Why do you never use that really cool appliance?
you have a deep fryer, but you’ve only used it once. a crock pot that’s still in the box since your wedding day 5 years ago. a panini press that turns out sandwiches like at your fave restaurant. oh, and the fondue thingy. hmmmmm, that could be the life of an impromptu dinner party.
what appliance do you have that you never use? why don’t you use it? would the appliance make your life easier or just complicate things? do you impulsively buy gadgets off TV and never use them?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
51 Answers
I don’t have any of those. If I dont use it, I get rid of it.
For example, I tossed my microwave last year. Microwaves are just lazy cooking anyway.
**Waiting for refrigerator joke**
I like this question! I got a Kitchen Aid stand mixer (every kitchen dweller’s dream) last month for my birthday and haven’t used it yet. That’s only because we’re remodeling the kitchen and don’t have room for it yet.
I also have a food processor that I haven’t used since I made my son’s baby food. Maybe I’ll whip it out! Get it? Whip?
@ubersiren never used a food processor? dude, let me have it!
@Blondesjon oh yes, you must whip out that bread machine when you get a chance.
I haven’t even been using my curling iron lately! And cooking? What’s that?
@Judi you are too funny! yous gits lurve!
Aside from an electric hand mixer, blender and mini microwave, I don’t think we’ve any cool appliances hiding anywhere. Our electric dishwasher is basically extra storage for dishes as is the oven.
@hungryhungryhortence hey, we use our oven for extra storage too! although i cook regularly with that oven and use the dishwasher as well, bith these areas are great hideaways when things need to be cleared on the double. i thought only my grandmother stored things in the oven, God bless her soul. .
My MIL gave me one of those hand blenders some years ago. It’s never even been out of the box. I find that I can blend things just as quickly with my Foley Food Fork, which is much easier to wash.
My husband came into our marriage with a machine that is a mixer, food processor, bread dough kneader, and several other things. I have never used it because it has way too many parts and needs to be flopped and folded in various ways just to use it. Again, I can mix whatever needs to be mixed by using my Foley Food Fork, chop it with a sharp knife, or knead it with my hands, all in less time than it would take to get the machine out, flop it and fold it for the particular task, and then find the various parts. It is also easier to wash the Fork, the knife and my hands.
BTW, my Foley Food Fork was my grandmother’s and, unlike the modern ones, is made of sturdy stainless steel.
We also don’t use the dishwasher (I am not sure it works anyway) or the Disposal (I’m not sure it works, either). We do use the microwave frequently as well as the stove top and the oven, and we make smoothies in the regular blender.
And I make paninis using my cast iron skillets – heat two of them up, set the sandwich in one of them and put the other pan on top of the sandwich, and Voila! a panini (or a medianoche sandwich.
@Darwin you “macgyver” you! you are the resourceful type who can make it happen with the simple things. you are a true cook. ever try to invent an onion at somebody else’s house who does not cook?
anyway, what is the “foley” thing? and 2, i agree with you when it comes to time management in the kitchen. who wants to fuss with cleaning up stuff and parts? i actually tossed a waffle iron because it never cooperated and was HELL to clean. the only plus side was it made super-thin waffles, which my wife LOVES compared to thicker waffles. every time she asked me to make her thin waffles, i’d cringe knowing how much work it would take to produce them.
I got a quesadilla maker that absolutely rocks. Used it about… um… twice. It’s just that I didn’t crave quesadillas all that often. My crock pot got used about twice as well. That’s mostly because I am not good at planning out a meal that far in advance. Plus, a crock pot usually means you’re cooking for several people, and I was only cooking for 2.
Edit to add: Rotisserie oven. Yeah… how many times do you think I cooked a rotisserie chicken?
@charliecompany34 – This is a Foley Food Fork.
My grandmother’s has a Bakelite handle and stainless steel tines. The modern ones have plastic handles and chrome-plated tines that are weak and tend to rust.
@essieness – I use my crock pot all the time, even when only cooking for two. One reason is that it means I can throw dinner together in the morning when I have time, then go off and do all the stuff a self-employed person, caregiver, and mother of teenagers has to do, and then have dinner ready for whatever sports shift has ended.
Then I can freeze the extra and dig it out on other nights when I didn’t even have the time to load the crock pot.
However, it is vital that you have the sort of crock pot where the inner crock comes out to be washed.
And I use those same two cast iron pans to make quesadillas.
@essieness I’ll take your crock pot! Blondesjon left ours at his work with food in it for a very long time and it had to be thrown away. :(
@jonsblond Aw bummer! I swear one of these days I’m going to learn how to make at least a few dishes in that thing. And one of them will not be queso.
@essieness : It’s easy to make pulled pork in there. YUM!
Also, crockpots are great for making chili, beef stew, chicken and dumplings, chicken soup, boiled beef dinner, and barbacoa.
My dad makes the BEST green beans and bacon in the crockpot every year at Thanksgiving and Christmas. All he does is open two huge cans of green beans, pour them in there, and put a bunch of small bacon bits in there, and let it simmer overnight and into the next day. I don’t know, about 10 hours, I would guess. I’ve never really timed it. Either way they are very delicious. :d
Our crockpot is put away until September now. There is no other appliance or kitchen tool that isn’t used at least once a month in our flat.
