While I work on the mounds of laundry waiting to be tended, here’s a twist on the crowd favourite Top Five/Bottom Five posts; this time I’m going to write about what kitchen appliances (excluding an oven) I OWN that I use the most/least. Here goes.
TOP FIVE KITCHEN APPLIANCES
- Microwave. Over the last few months I have learned that MULTIPLE people in my local circle of friends and acquaintances do not own a microwave. I just…cannot. I would bet that I use my microwave every single day of the year that I am at home – I rewarm my coffee or tea, heat my beloved Magic Bags, steam veggies, warm up leftovers. I would be BEREFT without a microwave. Bereft.
- Dishwasher. I feel like zero explanation is required on this one. I use it. I love it. This is the first time in my life I’ve lived somewhere with a dishwasher and it is, as Gollum would croak, my preciousssss.
- Slow cooker. I don’t use it weekly, but when I use it…I love it. I own two sizes of slow cooker – both were wedding presents and I use them for different things (mostly soups, stews, and chili).
- Magic bullet. This is a new addition to our panty, but this mini blender is amazing!
- Food processor. Again, this is an appliance I would be hard pressed to function without; I use my food processor regularly (to shred carrots, prep cake or muffin batter and to chop veggies and fruit).
Bonus Top Picks:
- A meat thermometer. I only use it a few times a month, but when I need it, I really appreciate owning one.
- A kitchen scale. Ditto above. I love how some people (hi my UK friends) weigh ingredients regularly; it’s so accurate!
- Electric beaters. I don’t own a fancy KitchenAid stand mixer. I thought I wanted one but I really don’t!! I love the convenience of electric beaters and use them regularly. I have an extra set of the beater attachments and that is very handy.
BOTTOM FIVE KITCHEN APPLIANCES
- Immersion blender. When I bought an immersion blender I used it all the time for pureeing soups and prepping baby food. Now, I might pull it out twice a year. Since I own one I’m keeping it…but if it broke tomorrow tomorrow, I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to buy another one.
- Electric knife. We bought one at a yard sale over a decade ago. I used it more frequently back when I made homemade bread. Now, I use it exactly once a year – to carve the Christmas turkey. Ditto above. It’s great, but I think I could do without it.
- Meat tenderizer. I use this once or twice a year. Ditto above!
- Panini press. I love owning a panini press and when I use it I appreciate it, but probably only use it 5-6 times a year?
- Garlic press. Garlic now hurts my stomach so I use this…never.
Bonus Bottom Pick:
- Bread machine. This was a gift, but I basically never use it (my parents borrow it all winter when they come, so that’s the main reason I keep it at this point).
Your turn. What are your Top/Bottom Five kitchen gadgets/appliances in terms of usage? Do you own a microwave? If not – HOW DO YOU SURVIVE?
Header photo by JOSBRA design on Unsplash
Suzanne
I remember when our microwave died during the early months of the pandemic and I made sure we replaced it AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE. I use the microwave daily. My crockpot is another one I use so frequently I can’t NOT have it. Same goes for my tea kettle, my dishwasher, my blender. I use my Kitchen Aid mixer a lot, as well as my immersion blender. My air fryer gets a lot of play. Same for my toaster. I also use a meat thermometer and kitchen scale at least weekly. My ZOOPER — it’s not really a kitchen appliance, but we use it to vacuum up crumbs in the kitchen every single day so it might as well be.
My Instant Pot is the biggest waste of space. I am afraid to use it. We have used it for three or four recipes ever. It has lived in the basement ever since we moved. Why do we still have it? I have an ice cream maker that I haven’t used in… close to a decade. Maybe it’s time to retire it.
My food processor is somewhere in the middle. I only use it rarely, but when I do use it, it comes in handy.
Elisabeth
Okay, I am glad to know someone else NEEDS THEIR MICROWAVE. My parents got their first one the year I was born and my mom says it was one of the best things that ever happened to her. It lasted for almost 20 years! They don’t make things like they used to…I think we’re on our 4th microwave in 14 years.
I boil my water in little pots for tea coffee, so don’t even have a kettle.
