By default, eating real food means spending a lot of time in the kitchen. There’s making a meal plan, prepping the food, cooking the food and then cleaning up the mess(es) you’ve made.
All of those can take up a big portion of time. Thankfully there are several kitchen gadgets that make our lives much easier these days!
And many kitchen appliances you DON’T need!
There have been a lot of kitchen appliances that have come and gone in my kitchen over the years. Some were gifts, some were randomly purchased because they looked cool (pre-budget days!) and some appeared to be useful but for one reason or another, didn’t work for us.
The list of kitchen appliances I don’t need may look different from the list of kitchen appliances YOU don’t need.
Whatever kitchen gadget or tool I buy, I want it to serve more than one purpose with the intention of using it often. After applying KonMari to my kitchen, there’s no room for clutter or appliances I don’t love and use.
And there’s no room in the budget to buy kitchen appliances you don’t need!
Kitchen Appliances You Don’t Need
1. Yogurt Maker
I make my own yogurt, but I don’t need a yogurt maker to do it – I make homemade yogurt with a heating pad!
You can also make homemade yogurt with a slow cooker, a big cooler or even the oven. Personally, I’ve found keeping the yogurt on the counter in plain sight means not forgetting about it.
Plus a yogurt maker can really only be used for one function, and I don’t have the space for that.
2. Cherry Pitter
Similar to a lemon juicer or a garlic press, a cherry pitter is a one-use wonder. Unless you buy cherries frequently or in bulk to store away, a cherry pitter is not the most useful item to keep around.
Instead, I remove the pits of cherries this way. I’ve also seen a video of removing the pit with a paper clip!
3. Bread Machine
Compared to over $3 per loaf at the store, one loaf of no-knead artisan bread costs 69¢ to make. While we make homemade bread to save money, I’ve never used a bread machine to do it!
Working with yeast can be daunting, so I wrote a beginner’s guide to working with yeast to help you out. And if you made it past the yeast stage but still having issues, use my bread troubleshooting guide.
Both of these resources will show you that you don’t need a bread machine to make delicious homemade bread. If by chance you already have a bread machine and are looking to get rid of it, here’s how to convert bread machine recipes to traditional recipes.
Tip: If you’re new to baking bread, I recommend either no-knead artisan bread or man bread. Both are really easy and forgiving recipes!
4. Pastry Cutter
The necessity of the pastry cutter is debatable. I used to have one, but it sat unused in my kitchen cabinet for well over a year.
I found a way to make my homemade dinner biscuits light and fluffy without one and couldn’t see the point in dirtying another dish when my method worked just fine.
On the other hand, I’ve heard of people using a pastry cutter for much more than cutting in the fat. You can use it to chop vegetables, cut boiled eggs, break up salmon and tuna for salads and keeping ground beef from sticking together when browning.
At the same time, a knife, fork and spatula can be used for these things too.
When it comes to adding butter or coconut oil to your baked goods, you can use two knives, your hands, a mixer or even a cheese grater to cut in the fat – none of which require another kitchen utensil.
5. Zester
I used to own a zester too, but I wasn’t able to get it to work properly for me. Like the pastry cutter, it sat unused in my kitchen cabinet until the fateful day it was donated.
My preferred method for zesting is to use a knife to slice off the zest and then chop it up on a cutting board.
A cheese grater also works well and here you have the option for choosing a larger zest (great for 3-ingredient key lime pie) or a smaller zest (ideal in triple chocolate almond biscotti).
6. Baby Food Maker
I’m well past the baby food stage in my home, but I found that a baby food maker was one kitchen appliance that I really didn’t need.
It’s easy enough to boil, roast, or steam baby’s food and then mash it up with a fork in a bowl. Simple, effective and it doesn’t take up extra space.
When my kids were little, I made baby food using a small food processor and my blender – two appliances I was already using for other things anyway.
7. Rice Cooker
Ok, don’t slay me on this one. I really don’t like using a rice cooker!
