Best and worst household item you have bought

[fleshmarketclose]

For me the best has to be my Neato robot vac. I love that it takes me two minutes to clear the floor before I take the dog out and come back to every floor crumb and dust free with a simple tap on my phone. The most pointless has to be the Karcher window vac, I don't clean windows often enough to make it worthwhile and tbh I can clean them just as well without it and do because I forget to charge it up

Another bad buy was the Bosch steam generator iron, heavy, spat brown water on to many items of clothing that then had to be thrown away, didn’t even iron that well! Was glad when it died after only 18months

Slight digress from the topic but @oopslateagain mentioned clothes steamer and I've been desperately trying to find a decent one and always end up confused.
Can I ask which one you use #oopslateagain or if anyone else has any recommendations?

Best - dishwasher, but it's broken at mo, am missing it a LOT.
Also, Shark hoover, & my soupmaker & slow cooker.
Worst - cordless iron recently bought in sales, it doesn't do a good job.

Meaco Platinum 20 Litre Low Energy Dehumidifier, (John Lewis)
Worth every penny; no more wet windows and mold and way less CH required. House feels very 'healthy' now

Dishwasher - I hate washing up.
Tumbledryer

Henry is a feckless grinning waste of space who can't move 3 feet without toppling over. He drags his feet and is too fat to stand up on the stairs. Who invented him? A man?

To those with the Karcher window vac I have one but always seem to be left with a dirty mark where I finish up with the blade. Do you go side to side or up and down?

Best - my heated clothes airer.
Worst - Vax carpet cleaner

Best is my ceiling clothes airer. Genuinely life-changing [sad case]

Can't think of a worst. I did buy a breadmaker that produced slightly rubbish damp bread, and which is now gathering dust in a cupboard, but that was years ago so don't know if it's relevant.

I really should chuck it, it's been aeons

Worst was probably the paint roller where you were meant to pour paint inside it, and then roll it so it soaked through, so no need to use a tray and no dripping. Looked great in theory, but in practice, you had to dilute the emulsion - which I know a lot of pro decorators do, but I could never get the ratio right. It was awful.

Best is either my Dyson hairdryer (love that the heavy motor is in the handle, so better weight distribution and shorter barrel, therefore much easier to use), or our induction hob, which even I can keep gleaming with my poor domestic skills.

And for the Miele hoover fans - mine did 15 years of sterling service before we replaced it. Technically, it was still working, it was just really rickety, the cord recall was dodgy, the host clip broke and the appliance holder door broke off and I was embarrassed to let the cleaner use it any longer. Loved it so much we bought another one!

@Dia12 mine is a Homepure steamer, it's about five years old and I don't think you can get them any more. It was cheap as anything, I'm sure there are way better ones out there (and I really need to get a new one).

I wouldn't be without my dishwasher, washing machine or tumble dryer.
I did love my steam mop but it's generating less and less steam.
Karcher window vac is a waste of time and money. It's just as quick to do it the old fashioned way.
Had to Google the Instant Pot, never heard of one.

@buckeejit I love risotto and mac & cheese... my waistline unfortunately doesn’t I’m on the Instantpot UK Facebook group and I see all the love for it... I’ve just not found it yet. The NPR and QPR just confounds my brain. I probably need to show DH how to use the Instant Pot and let him romance it - he’s got aspirations of being Australia’s next MasterChef (even though we don’t live in Australia and he’s not Australian by any stretch of the imagination)

I’ve got gammon in the mini slow cooker right now for his lunches while I work on my dissertation Makes me feel productive and virtuous at the same time

Do you have any specific brand to recommend? Steamers I've used so far can barely iron a basic t-shirt :(

Best my pressure king pro. Not as fancy as the instapot but suits my needs. My cooking rate has gone up 100% since i bought it.
Worst Henry hoover or That bastard Henry as he's known. I wish I'd known before i bought it. Cant get rid too much life in him. All my others including a dyson havent lasted .

Best: shark liftaway vacuum cleaner

Worst: Vax 3 in one wet and dry hard floor cleaner thingy, literally threw it in the skip after 2 uses and I never just chuck stuff it seems so wasteful but it was shite. Supposed to be one of those amazing deals off the Vax flash sale.

Best
Vax steam cleaner
Anything Miele, I should be on commission I recommend it to enough friends and family.
Worst
Henry Hoover and Dyson ball,should have bought Miele cat and dog first,would have saved money and my temper.

Another Miele vac fan. Our previous twelve year old one worked but after two house extensions,bit started selling a bit burny on higher settings....so bought another and it's even better. I blooming love it.

Worst buy...steam mop. Just pushed the much about. Spray mop is much better, and far cheaper.

Best. Toss up between my slow cooker, my echo dot or my shark liftaway

Worst - hands down it’s Henry Hoover. What a useless heap of junk

Fo those who talk about Instant Pot: I bought one but I don't seem to have used it. What do you do with it that is easier?

@NotTheQueen I wasn't a Mac cheese fan until the IP - eating it as we speak & it is so good!

I always did gammon in the slow cooker & then a honey mustard glaze in the oven for 25 mins but going to attempt IP gammon tomorrow! Stock & soup has been great in it. And steamed beetroot!

Not sure if this is 'best' but I've been pleasantly surprised by the cheap-as-chips Lidl garlic press I bought recently. Very little wastage if you move the bits of garlic around after each pressing, and works far better than many fancier ones. Just make sure you rinse it off right after use though.

Worst would be a choice between the rubbishy Electrolux dishwasher that was put in our kitchen when we first moved in - never, ever cleaned properly and did us the favour of conking out within a couple of years. Or the Karcher window vacs whose batteries stopped charging. Or the cheap underpowered Samsung vacuum cleaner that left us with carpet moth infestations. Or the Lidl breadmaker that lasted precisely two weeks.

(We had Dyson vacuums as well but I found them overrated rather than out-and-out rubbish - prefer my Miele despite it needing bags.)

@theDudesmummy

Pressure Cooker and a Slow Cooker in one

I make

Beef Stew
Chili
Soup
Sausage Casserole
Bolognese
Risotto
Honey Sesame Chicken

In mine

Looking for stuff to add to my repertoire

It's brilliant for batch cooking, and having a hot meal all ready to go at the end of the day

Thank you. I would find it hard to get into a habit of putting together a meal in the morning, possibly it was not the right appliance for me! DH cooks quite a lot in a pressure cooker but he has rejected the Instant Pot...

Could the IPers (I am one) get a room please - this thread will become horribly derailed otherwise as I am bursting to recipe share too

Forgot to give my worsts - that electric paint roller thing, my friends electric bin (just get a pedal FFS and stop yawning your fetid contents at me whenever I go too close to you) and all of the hair straighteners/curling/waving hair cremator junk I've accrued.

I have a tonne of recipes too. And if anyone doesn't want their IP, send it this way , I would love two!