In praise of gadgets

[AMumInScotland]

So, inspired by the slow cooker thread, what kitchen gadgets do people find are really useful, and what are just dust-gatherers then?

I've just recently got a potato ricer and it's fab - the smoothest mashed potato imaginable.

Gadgets I use all the time are

breadmaker
slow cooker
blender
food processor
handheld blender

Gadgets I have given away as they were dust gatherers

Fish kettle
popcorn maker
waffle maker
egg poaching pan

I love my potato ricer too but dh prefers lumpy potato
Gadgets are fab. I have a very good relationship with my ice cream machine, pasta machine, stick blender, food processor, apple corer and olive stoner. As for my bread machine, I am probably closer to that than I am to dh.

Imagine liking lumpy mash - oh well, each to his own I suppose...

I do like poached eggs, but it's probably a year or more since I made them, because the pan is somewhere at the back of the cupbaord... That's the probelm really, isn't it? You can't keep them all handy, so they don't get used even if you like them.

Surprised that no-one has yet mentioned how useful a kettle and a toaster are!

I also regularly use:
Bamix (handheld blender thing)
Slow cooker
Tefal Actifry

I used to also use my electric steamer tonnes, but my current one takes at least twice as long to cook anything as my old one, so it doesn't come out so often now.

I rarely seem to use my sandwich toaster (though that may be because I like it best for toasted cheese sandwiches, and I've had to be dairy free for a lot of the last 3 years).

Oh, and we also use our potato ricer tonnes.

You know, I don't even think of the kettle and toaster as gadgets I'm so used to them, but of course you could just use the grill and a pan of water...

The sandwich toaster is one we do use quite a bit, but I don't suppose I would if I was dairy-free, they've got to be cheese-and-something!

I love my pampered chef food chopper.

Oh yes I love mine too bts, though it has a broken bit atm, which re-breaks every time we use it.