How did I forget a toaster? We use it a few times a week. I need it – like and oven – and almost don’t consider it optional. We have a 4-slice toaster now and it is amazing. I hated waiting for toast before and being able to cook extra is the best.
My parents have – and use almost daily – a toaster oven (for toast AND cooking a lot of things), but I don’t own one.
Michelle G.
My top 5 kitchen appliances:
1. Microwave – I even make scrambled eggs in it thanks to you!
2. Dishwasher- I’ve had to go without, and it’s miserable!
3. Ice maker – I require ice in my water!
4. Toaster – I have a retro-looking one, and I love it.
5. Crock Pot – I love how tender everything is!
My bottom 5:
1. Food processor – such a pain to wash!
2. Blender – I don’t make things that I need to blend very often.
3. Air fryer – I’d rather cook things in the oven. (I guess oven should be in top 5)
4. Insta Pot – I can never get the lid open! I’d rather use the Crock Pot.
5. Bread machine – It’s fine…I’m just too lazy!
Elisabeth
Tell me more about your ice makes! Is it associated with your fridge or separate? If it’s separate, I’m intrigued!!!
And yay – you use my microwave hack for eggs! I’ve started washing the pieces to my food processor on the top level of my dishwasher which makes it a lot less annoying.
NGS
Top Five:
Dishwasher – For obvious reasons.
InstantPot – We use this most days for rice, chicken (for the dog), hardboiled eggs, and it’s basically replaced our slow cooker so we use it for soups and stews.
Immersion blender – I dunno. I use this all the time for soups.
Thermometer – My husband is a freak about food safety and we literally measure every meal to make sure it’s at a safe temperature to eat.
Microwave – We don’t actually use our microwave much, now that you point it out. Sometimes to soften butter or defrost something. Hmmm…I don’t think we could do without it, though.
Bottom five:
Ice crusher – We have an ice crusher but rarely even have ice in our house.
Electric grill – Honestly we only use this to heat tortillas. I feel like we used to use it for burgers and pancakes, but we never eat those things anymore.
KitchenAid attachments – I adore my KitchenAid and use it all the time and people will insist on giving me attachments for it (pasta attachment, ice cream maker?), but I’ve literally never used a single attachment.
Hand beaters – I have a KitchenAid and it’s on the counter and so easy to use and clean. I have a pair of electric beaters, but I have to get them out of the cupboard and they’re approximately eight times harder to clean than my KitchenAid.
6 count muffin tin – Like who’s making just six muffins? Why do I have three of these? I’ve never used them once.
We don’t even have a food processor. I don’t understand what I would do with one. LOL.
Elisabeth
I didn’t own thermometer until a few years ago, but had friends that ALWAYS checked their meat temp which I thought was so odd because I never grew up like that (to be fair my mom overcooks all meat, so there is NEVER a chance of it being underdone).
An ice crusher? What is THAT?
I agree on the 6-count muffin tin. Who would use that? What recipe is small enough to only make 6 muffins. I’d pass those on immediately, Engie!
Jenny
Up until this past summer, we had the crappiest microwave in the world- the turntable was broken, it would burn things, it was so bad that we rarely used it. THEN when we got our kitchen redone we got a new, snazzy microwave and I use it all the time! We didn’t have a usable one for so long that I’m still marveling at all the things I can do- I can reheat my tea! I can put leftovers on a plate and just heat them up! The possibilities are endless! I love it.
Recently our dishwasher broke, but now it’s fixed and I have newfound appreciation for that as well. Hmm, maybe we should do an experiment where we get rid of our appliances one by one, see which ones we actually miss, and then bring those back. Think of the gratitude you’d have every time you reheated your coffee or started the dishwasher! On the other side of things, I really have not been using my air fryer. Maybe I just need to get used to it more though- we’ll see.
Elisabeth
A microwave is just…amazing. I could not live without it.
Ditto the dishwasher. I’ve gone without it for a week once since moving in here and it was horrible. You’re right that absence/brokenness makes the heart grow fonder/more appreciative.
