Fave kitchen implements/gadgets

What could you just not cope without in your kitchen?  I could not cope without my cheese slicer. i know I couldn't because the one I had broke and I was lost without it until I found this one that I bought in Santa Monica about 2 years ago.   They are very hard to find in the UK, I have only managed to find a very posh and expensive version at Harrods and it broke after I used it twice





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I have a very good garlic press.  I've had it for over a decade and the way it comes apart, it washes brilliantly in the dishwasher.

Hmmm. I hope to say soon that my KitchenAid will be the most important gadget but since I still need a US/UK convertor, that's not currently the case.

For now I love my garlic press as I can't stand chopping garlic and getting the smell all over my fingers.

I also have a wonderful set of mixing bowls from Crate and Barrel that I adore:



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I've got two hand-me-down le creuset pans from my husband's parents (one, a casserole type dish, one a lid-less saucepan) that I use a lot.   The casserole dish is used for everything - making pasta sauces, cooking larger amounts of pasta/spaghetti, casseroling in the oven... it's a very cool dish, and I'm always glad of it - especially when I see current le creuset prices.

Since I have an obsession with kitchen gadgets,  here is my list:

Kitchenaid Mixer (Balmerhon, you must get a converter!)
Hand Blender
Silicone Measuring cups
Wusthof and Henckel knives ( I buy a new one as a gift for myself each year, major $$$/£££ but well worth it, definite investment)
Microplane grater (I think my favorite toy and newest edition to my collection)

Thats all I can think of right now.  My wish list:

2 or 3 Le Creuset pans I don't know which type though and I just can not get over the prices...ouch!
Santoku hollow edge knife by either Wusthof or Henckel

Not really a gadget, but I so miss my dishwasher. ( and not my husband either )

Fun thread!

Oh--cooking is my favorite hobby! 

I think that my favorite impliment would be what I refer to as my "apple-peeler-slicer-thing-a-ma-jiggy".  It does just what it's name would infer, however, you can just core, or just slice if you wish.  You can also use it for other things, such as potatoes.  There is a "thick" peel blade which basically makes "curly fries" when you put a potatoe in it.

Yum.  Now I want to make an apple crisp...

Gotta be the dishwasher.  I know it's not technically a gadget, but I wouldn't even consider cooking if we didn't have one!   

Frances, thats so funny. I was just gonna post about my apple/peeler/corer/slicer! I was at the pampered chef site getting a pic but it save as bitmap so i couldnt send it. Anyway, my kids love apples now. Everyone should have one

Really Lola? we have one and I hate loading and unloading it, all that bending and straightening and scraping muck off the plates.  Although I do like having the sparkly clean dishes at the end of it. 

I used to have this brilliant Tupperware thing that I lost somewhere along the way and I don't know anyone who sells tupperware now. It was a little shaker thing, it looked a bit like a plastic cocktail shaker and it had a brilliant whisk attachment which could whisk up eggs, cream etc in sconds, just shake it a few times and bingo! I would love to get hold of one of those again.

Really Lola? we have one and I hate loading and unloading it, all that bending and straightening and scraping muck off the plates.  Although I do like having the sparkly clean dishes at the end of it. 

Oh yeah -- I hate unloading it, but DH tends to do it, so that's fine with me!  I've just always HATED standing at the sink touching yucky food on yucky plates...handwashing does not agree with me.   

I rarely go into the kitchen but there is only one thing that I'd have to say I love and that is my spoon. We have loads of spoons but they're all teaspoons or those large spoons you use for dessert. My spoon is bigger than a teaspoon and smaller than a large spoon and is perfect for eating my cereal in the morning.

I get cranky when Jon uses it.

Oh, there is our breadmaker too. That's pretty cool but the spoon is by far the coolest.

I'm with you on the dishwasher. I didn't have one in Boston and love having one now...don't mind bending or scrapping off food - HATE to pick up the cruddy food catcher in the sink and empty/clean it out much worse...ICK.

Le Creuset grill pan. 

Scale

Slow cooker

Those baking tin/cookie sheet liners from Lakeland that make e/thing no-stick.  BRILL!

My wife says she loves the dishwasher.  So much so, that she sleeps with him every night ;-)

My favorite kitchen utensil is my Crepe Pan.  It's cast iron, but thin, and makes really greate "Pancakes" as they're called here.

To the person who buys a new set of Henkle knives each year (I can't remember who posted that but wow that's expensive).  Try taking them to a knife sharpener.  We did that once, and they were sharper and beter than when we originally bought them.  Not sure where you find them in the phone book b/c it was a year or two back that we did it.  Henkles can stand up to it too.

Dr. Steve, where did you get your crepe pan? I had a nice one that I lost in the divorce. He said I can either take the kids or the crepe pan so I took the kids
Was looking for them around here at Xmas. Loved my crepe pan!!