They store them in spare rooms, garages, basements, attics, and $100 a month overflow off-site storage rental units.
Remember, we are a society who honestly believes that we need 1000s of square feet per person to live and that everyone makes six figures.

The whole ploy is to get you to think you're somehow missing out on something marvelous if you don't have all those gadgets, that they will magically make you a better cook. It's all about marketing and getting those conspicious consumers to pull out those credit cards. Implied is the idea that owning all this stuff will make your life perfect, your spouse perfect, your kids grateful, and you happy. Doesn't matter if it's gadgets or toothpaste.

The funny thing about losing it all is that you really do figure out that it's just stuff.

Bravo, beanthere!

My 2,000 sq ft home isn't bursting at the seams because of the restraint of its owners. Although I do have a juicer (big old fashioned one because we live in FL). Ice cream maker because its one of those little ones and my husband is a chocoholic. Other than that? Not many single use items here. They look cool, but are best for someone else.

I love a few things I own like my fish poacher. It's big, awkward to store, pretty much single use but it's perfect for that use. And my mechanical pasta maker. I don't want to make homemade pasta without it.

Why for? For the same reason there's thousands of different shampoos, toilet papers, breakfast cereals, and so on. They have to keep coming up with new products to sell and for the shills to buy. Basically, what Beanthere said.

I have to admit to being tempted by a gadget every now and then, but I always have to ask myself, "where will I store it?" My house is just over half the size of Beachlily's, so I just don't have room for any extra gadgets.

Sally

My take is a little different. I think that different lifestyles have different demands. I use my steamer nearly every morning to make steel cut oats and a hardboiled egg. Meanwhile, my absolute least-used appliance by far is the coffee maker. I've had it for 10 years and it's been used less than a dozen times. We love coffee, but only drink it on the weekends, and normally just grab one at the local donut shop on the way to DS's hockey game. If our coffee maker died, I wouldn't be in a hurry to replace it.

I know that's probably opposite of the use most people would get out of the identical appliances, but that's our lifestyle.

I'll admit, my citrus juicer and ice cream maker don't get used very often, but they were gifts and I am glad we have them because they make light work when I do want to make ice cream, or lemonade, or margaritas. :-)

I would never make bread were it not for the bread maker. I just don't have time to babysit the dough. I put everything in the machine and walk away and do laundry, or work in my office, and come back to finished dough. I love that. I don't like storing it though. It's huge.

For all my frugalness, I have a huge penchant for gadgets, single-use or not. I enjoy mechanics and machines in the kitchen like men drool over Craftsman tools at Sears. I LOVE using my kitchen gadgets. I'd rather have a new kitchen gadget than another bobble for the jewelry box. In fact, we've been considering the indoor composter (LOL).

I have, and use on a regular basis:

- A bevy of grain mills - I mill all our flour from a variety of grains/beans/seeds, mill all our cooked cereal and cereal blends, mill my own flakes, mill our cornmeal... I never purchase cereal, I make my own.

- Bread machine - I make all our breads using it.

- Deni Ice Cream Maker - We use it at least once every 2 weeks, I NEVER buy ice cream, or other frozen "treats" from the store - I can make them better and cheaper at home.

- Black & Decker Grill (similar to a Foreman grill) - used several times a week for quick meal preparation and low use of energy. It was a gift from my SIL. I probably wouldn't have purchased it, but do enjoy using it.

- Two waffle makers (thin and thick waffles)

- Tortilla maker/baker (also a gift) - I use it at least once a week for fresh tortillas - we also bake fresh tortillas for tortilla chips instead of buying them, and use tortillas for wraps for lunches. I bake fresh tortillas on a Chicago Metallic Baked Taco Rack for tacos - another gadget.

- GT Xpress 101 - wonderful for making all kinds of foods quickly when you need to keep the heat out of the kitchen. Great for meals for one or two people.

- Hamilton Beech Malt Maker - used everyday to blend our morning smoothie.

- TWO electric kettles. One for heating tap water for dish washing (it takes 5-cups of hot water to do dishes using our "conservative" water-saving method, and one for distilled water for hot beverages.

- Water distiller - I have an electric AND a non-electric model. I also have a Berkey Water Purifier. I live out in the middle of nowhere where water is contaminated from farming and cattle production.

- FoodSaver - A must-have for home food storage. I've used one since the mid-1980's.