Lindsay
Welcome back, Elisabeth!! So lovely to see your words!! We very much have a microwave and it does very much make a difference to our family and schedule – I can’t imagine not having it. But, I grew up with my mom hiding food in our dishwasher (I don’t even know where to begin with that :P) and never got used to actually using a dishwasher which has come out as one of those polarizing things about me. We dry our dishes in ours now, but I could live without it.
Top 5:
1. Toaster oven (toast is my love language)
2. Air Fryer or Crockpot
3. Microwave
4. Smoothie maker
5. Digital scale (makes measuring so much easier)
Bottom 5:
1. Dishwasher
2. Griddle
3. Stovetop (it’s so scratched and bums me out)
4. Electric can opener (the Mr loves a gadget)
5. Cherry pitter or grape slicer (which we used like 2x each)
Elisabeth
I feel like I’ve heard someone else tell me they only use their dishwasher for drying dishes!
“Toast is my love language.” It IS hard to beat a great piece of toast <3
I had no clue "grape slicer" was a thing?!
Maria
Top five:
1. Dishwasher- life changing appliance.
2. Tea kettle – yes the stove works but I love that it turns off when the water boils so when the inevitable distraction happens I can’t boil my tea water dry
3. Instapot – I was convinced we did not need one. Now I’m convinced we could not survive without one.
4. Crockpot – so useful and so used
5. Bread maker – we use it all the time
Bottom five
1. Blender – It’s used several times a week by my husband to make his smoothies so I should like it, but alas I find his smoothies utterly repellent and gag-errific.
2. Microwave – useful in theory but it’s not a great microwave so things seem to be very unevenly heated after too much time in there and we’ve got two kids at an age to put random items in and cause an issue.
3-5 can’t think of more appliances I don’t like!
Elisabeth
I am so on the fence about trying an Instapot. People seem so polarized – love or hate…I wonder where I would land…?
When our kids were little the microwave was way too high for them to reach, but I can see it being a real “hazard” with little ones with all sorts of things ending up inside (as VCRs used to be back in the day).
Shelly
I reheat coffee, meals, etc. I use my microwave everyday. That and a dishwasher are musts. Toaster and air fryer as well.
I think I would use my food processor more if I put the parts in the dishwasher. Do you find that washing it in the dishwasher is making is not too hard on it?
Bottom five are crock pot, insta pot, immersion blender, garlic press.
When we go out to our camper we don’t have a dishwasher which is ok. But I’m super happy we have a microwave in it!
Elisabeth
Yup. I agree – microwave and dishwasher are non-negotiables.
In terms of putting the food processor in the dishwasher it HAS TO BE ON THE TOP RACK. I did it once on the bottom and it didn’t fit properly together for a while because I think the heat warped it a bit. But I’ve had zero issues when using the top rack. I do rinse the parts first, but it comes out perfectly clean and is 100x easier to way that way.
mbmom11
*the Instapot- I never remember to defrost things before I need to cook them, so this is great at making stews, etc.
*Kitchen aid stand mixer.
* Garbage disposal- this cuts down on smelly trash and makes clean up much easier. I’d take this over a dishwasher if forced to chose.
*Bread machine- I use it only for kneading pretty much, but I make a lot of breads and rolls, so it’s a convenience that I love.
*Soda stream – the family goes through a lot of seltzer.
Bottom Five- mostly, I only have appliances I use. ( now, excess electronics, – those we have!) But I don’t use my crock pot much anymore, or the food processor, blender, toaster oven, or the immersion blender. However, they each have their season when they get used a lot ( holidays) so they get cupboard space.
Elisabeth
I WISH WE HAD GARBAGE DISPOSALS IN CANADA. Why is this not a thing here? Everyone I know in the US has one; I have never seen a single garbage disposal in Canada. I have no idea why. I think I would love having one.
J
Hmmm…let me think.
Top 5
Toaster Oven – we don’t use it for toast though, it makes terrible toast. But it’s big enough to cook a frozen pizza or baked potatoes or even a small chicken. We use it a lot.
Toaster – because life without toast is sad.
Dishwasher – We’ve lived without many times, and it is no fun. Very much prefer to use a dishwasher.
Kettle – I love my electric kettle. LOVE.
