Anyone who disagrees is a fool.

Stand mixer with dough hook—godsend. My wife started making bread this summer (and has gotten really good at it), but working that wet, sticky sourdough by hand was a nightmare.

Rice maker—I’ve had mine for about 10 years and it’s still making great rice. I only use it for white rice with stir-fries and curries.

Plug-in countertop panini press and grill—we only ever seem to use this for grilling asparagus these days, but holy shit it does such a great job! Asparagus that’s been grilled takes on a bit of this awesome nutty quality, and it’s the perfect tool for dialing in just the right amount of “snap” with your asparagus.

Dutch Oven—I guess it’s not an appliance, but I use the hell out of this thing. The wife cooks her sourdough in it, I’ll cook everything from curries, to tacos/fajitas, meatballs, braised pork shoulder, etc in this thing both on the stove or in the oven. It rocks.

Aeropress—It makes awesome coffee and is super-affordable. I guess it’s not really an appliance either, though it does replace a coffeemaker.

Microwave + Oven—Not much to say. They work.

Bad:
A nice blender— This was gifted to us. I’m not sure I’ve ever used it (my wife has).

A slow cooker—I inherited this from my grandmother when she passed. I think we used it to serve dip or something once in the past decade.

A spiralizer—spiraled zucchini is not the same as spaghetti, no matter how hard you try to fool yourself.

A juicer—Another inhered gadget from my late grandmother. I have never used this ridiculous contraption. If I want to squeeze some oranges, I can simply squeeze them over a sieve, I don’t need a machine to plug in and spin the orange juicing thingy for me. We ended up donating this one.

Rick’s dad gave us a slap chop for Christmas. It fell apart after 3 uses.

The only one I regretted buying was one of those large food processors. I never used it. It couldn’t mince garlic and it was a huge pain in the ass to clean. I now use a tiny chopper for mincing garlic and onions and I chop everything else with a knife.

Most Used
* One-cup hot water heater. It’s an instant cup of tea or instant coffee. It’s also used for making broth out of stock cubes. It only takes seconds.
* Microwave. The rice, which we eat a lot of, is cooked in this. It’s also used to heat up leftover frozen meals, breakfast oats, etc.

Not an appliance, but used with an alarming frequency
* The wok and silicon spatula. We love a stir-fry filled with a variety of vegetables.
* Silicon baking sheets. They are easy to wash and eliminate the use of parchment, wax paper, and foil. They don’t need an oil or butter to grease them, cutting calories.