If you cook, are you a "kitchen gadget" person?
By PeacefulWmn9
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
United States
December 25, 2009 10:17pm CST
Hello all. I know some people, like my sister and my mom-in-law when she was alive who have every kitchen gadget and small appliance known to mankind: big and little salad shooters and fryers, mixing stands with a thousand attachements, several kinds of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate makers, blenders in several sizes...just everything new that comes out. They use these things once in a blue moon, if at all!
Myself, I love to cook, but with only basic gadgets that don't require a lot of assembling and unassembling, and don't take up much-needed space in my kitchen. I've always been that way.
The closest I come to having gadgets is one coffee maker, a crock pot, a hand mixer...the basics.
How about you or a member of your family? Do you love kitchen gadgets? Which ones, and if so, do you use them regularly or do they just take up space?
Karen3 people like this
14 responses
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
26 Dec 09
I like kitchen gadgets! However, I have a really small house and I have no place to store so many. Plus I think some are just unnecessary. Like I've seen a quesadila maker... why? you can make them in a microwave or regular pan.
1 person likes this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
27 Dec 09
Maybe if I was some sort of gourmet chef or something but like you no room for all the variations of pans & gadgets. Plus sometimes just using the basic pans we all have is alot easier than cleaning oodles of gadgets & or the crevices many have. Like I like the george foreman but it's a PITA to clean sometimes w/ the shape of the plates & you can't exactly submerge it either.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
12 Jan 10
Exactly...ease and quickness of cleanup is another reason I keep things in the kitchen minimal!
Karen1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Bunnies.
I have similar issues...small space, for starters, and for some simple kitchen task, why buy a different gadget, dish, slicer, or pan for each when one will do? Many of them require so much assembling and unassembling. Ugh. lol. But there are many who do love their gadgets.
Karen1 person likes this
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
26 Dec 09
Coming from a can't cook won't cook person I don't tend to spend much time in the kitchen if I can help it, I have been lucky in that I have either had partners who were good in the kitchen or of course my mum. But for a short while when I did live alone I tended to avoid the kitchen gadgets mainly because a lot of the gadgets that do need assembling and unassembling as you rightfully said all need washing afterwards and it's all that performance for little gain, especially if you live alone! So I used the bare minimum. Just as well really I am not a big kitchen person!
1 person likes this
@wolfie34 (26771)
• United Kingdom
26 Dec 09
I wish I took after my mum or my mum's mum they are/were superb cooks respectively, sadly I probably take after my father who is absolutely hopeless in the kitchen, mind you I can at least make a spaghetti bolognaise and an omelette, when I have to LOL!
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
LOL, can't and won't huh? Well I do cook a lot and bake a lot, but yes, the basics are a lot less trouble and do a wonderful job.
Take care.
Karen
@gabs8513 (48686)
• United Kingdom
31 Dec 09
No I do not have all the Gadget as you say it is not often that they get used and they just take up room, I just have my Basic Stuff that I need and nothing else
I do not bake or anything but still for my Cooking I have what I need and no fancy Gadget
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
2 Jan 10
Hi Gabs
I am like this too...no fancy gadgets to do the job a simple knife, etc., would do. I think they are fine for those who actually use them, but even when I received them as gifts, I almost never did...so out they went.
Karen
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
26 Dec 09
I am a very basic person to, Karen. I never have been into gadgets. I wouldn't have room for them if i was . I do not have enough counter tops as it is. My mother was very into them. She has a phobia for buying "stuff' anyway. I called her the QVC queen.
1 person likes this
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
27 Dec 09
U never went in to my mother's w/out there being boxes to be opened from qvc. She was that way by everything to. Must have been their generation or whatever. Mother would have been 87 this last nov. Hope u have a good night. hugs. jo
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Jo :)
LOL, QVC...that was my mother-in-law, and she lived in a mobile home with a very small kichen. I could never ever understand her passion for so much "stuff." Not just in the kitchen, but everywhere. To her credit, though, she was a good cook and a good housekeeper. But oh my, dusting took her an entire day each week to keep it that way.
Karen1 person likes this
@dorannmwin (36392)
• United States
29 Dec 09
I'm the kind of person in the kitchen that is just like you are. I really like to cook, but I am not the type of person that needs to have every gadget that is available for the kitchen. I have a very small kitchen so I defintely don't have space for all of the bells and whistles, I do like to have a decent set of cooking utensils and I also really like to have a good mixer, although I have never gone to the extent of buying a true stand mixer, that is the one kitchen gadget that I have the dream of having and I assume that eventually I will get one.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
29 Dec 09
Yes, even when I did have more room, I just thought the "gadgets" and a separate electrical appliance for each kind of food wasted more time than they ever saved...and the clean up was much harder, too!
I'm a basics kind of person with many things lol.
Karen @windwhisperer (21)
• Canada
11 Jan 10
I have several gadgets but most usful to me are my food processor and a tiny little cheese grater that is only about 3 inches high. Just the right size for many things. I have a few others that really just sit in a drawer and since I don't bake much they don't get used very often.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
12 Jan 10
Hi Windwhisperer.