Fridge – Maybe this is too obvious to count, but we can’t live without it. OK, if we’re counting a fridge, I guess we need to count the stove and oven as well, right? Since those weren’t mentioned, I am guessing we only mean things that are a bit more optional.
Microwave – I don’t use this a ton, but often enough. My husband uses it every day though, so it’s important.
Bonus items
Nespresso machine – this was a hand me down from a friend who was moving. I don’t use it, but my daughter LOVES it and uses it every day.
Coffee grinder – ditto. I don’t use it, but my husband does, every day.
French press – husband’s coffee.
Bottom 5
Ice Cream Maker – We had an ice cream maker, but we gave it away on our buy nothing group because we hadn’t used it in about 10 years. Grocery store ice cream is fine.
Rice cooker – I kept burning the rice, so we gave it away. I don’t know if there was something wrong with it or if I just didn’t know what I was doing.
Blender – Ours broke, so I collected 2 from the Buy Nothing Group, but I haven’t needed one yet, so I haven’t used it.
Garlic Press – I use a lot of garlic, but it’s just easier to chop it.
Crock Pot – I don’t know why, but I have an aversion to them. I have never in my adult life owned one. I suppose if I had one I could make soup or something and it would use less energy than the stove. I’m just not convinced that the food is edible. (I had some bad experiences as a kid.)
Things I am glad to have and keep even though we don’t have a lot of room, though we don’t use them very often:
Waffle iron – We very rarely have waffles, but I love our waffle iron.
Citrus juicer – When a neighbor gives us a big bag of oranges, I love this basic thing.
Food processor – I don’t use it often, but I love it.
Things I have never tried:
Air fryer
Instapot
Soda Stream (should give this a try, we love seltzer water and drink a LOT of it)
Elisabeth
I haven’t tried the air fryer, instapot or soda stream but I have thought about all of them!
Life without toast IS sad. So true!
And great point on the waffle iron. I also love having a waffle iron. I use it once or twice a month, but when I want it…it’s a joy to have…
Sara
So…in the height of my sleep deprivation with our velcro baby–I dropped the cap to the syrup and didn’t realize the door to the microwave was open and stood up full speed only to knock the door off AND dent it–WITH MY HEAD. Needless to say, our microwave is non-functional, and I refuse to get it fixed out of principle. I miss it for one thing and one thing only–reheating a cup of coffee 46 times. I’ve just surrendered to one hot sip and the rest freezing cold.
I standby two kitchen appliances:
The airfryer which I was reluctant to buy and I kid you not use every single day.
My kitchen aid mixer. It was love at first mix.
We don’t own a toaster and both my kids hate smoothies so I’m sort of meh about everything else.
Elisabeth
Oh goodness – that sounds SO PAINFUL! Ouch.
I did have to laugh at your “one hot sip and the rest freezing cold.” It’s a bit pathetic how often I reheat some cups of coffee/tea.
Nicole MacPherson
Why is no one saying coffee maker? Someone would die if the coffee maker broke in this house, and it would be my family because I would go unhinged and stab them all. Tied with the coffee maker is the Vitamix, it gets a lot of use. I also love my stand mixer, my food processor, and – strangely – my air fryer. I cook chicken in it all the time and I don’t have to get grossed out by said chicken. My ice cream maker used to get a LOT of use, but with M gone I use it much less frequently, apparently he was the main ice cream consumer in this house.
My food processor has all those attachments for grating but I never use it. I do make hummus and other things that need to be pulverized a lot though.
Well, I will say microwave is low on my list. We have a fancy new one in this house and I barely know how to use it. In fact, I don’t know how to use it except for the “30 second quick heat” button. I just don’t use it often – but it’s used a lot by the guys. If I was a single gal I feel like I could get along without it. It’s handy if I want to melt butter or coconut oil, or something like that, but I rarely use it. But then, you know how I feel about leftovers.
Elisabeth
“Someone would die if the coffee maker broke in this house, and it would be my family because I would go unhinged and stab them all.” Ha. If I hear of mass murder in Kelowna I’ll assume it was due to a broken coffee maker.
I feel like my parents owned an ice cream maker when I was a kid that we used once or twice EVER, but it has never crossed my mind to have/look for one.
