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Your most useful gadget (and the one languishing at the back of the cupboard)?)

(36 Posts)
Alea Tue 24-May-16 09:58:35

Cooking up some chicken thighs for Grace (as you do , she eats better than we do) in my pressure cooker this morning, I realised that I use it at least every other day! Wouldn't be without it.
Up to now, I would have rated my Magimix as my number 1 favourite gadget and I use it at least once if not twice a week.
In the back of my cupboard, though, are the chicken brick ,(Mark 2) bought in a surge of nostalgia for Seventies Habitat and the ice cream maker which my lovely sister in law bought me about 20 years ago.
My mum had a waffle maker which similarly lurked out of sight and out of mind once we had all got tired of waffles of every possible kind.

Gagagran Tue 24-May-16 10:31:22

My halogen cooker is my most useful gadget and I use it almost every day. The one in the back of the cupboard which I seldom if ever use is a coffee grinder because I drink tea and DH is happy with instant coffee! (It was a gift).

thatbags Tue 24-May-16 10:53:56

Not sure about the most useful—there are several things that would probably tie—but the cupboard languisher is my old hand-driven meat mincer.

My coffee grinder, which I've had since 1977, gaga, is mainly used for grinding spices. Did some coriander in it seed today.

gw554 Tue 24-May-16 11:38:37

I bought a garlic whizzer last year as i hate getting garlicky fingers while cooking - it works a charm. It's called a garlic zoomer i think - i saw it on one of the gransnet articles

shysal Tue 24-May-16 11:40:26

At the moment, due to shoulder injury and leg stiffness, I couldn't do without my sock putter-onner. In the kitchen in almost daily use are food processor (for cauli mash and rice), Remoska oven and slow cooker. My favourite small items are onion comb, ring pull lever, hard boiled egg slicer and soft boiled egg top cutter. Consigned to my junk spare room are several Lakeland special tins for Pinata balls, checkerboard cake, giant cupcake etc., and a Wonder Core exerciser.

Synonymous Tue 24-May-16 12:02:25

In 1968 I bought an onion holder on offer in Habitat and it is still in use most days. The best ten bob I ever spent! grin

My favourite new gadget is my Kenwood Multione which has a myriad of uses and has enabled me to get rid of various other machines which were languishing at the back of the cupboard and taking up far too much space. I now use this machine with all its bits in a way I never used all the other machines and just have a basket in the cupboard to hold all the attachments. Perhaps it is the honeymoon period! hmm

I have been busily pruning out all the unused stuff over the last couple of years and feel truly liberated by having 'less'.

Teetime Tue 24-May-16 12:26:23

I am not big on kichen gadgets...gave my Kenwood Chef to my daughter aswe dont eat much cake now and she has to do cricket club and school cakes. My milk heater!frother is rarely used and I only use the microwave about once a fortnight for breakfast fish. I am just a tradional cook.

Greyduster Tue 24-May-16 12:46:25

My Kenwood hand mixer which I use a lot. I have a food processor, but the hand mixer is indispensable. Aside from that, I was only thinking this morning, when fishing crumpets out of the toaster, that my Lakeland bamboo toast tongs have to be one of the best purchases I have made recently!

carerof123 Tue 24-May-16 12:57:03

My most useful gadget is an electric can opener my dear old mum bought me after watching me struggle to open a can of red salmon with a manual can opener.

The electric one is fantastic and i only use for tins of salmon, everything i can open with the manual one, how bizarre is that???

I truly believe salmon tins are made differently what say everyone else!!!

