Elery. He's a great multi-purpose gadget, he chops, he slices, he dices. He's good at other things too, LOL.

Annie

They aren't new, but my microplanes.
And my one cup KA chopper.

Oh Annie, ain't love grand?

No fair Annie, we can't get an Elery... LOL

Well my gadget isn't new but I'd be lost without out it now.. My meat grinder attachment.

Rita

My automatic Iced Tea maker or my rice cooker. Christy :)

I think we should play "Pass the Gadget." That would be where everyone could say which persons gadget they would like to try and it would be passed to them. I would choose Elery to be passed to me.

Since I'm sure Annie wouldn't play this game, I'll have to say it's very difficult to pick my favorite. It would have to be either my microplanes, wisk, or rubber spatula. But then it would be hard to do without my garlic press and my metal spatula and my meat pounder and my chef's knife. I guess when you come right down to it, if you consider a knife a gadget then my chef's knife is my favorite thing.

Woodie, do they match your CROCS??
I love my OXO flat wisk for use on non stick surfaces. I can make my roux and sauces right in the pan w/o damaging the surface.

Yeah, I'm with Annie on this one. I can't think of a better gadget than DH (grin).....or my egg slicer.

My garlic press - my SIL sold Pampered Chef stuff several years ago so we all bought lots of their things. It's probably no exaggeration to say I have used that press almost every day for close to 10 years.

My new food chopper! I've never had a food processor--never felt I needed one. Since midsummer, however, DH's ongoing dental work has limited the foods he can eat. It was very tedious to chop up chicken and turkey manually, so I bought a small electric food chopper, which does the job in just a few seconds. It's easy to use and easy to clean, too.

Sue

For me, it would have to be any one of my Shun knives. I love them. Since getting them, I have given my food processer away. I just got a Cobalt Blue Kitchenaid Mixer, so that may come in first...after I try it out this weekend. :)

My various tongs, nippers, grabbers, tweezers, what ever you want to call them in their various sizes and shapes.

Don't even get me started!
Today I used:
-Nicer Dicer
-Olive spoon (I used it for capers)
-Kuhn Rikon Easy-Lock Tongs
-Stick blender
-and DGS's favorite-wavy sandwich cutter.

Right now its my pampered chef utility knife. I use it every day and I even take it to work when I do my cooking demos. Its small but very useful.

The gang at work are all doing pampered chef parties (Ive been to 3 since summer)so I plan to order the bread knife from the next show (in 2 weeks LOL).

I also love my microplane and my silicon spoonula!!

Cheers!
Susie

CROCS!

Sherry (sheshebop) gave me a pair for the trip to Gatlinburg, now I wear them whenever I'm in the kitchen, much easier on the feet.

Nancy

After all the sneering I've done about those gadgets sold on TV (but wait, order right now and we'll include....), I'm chagrined to admit that the Vidalia Onion chopper became my new favorite this summer. Chopping and dicing for Annie's salsa was a breeze.
BUT, I bought it at Bed, Bath and Beyond so my record of NEVER ordering from a TV ad is intact.
Do you think I'm missing anything else?

Last night I climbed up on the ladder and got the emersion blender out of the above the fridge cabinet to use in a veg. soup. While I can't call it my favorite gadget, I was reminded how useful it is and that it is not so hard to get to the things I store "up in heaven" (above the fridge).

Kathleen, yes, my onion goggles are lime green and my crocs are lime green!

Gosh.....I dunno...think it would have to be my good, mid size, locking tongs.

Knife sharpeners. (And good knives of course.) Nothing worse than helping a friend out with prepping and all they have is dull knives. It's probably 90% of why people think prepping is a pain!

I suppose if my kitchen were bigger I might want an Elery or equivalent. But if Elery counts as a kitchen gadget, then I'll just add that "Everyone Out!!!" is one of my favorite gadgets!

Hands down, my Kuhn Rikon handheld mandolin.

Love it, and haven't lost a fingernail yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

I've got a few, but to narrow it down:

- Zyliss garlic press
- a 1/4 c plastic measuring cup that also shows increments of 1 T. It's fantastic for measuring liquids, not holding a spoon in one hand and measuring with the other.
- microplane
- meat thermometer (it's a small digital and works like a charm)

Catherine

Speaking of knives, does anyone have Cutco? A friend's daughter is starting to sell them and I'm wondering if I should buy one or 2. They aren't cheap!