Karen A.
I don’t have lot of gadgets, now that I’ve sat down and thought about it. I am a slow adopter. I will probably never get an Instant Pot.
Top Five:
1. Slow cooker. I use this at least once a week, if not more. I can make fried rice for a crowd in it.
2. Rice cooker. We are big rice fans here, and have it at least twice a week. I sprang for the largest one I could find that had a delay function.
3. Electric Kettle: mine died, but if i found another one that was not made cheaply in China, I’d get it; I used it ALL the time.
4. Toaster Oven: The one we have is starting to run a little hot, but I am so glad I got one that holds a 9×13 pan, I can roast a pan of veggies in it for lunch without using the big oven, we make pizzas in it, it is basically indispensable at this point.
5. Microwave: We pop popcorn in it (NordicWare popper for the win), melt butter, heat leftovers.
Additional Top Pick: Hot plate. We use this to spare the glasstop stove in our rental; I’m less worried about things getting stuck on it, and it’s a nice extra cooker. I use it for my new copper kettle, so I don’t worry about forgetting it and boiling it dry on the actual stove. It uses less energy, too.
Second additional Top Pick: KitchenAid mixer. My mom gave this to us as a wedding gift 25 years ago, and while I don’t use it as much as I used to (we don’t eat sugary baked goods anymore), it has been indispensable over the years and I couldn’t have made metric tons of buttercream frosting without it. Also the food processor is nice to have when I need to grind oat flour or shred veggies.
Bottom Four:
1. Dishwasher. I swear I have had nothing but trouble from dishwashers. They attract ants (even when they’re clean of food, the moisture inside attracts them), and I dislike the feeling that even when the dishes are being washed they are not DONE. I like to leave the kitchen knowing the dishes are all washed and dried and put away, not knowing I have to go back in there and unload a machine full of slightly damp dishes. When the dishwasher in one of our rentals died, we didn’t bother the landlord, just started washing by hand, and found we a) liked the time spent with each other while doing it, b) the dishwasher dried out for real and no more nasty black ants in the kitchen! That was seven years ago, or more. Thus endeth my rant.
2. Magic Bullet. I got this for making high protein smoothies when I was recovering from my hysterectomy. It’s okay, but annoying and I can never really figure out the right amount of liquid so it blends and doesn’t just clump. I’d rather use an immersion blender. I may donate the Magic Bullet at some point.
3. That said, I’d add my immersion blender to this. I don’t have a tall cup for it, and when I use it in a bowl, stuff splatters out. I’d rather use a regular, full size blender, which I don’t have.
4. Salad Spinner. Admittedly I didn’t buy this for kitchen use, I bought it years ago to illustrate the principle of centrifugal force for my kids when we were doing elementary science. But I ended up using it for lettuce cleaning, and it’s…okay? I don’t like the design that has allowed moisture to build up in the lid and I may end up donating it or tossing it, because it just takes up a lot of space and I use it maybe once a week. The inside basket is a nice spare colander, though.
Additional Bottom: We don’t have one, or at least it’s not hooked up, but automatic water/ice dispensers in a fridge. I hate them. They take up space that would be better used for food, they’re noisy, they can break, and I don’t want to use our tap water for ice or drinking anyway. Does that count as a gadget?
Elisabeth
I have never had an ice dispenser; I love ice in my water, but it is SO loud (and often little chips of ice fly out and land on the floor and I think it would really annoy me), so I can see myself having very mixed emotions.
I CANNOT imagine life without a dishwasher now (well, I can, and it would be tragic). That said, I still wash a lot of dishes by hand anyway, so maybe that fuels me desire to avoid any more washing?
I have a salad spinner; I use it VERY infrequently, but it doesn’t take up a lot of space so I still have it.
We LOVE our Magic Bullet, but it can be hard to get the liquid amount right, I’ll admit that! I need your recipe for rice in the slow cooker. We also have a rice cooker and I LOVE it (though we got a small size which is what I wanted since I find they take up a lot of space for only having one function)?