I stopped using my Oster Kitchen Center when it became too much of a chore to clean the pieces. I gave it away. I lost one of the parts to the bread machine, so I couldn’t use it either, and gave it away to a woman who said she could send away for the part.
I continue to use the blender, the rice cooker, the microwave, and the crock pot regularly.
Blender, I never use it.
Oh…I don’t even have an electric can opener, never saw the point of one. Of course, now my arthritis is a little worse, I might have to rethink that…then again, I still have my husband! He can open a can.
Handheld sewing machine. I bought it at a garage sale. I thought it would be perfect for on the job repairs of clothing because I work outside and rip thru cloths like no other.
One problem- I don’t wanna be the guy who carries a freaking portable sewing machine in his pocket in case he rips his jeans. That would make me a douche bag.
@pikipupiba -hahaha, may I suggest that you can use either a stapler or even duct tape.—
Yes! Duct tape! That’s not white trashy like! How many fingers do you have? 11? 12?
@pikipupiba I’m not sure what you mean by ‘white trashy like’ but duct tape can be applied without showing in most cases for an emergency repair of a rip or tear at work. As you say you work outside and regularly get them, who will be judging your repair efforts anyway, the fashion police? We used to use it all the time to repair costumes during stage performances.
Response moderated
All unused gadgets are just to hard to clean!
I wish I had a bassomatic… If anybody gets that SNL remark.
Ipod touch. Oh wait! Im using it right now!
Since I got my in-pot blender, I almost never use the regular one. I bought a hand-powered chopper ($19.95) but never use that any more. I use the two chopper grinders I have (different sizes), one for making pesto and the other for chopping almonds or mixing barbecue sauce.
I have a hand grinder that I used for the first time in two decades this week. The kids loved it! The grinder on the Kitchen Aide gets used every three to five years for making mincemeat. I’ve never used the bread attachment.
My wife brought a crockpot to the marriage, but I’ve never used it. I don’t know if she used it before we got together. We just inherited a George Foreman grill from her mother, but I think we put that down in the basement for the kids, when they go to college. They can be the ones to throw it out!
I used to use my grinder when I lived in Northern Florida and had access to a plentiful supply of pork and pork bits. I made sausage and pate often.
However, it wasn’t a powered grinder. It was one of these.
I have lived many places where electricity is not a guaranteed thing, and even if it must be in the dark I like to eat good food. Hence, my favorite appliances are generally manually operated.
Except for the washer and dryer. Living without those is too much like work. Been there, done that, ain’t gonna do it again.
I have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer that I have had several years and now it is under my cabinet because the place I live in is so small the kitchen does NOT have counter space enough. I also have a K.A. food processor and that is in a cabinet for same reason, I do use that fairly often. I need a coffee pot but have one on the counter that ‘leaks’ all over and won’t use it but someone else does! UGH, I also don’t have a microwave and would love to have one, but no space for it! We have a toaster that works when it wants too and hardly use that either, and a toaster oven that I did use till I moved to my current place but as the other stories…no place to keep other than ‘dragging it out from the bottom shelf, in the back of a cupboard’ So I don’t use that anymore either! I also don’t even have enough cupboard space to put canned goods etc in so they are still in boxes!
I used to love cooking but now it is a ‘drudgery’ totally living where I am now!
@lollipop hi! I love my Kitchen Aid mixer; however, you are right. If you don’t have space to leave it out, it doesn’t get used as much. My first kitchen, it wasn’t on the counter – it was used on major holidays, only. Now, I have a bigger kitchen, it’s on the counter and used – a lot!
@cak I would definitely use it more if I had a ‘convenient type’ kitchen! I don’t even like doing basic stuff in this one as I have to ‘hunt an search’ every day just for regular cooking! UGH
But I am stuck with it so now I am getting into the ‘frame of mind’ just go out to eat, lol. I know that won’t happen though….
I don’t get the oven storage thing. My old roomate used to store his pizza, still in the box in the oven, i got out of work one day and cranked on the oven( i mean really, who stores pizza in the oven) 5 min. later the house was filled with smoke. I know that didnt awnser the question, just ranting on the oven storage.
@jerrytown My mother used to do that when I was a kid and set the whole oven on fire with bread in it! I know what you mean…I have learned to always look when I turn the oven on, but there have been a few times I have forgotten.
Even my b.f. now has stuck stuff in the oven and it would have been a disaster! UGH
That is as bad as putting a dinner plate or bowl directly in the refrigerator with food in it and no cover on it! UGH
Yogurt maker—never even used it. Sounded like a great idea when I bought it, but then seemed like a lot of work once it arrived.
Sigh…
I used to make my own yogurt but the little glass cups broke one by one over time and I could never get any replacements. So it went to the land of broken appliances, which is somewhere over near the dump. However, my father was more careful with his yogurt maker and used it happily for some twenty years.
Answer this question 
This question is in the General Section. Responses must be helpful and on-topic.
Composing members:
0