- Dehydrator - An inexpensive way to preserve food. All vacuum-sealed with the FoodSaver in canning jars.

- Yogourmet Yogurt Maker

- Sharp Convection/Microwave Oven - which gets used more than the regular oven.

- Two solar ovens. A great way to keep the heat out of the kitchen.

What I've managed to live without are an ice and water dispensers in the refrigerator and didn't replace my ancient Sunbeam Mix-Master stand mixer when it went to appliance "heaven". What I DON'T use is a slow-cooker (a gift).

-Grainlady

I feel that the items people have listed already - mechanical pasta machines, ice cream makers, etc., might be one use, but they're an important use. Most people wouldn't know how to make ice cream completely on their own without a machine and most wouldn't know how to roll dough thin enough to cut their own noodles, etc. So to me, those aren't "gadgets", they're important "tools" for people who like to cook and want to make something from scratch.

I, personally, love to knead dough by hand, so I've never had an interest in a bread machine, but kneading by hand takes time and if you love fresh baked bread but just have too many obligations, work, kids, etc., to take the time, then a bread machine is perfectly reasonable to have.

To me, something like a garlic press, is a complete and utter waste of time. It takes less time to peel/chop/mince/puree, garlic by hand than it does to clean the stupid thing out. And I always feel like most of the clove stays in the stupid press!

But I agree - I see some of these cooking things and think to myself, the gadget is more work than it's worth and what it does doesn't justify having to clean the gadget and store it. I feel that way about the emersion blender I bought to "save" myself some work - what a useless piece of junk that was!!

Lisa

I'm in the middle here. Like grainlady, I would prefer food prep items to jewelry, etc., so I often receive them as gifts.

But storage and clean-up are the downside. My knife skills have improved over the years, and most times I find it more practical to use a sharp knife & cutting board than most of gizmos I have for cutting/chopping tasks. I have more control over the results, too.

Some things I thought I couldn't live without I rarely use. I finally reclaimed the counter space that the blender took up - never used it.

But once in a while something like the Thermapen comes along....so worth it! And I have no regrets about springing for a knife sharpener, Boos cutting board and electric pressure cooker.

Living alone and having a small kitchen I have tried to pare down lately on lots of things I would seldom use and was forced to store in odd places like the guest bathroom cupboard. I've tried to give things to my single sons, both of whom like to cook, and even managed to give one my escargot pans and holders. (He wanted to impress a current girlfriend!) But I've found that they also don't care to aquire a bunch of "stuff." I gave my tube pan and bundt pan to the church yard sale, then naturally a few months later wanted to bake cakes that required them and was sorry I had. Same with my large stock pot. Granted, these are not one-use items, but I've found that there is a lot of "stuff" you just can get along without.

Several months ago my over-the-range microwave died (just 3 months after it's first birthday). I have not replaced it yet and have found that a toaster oven and a saucepan can do about anything I would want a microwave to do. EXCEPT that I miss the light over the range cooking surface!

I have always tsk-tsked at the TV commericals in the weeks prior to Christmas that try to sell the must-have item of the year, almost always a one-use item. My thought is that I've gotten along without "it" for 70 years, I can do without it now.

My 3,000 sq foot house is bursting at the seams because I love "stuff"....but that stuff isn't single use electrical appliances...it's things like Le cruset Dutch ovens, and fry pans, and stacks and stacks of plates....and glasses, and platters and serving dishes,and colth napkins....bushels of them...table colths for severfal tables....and a stack of easy care cotton cloths that fit those rentable folding tables, as well as a 60 inch round...in case I should have a larfge outdoor party!
but no electric fry pan no bread maker, no steamer, nor any other single use appliance, nor gadget nor doo dad.
Linda C

I would also prefer kitchen stuff to jewelry, but I'd prefer fence to either! (grin)

The only "real" jewelry I own is my wedding ring, and I don't have any desire for more, but I don't really want any more kitchen gadgets either. Well, except a dough whisk, someone here mentioned them and now I NEED one, LOL.

My bread machine stays on my counter top, I use it several times a week. My stand mixer doesn't get used as much but it also has countertop space, because it's too tall to fit in any of my cupboards and too heavy to lug up and down the basement stairs. My coffee maker gets daily use, so it also claims counter space, along with the food processor which also won't fit into any cupboard. I have no cupboards with tall shelves and I have 7 foot ceilings so nothing can hang from them like pots and pans for storage. I gave the electric skillet to Amanda, she uses it a lot.

