My Most Useless Gadget

 RHYS BOWEN:  I’d like to redo my kitchen but when I look at the amount of stuff in it, it is too daunting a task. We have plenty of counter space, you would think. The only problem is that on those counters we have a bread box, an Air fryer, a vacuum sealer, a toaster, a coffee maker and a blender. We are awash with gadgets.

Don’t blame me. If I had my way I’d have three saucepans, two frying pans and maybe a blender/Cuisinart hidden away for occasional use. But I live with the original MR GADGET. Don’t ever let him go to Sur La Table or he will come back with something else that we don’t need and will never use. Some examples: in the garage we have a bain marie,  a sou vide, a stockpot big enough to stew a person in, a sausage maker, a bacon slicer and probably other things hidden under stored paper bags, glass cars, etc etc. Yes, he’s also a hoarder as well as gadget man. It comes from growing up in the lean years around WWII when one saved every jar and useful bit of paper. We do not need glass jars. We have a perfectly good set of glass containers with lids in the kitchen. But I have to sneak empty jars away when he’s not looking or they will join the hoard. He will use them to house leftovers in the fridge and forget about them until I confront him with a red/brown substance that is growing mold. 

Here are some views of my kitchen, plus my favorite view onto the kitchen balcony.

I fight to keep my kitchen clean and pristine.  I put away the blender and air fryer. When I turn around there they are on the counter again. We have a large rotating corner cabinet that is the graveyard of dead gadgets. Everything he’s bought thinking he’s going to use it but he hardly ever cooks so he doesn’t use it lives in that cabinet. The knife sharpener, the microwave onion cooker, the microwave egg poacher, the electric yoghurt maker, the automatic hamburger press. Yes, we have them all. 

In the cabinet above we have the fondue maker, the electric deep fryer (now never used) the Nutribullet, the hand held immersion blender, the coffee grinder and the electric juicer. (I shouldn't mention that the cabinet next to the microwave holds about sixteen different types of loose teas that he blends for daily use!)

(I should add that we have a Cuisinart, a hand held mixer, and an english mincer/grinder that are jolly useful. Also a mandolin and a cheese grater. So we do have some useful items that do need storage space)

We also have more knives that Gordon Ramsay will ever need. Our problem is that Mr Gadget also goes to places like Ross and Marshalls and when he sees what he thinks is a bargain, he buys it. We only need one good knife block (and have one), but he has brought home three other knife blocks that he got for “a good price”  His idea is to use the less good knives for everyday and save the good knives “for best.”  They are not sharp enough to be useful and I use the one or two good quality big knives anyway. Actually as I write I can think of a good use for the largest of those extra knives. And I am a mystery writer. I do know how to hide bodies. Or dismember in the bacon slicer and cook in the bain marie…..

So, dear Reds, what is the most useless gadget in your house at the moment? Are you gadget people?

HALLIE EPHRON: My kitchen is pretty small and I do NOT have an air fryer or a stand mixer or a toaster oven or a knife caddy or or or… What I do have is an old-fashioned 4-slice toaster. 

My most “useless” item is a cherry pitter which I love and use more frequently than you’d imagine and which is tucked away in a drawer. And I love my immersion blender that turns chunky soups into bisques but it lives tucked away, too. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I live in envy of a friend who had a whole wall cupboard where she can tuck away a microwave, airfryer, slow cooker, etc, etc behind closed doors. Why don’t all kitchens come with these?!?

My most useless item is a wooden knife block that contains a set of not-very-good knives with serrated edges that (unlike my beloved German steel kitchen knife) can’t be sharpened. I only ever use the steak knives and, once or twice a year (usually on holidays when someone contributes a homemade loaf to the meal, the bread knife.

Why don’t I get rid of it? Two reasons: I don’t have a better place to store the knives I do use, and Ross gave it to me. (I did however, give away the four soup bowls with lids he gifted me one year. In his defense, we didn;t have five in the family at the time.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I love an empty counter! And I (fruitlessly) try to stash everything. I’ve hidden the vacuum sealer (which I LOVE) and the sous vide (which I LOVE) but the loathed toaster oven is on the counter and that is the silliest piece of equipment. You have to turn three dials –I am not exaggerating–to make toast. The most useless gadget is–well, I have tossed them all, I think. I do love my apple corer! That is a genius tool. And my old-fashioned knife sharpener (not electric), which really works. (It is an old-fashioned sharpener, it does not necessarily only sharpen old-fashioned knives.)

JENN McKINLAY: I loathe clutter so I am a clean counter girl, however, I do love a good gadget. I have two coffeemakers - in my defense - I drink a lot of coffee. I have a coffee grinder, a countertop air fryer/oven/toaster (which allowed me to pitch the old toaster), I do have a Nutribullet, electric juicer (lemon tree!), a food processor, and a standing mixer (I don’t cook anymore, but I do bake - pumpkin bread today!) but that’s it for gadgets. Other than the coffeemakers and the air fryer/toaster they all live in a lower cabinet. The only gadget I think I’d like to add is a food dehydrator (also to be kept in a lower cupboard) so I could make my own fruit leather – maybe when I’m retired…lol. I am not even mentioning the bacon slicer to the Hub – as the main cook now, he needs to live in ignorance of these things.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Thanks for making me contemplate the horrible clutter of my countertops, Rhys! The problem is we have lots of countertops and lots of pretty glass-fronted dish storage but very little for workhorses. The toaster oven isn't going anywhere–it gets used every single day, as does the electric kettle. And I do love my Kitchenaid stand mixer, so would leave that out. But the food processor, the blender, the milk foamer… When have I actually used the blender? Maybe if I got rid of some of things stowed below counter level that I never use (looking at you, waffle iron and clay chicken roaster) I could stuff those things below decks.

RHYS" Debs, I just gave away my clay roaster. Never used it!

So Reddies: Do you have useless gadgets lying around? And by far the most useless gadget in the universe is the leaf blower, but we don't own one.

And by the time you read this I will have arrived in England! Hallie is handling tomorrow for me as I'll be traveling most of the day but I'll report in on Sunday.