... to ask the thing you most regret buying that you have barely used?

[WomanInTheWindow]

(started from that now deleted thread)

As previously detailed, gathering dust in my house is the spiraliser, the diet milkshake drink shaker... at one point we had three separate keyboards.

I now have a vegetable box staring at me balefully....

Anyone else?

@GlummyMcGlummerson

I just plait my hair very loosely when drying and leave the bottom three or four inches below the hair. I have long elbow length hair which doesn’t curl easily but this works for me. Then when almost dry, ruffle it out and give it a quick blast

I’ve never got the spiraliser attraction but I did want an instant pot...

SharonasCorona no an air fryer is different to a halogen oven , halogen ovens are absolutely brilliant we use ours all the time .

I desperately want a Tefal actifry. Is it the same as an Airfryer that previous posters have bought and never used?

Beach hair - well, my hair is shot into waves every time I go near water. Is that what they mean by beach hair?

A BaByliss Perfect Curl. Found it too unwieldy to use; by the time I'd got each lock of hair positioned appropriately, the bulk of the device had messed up the rest of my hair, also kept clonking against my head. Sold on eBay for almost the same amount I'd paid, though, so not too bad.

Also a GHD hairdryer. Too big and clunky (I normally use a portable one), again I keep hitting myself on the head with it, and results aren't noticeably better than with any other hairdryer. Possibly heading the eBay route too before long.

Candy floss maker.
When I got it I was expecting fair ground portions, what I do get barely fills a breakfast bowl.

We use a halogen oven, actifry and nutri bullet fairly regularly.

The rice cooker we had was shit, no better than a saucepan but harder to clean.

Oh, and an air fryer. Bought for DH one Christmas as he wanted one, but it's been used about twice.

I'm not too bad with these things, but DH on the other hand....

He uses the KitchenAid I bought him (no really, he likes baking and wanted one as a gift - am not One Of Those Spouses) but insisted on the pasta maker accessory that is never used.

He bought a bloody gym spec rowing machine. We have relatively small rooms outside of the main living area. This does not work.

Thanks to CV19 the ridiculously expensive turbo trainer he insisted on (I was fine with a basic one to see if we actually got off our arses and used it) is now being used (mainly by me tbf) but wasn't otherwise. He is now vindicated in that purchase

TBF his form for buying loads of random shit we have no space for is a reason I am genuinely uncertain we'll emerge from the lockdown as a couple . (Sorry that's not lighthearted at all.)

@BlackSwan but you can't get the flour and dried yeast for love nor money! 😂

Have to confess to getting a steam oven when we did our kitchen mainly because it completed the symmetry of the built-in appliances and because a friend said she loved hers. Haven't done much more than steam broccoli in it and then regret it for the next couple of days, as it stinks the kitchen out. 🤢🤣

And DH was the one that insisted on buying the now languishing at the back of the drawer spiraliser we saw demonstrated at a food & drink fair, after wandering around and consuming too much of the drink, not so much of the food! Lesson learnt there. 😂

Pineapple corer - still unused in box. Just after buying it realised fresh pineapple sets off my sensitive teeth.
Epilator - used several times but took ages and gave me ingrowing hairs, went back to shaving, quick and easy.
Yogurt maker - also used many times but resulting yogurt stringy, slimy and horrible. Gave up and went back to delicious shop bought bio yogurt.

I've got stuff I used for a bit then gave up on, but I don't regret buying them. I enjoyed them for a while iyswim.

On the other hand I regret the cutlery we got. Quality steel but terribly balanced, way too heavy in the handles. And yet we still keep using it every day!

Kindle - didn't buy it myself, but asked for it for Christmas. I realised I really prefer holding a paper book. I feel very bad about the wastefulness of it.

A Cuisinart slow cooker, which was unnecessarily large, heavy and expensive, when a much cheaper one would have done, as after the initial enthusiasm, I only really used if for Christmas puddings.

Bread maker. I did use it quite a lot at first, but the paddle thing was so annoying, that I gave up on bread and just used it for pizza/focaccia dough. Then I found Dan Lepard's barely-kneed method, and gave up on the machine entirely.

Knead, not kneed...

@Farheatarse I love my Panasonic bread maker. I use it several times a week. OH says it’s the nicest bread.

@WeakAndWeary I love my instant pot, use it all the time for rice, beans etc. or when I slow cook something and it’s not quite done, shove on the pressure cooker and you have dinner done! We do have plenty of counter space to stick it in though. I never used my slow cooker when I had a smaller kitchen.

Isn’t the instant pot a total arse to wash though, it was I doing it wrong?

*or

I was given a tapanyaki grill for Christmas years ago. Spent 3 years in the box. I started using it more often and I actually love it now.

I also bought one of those zappy hair removal bastards... It's been in the drawer since the first use. I think of it every time I shave and wish I had the pain threshold and time to use it properly then I might not look like a yeti

Feel vindicated and relieved I never succumbed to the marketing pressure to buy most of these - seems there's a lot of repetition. BUT I do regret my fancy coffee maker, which I never thought I'd do because a) I like fancy coffee, and b) it didn't cost me money, it was an airmiles-points-style purchase. But I can't be bothered with it when I have a Bialetti, and it takes up so much counter space even in my large kitchen.

Air fryers are fucking amazing! We have used ours almost every day for 6 years. Our oven is redundant.

I will say though that I regretted buying a Juicer some years ago though. Omg cleaning it was such a faff! I gave it away!

everywhere around it Is greasy and smelling of fat. I hate it! Give me the air dryer any time

Yep the one thing I have never had, nor will ever have in the house is a deep fat fryer - cook chips once and your house and everything in it stinks of rancid fat. I can't stand the smell of cooking in the house, so a fryer is more than I could ever bare. So the actifry is amazing for that.

To answer the thread, sooo many, first to spring to mind is the Tefal Cook4Me pot. Used a grand total of once.

I refused to buy a bread maker despite 17yo DS"s pleas. He found a no kead recipe which he makes most nights using a bit of dried yeast and it is seriously the best bread ever. My dad makes really good bread in his bread maker but this is exceptional . No large electronics required!