My Favorite Kitchen Gadgets

Reader question… “I really enjoyed your post yesterday about the small appliances. How about kitchen gadgets? Could you do one on them?” –Kendra

OK… here is a list of my kitchen gadgets, with gadgets listed in no particular order.

• Rolling pins… I have five. Two are very, very old. One is made of marble and the other is hand-carved out of a single piece of wood. The rolling pin I use the most is thin, more like a thick stick than the regular size rolling pin. I also have a very inexpensive all-plastic rolling pin that I like.
• French fry cutter… This is quite old as well. Just pressing down on the handle and it forces a potato through the blades to cut perfect French fry pieces. My father gave me this cutter many years ago, so it is special to me.
• Old-fashioned juicer… I love this little juicer, but I’m always afraid I will break it because it looks so delicate. It’s made of a very thin china and has a yellow design on the base. It’s basically just a little low cup with a handle and a manual juicer (made of the same china) that fits on top, but it can juice a lemon or orange faster than a mechanical juicer.
• Food mill… My father gave me this too… again, many years ago. I used to use this a lot for making tomato juice.
• Cast iron meat grinder… I haven’t used it for a while because we don’t eat much meat these days. It’s also wonderful for grinding up the onions, cucumbers, and peppers for a certain relish that my husband loves.
• Flour sifter… the old-fashioned type with the hand crank. Mine is old and I like using it better than using a sieve.
• Egg slicer… I think this is old too. Once the egg is put in position, the top pulls down and makes perfect perfect slices of egg.
• Adjustable stainless steel steaming basket… The basket collapses flat and opens up to fit any size of pot. This was a gift from an aunt and probably not something I would have bought for myself, but being able to adjust the size is really convenient.
• Very large one-piece stainless steel spoons and spatulas… I really like using these. Because they’re one piece, they never lose their handles, and they’re long enough to get down into the bottom of even the tallest pot.
• Colanders… I have these in several sizes in stainless steel, and I use them all… all the time.
• Black silicon spoons and spatulas… These came with one of the electric skillets. I like using them because they’re heat resistant, but they’re not as long or as strong as my one-piece spoons.
• Salad spinner… We love salads, so this gets a lot of use.
• Garlic press… I need a better garlic press. Mine comes apart (it isn’t supposed to) every time I use it, but we like garlic, so it gets a lot of use anyway.
• Potato masher… for mashing potatoes, strawberries for shortcake, or whatever.
• Cookie press… This is the kind with the fancy inserts for making shaped cookies with designs. I also have quite a few cookie cutters for rolled cookies.
• Cake decorator… or whatever it is called, with all the decorative tips. I almost never ice cakes, except for birthdays, so although this is nice to have, it doesn’t get much use.
• Pasta machine… I make noodles and ravioli a lot, so this gets some use. I also have a ravioli form, so I can just put a sheet of rolled pasta on the form, fill the little pockets, cover with another sheet of pasta, and run a rolling pin over the form to cut the individual raviolis. It sure makes making ravioli a lot easier than cutting each one by hand!
• Popcorn popper… the old-fashioned kind that you hold over a fire. What can I say… we like popcorn!
• Bread toaster… again, old-fashioned and to be held over the fire, but it sure comes in handy for those times when we have a power outage.
• Bowls… I have a real weakness for bowls. I have several very old ones, but I also like new bowls… any type. I have lots of stainless steel bowls, ceramics bowls, even plastic bowls. I like them all. I also sort of collect cookie jars (especially cows with an attitude!) and old crocks. I use them for display and hidden storage.
• Measuring cups and spoons… stainless steel, plastic, and glass cups, and stainless steel and plastic spoons. I especially like my stainless steel measuring cups that are like big spoons with long handles.
• Plastic or stainless steel large-quantity measuring containers… I use these for everything from measuring to berry picking.

Other kitchen tools:

• Scissors
• Tongs
• Whisks
• Vegetable peeler
• Biscuit cutters
• Funnels
• Box grater

I know I have probably forgotten something, but these are the kitchen gadgets I use the most. While I was making the list, it sort of surprised me to see how many of my favorites are old.

So tell me… what kind of gadgets do you all have in your kitchen?

Filed Under Personal, Making It Easier

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