There are many people that LOVE their rice cookers and use them for more than just rice (quinoa and steamed veggies are popular!). But I can just as easily use my stove top to cook rice and not find room to store another appliance.
Kitchen Appliances That I DO Need
My list of kitchen appliances you don’t need wouldn’t be complete unless I shared what I thought you DO need.
These appliances are the ones that I use on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I didn’t have these with me when we lived in an apartment for three months without any of our normal kitchen tools and cooking real food from scratch was VERY difficult and VERY expensive.
The happiest day I can recall as a home chef was the day we moved again and unpacked my favorite kitchen appliances!
Dehydrator. I use a dehydrator most often in the summer to preserve fruit for winter or for making homemade protein bars. The kids LOVE to snack on dehydrated bananas!
High-powered Blender. To say I love my Blendtec is an understatement. It’s funny how we ended up choosing a Blendtec, but I don’t regret the purchase one bit. I use my blender at least once a day and it never fails me! (Here’s over 45 uses!
Stand Mixer. For our weekly family pizza nights, for homemade bread, making granola bars, cutting the fat in biscuits and all sorts of other things (like cookies and cakes), my stand mixer is a kitchen staple.
Immersion Blender. I can use use my Blendtec for hot soups and purees, but I’m not the best pour-er so an immersion blender works better for me. Plus it makes homemade mayonnaise that never fails.
Pizza Stone. You might have an extensive DVD collection, but we invested in pizza gear. We use our pizza stone (and pizza peel) every Friday for homemade pizza and also when we make our favorite sandwich bread.
Slow cooker. From making broth, to beans, to whole chickens, my slow cooker is one of my most frequently used kitchen appliances. I especially love it in summer when we are busy and to cut down on the heat in the kitchen.
Kitchen Appliances I MIGHT Buy
One appliance I’ve thought about adding to my kitchen is the Instant Pot. It’s a 7-in-1 appliance that takes the place of a pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, sauté/browning pan, steamer, yogurt maker, and stock pot warmer.
I admit, the fact that it can be used for a variety of purposes is very impressive! I’ve never used one, but I’ve heard great things and it’s definitely worth looking into. If I make the splurge though, I’d definitely get rid of the slow cooker. No point in having two appliances that do the same thing!
Update: I bought an Instant Pot! I went with this one and I LOVE it! Here’s 20 things to know before you buy and how it saves you money! Search “Instant Pot” on the blog to find all my recipes!
I’ve also considered getting a microplane, which would both zest and grind whole spices like nutmeg. But I’ve never bought whole nutmeg before and my current knife method is working for zesting, so I’ll just wait it out for now.
Whatever makes it on your list of appliances you DON’T need is completely up to you. We all have different cooking styles and preferences and we can’t compare apples to apples.
But use this list and the ideas behind it to determine how to best use your appliances to your advantage. Kitchen appliances are designed to make our lives easier, but not at the expense of wasted space and wasted money!
I love my zester for all the same reasons. It is a great multi-tasked.
I use my microplane frequently for seating (much, much better than the old fashioned zester), grating nutmeg (whole nutmeg never loses its punch. Grate what you need.), grating fresh ginger straight out of the freezer, grating garlic, Parmesan cheese, chocolate for garnish, and on and on.
Ugh – spell check changed zesting to seating
We moved from a 4 bdrm home to a 2 bdrm over 100 yr old home, halfway across the country, with living in a trailer in between. What made the cut? My Kitchen Aid hand mixer with dough hook and immersion blender attachment, my Nutribullet, my yogurt maker (makes half- gallon at a time, in one container that stores in the fridge) , my crock pot, and my Bosch Kitchen Center (big mixer, blender, food processor). I could have left the Bosch, but hubby said was too expensive. Happy without a microwave, toaster oven, coffee machine, rice cooker, but miss my dehydrator and spiralizer, which were in a box stolen off our truck.(long story).
