We didn't have little ones but most of what we did would work for a family. First off, make sure to plug the refrigerator into a different circuit from any cooking appliances. We popped the breaker once and then brought out a couple of long extension cords from the garage to plug things into different circuits. If you have a deep laundry room sink it helps to get an extra bus tub and turn it upside down in the sink, then you can put another bus tub on top of it to wash dishes at a more comfortable height. We put a drying rack and mat on the counter next to the sink. (We were lucky and had a little bar sink in the temporary kitchen area next to our dining room - so we could use that for rinsing fruit or vegetables during prep and for filling the expresso machine.) If you have the space, it's nice to have one table for eating at and another table for the appliances and food prep. This was our prep table (normally it's part of our yard furniture). Our old microwave was huge (from the late 70's) so that's the big thing under the table. The ice chests are under the table because normally we store them in the bar and moved them out for the reno to more easily use the bar sink. How soon is your renovation starting? Do you have some time to do some advance preparation? One thing we did was to prepare, portion and freeze some meals ahead of time. We bought plastic microwaveable disposable containers from Smart and Final to pack things like beef stew, spaghetti sauce with meatballs, and chili in so we would be able to thaw and reheat in the microwave without any dishes to clean. I also cooked a turkey and froze portions of the turkey meat, gravy and mashed potatoes. We cooked steak, chicken and burgers on the grill. To vary things a bit, I baked an apple cake in the covered grill with the aid of a thermometer though playing thermostat only fun once or twice. When I made chicken in the grill, the leftovers could be used with pre-washed salad greens, additional vegetables and dressing or vinegar and oil for a lunch salad or for sandwiches. Frozen turkey portions also could be used for salad or sandwiches. A hot water pot is nice - especially if you have tea drinkers or to kick start making oatmeal in the microwave. Vegetables were cooked in a steamer on a hot plate or in the mircrowave. I didn't use a crock pot or slow cooker but I've seen some suggest using crock pot liners to minimize clean-up.

I'm a stickler for bread science, so I don't just load the machine and push start. The last thing I want, and the thing I NEVER make, is a tasteless loaf of white bread that was start-to-finish done in one-hour on the Quick Cycle. But that IS an option that works very well for busy people and is primarily why so many people buy bread machines. They're fast when you want them to be... I like a nice 2-1/2-hour to 12-hour sponge to start with and go at it from there. For all beginners - although I don't like the title - I think "Bread Machines For Dummies" by Glenna Vance and Tom Lacalamita an EXCELLENT book for general education as well as a wide variety of bread recipes - a great book. Tom Lacalamita also has authored "The All-New Ultimate Bread Machine Cookbook" (Fleischmann's Yeast Edition) that is also very good. I add unusual ingredients not normally used by most people. Always adapt standard bread machine recipes to those ingredients, and use many of my own original recipes. I guess I primarily use the bread machine as a mixing and kneading tool. I don't even allow the dough to rise in the bread machine. We only use a one-pound loaf of bread per week, but I keep a constant supply of other things in the freezer, like hamburger/sandwich rolls, hot dog buns, pecan rolls, cinnamon rolls, English Muffins, dinner rolls, speciality breads, etc. I do mill my own flour for pennies, like tricia pointed out. Even with my expensive wheat, it takes 10 cents of wheat to make a 1-pound loaf of bread. With the price of commercial bleached/unbleached flour going up so much, I keep NONE in the house anymore, but use all home-milled flours and process my own multi-grain cereals that I add to many breads, and make my own flakes, as well. When I used up the small amount of commercial flour I had last winter, that was it. But I'm committed to whole grains for the health of it, and use a great variety of beans/seeds/grains in my breads. Not just wheat. It's not just about dollar and cents and getting our money out of the price of the bread machine. How often do you use any number of high-priced gadgets and appliances in the kitchen to make them pay for themselves? (And don't even LOOK in the manly areas of the home for rarely-used tools! ;-) If you want it and can afford it and really plan to use it, then enjoy it for what it is. It's a great way to control the ingredients in the breads you eat. I got my Zo so that I could eliminate trans fats, use freshly-milled ingredients and keep the heat out of the kitchen and save energy by baking in the bread machine (which I did do in my first one when I first got it). I have carpal tunnel in both arms, arthritis in my fingers, and tennis elbow in both arms from too many years of professional knitting and crocheting. The bread machine is a great tool for me to extend my ability to make bread. Some people play golf, have a boat and camper, RV, gamble and enjoy all kinds of expensive vices and hobbies - I do none of those, but I have my bevy of mills and my bread machine and a large amount of grains/seeds/beans in storage and that's MY hobby/vice. About cleaning the bread machine... The Zo is very easy to clean because it has a non-stick surface. However, you CAN'T submerge the pan in water. When I make dough, I clean the dough out of the pan with a silicon spatula. Allow the pan to sit while I make whatever bread product I'm working on. Within 20-30 minutes, any dough residue left in the pan will be hard and dry and I brush it out with a soft cloth or a paper towel. Wipe out with a dishrag and hot soapy water, rinse, and dry. Occasionally, things get tossed out of the bread pan and get inside the machine. I take a clean, soft paint brush (or a pastry brush would work), and dust the area free of any errant flour and other things. -Grainlady