Karen A.
whoops, I forgot one: our meat thermometer! After ages of bumbling around with the kind you buy at a grocery store and have to wait to see the little red needle move, I splashed out on an instant read thermometer with Amazon points and LOVE IT. I also have a husband who is a freak about food safety (rightfully so, as food poisoning is horrible), and he likes it as well.
Elisabeth
Yes to having a good meat thermometer. We had a really cheap one and then my husband found a much nicer one (though it was on sale so still cheap) and I love it. It has different settings and it beeps when it gets to the proper temp and it’s such a helpful kitchen gadget!
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
Aw yiss!!! This post is exactly what the internet has been missing lately.
-TEAM MICROWAVE 4 LIFE!!!! I used to work with a group of people who never used the microwave and were proud of it. Whatevs.
– Dishwasher – zero explanation required.
– Slow cooker. Meh. I hardly ever use ours. I have a complicated relationship with the instant pot. It’s really good for some things but it is so not instant.
– Magic bullet – don’t have one, but not opposed. I’m going to substitute my Ninja blender for this.
– Food processor – I don’t use it often, but I appreciate it when I do.
*** Missing from the list: air fryer! We use ours often for a lot of things***
– Meat thermometer – yep, I remember the days before we had one and I don’t know how we lived like that.
– Kitchen scale – yep
– Electric beaters – mega agree. I have a stand mixer but it takes up too much space, so I only bring it out for large jobs which don’t happen very often.
– Immersion blender – agree, I don’t have one.
– Electric knife – never used one, but I’m opposed on principle.
– Meat tenderizer – I’m a fan. Granted, I don’t use it often.
– Pannini press – whatevs, don’t have one
– Garlic press – the worst invention ever invented. I love garlic but it’s so easy to just mince it with a knife instead of doing the same thing in a press and having to wash the press.
– Bread machine -GRRRR HATE!!!! Not that I’ve ever had one, it’s just the principle and plus I always fail at bread making.
Elisabeth
What’s wrong with microwaves? I don’t understand why people hate them. Is it the microwaves (as in the radiation)?
I have another post coming about air fryers. Do I need one is basically the crux of the post.
Why are you opposed, on principle, to an electric knife. DO TELL!
Rachel
When Andy and I started dating we lived without a microwave for over a year. I don’t even know why we did it! To encourage cooking? We reheated things in the oven or in pans but I feel like we mostly ate overcooked things. I could not live without our microwave now. Microwave, Dishwasher and Slow-cooker would be my top 3, followed by bread-maker. We make bread all the time. We bought our breadmaker 6 years ago and use it about 3 or 4 times a week.
I use my immersion blender sometimes for soups, but it’s got an attachment I can use to make it into a little food processor and I use that a lot for making hummus and sometimes salsa.
I wish we had space for a kitchenaid mixer or a big food processor. Also, we use our blender for making smoothies a lot in the summer… and never use it in the winter.
Elisabeth
I find reheating most things in the oven takes forever and makes them so dry! Also – TIME. A microwave is gloriously fast.
I’ve seen those immersion blender attachments – I don’t have one, but wonder if I’d use mine a lot more if I did? We used to have a mini food processor and I didn’t use it enough so passed that along.
Karen A.
Re: Fried rice in the crockpot. For this I actually cook the rice the day before in the rice cooker, then chill it. Next day, about four hours before dinner: Mince an onion, toss it and some butter in the crockpot set on HIGH and let the butter melt. Then I add some white pepper, garlic powder, the rice, some chopped water chestnuts and probably 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and mix it up well, breaking up the rice. Let that heat up for an hour or two (maybe switch it to LOW), then about an hour before we want dinner I add several cups of frozen peas and carrots (or just frozen peas). I add plenty of veggies because it gets the boys to eat veggies. If I’m feeling very fancy, I scramble some eggs and mix those in. It sounds like a lot of work, but honestly I have never made good fried rice on the stove, it always sticks and I can’t make enough in my skillet for four boys! I got the idea from Stephanie O’Dea https://www.ayearofslowcooking.com/ and just tweaked it. She has a recipe for it on her site.