Anything that gets us and our kids to eat more fruits and veggies is worth it to me. And I’m willing to sacrifice spacer if that is the result. A spiralizer and a julienne peeler are a must for me since I can sauté vegetable noodles and usually throw it in WITH our regular pasta (I have a toddler son. And I would never just give him zucchini to eat since he has a small tummy and needs higher calories
I also have the dessert Bullet. Which makes ice cream from fruit or yogurt or other things frozen ahead of time. But what’s nice about this is I’m not worried about my son losing a hand in the blender if he were to try doing it himself. And I want him to to get excited about making his favourite Sunday when he’s done supper.
– i have a food processor, my salad shooter. And my mandolin have greatly reduced my prep time and helps me to create more manageable bites out of vegetables. And I’ve learned the biggest trick to eating more veggies is prepping them in a way where you don’t feel like a cow chewing food. It’s all about little little bites. In fact. Shredding veggies is prob my favourite thing to do. … So I would add a box grater to this
A Popsicle mold is pretty essential to me since I can have healthy Popsicles ready to go if my son is sick. And it’s a lot cheaper than buying them.
I would also add my bread machine. Although I know you don’t agree… And the reason is is that I’m lazy. I don’t want to always make bread te hard way. The convenience of the machine makes my ability to make home made bread much more practical. And because of this we save more money
I’m curious, why has noone mentioned thermomix? It cooks rice, kneads bread, sautes, blends, dices, purees, I cook roasts in it (and brown them off in oven).
I’ve never heard of thermomix before Nicola!
I FINALLY gave in and got an Instant Pot on Prime Day. So far I’ve been very happy with it. I’ve used it to cook an old-ish rooster (older than you would normally eat a chicken) and grocery store chickens and they turn out great! I’ve made broth in it but decided I prefer slow cooker broth to pressure cooker broth so I use that setting now instead. I make a gallon of yogurt in it at a time and while it doesn’t come out quite as think as in my Mason jars, I love making a whole gallon rather than 3 quarts, which is all I can fit in my other set-up. That’s all I’ve done so far, but I’m looking forward to some tasty stews and roasts this fall/winter!!
One more MUST have — a SALAD SPINNER. We had it in the kitchen closet for years and I thought it was a big waste of space — until my husband asked me to please try using it. What a difference it has made to our salads (eat them about 4 days/week). No more soggy lettuce or puddles in the bottom of the bowl.
Have you ever tried placing your lettuce in a towel? For years I did that while I would kind of hold it securely and “throw it” .. But not let go of it. And it works just as well.
That’s what I do Karen! https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2012/08/make-your-own-salad-spinner/
This is a fun blog topic! Got me thinking about my gadget draw. . .might be time to go thru and clean it up, been awhile! Appliances and gadgets I love: my Wolfgang Puck Pressure Oven. . .use it several times every week..perfect size for cooking for just the two of us and doesn’t heat up the kitchen much even during this hot NH summer! Immersion blender, ninja blender, nutribullet – all get used weekly. This past spring I started to get back into baking again. . . .learning to prepare with einkorn and spelt flours and sourdough starter. . .pancakes, oatmeal/choco chip cookies, english muffins (delicious!), and of course no-knead breads. . . .enjoying it all – so delicious! Dough whisk and weight scale a must for me. Recently retired and enjoying spending time in the garden, kitchen and quilt room – have been cooking/baking from scratch 90% of the time for years.
I have a love affair with small appliances…..
My favorite is the Ninja 4-in-1 cooker- you can saute,oven bake,steam bake,steam veggies and slow cook.
Since my built in ice maker hasn’t worked well or at all in the 12 years in has lived in the fridge, I love my counter top ice maker!
Soda stream, makes tons of low calorie drinks for our Weight Watcher diet.
Vitamix blender, its so awesome I never pull out the food processor any more. I use it multiple times a day for smoothies,hot soup,salad dressing,marinades etc.
Bosch kitchen systen- similar to kitchen aid. With many attachmnets but don’t use it as much since getting the Vitamix.
Griddle
Bella meatball maker, I cant make them but this machine can and drains the grease,
Babycakes multi pan dessert maker. Cute bite size donut muffin and cake pop shapes.