I have a Sanyo 5.5 cup micro-computerized "fuzzy logic" rice cooker that I've used 2-3 times a week for several years. Before I got it, I was unsure whether it would be worth the space in my small kitchen because cooking rice on the stovetop didn't seem that hard (although I admit I did occasionally burn it or let it overflow and make a mess). Several of Asian-born and co-workers convinced me that a rice cooker was a must-have, so I finally broke down and bought one. I've very happy that I did. The best part is that it's so easy to set up and completely trouble-free. You don't have to worry about timing the rice so that it will be ready when everything else is, or keeping the rice warm if someone's late. The rice can never burn, overcook, or overflow. The Sanyo I bought is super easy to use and clean, and it has lots of nice features - a retractable cord, battery backup for the clock/timer, a carrying handle (handy for pot luck dinners), a clip-on holder for the rice paddle, an automatic keep-warm feature, and a steamer tray). I chose this one because it had excellent reviews (even though it's not perfect) but was less expensive than a comparable Zojirushi (many of whose models are very similar to Sanyo's). Sanyo is a subsidiary of Panasonic. I usually make 2 to 2 1/2 cups of rice at a time, but I occasionally cook as little as 1 cup. (The rice measuring cups that come with Japanese rice cookers = about 3/4 c. in American measurements.) There are markings for the water levels for various amounts and types of rice on the inside of the inner pot, so you just add the amount of rice that you want (using the measuring cup that comes with it) and fill with water up to the corresponding mark on the pot. (I usually rinse my rice in the pot and pour off the rinsing water before adding the cooking water.) I could have gotten by with a smaller 3.5 cup rice cooker, but I wanted a medium-sized one so that it would be large enough for entertaining. Rice cookers usually come in 3 sizes: 3.5, 5 or 5.5, and 10 cups. I cook a lot of Indian and Thai food, so I usually make basmati or jasmine rice, but I've used my rice cooker for other types of rice as well. The rice comes out best if you fluff the rice when the cooking cycle ends (as the instructions tell you). The only negatives about this model is that water tends to condense in the trough near the hinge (they may all do that - this is the only rice cooker I've used), and after several years of frequent use, the titanium-coated inner bowl has gotten scratched (ever though I've never used anything but the plastic rice paddle with it). Also, I haven't found a source for replacement bowl for my model. I recommend that you compare the various sizes for any particular model that you're interested in before buying. The difference in footprints (counter space) between the 3.5 and 5.5 cup models isn't that great (although if you have a tiny kitchen like mine, every inch counts), and the prices are not that different either. The larger models tend to be more versatile. My 5.5 cup cooker came with a steamer tray, for example, but the corresponding 3.5 cup model did not. In addition to steaming, some models claim they can be used to make tofu, bake bread, or double as a slow cooker. I've read that some models can be used to make yogurt or proof bread dough. I've added a link to a Sanyo model that looks very similar to mine. Now that I know how much use I've gotten from my rice cooker, if I were shopping for a new one, I'd probably be willing to consider higher-end models as well, even though this mid-price one has done its job. For example, Zojirushi now has pressurized rice cookers that cook faster and are supposed to keep the rice soft longer (but the pressurized ones are pretty expensive). Here is a link that might be useful: Sanyo 5-cup microcomputerized rice cooker

So if you were only eating white rice and didn't need a timer or a keep warm function, a cheap push button rice cooker would work just fine. If you were only eating a little bit of rice now and then, I'd say make it in a pot, or the oven, or pressure cooker. However, if you actually want to make *brown* rice on a regular basis and/or want a timer and/or a really good keep warm function, then you might want to swing for a nice fuzzy logic model. My sister and I have both had the cheap push button models and they were really just set up for white rice - brown rice required multiple cooking cycles and constant tinkering with the water level. And it still usually burned on the bottom. I've had a Zojirushi with fuzzy logic for a few years now and love it - it makes perfect brown rice, sushi rice, basmati, etc.; it keeps it warm for hours without burning the bottom or drying it out; the timer's easy to use and allows me to set it in the morning and have hot rice when I get home (even if I'm a couple hours late). I also really like to put steel cut oats in it at night so I can have hot oatmeal ready when I get up the next morning. So for us it's worth it - we eat a lot of rice (especially brown) and actually use both the timer and keep warm function a lot. They do work - amazingly well - and make much better rice than I could ever make on my lousy stove ;-) They're definitely an investment, but it you're really going to be using the timer and making brown rice on a regular basis, it might be worth it. My sister has this 3 cup model and it's perfect for a couple or small family - unless you're huge rice eaters, it makes enough for 2 to 4 people and is really small, so it doesn't take up much room on the counter. Amazon sells it for $125 - not cheap, but really nice quality. As you can (hopefully) see in the picture, it has the timer, keep warm, and brown rice functions, which are essential to me. There are lots of really good ones out there, this is just one I have personal experience with. Good luck!