the price for the most useless household item goes to...

[greenelephantscarf]

... the gravy boat

• always drips
• never big enough
• alwas at the wrong end of the table
• a pain in the drawer as it's not stackable

I'm moving house. gravy boat will stay behind.

Bread maker here too. The bread is too crumbly, impossible to slice neatly, has huge hole in from the paddle, goes mouldy in hours and the machine is huge.

Mine got donated very quickly.

My Dyson V10 is probably my most fave item ever. Just sayin'

I love my bread maker, even though it doesn't always get regular use (I need to lose weight and fresh bread is a weakness of mine).

My most utterly useless items are the iron and ironing board. I don't do ironing.

DH bought an electric egg cooker from the dreaded middle isle at Lidl.
I told him not to (not least because I don't eat eggs) but he went ahead.
He's used it once in 6 months. Takes ages apparently.

Gravy boats are useless they are too small I use the Pyrex measuring jug

And it's a 1 litre measuring jug, i plonk that on the table

@Seahorseshoe we used to have socks on all our chairs :D My excuse is that I knitted them and they were quick, fun projects for leftover yarns.

I've treated myself to a much wanted Le Creuset teapot, it's in Teal and so so beautiful to look at.

And it pisses tea out everywhere but in the cup.

I actually nearly cried the first time I used it, my disappointment was so great.

I loved my bread maker, although I think I baked bread in it max twice. I used it to knead anything and everything. Also good for making jam.

Egg cups. Been given several sets, never have dippy eggs. DH even bought a novelty set of egg cup beanbag kinda things. WTF?!
Waffle iron - the mixture just used to stick and you never got the waffle, just the disappointment.....
Mini ring doughnut maker. (Gift from auntie). Crap, and massive.

@ResistanceIsNecessary - really? It says on the mop not to use any other detergent than the Vax one so I didn't dare try anything else. Was it all a sales ploy then?

@continuityerror

I thought a soup maker would be a waste, but my wife wanted one. It's fantastic. Velvety smooth soups with no mess. Vibrant colours, and full of flavour.

cheese board with integrated knives, we got 3 of the bloody things as gifts last Christmas and they're not much bigger than a side plate. Useless (and all 3 engraved so I can't give to charity shop).

Pasta making machine. Collecting dust in the garage since I tried it for the first and only time and realised - NEVER AGAIN, life is too short.

Stuff we DO use.

Large heated airing rack, about £100 from Lakeland

Soup maker

DeLonghi Distinta coffee maker. I paid £79 I think, when on offer. Makes far better coffee than any pod machine, although it's a faff to set up. Far cheaper than a pod machine. Steaming wand is a bit too short.

Metal jug for frothing milk. Amazing how much better it is than using a pot mug. I imagine it must be to do with the way it conducts heat.

Nutri Bullet (actually a Ninja IQ). Son uses to make health shakes

Wife. Worth every penny. They get married in white so they match the other kitchen appliances (joke, ladies)

Pasta machine - never used.
Mandolin slicer thing with different blades - was too worried about chopping my fingers off.
A massive soup tureen with matching ladle - very expensive when it was bought as part of a dinner service many years ago.
The really sad thing is, these were all items languishing at the back of my mother's kitchen cupboards. When I cleared the house I thought they might 'come in useful', now I know why she never used them. 2nd generation useless kitchen stuff.

I have almost forgotten about the thermomix.
bought it after a demonstration and family raving about it.
I sent it back after I had to clean it the first time.

My df bought a mandolin slicer as did I for our dms in the 70s - df sliced her finger - makes me shudder

Avocado scoop and slicer - scoop good but slicer useless.

I use a gravy boat which is very old. Like it but use Pyrex for informal dinners

mini-blowtorch for crème brûlée - used once a year, if that since some years we have crème caramel at New Year.

ice cream maker - wedding present we used loads more than I expected for about 5 years but after kids it was just a step too far.

coffee maker - old style with carafe, comes out only when we host Sunday lunch which is probably 3x a year.

One holiday, there was a breadmaker in the gîte. It was a great toy on holiday. DH loved using it the whole 2 weeks but it was a total holiday romance.

Agreed, never big enough! We always end up using the Pyrex measuring jug

But you can hardly put that on the table can you? You are allowed to refill a gravy boat, means those going later get hotter gravy too!

Ratonastick Thanks for the link. I've now blocked it on my browser so I aren't tempted to buy any random shit that won't get used 👍😉

All these people using gravy boats and jugs, do you not make proper gravy? I can't do bisto, it's rats.

Gth1234 Still can’t get my head round an electric soup maker as I just use a big heavy based pan and a stick blender (but I’m glad you like yours so much).

My bread maker is essential though - makes great pizza dough.

All these people using gravy boats and jugs, do you not make proper gravy?

I got the impression that the gravy is being served at table in them.

I use my breadmaker 2/3 times a week, it also makes cracking pizza dough. Stick blender I use very frequently, for soups etc.

The most useless and expensive thing in any house, costing £3.7bn at the last count, is only found in one thankfully, that is Chris Grayling.