Comments on: Under all this, can you even be sure there’s a countertop?

By: JaneC

JaneC — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:44:10 +0000

My mortar and pestle set. I’m too lazy to grind my own spices, and I have no idea what else I could use it for. At least it doesn’t take up much room.

By: Amber

Amber — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:05:18 +0000

Living in the South, one cannot exist without the iced tea maker, which sits proudly on my counter at all times. We go through gallons of sweet tea a week.

By: Annalucia

Annalucia — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:11:02 +0000

The Annalucia has the chocolate chipper, but she uses it mostly for chopping ice. Why would she do this, you ask? - she does it when someone in the house is ill and needs ice-chips to suck on. Anyone who has ever tried to chop ice with a big sharp bread knife will appreciate the chipper.

As for the most useless kitchen gadget ever: at their wedding the Annalucia and the Tedesco received…something…rather like a waffle iron except that the indentations were round like doughnuts, not waffled. To t his day the Annalucia has no idea what it was supposed to be. She gave it away shortly thereafter and was troubled no longer.

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 19:11:53 +0000

Curly-fries maker. Worst part is, I asked for the thing.

By: Tizzy

Tizzy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:50:49 +0000

I’ll admit to owning the pasta cooker. But– in my defense I bought and used it when I was living a dorm and there wasn’t a kitchen in the building. So… if you don’t have a kitchen within 100 yard of the building you live in then it’s justified.

Toby Wollin, my guy’s mother feels the same way so she bequeathed it to us… we use it several times a week. We’d never have “homemade” bread otherwise. That being said said guy is very tall and we can keep it on top of the fridge when it’s not in use.

By: sarah

sarah — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 07:53:28 +0000

i thought the avocado slicer was completely ridiculous too, but my best friends got one as a wedding gift, and it is just so fun to use!!

By: Neller

Neller — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 05:30:26 +0000

Since I’ve yet to live in anything other than a rental, and I’m currently on a student budget (again), I’m very careful with how I spend my money & my kitchen space when contemplating new gadgets. In fact, I asked my mom for a food processor for Christmas, but reconsidered & ended up nixing it. I don’t have space for a full-blown 11 or 12 cup mixer, and one of the bitty choppers does something I can do with a decent knife. I don’t make gigantic batches of stuff very often, so I changed my food processor request to just a high-quality chef’s knife and a mortar & pestle set.

Even if I HAD the counter space, I don’t like things “junking up” my counters. I really don’t have any gadgets I don’t use (except a Pampered Chef pie server…hmmm…) thanks to my mom’s practicality.

Now, maybe once I have a house (and hopefully a VERY nice kitchen) and more than two people to cook for on a regular basis, I’ll consider more gadgets…

By: mamacita

mamacita — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:11:30 +0000

I love my iced tea maker. You can pry it from my cold, dead hands. I also LOVE the half-and-half (aka the Arnold Palmer). That gadget makes it better than I can, so it stays.

Of course, I have use need for a coffee maker at all.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:08:19 +0000

Holiday themed silicon head spatulas.

By: Laura V

Laura V — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 19:33:43 +0000

My mother has that iced-tea maker — but then, she bought it back when she had 7 kids at home, all of whom went through half-and-half (iced tea + lemonade) like it was going out of style. During the summer we made about 3 pitchers a day.

When you get up to that rate of consumption, it’s worth it. But for anything less…why bother?