I have a microwave oven that mostly gets used to reheat leftovers and make tea and an ice cream maker that stays in the basement, but my slow cooker/crockpot gets used several times a month, usually for beans which cook slowly all day while I'm at the office.

I have a 30+ year old dehydrator and I use that to make yogurt, so I don't need a yogurt maker. I don't have a food saver or an electric kettle and no food mills but I do have a sausage stuffer. I have a waffle iron that makes farm animal shaped waffles, but I only eat waffles when the grandkids stay with me. I keep thinking I need a smaller one but that's just dumb, I seldom eat waffles and I sure can eat one shaped like a cow for crying out loud, if I want a waffle! I don't have a toaster oven and the George Foreman grill has been untouched in the basement for at least three years, and I never use the panini press.

So, I think everyone's "needs" are different. I have no desire for a pasta maker because I don't particularly care for pasta and a citrus juicer would be wasted here because we never get good citrus. I know other people couldn't live without them.

I do think that we are conspicuous consumers, buying stuff just to have it. I'm hoping that when Ashley gets her own place she takes a whole bunch of my stuff because at some point I'm going to have to deal with Elery's stuff too! Fortunately, he has a lot better "stuff" than I do, LOL, and I don't know what the heck we're going to do with FOUR sets of dishes, none of which I like particularly....

Annie

I think it totally depends on your lifestyle as to which gadgets you have. I don't have a bread maker because I try not to eat bread. No coffee maker because I don't drink coffee. No waffle iron, pancakes will have to suffice. No dehydrator, I wouldn't use it. And on and on. I do admit to having gadgets, but I use the ones I have. I use my juicer every week, my food chopper daily, my toaster oven almost every day and my food processor pretty often. I try not to buy what I will not use or that which I can't use for several things.

"The funny thing about losing it all is that you really do figure out that it's just stuff." Yes, yes, yes! I totally agree. The flipside is you also figure out what is important to you. I denied that I needed the stuff, thinking all it really is, is a want. I was wrong, because I love to cook; it's important to me. I'm currently at the point of rebuilding. I'm rebuilding a better stronger me, but also a kitchen that lost a lot of gadgets and dishes (he gets to keep them from the divorce). I've found that cooking is a good outlet for me. It keeps me out of trouble, and is relaxing. It also keeps me from spending money in restaurants, so I think the gadgets are justified (for me).

I am at the point I want to do more because I have gotten way better than even the very good resturants in town. But it takes the gadgets. There is only so much I can do by hand. Many things would turn out a better consistency with a food processor or a microplane or a.... name it. I don't really have the room, but I sure I could give something else up to make the room. I couldn't have made the awesome vanilla ice cream (you gave me the recipe for it ;) without the ice cream maker. I am sure glad I bought that gadget and you can bet I'll be buying more, just to have fun! Shoot, I'd settle for a mandoline, better knives, a microplane... the list is endless, then I'll move on to the processor and/or the stand mixer. After cooking for a long while, I've learned cooking would be easier for me with those and the results would be more consistent. But to each their own!

I agree that different lifestyles have different demands. I can't live without my citrus juicer for example, and have replaced it twice (when old ones died). Fortunately it's a pretty cheap appliance. I buy lots o' limes (or lemons) at a time and juice them all at once and freeze the juice so that I always have juice available. I use a lot of it.

Don't use my crock pot or foreman grill, both of which I plan to offload to my kids when they are ready to set up housekeeping. But I absolutely love my pressure cooker. Don't have a bread machine - I only make bread about once a month maybe. Don't have an ice cream maker - don't need any ice cream in the house!

I have a very large stock pot that I use once a year to make a boatload of soup at Passover. I store it in the utility room off the kitchen. Even though I only use it once a year, it's extremely useful to me.

I have a toaster oven but never use it. I used to but then I realized that a regular toaster toasts bread so much faster, and the very few times I was using it to actually "bake" something was minimal so the real estate it was taking up just wasn't worth it.

Coffee maker stays in a cabinet. I pull it out when I have guests who want coffee. No one in my house drinks the stuff.