Oh, I love my little cheese grater, too. I do miss the food processor, and will most likely get another someday. But I like you, I use few gadgets on a regular basis. That's okay, though, as it leaves more room in my small kitchen for other things.
Thank you for responding.
Karen @cutepenguin (6431)
• Canada
26 Dec 09
I like to have a few basic items that can multitask. I don't like having a lot of really specialized gadgets, especially if they can all be replaced by a good knife or something like that.
Kitchen gadgets are kind of fun, though, I just don't have the storage space.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Penguin.
I'm like that, too. I either have to use a thing regularly or it has to be good for just more than one thing, or it simply takes up to much space.
Thank you for responding.
Karen
@coolcat123 (4387)
• India
26 Dec 09
not at all, I am a very simple person with my life as simple as that. My kitchen were we use these woods from trees to make food, yes still the old style of cooking.
So, u might understand that this simplicity is in all our homes near by, we dont even know whats a coffee maker and how is it used. We are living still in the history.
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Coolcat.
Do you burn the wood for cooking heat? Or use is some other way to make food? It is interesting how cultures vary, and I love learning of each one. I like basic things, but do have electric appliances, which where I live are considered basic. I do not have the more "modern" ones that say slice up things for a salad, as I can do that easily with a simply knife and that is all I have to wash up after.
Karen
@mrdos910 (455)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Yes, I would say I am a kitchen gadget person, my nickname is "Mr. Gadget" by my co-workers. I would say my last gadget in the kitchen would have to be my professional slushie maker, I use it once in a while, usually in the summer, because there it a little effort involved in using it. I also like my toaster oven that has a built in rotisserie that I have donechickens and beef roasts on occasion. As far as handheld gadgets, I enjoy my Reynolds vacuum sealer with bags. I would like to get back into bread making, it has been awhile and the ole' breadmaker is collecting dust as is my food dehydrator. Both of which I plan to use soon.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi "Mr. Gadget" :)
It sounds like you put those gadgets to delicious use. I do miss my bread maker, so I've been doing it now and then the old fashioned way. My daughter makes bread, pizza dough, and bazillion different things in hers. And a friend here on Mylot made marmalade in hers, and now sells it! Who knew??
Karen
@yugasini (12893)
• Secunderabad, India
27 Dec 09
hi karen madam,
regarding the kitchen gadgets,some body has interest,space in the kitchen and finance ,these three factors are mixing in buying and using kitchen gadgets,now also most of the rich people purchase latest kitchen gadgets and they use once in blue moon,we cannot use them regularly,so some times we can use them,but i am not using my wife is using only mixi,gas burner stove with some kitchen utelsils,i am happy to know that your sister and mom-in-law is used new kitchen gadgets that is their interest on the kitchen gadgets,have a nice day
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
27 Dec 09
Hi Yugasini
Yes, some love and use those gadgets, others just buy them and they sit for long times without being used.
I like just the basic things for my cooking purposes :)
Karen
@epicure35 (2814)
• United States
27 Dec 09
Not many gadgets for me either. I barely have a working stove; also not much room in the small kitchen to store much of anything. My dad was a gadget guy, for example, the "hot dogger". But, as you have said, much of his collection was unused. A little ingenuity and creativity will get things done as well as "a gadget for every purpose." It's also true that too much assembly is a time and space waster. The basic essentials will do any job nicely.
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
29 Dec 09
Hi Epicure. I know very few people who actually use their gadgets often enough to be worth the cost or the space they take up...a few, but not many. I never was a gadget person, but my mom-in-law seemed to get something along those lines for each family for Christmas. I always felt guilty about not using them the way she did. So many of them ended up in storage in the basement...and years later, were sold at a garage sale I had. @sender621 (14894)
• United States
26 Dec 09
I spend quite a bit of my time in the kitchen. During the holidays, even more. I love to have the latest kitchen gadget. The newest appliance is like a toy for your kitchen.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Sender. My oldest daughter loves those kinds of things, too. She attends a lot of the Pampered Chef parties and is always picking up something new at one. She uses them all, too, and is a very good cook :)
I also love to cook, but keep it more basic. Either way is great!
Karen
@clarkbody (141)
• United States
26 Dec 09
As much as I love to cook and do more often than not, I'm not much of a "gadget" person. I have only the utensils that I use most often which are all mostly standard ones. Reason being, I don't like clutter. If I don't see a need for something that I have, I get rid of it or won't buy it in the first place.
1 person likes this
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
26 Dec 09
Hi Clark.
You're a lot like me then. I love to cook and am very good at it, but I keep the basics, as they get the job done just as well with less clean-up, less time, and yes, they take up a lot less space!
Karen
@randylovesdar (4932)
• United States
26 Dec 09
I got a griddle for Christmas which I can not wait to test out. I also have a crock pot, a hot chocolate machine, an electric mixer, a George Foreman grill, a fry daddy and a blender. I use my crockpot at least once a week and over Christmas my electric mixer really came in handy. I use my hot chocolate maker at least once a night. I have my late mother-in-laws bread maker, but I haven't tried it yet. I would like to get a tea maker, but right now I can not afford it. Well, Valentine's Day is coming up soon so I am hoping to get one then.
1 person likes this
