What's something you wasted a bunch of money on in the kitchen ???

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I’m a fan of carbon steel. Seasoning it is many four letter words though. Prefer field cast iron nowadays. Similarish weight, takes seasoning much better and feels like an actual premium kitchen product instead of a potential weapon against home invaders.

gonna add the apo oven to the list. View attachment 382556
I will gladly buy yours. The damn thing is built like an ez bake oven so I don’t expect mine to live more than a year or so longer but ******* it is one of the most incredible ovens I’ve used
I had bought a grain mill back when I went down the bread rabbit hole. Oh and a sifter too. After several failed recipes they both collect dust and are constantly calling to me to give them another shot at the spotlight.

On the flip side, my two favorite things for cooking that have more than justified their cost/space besides my knives are my control freak and my chamber vacuum sealer.
Control freak is incredible. Best use of money I’ve ever spent in the kitchen. I’d get a second if my kitchen wasn’t so tiny and American kitchens weren’t generally designed to run a toaster and nothing else so it could support the electrical demand. Using the control freak and the APO above 400 simultaneously already trips the breaker
 
It's so amazing and so worth it I promise you won't regret it. It's so accurate that I don't use my sous vide anymore, and I even made mozzarella the other day and it was super easy to just set the temp to 90 degrees. Can't recommend it enough.
That's the thing ..... Its a lot of money to spend knowing I wouldn't use it's capabilities enough to justify it's price. I can't tell you the last time I did anything sous vide, or actually needed temp control or any of the other things it does.... I do use an induction burner regularly , but my duxtop is perfect for 1/12th the price
 
My recommendation is to keep an eye on your local Facebook market place/equivalalent. I picked mine up for half of retail, new in box from a food tuber who had bought two for her channel and never ended up using the second. It’s loud, big and built like a tank since it’s intended for commercial kitchen and honestly I think that’s way better than the newer, quieter one they came out with recently since it’s likely more durable.

Caramelized onions? Set the temp, stir it every hour or two and it’s basically effortless. Searing meats? Set a temp and no need to worry about smoking yourself out by overheating the pan. Blumenthal eggs become simple enough they can be done for a regular breakfast instead of needing a vacuum sealer.

I have the tastebuds and culinary capabilities of a horned toad, but it still gets used daily at least.

I found it’s not having a specific use case for what it does, but using it for your everyday cooking where you learn to really appreciate the capabilities delivered by the temp control.

I could wax poetic about it for pages, but I’ll refrain unless there’s a dedicated control freak thread.

Back to topic on hand, a recent purchase I really regret is a hand carved cherry spatula from Etsy. Looked great in the pics, looks great in person, handle feels awesome. But they took the edge too thin, and since it’s a single piece of wood it warped pretty terribly the very first time it hit the heat and steam of cooking. Tried bending it back the same way you do in hinoki cutting boards by applying water on the opposite side and letting it sitting but it always returns so I gave up.

While I’m not a massive fan of earlywood (in fact I don’t think I’ve found the perfect wooden utensil yet. Closest I’ve gotten was a pioneer woman acacia wood flatula that has toed the line between being too thick and cracking, or too thin and warping and survived my better half’s attempts to kill it via dishwasher induced submersion injury.). The regular Tera scraper feels decent for small pots/pans, and the Mexican ebony they use has some pretty sweet chatoyancy going on, but the big Tera feels slightly off and I can’t quite put my finger on it so I’m on the fence about the purchase of that as well.
 
I live a simple life, I dont know what an instipot is, no clue about a control freak, I can do a lot with little.
To answer the question, probably my Espresso machine I use twice a week or so.
 
Expensive copper core pots and pans. Not that I can't notice a difference between those and the cheap ones from restaurant supply, but not enough to justify the price. There's a lot to be said for just swapping old cheap pans out for new cheap pans when necessary. Now that I'm into J-knives, I'll take a new knife that I don't need over an expensive pan any day.

Items that I would replace the same day if they died??? Stove, fridge, Vitamix, VacMaster, immersion circulator, and Control Freak.
 
My recommendation is to keep an eye on your local Facebook market place/equivalalent. I picked mine up for half of retail, new in box from a food tuber who had bought two for her channel and never ended up using the second. It’s loud, big and built like a tank since it’s intended for commercial kitchen and honestly I think that’s way better than the newer, quieter one they came out with recently since it’s likely more durable.

Caramelized onions? Set the temp, stir it every hour or two and it’s basically effortless. Searing meats? Set a temp and no need to worry about smoking yourself out by overheating the pan. Blumenthal eggs become simple enough they can be done for a regular breakfast instead of needing a vacuum sealer.

I have the tastebuds and culinary capabilities of a horned toad, but it still gets used daily at least.

I found it’s not having a specific use case for what it does, but using it for your everyday cooking where you learn to really appreciate the capabilities delivered by the temp control.

I could wax poetic about it for pages, but I’ll refrain unless there’s a dedicated control freak thread.