Sometimes the very thing you think you'll never use becomes invaluable and vice versa. For me, it's not so much buying useless items, I think we all do that some, whether it's for the kitchen or other stuff, but it's about admitting I really don't need it and getting rid of it.

Here's my really useless item that for some reason I just can't seem to let go of. A friend gave me a garlic baker, probably 15 years ago. I have never ever even once used it. I put it in the give-to-charity box once years ago. And then, inexplicably, yanked it right back out. Why-o-why??

I am not a big gadget person, but over the years I've gathered s few. The ones I almost never use are a rice cooker (why did I get that? Ihave no trouble making rice in a pot), a waffle iron and a Nesco roaster (that one lives in the garage). I also have a Cuisinart that I have never used -- it was a hand me down. I have a stick blender I use once in awhile, not much.

The George Foreman grill is going to the thrift shop very soon.

The coffee maker, blender and electric frying pan are essentials. Of course the mixer gets used pretty often.

That's about it.

Okay, I admit it...I'm a gadget freak, maybe not as much as I used to be. That's probably because I have most of them.LOL I worked at Williams-Sonoma for 8 years in the stockroom and my section was housewares,read, gadgets. With a 40% discount how could I not buy "stuff"? However, I never bought several things like muushroom brushes, potato brushes, garlic peelers etc. I did buy an artichoke steamer that was marked down (never used). Actually I have never cooked an artichoke. Not confident of how to go about it even with the gadget.

I still have not bought a KA mixer. Mine does not have the mixing paddle for instance and numerous recipes say to use the mixing paddle so I just go blindly on using beaters. I do have a bread machine but I have only used it to completely bake the bread. One of these days I'll get up the courage to use it only to the dough stage. Maybe....

jude

Rice Cooker: Died, not replaced.
Small Pressure cooker: Rarely used....but I'm working on that!
Canning stuff, large roasting pan, etc.: Critical, but seasonal.
KA Mixer: DH won it! How can you NOT take a free one?? I really don't use it much, stored in a cupboard.
Silver Bullet blender: On the counter, used a couple of times a week for quick, small blend or chop jobs.
Cuisinart FP: Sits next to the Silver Bullet for larger jobs.

Don't get me started on the smaller stuff like casserole dishes, pie plates, pots & pans, cake pans, etc.

Or hand utensils... Can one ever really have enough silicone spatulas?? I thought 4 or 5 would be enough, but it isn't uncommon for me to have to stop and wash one during a Saturday cooking frenzy!

I did a pretty good purge a year or so ago.....then promptly filled it right back up.

I don't have a lot of single use appliances though.
Does that redeem me? Probably not.

Deanna

It seems like cook's tools require a lot of space if one actually cooks. I need my ladle and cookie spatula! If it plugs into something, I tend to think twice though, especially if I can manage another way to do it. OTOH, I seem to have a lot of..uh..tools that don't get used...say, weekly, even though they are used seasonally/occasionally. I think I'd miss them if they were gone though, like the extra rolling pin I picked up at a sale for 25 cents. How could I not have an extra rolling pin, (JIC - Just in Case!) I do confess to owning a small espresso machine, even though we make Toddy Coffee once week. DH also makes coffee in a vacuum pot on the weekends, so there are many ways to make it at my house. I guess it's like trying to decide whether to have pancakes, waffles or an English muffin for breakfast. I wouldn't think of stopping to buy coffee however.

My electric skillet rarely gets used, although the lid has a permanent place of residence. We use the glass lid for warming things like pizza and sandwiches on a griddle so they crisp and get crunchy. The skillet does come out when I barbecue on the deck, just in case I need an extra burner for sauce or a side. Since I have three burners on my stove, I consider the electric skillet as my back-up plan should I need it during holiday times. I don't use a crock pot either, but I do use my pressure cooker on a semi-regular basis. Not enough that it's vital, but certainly enough that it's useful! On the other hand, my Food Saver gets used at least 5-6 times a day. I love my stove so much I'd rather do anything I can standing there, rather than plug in an electric gadget to do the same thing.

My sister introduced me to the CPW (Cost Per Wearing) concept. Although clothes aren't the true love for me that cooking is, I consider kitchen items the same way. If the ''Cost Per Use'' isn't much, I'll go ahead and splurge if it's something I'm really going to use.