Things I like but don’t use much
Nutribullet dessert maker- turns frozen fruit into desserts ‘ice cream like’
Cuisinart griddler
Food steamer/rice cooker
Waffle maker
What I could get rid of
The toaster, hardly ever gets used
Coffee maker- we don’t drink it and have never owned one!
Great blog. I cook from scratch 99% of the time. I can, freeze, dry, and preserve the produce on our mini-farm. So I cannot do without my big canner, pressure canner, food processor (Breville is THE best), blender and juicer ( both Breville), dehydrator, and vacuum packer for freezing. I also love my micro plane, multi cooker, and pressure cooker although I rarely use it. Having gone to culinary school, I learned knife skills that are invaluable and take the place of a lot of gadgets.
I love my four slice toaster, coffee maker, pressure oven, Kitchen Aid stnnd mixer, immersion blender, micro planer big whisks, electric knife sharpener, plastic bowl scraper, hand mixer, Boos cutting boards, and magnetic knife holders. I use my microwave mostly to defrost, because I never remember to do it ahead of time, and to soften butter. I never cook in it.
BUT you got me thinking about the bazillion appliances collecting dust and taking up space. Fondue set (never use in at least ten years), gelato maker (bulky, heavy, hard to clean, makes only a pint at a time)’ yogurt maker (I use mason jars and incubate in a Trader Joes thermal bag), and other forgotten appliances that I thought I needed.
I have boxes of Christmas themed dishes, excess bowls, cups, and fancy dinnerware that I have never used and more. I am going to take the leap and find homes for a lot of it, THANKS.
I use a mandolin and Spiralizer quite often. My toaster gets used several times daily. My coffee pot gets used several times per day.
Coffee pot is a given around these parts Cathy. 😉 But I had forgotten about my spiralizer. It was a gift and I’ve enjoyed it – I should pull it out more often!
I want to buy a Spiralizer but don’t know a good one to purchase. I read reports on many of them and still can’t make a decision. Can you recommend one?
Thanks,
Marjorie
Marjorie – I have this one and I love it! http://amzn.to/2blxt5I
WestMark made in Germany, work amazingly.
You absolutely MUST get the InstantPot! You will love it! Then you can post recipes for us, although there are tons out there already.
I agree! I bought my instant pot in January. Mainly I wanted it for the yogurt. I was making yogurt in the oven over night, I like this better. I didn’t have a rice cooker (seemed silly to me), but it’s nice not to have to worry about the pot boiling over, which rice has a tendency to do on an electric stove. It makes great chicken stock in just over an hour and I’ve done dried beans in it as well. Oh, and steamed hard cooked eggs ALWAYS peel like a dream.
Just know, most meals are not made as quickly as some recipes make it sound because of the time it takes to come to full pressure and additional time needed for natural release if you have a lot of liquid in the pot.
I also love my Instant Pot, and I’ve used it twice today! It replaced my rice cooker (which I relied on because it had a delay timer and I work all day). This morning, I cooked steel cut oats in the IP while I was working out, so it was ready when I was ready to eat. Then I washed it out and put brown rice on a timer, so it will be ready when I get home from work tonight. (I also have a crock pot with chicken cooking right now, so that’s another appliance I use often.)
I agree about a rice cooker. I just cook rice on the stove! No need for a bread machine either. I just knead by hand. I do not have a stand mixer (yet!) but I will someday. I do, however, disagree about the cherry pitter. I have tried to remove pits using a straw, paperclip and even a hairpin. My fingers get busted up and it takes WAY too long. It only cost me $12 at Target and $12 won’t break my budget.
I definitely use my food processor for just about everything. I also had a zester before I had a box grater. I use them both. I can honestly say I use every kitchen appliance quite often. I guess it’s a win-win situation!