Elisabeth
This sounds easy AND delicious. Thanks for sharing the details. My mom makes a recipe very similar to this and I haven’t thought about it in ages (she would often cube up leftover chicken into it as well). It was one of my absolute favourite things as a kid, but I never make it myself. Why?!
Lisa's Yarns
I don’t know how a person doesn’t own a microwave. That is mind boggling!! My top 5 would be: coffee pot, dishwasher, microwave, instant pot, and air fryer. Bonus items are the garlic press, immersion blender, hand mixer, and coffee bean grinder.
Bottom 5: slow cooker (we rarely use it but are typically gone for 10+ hours – I would be more apt to use it if we weren’t gone so long – somethings aren’t great if they sit in it for too long!!), rice cooker (no longer own one), waffle maker (don’t own one), and blenders.
Elisabeth
I do love my waffle iron but don’t actually use it that often anymore. For a year or so I made waffles weekly, but that isn’t my current habit. Though I should get back to it because they’re delicious and I made these GF oat waffles that I genuinely loved.
We buy coffee ground, but the smell of freshly ground coffee is so amazing.
Elinoora
A bit late to the party, but…
Top 5
– our new fridge/freezer, with the ice maker & dispenser (including crushed ice). Absolutely love it, we go through a lot of ice in this house (except my husband 😂)
– my oven – love it, plus it has a burn it all too clean it stand which makes cleaning it out a lot easier
– the kettle! I drink tea all day every day, I don’t know how people cope without one. My current one has 70/80/90/100C stand and a keep warm function, it’s great (especially when we didn’t have hot water yet in the new kitchen)
– the coffee maker, I guess… Not sure how the builders would function otherwise
– cheese slicer – what can I say… It’s a Dutch thing 😆 don’t think we could live without it
Bottom 5
– microwave? We don’t have one at the moment, I don’t really miss it, but my husband does, so we’ll get one (also, reheating tea – just no)
– electric fondue maker – doesn’t get a lot of use, but fun every know and then so it stays
– chocolate fondue thing, although the kids probably wouldn’t mind bringing it out more often
Elisabeth
We also could not do without our cheese slicer (well…I could…it’s John and A that looovve cheese; they use the cheese slicer regularly).
That sounds like a very fancy kettle with all those temperature settings.
My solution to the oven cleaning is to just…never clean it. How horrific is that? In 7 years of living in this house I have never once cleaned it. *Shrug*
Melissa
No microwave here. When we were deciding what to get for our new kitchen we went with a combo steam oven which has a reheating function that is so good. Takes a bit longer (8-10 mins) but you could put a whole family’s worth of plates in at once. So,
Top 5:
1. Combi steam oven. I use this most days. You can adjust the steam from 0-100 so it can also be used as a normal oven which I do because it’s smaller than my normal oven.
2. Dishwasher for obvious reasons
3. Toaster, I love toast.
4. Zip tap. Chilled, sparkling and boiling water out of the tap at our kitchen sink. We use this multiple times a day but it was pricey.
5. Kitchen aid. I don’t use it as much as I used to now the kids aren’t home much but it does make baking much easier. Lives on my pantry counter.
I also use my immersion blender pretty frequently, plus it has attachments and a bowl thingy that convert it to a food processor. If you had have asked this question last year before I gave up coffee because of my vertigo/migraines I would have said the coffee machine.
Bottom 5:
1. Toasted sandwich press, I’m avoiding too much cheese now, so although I love toasted sandwiches I don’t have them anymore. My son still uses it when he is around.
2. Slow cooker. I still use this but wouldn’t replace it if it broke. I’d do slow cooking in the steam oven or on the stove (our induction cooktop can keep the temperature very low). Hmm … maybe I should reclaim that part of my drawer.
3. Coffee machine. See above. It’s a daily reminder that I can’t have coffee, but my husband would insist on replacing it if it broke.
4. Food processor, just because the immersion blender we have could take it’s place.
We don’t have any other appliances. We gave our kettle and sofa stream to our daughters because we have the zip tap.
Elisabeth
That combi steam oven sounds AMAZING! And how convenient to be able to reheat so much at once (a normal microwave is definitely limited in that regard).
