What are your favorite kitchen gadgets? What's on your "wish list"

[mommariffic]

What kitchen gadgets do you have (electric or not, small or huge) that you love?

I'll go first : ) 

I love all my little fun stuff I've gathered over the years (lemon and lime juicers, salad sporks, pattie makers etc) 

My sandwich press (which makes EVERY sandwich way more yummy, and we eat a lot of sandwiches) 

Hand held mixer 

French press (not really a gadget but a huge love) 

Quesidilla maker (not something I would need unless I got it as a present, which I did, and it rules) 

On my wish list is a beautiful kitchen aid mixer. Does anyone love theirs? I'd also like a decent food processor 

[Drummer's Wife]

Kitchenaid mixer
Keurig coffee maker
Tortilla press

[Siennaflower]

My faves: KitchenAid Mixer, Immersion blender

Wish list: I would love to have a high end juicer and a rice steamer/cooker.

[goinggreengirl]

Faves- My food processor, cast iron pans, rice cooker

Wishlist- Dutch oven, stainless steel pans, Kitchen Aid mixer, food dehydrator

[sugarlumpkin]

I love my Cuisinart food processor, toaster oven (mmm melty cheese sandwiches), Dutch oven, and rice cooker. I am in love with my Vita-Mix and should use it more but it is so loud my son hates when I turn it on... My KitchenAid mixer is handy and does get used but only gets used a couple times a month.

[Drummer's Wife]

Ooh, forgot about my rice cooker. I love that sucker.

I guess a vitamix would be on my wishlist, 'cause I can't think of anything else I'd like to have.

[Lisoula]

Love my mandoline....use it a lot - especially in the summer for salads.

Other loves: immersion blender, rolling herb mincer, Pampered Chef stoneware, and food chopper.

Wish list:  juicer!!!!!  I'd also like a breadmaker, but don't have room for it anyway, so it'll never happen.

[Arduinna]

my favorite gadgets:

scoopers in various sizes

the zyliss 5 way opener I love this thing, it's perfect for opening metal topped glass and plastic soda bottles, canning jar seals ect I use it almost every day

Kuhn Rikon Auto Safety LidLifter can opener

Kuhn Rikon Epicurean Garlic Press

Rosle Food Mill

Back to Basics apple peeler, corer, slicer

the meat grinder attachment for my Cuisinart stand mixer

As far as appliances go my favorite

Cuisinart stand mixer

Cuisinart Elite 16 cup food processor

Bamix immersion blender

Zojirushi hot water pot

Vitamix

Zojirushi fuzzy logic rice cooker

my assortment of crockpots

Breville convection toaster oven

Bialetti hot chocolate maker, I make chai lattes and other hot drinks in it plus it froths the milk the thing has paid for itself in starbucks savings

White Mountain Ice Cream maker  Love it! Love the cast iron dasher for quick super freezing

Food Saver

I do love my juice extractor but Ive had it for about 10 years and they no longer make it.

What is on my wishlist?

a grain mill

Edited by Arduinna - 3/25/11 at 5:51am

[ollyoxenfree]

-My stovetop espresso maker. I'd love a machine with all the bells and whistles for steamed milk etc. but until I have a little more counterspace, I'm happy to have a little pot that makes mornings happy. 

-My knives

-My KitchenAid standmixer. 

-My KitchenAid immersion blender. 

- a little ice cream scoop that's great for scooping up muffin batters, pancake and fritter batters, etc. It is a handy little gadget. 

- tongs - I use them for so many tasks, I'd be lost without them

- chopsticks - they are great for whisking, mixing, sauteing etc. 

Wants - mostly small appliances: 

- burr coffee bean grinder

- food processor

- rice cooker 

- slow cooker 

- new baking pans and cookie sheets (the old ones were not good quality and they are pretty banged up)

[talia rose]

My next purchase will be a stainless steel pressure cooker. And I covet a stainless steel dehydrator.

What I love - our stainless soymilk maker which we make rice/nut milk in, stainless steel rice cooker (both by Miracle) and of course my Kitchen Aid!

And, our SOLAR OVEN!

[hippiechickinsing]

I love my KitchenAid mixer and food processor. I also use the immersion blender so often I keep it on the counter now. 

My wishlist is a good cast-iron skillet and one of those grill/pannini maker machines. 

[matey]

I don't have any fun gadgets. They are all old or just crappy. I do love my banana hanger, which seems silly but it's true.

I would love am immersion blender. I look at them a lot. I would also like a kitchen aide mixer but I wouldnt know whwre to put it. I wouldnt want it on the counter all the time but dont know where to hide something so big.

[Drummer's Wife]

I thought of something I want! A fondant rolling machine.  Like they have on Cake Boss - but smaller.  If only I had an extra $7K to spend.  But I'm thinking about a pasta press or whatever they are and using it in a similar way - just that it wouldn't be big enough to cover a whole cake, I'm sure. 

[Nitenites]

I bought a 6-quart KitchenAid stand mixer when they were on sale on Amazon last month - $250ish. Best price I've seen. I LOVE IT! It gets used at least twice a week. 

On my wish list? Accessories for my KitchenAid! 

There's a side-swipe beater that I want, and I want the ice cream maker accessory. YUMMO! 

[Smokering]

Our ice cream maker! We use it at least twice a week. It's probably not the greatest, just a basic Cuisinart one, but it makes DELICIOUS ice cream, and without all the gross thickeners and emulsifiers and whatnot you get in commercial stuff. We do go through a ton of eggs and cream, though...