Back to topic on hand, a recent purchase I really regret is a hand carved cherry spatula from Etsy. Looked great in the pics, looks great in person, handle feels awesome. But they took the edge too thin, and since it’s a single piece of wood it warped pretty terribly the very first time it hit the heat and steam of cooking. Tried bending it back the same way you do in hinoki cutting boards by applying water on the opposite side and letting it sitting but it always returns so I gave up.

While I’m not a massive fan of earlywood (in fact I don’t think I’ve found the perfect wooden utensil yet. Closest I’ve gotten was a pioneer woman acacia wood flatula that has toed the line between being too thick and cracking, or too thin and warping and survived my better half’s attempts to kill it via dishwasher induced submersion injury.). The regular Tera scraper feels decent for small pots/pans, and the Mexican ebony they use has some pretty sweet chatoyancy going on, but the big Tera feels slightly off and I can’t quite put my finger on it so I’m on the fence about the purchase of that as well.

Idk how being able to set the temp accurately prevents you from smoking up the pan/house, but being able to take it outside with an extension cord and searing meat on my patio has been a game changer. I recently made bibimbap and the oil splatter/smoke would’ve normally been such a pain, but doing it on my patio was a breeze. Maybe I looked weird to my neighbors but I couldn’t care less.

Carmelized onions and any egg dish are definitely greatly benefited by it. Just scratching the surface of cheese, but I plan on doing more in the future and maybe even yogurt. A lot less intimidating of a venture than it would normally be with a regular stove or burner.

Edit : I bought mine off Amazon, during normal time of the year with no sales. Just scrolled and scrolled until I found one that was a few hundred dollars cheaper than it normally retails for. I believe my out the door price was less than 1200, and I was worried it would be refurbished, missing parts, etc but it was brand new and had everything it was supposed to come with.
 
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I’m a fan of carbon steel. Seasoning it is many four letter words though. Prefer field cast iron nowadays. Similarish weight, takes seasoning much better and feels like an actual premium kitchen product instead of a potential weapon against home invaders.


I will gladly buy yours. The damn thing is built like an ez bake oven so I don’t expect mine to live more than a year or so longer but ******* it is one of the most incredible ovens I’ve used

Control freak is incredible. Best use of money I’ve ever spent in the kitchen. I’d get a second if my kitchen wasn’t so tiny and American kitchens weren’t generally designed to run a toaster and nothing else so it could support the electrical demand. Using the control freak and the APO above 400 simultaneously already trips the breaker
I find seasoning steel and iron to
be pretty much the same. Every few uses I put a teaspoonful of tallow or lard in it, then set the burner on high. I use a scrap of paper towel and something long to move it about and keep the surface wet. I run it up to at least 500 (260°C) and preferably 550 before the smoke wakes up every detector in the house. Best done with open windows or a stovetop fan that works. (Mine is built into the bottom of the microwave and exhausts into my eyes! So it joins the list of equipment that is not just useless but an actual insult.)

A handy way to check temp is by watching the paper towel darken. At the right (lively smoke formation!) temperature, it has become brown as the meat in beef stew.

Let the pan cool a bit, wipe it somewhat clean, and voilà! Fried eggs skate.
 
It's been a few years, maybe 2 or 3, but I got an instant pot for Christmas.
My wife uses the pressure cooker feature at least once a week. I like it better than the fancy all-Clad pressure cooker we bought a few years ago, and way, way better than the deadly stovetop pressure cooker seemingly made from aluminum foil my wife used for a couple decades.
 
Carmelized onions and any egg dish are definitely greatly benefited by it. Just scratching the surface of cheese, but I plan on doing more in the future and maybe even yogurt. A lot less intimidating of a venture than it would normally be with a regular stove or burner.
For cheese, it's a revolutionary change. It's actually cheating.
 
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My issue with carbon steel isn't the seasoning process itself, it’s how the seasoning behaves. I find it to be needlessly fragile, like soccer player giving into theatrics when the grass brushes his calf, and vanishing from the pan. Cast iron seasoning just sticks so much better even with rougher cooks, it’s like an American football linebacker charging blindly forward in the face of a mountain of research about CTE long term impact, and then getting hit so hard it forgets the research exists and asking when the next skillet cookie is going to baked in it again. Almost indifferent to the horrors of caramelizing sugars visited upon it.
Idk how being able to set the temp accurately prevents you from smoking up the pan/house, but being able to take it outside with an extension cord and searing meat on my patio has been a game changer. I recently made bibimbap and the oil splatter/smoke would’ve normally been such a pain, but doing it on my patio was a breeze. Maybe I looked weird to my neighbors but I couldn’t care less.

Carmelized onions and any egg dish are definitely greatly benefited by it. Just scratching the surface of cheese, but I plan on doing more in the future and maybe even yogurt. A lot less intimidating of a venture than it would normally be with a regular stove or burner.