Many years ago, somebody gave me an Egg Boiler, and my first thought was 'What the...??'. But from politeness I used it, and discovered that I liked it. It came in very handy when boiling eggs for parties and so on. It's not something I used very often, but it sure came in handy on occasion.

I think many of these single-use gadgets are purpose-made for gift-giving!

Now, if only somebody would give me a dehydrator, I'd be one happy little vegemite. Not that I'd use it more than once every year or two, but it's something I've hankered for for years - just not prepared to spend the $$$ on it myself!

I would say that I think I am pretty good at getting rid of gadgets that I don't use, as I want my kitchen to be as efficient as possible. I wish I could say the same about clothes, but that's a different issue.

I think that gadgets are put on the market because they sell. Some of them could perhaps be considered toys and some of them might be status symbols. I'm only concerned about results, however, and if I don't have the space for something, then it hinders the results. The kitchen I have now is quite a bit bigger than the one I had in Venice, but it does not have as much upper cabinet space, although that is somewhat offset by having a pantry. When I get around to it, I will photograph the rack I have hanging from the ceiling, which I am sure is very near its weight limit, and I'm a bit fearful of how it perform during an earthquake - I'm sure it will be quite loud, even if nothing falls. If I am in the kitchen during a quake, I will definitely go to the dining room. I could be attacked by flying action figures if I go to the living room from the kitchen.

Lars

Oh dear, I just remembered that I have one of the largest, most expensive and pretty much single use "gadgets" possible.

Dad built me a hand cranked cider press several years ago, just the metal parts cost me nearly $400. It gets used for a couple of months out of the year, to press apples for cider. That's all it gets used for, but if I wanted to grow grapes, I could press those too and make my own wine, LOL.

It stays in the barn, so at least I don't have to store it in the kitchen!

Annie

As much as my musings started this thread I do have a few one-use items: ice cream maker, coffee machine, toaster, waffle irons; but I'd be hard pressed to do without them. OK.... the ice cream machine is pure luxury. ;-)

My friend and I came up with a good system for many things that we don't use often. I'm sure a lot of people with relatives nearby do this, too.

A few years ago, we got in the habit of loaning each other our big coffee urns for meetings, parties, etc., so we could have one for decaf, one for regular, and congratulated ourselves on avoiding the need to buy a second one each. For awhile, we just kept both together, at whatever house they were last used. We realized that the odds of us both having a big event the same day were ZERO. Ever since then, whenever there is something like that we both want, we buy one and share it. We only live a few blocks apart, which makes it easy.

We both host family holidays, so we both need roasting pans, serving platters, etc. But things like leaf-shaped pastry cutters (for some reason we both really, really wanted them), an extra ice bucket, a few more bridge chairs, a dozen more all-purpose wine glasses, a bunch of glass votive candles holders, and so on, we take turns buying and just share. We appreciate the extra storage space even more than the savings in cost.

So if you have a close buddy or relative who cooks and craves the same indulgences you do, this cuts the guilt and waste by half, anyway.

Really, it makes sense to do this for all kinds of seldom-used things, not just cooking items -- it's only slightly inconvenient, and it makes sense for a lot of reasons, like the way farmers on collectives share big equipment.

Gellchom, A few years ago I solicited my neighbors to use the same strategy. We were having a neighborhood garage sale complaining to each other about the "carp" we all had. We made a pact to touch base with each other before buying one use or seldom used items. I have the 3 - 6' folding tables and Sue has the 12 folding chairs, etc.

Back in the day....when my friends and I were having large and frequent informal parties... "we" bougt a bunch of 3 piece place sets of yellow Melmac...dinner plate, bowl and mug. 3 or the 4 people were Hawk fans, and the 4th were "Clone" fans...and she bought 4 sets ( 4 place settings) of red...in the school colors.
They were used for tail gates bbq'S informal indoor parties.....and we shared! We had service for about 84!
Then later, 3 members of the "group" bought some more "formal" iron stone...I have 2 dozen plates bowls and mugs....don't know what happened to the other 3 or 4 dozen.

When my grand son was Bar Mitzva, My DIL asked me if I would do the decorations for the informal party at their home. I lucked out at a thrift store and bought about 60 very nice glass votives. They ringed the yard and then some.
And 2 months later, my daughter was having a big party....so she took half....
well worth the $5 I spent....and I don't have to store them!!!
Sharing seldom used stuff is the way to go!
Linda C