Stephany
When I lived in my first apartment, it didn’t come with a microwave and I lasted all of a few weeks before I had to buy one! It’s one of my most-used appliances!
It’s hard to whittle my faves down to 5 so I won’t. Favorites are: Microwave, coffeemaker, slow cooker, stand mixer (I do not have a KitchenAid – I bought a knock-off for a third of the price), meat thermometer (I am terrified of undercooked meat), popcorn popper, and my dishwasher of course! I also really love my little potato peeler so I can quickly remove the skin of a potato before making mashed potatoes!
Bottom 5… hmm, air fryer and Instant Pot come to mind. I also have no use for a blender, as someone who doesn’t like smoothies. (Blasphemy, I know!)
Elisabeth
It’s so funny – air fryer and Instant Pot are sooo high up some lists, and then bottoms for others. These seem like very polarizing appliances.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
I don’t have a microwave. We had one in the last apartment for about a year and while it was nice to have and got used I can do without. The husband would love one but there is no place currently to put it. I love my immersion blender and wouldn’t want to do without because frequent soup cooking.
I also have a Bosch food processor that unfortunately is broke so I can’t use it anymore to grind carrots and I am really thinking about getting a new one. But I don’t use it as often as I used to.
my waffle maker is probably a thing I would not replace when it breaks.
Kyria @ Travel Spot
I do not own a microwave; I own nothing! Ha. But seriously, I probably use a microwave every day also, and more likely several times a day. This may gross the coffee snobs out, but I often make a pot of coffee and put it in the fridge and just heat a cup each day in the microwave until the pot is empty. I also am a fan of making big meals and then reheating a portion each day for lunch or dinner. In the last days of being in my house, I also had already sold my kettle and pans, so I would even heat water for tea or oatmeal etc. Team microwave for sure.
I loved my Magic Blender too. I used to make “egg pancakes” in it. Two eggs, a scoop of cream cheese. Blend until the egg is mixed. Fry in pan like a pancake. Top with whatever, but suggestions are banana, sugar/cinnamon, or more cream cheese (or eat plain!)
Elisabeth
Yum. Those egg pancakes sound DELISH and full of protein. I’ll have to try this soon.
Yay for another person on Team Microwave. I’m a big fan.
Anne
I was going to skip commenting, but had to weigh in on the appliances. I had to laugh, though – of my top ones and yours, we only overlap on the microwave and it’s likely due to a shared love of Magic Bags (TM)/generic rice bags.
1. Microwave
2. Sodastream
3. Air Fryer
4. Electric Kettle
5. Mini coffee maker
The top 4 are daily – sometimes (in the case of the microwave in winter) hourly – use. The air fryer I use at least 3 times a week. The sodastream? Multiple times a day, and the kettle is a daily use item, too.
Least used?
1. Stand mixer
2. Immersion blender
3. Toaster (maybe 2x/week?)
4. Um. Oh! Dishwasher
5. Does the ice maker in my fridge count?
I never use the dishwasher and ice maker. (D/W maybe once/year to make sure it’s still functioning, ha.)
I think this is largely a function of family size, dietary preferences, and kitchen dimensions/storage space/layout.
Elisabeth
I can align with everything BUT THE DISHWASHER. That said, I think even if it was just John and I home I’d likely use the dishwasher a lot less. In that context, handwashing might be easier? But with two kids and company quite regularly, a dishwasher is just…the best!
San
Oh that is such an interesting topic.
My top 5:
1) Microwave (imperative because I need to heat up the milk for my coffee)
2) Kitchen Scale (recipes turn out so much better when you precisely measure the ingredients!)
3) Ninja Food Processor/Blender
4) Kitchen Aid Mixer (I use it weekly!)
5) Bread Slicer (I will buy one shortly because it’s been missing from my life)
Bottom 5:
1) Toaster (I rarely toast anything)
2) Slow Cooker – I can do everything in a regular Dutch Oven
3) Electric Knife (I have one but it does not substitute an electric bread slicer)
4) Meat tenderizer (never used it)
5) juicer (I like the idea of a juicer but have not ever felt the need for it)
Elisabeth
I need to use my kitchen scale more frequently. Europeans know what they’re doing in the kitchen!