I also love our tiny, cheap but oh-so-good Victorinox knives, and this awesome tartlet pan DH bought me. It's actually non-stick. As in, the tarts just pop right out. I don't know what it's made of, probably petroleum mixed with the blood of babies, but if I ever see a muffin pan of the same material I WANT.

In theory I "want" an electric grain mill and a food dehydrator, but would I actually use them? I'm not sure. I did want a juicer for awhile, but I don't think I'll ever learn to like freshly-squeezed juice (particularly the healthy stuff with greens in it), so it's just as well I didn't fork out a thousand dollars for a masticating ceramic-parts fancy-schmancy one!

Oddly enough, I also don't want a stand mixer. I cook all the time, but I've never missed having one... maybe because our childhood one used to leak silver goo from bit where the attachments attached. That was nasty...

[cristeen]

My Chef'n spatulas - i use them every day. They are my most loved utensil.
I love my cast iron (mostly second-hand), and the enameled CI I got for my bday.
For appliances, my Viking stand mixer, Kitchenaid FP, and Excaliber dehydrator are my most used. During the summer, my KA ice cream maker joins in, weekly.

Theres not a whole lot on my wish list... A food mill and pressure canner for the summer bounty (also the reason for the Excalibur). I sometimes contemplate a toaster oven for summertime cooking (although i envy the pp's Solar Oven). Whenever I make soup, i wish for an immersion blender while washing the blender jar, but that's totally on the nonessentials list, so will probably never happen. 2 good knives... Those I will get one of these days.

[bezark]

Favorites:

-bread machine. I haven't bought a loaf of bread in years.

-slow cooker. Especially handy since we're going through a total kitchen renovation at the moment.

-Keurig. We use it at least 3 times a day.

-spaetzle maker. I add spaetzle dumplings to most soups.

-electric griddle. DH and DS ask for pancakes almost every morning. We all get to eat together, rather than in shifts, when I can make more than 2 pancakes at a time.

Wish list:

-a grill pan

-a good meatloaf pan that allows the fat to escape

-an ice maker! Our fridge doesn't have a water line an it drives. me. crazy.

-not quite a gadget, but I'd really like some nice, big, matching glass canisters for dry goods.

[New_Natural_Mom]

#1 LOVE is my Vitamix.  Best thing ever.  We use it constantly and I am a groupie.  Every time they come to Costco I go talk to them and end up convincing someone to buy it. Love love love.I don't know why people get grain mills.

#2 is my food processor.  Again, something I use a lot.  I make a lot of bread/pizza dough, icing, etc.  It is great. 

#3 is the Excalibur dehydrator.  I use that almost daily.  Interestingly I don't use it to dehydrate that much stuff, but it helps my bread rise and keeps grains soaked at the right temp to break down the phytic acid since my house runs cold.  This gets wayyy  more use than I thought it would.

#4 is my toaster oven.  We use it a lot for cooking smaller things.  It is used daily.  We don't use a microwave, so it reheats a lot of our food.

#5 $50 pizza peel from Amazon.  I found it and suggested it to my mom for a xmas present for my DH.  Best.  Peel.  Ever.  I can't believe how perfect this thing is!  Worth every penny.  It is so simple yet ingenious.  I don't remember the name, but it has this fabric panel that slides the pizza right on the pizza stone without mushing it or knocking any toppings off.  This is big for me because I typically make wet/sticky dough.

We use a waffle oven weekly for waffle sundays.  I like my stick blender.  And I love my candy thermometer - I use that when testing water for yeast proofing.

I have to admit, I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, but I don't use it a lot.  I use it for holiday cooking/baking, but not that much.  For something so expensive I wish I used it more.

Wishlist - I want a solar oven!

[delightedbutterfly]

Use the most often:

I think our George Forman Griddle gets used the most (and probably the cheapest appliance!) Everything from pancakes, to bacon, eggs, hamburgers, grilled veggies, steaks, other meat. Pretty much anything you can cook in a pan or on a BBQ we cook on this thing! Oh and our air popcorn popper, that's probably a tie for first place!

We "often" use our toaster, breadmaker (sometimes more often than others) and hand mixer.

I love and wish I used more: my Kitchen Aid (only really use it for icings or the odd cookie dough), my electric kettle (love peppermint tea but after 5 years of pregnancy and nursing I keep forgetting ;) ) and my Magic bullet (LOVE this and it used to get used way more)!

Have and rarely use, probably could get rid of: Blender, Icecream maker (should have just bought the Kitchen Aid attachment), Coffee Pot, Small Electric Skillet/Wok combo (used to use more but the GF griddle is 100X better), Tupperware QuickChef.

WANT: Either a Kurieg or Tassimo (We don't drink coffee and we don't use the coffee pot because we can't really make it either. If I got one of these I could get rid of the coffee pot and the kettle and our family and friends would be MUCH MUCH happier ;) And I would use it for hot chocolate and tea as well), toaster oven (always wanted one but DH says no... I am positive it would replace the microwave if I got one) and a rice cooker. Oh and if I start making more cakes then I would eventually like a second Kitchen Aid as it would make icings WAAAY easier (plus I want one in a pretty colour, I like my grey/silver, but I want something fun!) and the perfect waffle iron, the one we had growing up make the perfect waffles, not to thick and perfect texture. I haven't been able to find one that makes "my" favorite size waffles (I don't like the "Belgium" Size)