"Supplemental" Appliances. How Much Do You Really Use Them?

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Bench scraprs are awesome... All of mine are just cheap plastic, the wider ones are my favorite! They scoop more. Although admittedly i don't exactly use them daily; whenever something's going into a bowl or pan with a long handle i just bring that to the board and swipe it all straight in.
 
I have three. A stainless steel one, a plastic one that is quite stiff with a straight side and a curved side, and a silicone one, also with a straight and curved side. (The latter two get used for baking.)

Of all the small kitchen gadgets I have, the steel bench scraper is among the most useful. It's rare that I cook a meal without using it.
 
One thing I use every day, multiple times a day, even on days when I don't cook, is a touchless soap dispenser. The one I have dispenses foam (we buy Method foaming hand soap) and it dramatically improves the experience of washing your hands -- especially if they're covered in chicken or whatever.
 
One last thing about bench scrapers (and this may be old news) but you can dye the Mafter ones to whatever color you want. I was watching a video with Alison Roman and she mentioned in passing that she dyes Matfer scrapers and gives them as gifts. A quick Googling revealed her technique in an old BA article. Not a bad idea with the holiday season coming up!
 
btbyrd said:
One thing I use every day, multiple times a day, even on days when I don't cook, is a touchless soap dispenser. The one I have dispenses foam (we buy Method foaming hand soap) and it dramatically improves the experience of washing your hands -- especially if they're covered in chicken or whatever.
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We do our dishes by hand and I have dispenser for the dish soap. Awesome device. Gifted them to my children who both also love them.
 
btbyrd said:
One thing I use every day, multiple times a day, even on days when I don't cook, is a touchless soap dispenser. The one I have dispenses foam (we buy Method foaming hand soap) and it dramatically improves the experience of washing your hands -- especially if they're covered in chicken or whatever.
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I was thinking of getting one of those. What brand do you have or recommend?
 
Yeah, SimpleHuman are sort of the standard for touchless soap dispensers. Their foaming dispenser was $70 the last time I checked, which is kind of above my desired budget for a soap dispenser (though I did just buy a $125 SimpleHuman trash can, so... there's that). I ended up with a kinda generic but perfectly functional Secura brand one from Amazon. I've had it for 3 years and it's still going strong.
 
btbyrd said:
Yeah, SimpleHuman are sort of the standard for touchless soap dispensers. Their foaming dispenser was $70 the last time I checked, which is kind of above my desired budget for a soap dispenser (though I did just buy a $125 SimpleHuman trash can, so... there's that). I ended up with a kinda generic but perfectly functional Secura brand one from Amazon. I've had it for 3 years and it's still going strong.
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My simple human trash can is my most used, and most useful, kitchen gadget!
 
I use some:

- Blender for making fruit smoothies, milkshakes etc.
- Foodprocessor, mostly for humus, salsa sauce, grinding nuts, stuff like that.
- Electric cattle, should be obvious.
- Immersion blender, grinding whole tomatoes in the can for pasta sauce, home made mayonnaise.
- Airfryer, kinda replaced my oven for small things like baking bread, quick snacks.
- Mortle and pestle for spices.
- Kitchen scale, always use it to measure rice and pasta before boiling, because when eye balling it I always end up with way too much.
- Microwave, actually don't use it that much, when heating up a meal, 9 times out of 10 I just use a pan. Maybe it's just me, but I like my meals better when heated in a pan vs microwave.
- Coffee machine, who can live without it?
 
Well, there is a difference already at the basic two items you’ve listed, between the European and the US kitchen.

Instead of a stove we have a 80cm wide ceramic hob.
The fridge is a Liebherr with three 0°C drawers to keep the vegetables extra fresh.
The freezer is a separate “cabinet”.

Other appliances:
- microwave; constantly in use; from heating a cup of water (even for tea) to cooking and reheating food portions from that deep-cold fridge. Can’t think being without it. Large capacity one; 33L.
- dishwasher every day
- electrical grill/toaster; each day

- electrical oven for baking bread, pastry, sweets
- pro kneading machine; we make bread at home; also for pastry

- stick blender; is a creamy vegetable soup maker
- hand mixer for pastry and other sweets

- sturdy Ohaus lab scale with a washable inox top

Never gets used for anything:
- steamer; great for making rice
- various attachments for the mentioned machines; as grinders, special bakery mixing spatulas, blenders…

That's it; one doesn't need anything else. ;)
 
In our current in between house the one thing I miss most is worktop SPACE, the next thing is our Steam -sous vide-precision Oven (Neff)....and finally a good sized Fridge (Liebherr it is in the new house)

most used, highest first:

Mazzer Major espresso grinder with SSP burrs
Faema Urania espresso machine

huge gap

various peelers
various microplane graters
dishwasher
Oven
Coffee roaster
Sous Vide stick
PID water kettle
Toaster/Grill
rice cooker
electric fryer
air fryer
immersion mixer
ice cream maker
Mandoline, 2 sizes
Magimix
 
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Recently got a high speed blender. Wish I had gotten one years ago, use it all the time.
 
Noxion said:
What for? we've never used it. We use only the immersion stick one for creamy vegetable soups.
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You can achieve a much finer texture. I have a bamix stick blender and I love it, but it can't make soup nearly as smooth.
It's also great for salsas, dressings and smoothies although I'm don't make the latter myself.
 
Michi said:
I've managed to make scratches on my granite bench top that way. The corners of these things can be quite sharp. It's not a bad idea to grind down and smooth the corners a little.
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You can repair granite pretty well, get some ultraviolet activated acrylic resin and coloring component and work in tiny layers (getting a better UV LED helps). I repaired a chip on the edge of a black granite countertop, a gap of about 4mm by 3 mm deep by 3mm ....took a while but it came out very nicely after sanding and polishing.
 
Lars said:
You can achieve a much finer texture. I have a bamix stick blender and I love it, but it can't make soup nearly as smooth.
It's also great for salsas, dressings and smoothies although I'm don't make the latter myself.
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We have a Philips ProMix stick blender and it's awesome; it really doesn't spray the liquid. It also makes a great smooth job. The fennel (finocchio) soup gets perfect.
We make salsas the old fashioned way; don't make dressings (except for very small quantities) and even less smoothies.
The problem with the blender is that a lot of the product remains on the walls of the container, so it is only handy for restaurant size quantities. Also you have one additional and heavy item to clean. The immersion stick is instantly clean and there is no additional "pot" to wash.
We have the Kenwood blender (attachment for the Titanium line) and the piece is heavy as a granate,...imagine having to clean it... o_O
 
Noxion said:
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We have the Kenwood blender (attachment for the Titanium line) and the piece is heavy as a granate,...imagine having to clean it... o_O
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so do i. to clean, just fill with water (and maybe a small drop of detergent) and let it spin for a minute. rinse. done.

.
 
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