Pippa000 Tue 24-May-16 13:01:54

Most useful my Bamix stick blender and attachments, bought many years ago at a Good Food exhibition. I seem to use this daily. My least used, but fun when the GC are around is a popcorn maker which looks like a yellow duck, and spits popcorn out of its beak.

annodomini Tue 24-May-16 13:17:26

Agree about the pressure cooker and the hand blender. At the back of my little cellar is my steamer which is took up too much room on the worktop in my small kitchen.

annodomini Tue 24-May-16 13:18:07

An intrusive 'is' in that post. Apologies to fellow pedants

obieone Tue 24-May-16 13:22:08

sandwich maker - though dont use it a great deal
used to be popcorn maker

not used - electric can opener given to me as a gift and still in it's box

obieone Tue 24-May-16 13:23:17

Now I have read the other posts, I seem to be opposite to them!

bitbot Tue 24-May-16 13:27:00

my most useful gadgets are not terribly gadgety but my stick blender has been going 20 years and still works perfectly. It's basic in that it is just a stick blender and doesn't come with attachments etc but is perfect for soups and sauces. The nearest one I can find is this

www.johnlewis.com/bosch-msm6b150gb-hand-blender-white/p623273

and magnetic measuring spoons with two ends - mine are from Lakeland years ago and a different colour but these look the same. Really the best thing I highly recommend

www.amazon.co.uk/Prepworks-Piece-White-Measuring-Spoon/dp/B00QZCLXSA

Marmight Tue 24-May-16 13:37:50

Tops are a small circular 'scissor' which chops off the top of a boiled egg along with the afore mentioned stick whizzer. I have a number of boxed electrical gadgets which haven't seen the light of day for years, but the most recent is a small bread maker which I have only used once - it was a present from one of my DDs - please don't tell her! blush

NanaandGrampy Tue 24-May-16 15:29:38

Best are my Halgen oven and my Tassimo coffee maker...latte without fuss!

Worst my bread maker as I just haven't got the hang of it and the are only so many door stops you can make!!

sunseeker Tue 24-May-16 15:40:44

Most used is the hot water dispenser. It boils just enough water for one cup so I don't waste power boiling a kettle, I use it throughout the day. Least used now is the bread maker. DH loved to make his own bread but now it sits in the cupboard unloved and unused!

Nonnie1 Tue 24-May-16 20:10:03

The best gadget in my house is me. I am universal. I am woman smile

Grannyknot Tue 24-May-16 20:29:24

My favourite gadget is a silicone spatula my SIL bought me.

Nothing lurks in the back of my cupboard, I give them away. grin

oldgoat Tue 24-May-16 20:50:55

We recently bought a Remoska for the campervan, which has no oven. So far its been used for roasting a whole chicken, making a sponge pudding, cooking curry and beef stew. The least useful item is a blowtorch bought on impulse from TK-Maxx , never used and hidden from GSs who would love it!

kittylester Tue 24-May-16 22:18:14

I love my Kenwood mixer and the liquidiser but rarely use the other attachments, Eg - the cheesegrater. For grating anything and everything, I love my microplane. The bread maker is rarely used and I really only use the microwave for cooking peas but would hate to be without it - just in case! I love my stick blender for soups and the Tassimo for hot chocolate!

Jalima Tue 24-May-16 22:29:56

My Kenwood mini chopper which is great for chopping onions and garlic. I also use a hand blender in the winter for blending soups. I use the three tier electric steam a lot too.

The least used - or never been used - is the glass liquidiser attachment for my Kenwood food processor. I have another liquidiser and it is so easy to pull that one out of the cupboard and use it.
The juicer only sees the light of day if DD is home.

Nonnie smile

GrandmaKT Tue 24-May-16 22:55:06

One of my favourite gadgets is a Lakeland teabag squeezer. As a tea hater I find it invaluable when making tea for DH and guests without having to fish about for or touch (shudder) the tea bags.

Never known anyone who had a pressure cooker except my own dear gran. Everything she cooked in it tasted like overcooked cabbage!

I also have a blowtorch languishing at the back of the cupboard. actually asked for it one Xmas, but have never got round to using it (another one for the 'when I'm retired' list).

ffinnochio Wed 25-May-16 05:33:32

Best gadget is a very sharp vegetable knife, if one can call a knife a gadget .

Languishing gadget is a cherry pipper.