Me and my mandolin are best friends. I use it almost daily. Mine is super easy to clean. Food processor is a space hog that doesn’t get much use…however my beloved panini press…It’s like my second stove. I cook sausage, fish, chicken burgers, you name it. I’ve even cracked an egg on there once. (Tasted fine, but ridges were just weird). My favorite thing to make on it is bacon. Cooks the slices to a perfect crisp. Oh and it makes great sandwiches too!
My can’t do without’s: the toaster oven (we live in the south so its H-O-T), my rotisserie machine (I can cook the meat in it and steam the veg on top – not turning on my stove). Also in the summer the rice cooker and the electric skillet (again not having to heat the house to cook + my rice cooker was a gift from a friend) and the crock pot. As you can see the theme in my kitchen in the summer is small appliances to cook with so I don’t heat my house. I use these all year around though!
I have yet to feel the need to get a food processor, but the one thing I will never live without is my pressure canner. I love being able to buy meat on sale or cook beans in bulk and not have to store it all in the freezer. I’m the worst at remembering to defrost things, so having cans of beans sitting on the shelves means we eat them more often. Plus I love that when we get sick, homemade chicken noodle soup is as easy as opening a can, adding more broth, and tossing in noodles to cook.
I love that you recognize your fault at thawing, but use canning as a solution. Great thinking Rebecca!
I can’t do without my kitchen scale.
Yes! That’s one I use often too. Thanks for the reminder JoAnn!
Gotta have it: toaster oven, pepper grinder, whisk. I also love a very simple orange peeler (looks like a crochet hook). Sure don’t need a cheese slicer, bagel cutter or pineapple corer (just use a knife!) or a panani press, fondue kit or my popsicle molds. When cleaning out kitchen drawers, I have one for utensils I use often (like spatulas, can opener, icecream scoop, pizza cutter and kitchen shears) and another drawer for ‘not so much’ — mixer beaters, pastry knife, meat mallet, funnel. It makes it easier to find stuff — but it’s important to clear it out first. Who needs two hand-held can openers, for instance? I have solid-color drawer liner – that makes everything pop when I open the drawer. I rarely use my flour sifter but I guess I’ll keep it — same with a bundt pan. My kids use the strawberry leaf remover — tiny gadget but they do like it. I recently bought a mandoline slicer after always wanting one. It’s a pain to clean so I hope I’m not sorry about the purchase!
Ooh, a mandoline! Do let me know how that one turns out. It would be SO NICE to be able to cut things so evenly, and fast too! I saw a pineapple corer at ALDI a few weeks ago and I admit – I was tempted! But like you, rationalized it with “I can just use a knife; the same way I’ve always done it!” 🙂
I have a mandolin, and to clean it I just swish it in a gallon sized pitcher filled with hot, soapy water. Easy, peasy; One of my can’t live without appliances is my hot water dispenser. I use it all the time for tea, hot chocolate, and to get really hot water for quick clean ups.
Btw, Tiffany, I love your recipe for hamburger and hot dog buns, but how do you get the right size for hot doh buns???? Please share; I’ve tried several different things, but still not happy about it! Thanks
Hi Lynn! For hot dog buns, I shape them into log skinny logs. Since the buns expand quite a bit when rising and baking, I aim for extra skinny and long to make up the difference. I’m so glad you like that recipe, and thanks for the tips on cleaning your mandolin!
I have a mandoline. Mine is pretty easy to clean. I find it very useful for cutting veggies evenly (something that I’m bad at using a knife) for casserole types of dishes, e.g. scalloped potatoes, zucchini paprikash.
I also have a bread machine which I find to be a big help. I usually make a loaf of my oatmeal flaxseed bread every couple of days. It only takes about 5 minutes to put together and less than an hour to bake. Although, I also love the no-knead artisan bread recipe (which I often alter to be oatmeal flaxseed as well).
I would also add ice cream maker to the list. Have to have my ice cream and it’s much cheaper to make than to buy at the grocery store, or worse at an ice cream stand, also no extra ingredients that I don’t need to be eating.
Just bought a slow cooker and dehydrator. Haven’t had a chance to use them, yet, but looking forward to not heating up the kitchen as much cooking and drying herbs from my garden.