Edit : I bought mine off Amazon, during normal time of the year with no sales. Just scrolled and scrolled until I found one that was a few hundred dollars cheaper than it normally retails for. I believe my out the door price was less than 1200, and I was worried it would be refurbished, missing parts, etc but it was brand new and had everything it was supposed to come with.

Since your temp is around 370-400, you don’t get the crazy smokiness that I used to get with stovetop proteins. Granted I was coming from glass top electric, so if you ever removed a piece you’d end up having to move at light speed to get the next protein in before the pan overheated and became a gate to hades. With the temp control the overshoot is pretty neglible, maybe 20 degrees at most on fast speed, so it’s much reduced. It definitely doesn’t help the smell, sadly.

For cheese, it's a revolutionary change. It's actually cheating.

I’ve been trying to push it to my parents so they can get away from the 50 gallon tote + massive stock pot with a stick circulator set up for 6 gallon makes, I imagine it’s so much easier to use the control freak.

For yogurt I can confirm it’s amazing. No faffing about with an oven light, and you can denature the protein and culture it in the same pot similar to an instapot but with way more control.
 
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Probably the kitchen aid mixer in my household. Permanently on the counter top. Gets used once every two or three years for it's intended purpose.
That says more about the user than the appliance though. My stand mixer gets used regularly, probably twice a week on average.

This goes to show that evaluating need before buying something really matters. Best wait until you run into a problem that can’t be solved with reasonable effort and time using your existing tools; then think hard about whether a new shiny device would make enough of a difference, and whether it will be used often enough to justify the cost.
 
That says more about the user than the appliance though. My stand mixer gets used regularly, probably twice a week on average.

This goes to show that evaluating need before buying something really matters. Best wait until you run into a problem that can’t be solved with reasonable effort and time using your existing tools; then think hard about whether a new shiny device would make enough of a difference, and whether it will be used often enough to justify the cost.
My wife used it regularly 12-15 years ago. Times change. But we probably won't ever get rid of it and didn't really pay for it. It was a wedding gift.
 
About the only thing I can think of that I regret is a cheap spiraling thing that I only used once to test it after years of sitting. Due to circumstances and normal cooking style I don't use my kitchen aid, vitamix, or ice cream maker much. But always nice for when I want to use it.

I got an anova vac sealer for a good price on black friday that I ended up giving to my brother after anova came out with its chamber vac that I also got on a great black friday deal.
 
Honestly, my Thermoworks 2 channel K type thermocouple and probes. The Bluetooth stuff out now from other manufacturers is as good, cheaper, and more convenient.
 
That says more about the user than the appliance though. My stand mixer gets used regularly, probably twice a week on average.

This goes to show that evaluating need before buying something really matters. Best wait until you run into a problem that can’t be solved with reasonable effort and time using your existing tools; then think hard about whether a new shiny device would make enough of a difference, and whether it will be used often enough to justify the cost.

Yup, I agree.

I've been pretty good with my purchases and really thinking thru my cooking process to get what I actually need to cook the way I want.

I have the anova chamber vac/apo combo for precision and multiple functions. Outdoor wok burner for wok things, searing, frying, boiling water and lighting binchotan fast without making a mess inside, smells and worrying about smoke alarms. A konro for grilling, atlas pasta maker for pasta.

I've thought about an instapot but like many others, probably not my style of cooking.

The Vermicular musui kamado, control freak, ooni pizza oven and big green egg intrigues me but are pricey and I dont have the space, a specific need or strong enough desire yet.

A dehydrator and outdoor flattop are on my list when I have the funds/space.
 
I once bought a food mill thinking I’d use it to made stuff smooth. Used it once and realized what a PITA it was to use and an even bigger PITA to clean. Never used it again.

Instant Pot, I don’t use it for a lot, pretty much only stock, beans, and yogurt. But I love it for those things.
 
Expensive copper core pots and pans. Not that I can't notice a difference between those and the cheap ones from restaurant supply, but not enough to justify the price. There's a lot to be said for just swapping old cheap pans out for new cheap pans when necessary. Now that I'm into J-knives, I'll take a new knife that I don't need over an expensive pan any day.

Items that I would replace the same day if they died??? Stove, fridge, Vitamix, VacMaster, immersion circulator, and Control Freak.
I'm the exact opposite. I demand the best performing pans that I can find. I spend wisely, but I will spend money. I have to say that upgrading to high quality try ply cook ware was a huge improvement to my kitchen game sonnoticeable that others have commented on it
 
While not much cost, small food processors and any gadget for garlic. By the time you clean them you realize a knife is faster and easier.
I do want a garlic press that outperforms my Zyliss. (Loose-fit piston is a pain.) Japan Woodworker had a luxe stainless one branded Joyfu. Oh how I wish I’d gotten one. Soon after, JW went south (and stayed there.)
 
I have the Susi 3 from Zyliss. Best garlic press I’ve ever used. Nothing squeezes past the piston.
I must have the og Susi, made of some aluminum alloy. Much blowby.

I still want a Joyfu or a western press that performs at the wild edge. I wanna stop teasing half-crushed garlic back into the operating part.
 
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