I've had a set of Cutco for almost 50 years ... love 'em. But they are the old smooth blade, not the serrated type which I think chew rather than cuts.
Kay

Well if we are talking "new" gadgets I'd have to say my stainless lined cast iron tortilla press and the tortilla warmer that Gina gave me in the last swap.

My regular favourites haven't changed in years. My potato ricer and various microplanes still top the list.

Woodie,contact lenses work the same as your googles. I never shed a tear as long as I'm wearing them when I chop up onions.

Ann

I think it would be impossible to pick one. For me, my favorite "gadget" is my dishwasher. Since my apartment didn't come with one, I had to provide my own. Best thing I ever did for myself! Just being one person, I run that thing at least once and often twice a day. It has saved me hours of soggy drudgery in kitchen. That's great, because it makes me not so scared to use my OTHER gadgets... I don't have to dread cleaning them up.

Since a dishwasher doesn't have anything to do with the manipulation of food, I'll pick the runner(s) up.

My food "scissors"... great for carrots, small potatoes, and cucumbers. Very easy to sue and makes quick work of anything that fits under the blade. A couple of problems though. The blade is curved in a way that there isn't much room inside for anything thick. Cucumbers and most potatoes must be small to start with and peeled to fit under the blade. Also, especially for carrots, it shoots the pieces all over the place. I have to point it down into a big bowl or pot so things fly in the right direction.

My new santoku knife. Not an expensive one by any means, but it's the nicest knife I own right now. It is the ONLY non-serrated knife I own and it blazes through everything. I've only had it few days, so be watching for a "missing fingers" post soon!

My new pepper mill. Those Chefn' salt and pepper balls I got are cute, but they are terrible as far as functionality goes. The handles broke on the first set, so I had to get an exchange. The pepper mill requires hours of squeezing just to get any amount at all out. Plus, there is no control for the coarseness. The salt mill gets moisture in it and the salt coagulates. I got a real pepper mill a few days ago and I'm loving it.

While I love the stand mixer, hand blender, and food processor, I don't use any of them more than once a week.

Another knife thing: I have a very old carbon steel chef knife that was once my grandmothers. I love that knife. It sharpens up real good and it is just the right size and weight for me. I also have a few other carbon steel knives, one for boning and another for slicing and carving meat. They don't get used as much as the chef knife but are really good knives. They definitely rust, get stained and can't be used on everything because of reactivity. I get them pretty clean with steel wool every once in a while. For regular everyday use, I just wash with hot soapy water, use a scrubby sponge if necessary and dry right away. Every once in a while someone puts one of these knives in the DW. Not a good idea! Then I have to do the steel wool thing and yell at my family. (I think yelling is the part that works best). So I am thinking about the Cutco knives still. Maybe few small pairing ones.

IMO, a knife isn't a gadget, but an essential. :)

Yep, I"d add kitchen shears to my list. Funny, I never used them until someone on here (I forget who) talked me into them. Now I reach for them several times a day.

Mimsic, I bought a set of Cutco back in the 80s when a friend started selling them.

I grew up in a house where the knives were so dull they wouldn't cut butter, so I was thrilled to have them. I've since replaced them with Wustholf and Mesermeisters except for three Cutcu I still use: the bread knife, the paring knife (I don't like the blade much but the handle fits my hand very well so I keep it for when I have to do a lot of paring), and the serrated sandwich spreader.

So, my opinion is that they are OK, but not superior. And few professional sharpeners want to sharpen them -- something to do with the type of metal and angle of their edge.

I wouldn't buy them again...except maybe that serrated sandwich spreader. That's been a handy tool.

Thanks, Beanthere. I have been promising myself wonderful knives for years but haven't ever gone through with it. I resist the high prices and always worry I'm being taken for a sucker. I have 2 Sabatier knives I got as a gift in the 70s but they aren't great. As I said above, I like the carbon steel ones but, well but, but, but...

Other gadgets I recently got and love: 2 microplanes, one wide used only for cheese, the other narrow used for zesting and other stuff. Oh and I can't live without my plain old scissors and another tiny one I use for snipping herbs. Does the coffee cone(or scoop) count as a gadget? Then there are the tongs. I never used to have those til I visited my sister who used hers all the time. Now I have 3. One is wood and just for tossing salad greens. I also love my 2-tine meat fork. OK I guess that's enough for now.

Renee,I totally agree about Cutco, my favorite is also the sandwich spreader! I have a couple of Japanese expensive wonder-knives and the rest are Mesermeisters.
My favorites have to be the Rabbit corkscrew- it's so easy and so much fun! Definitely the microplanes- thank you Arabella Miller for introducing me in my first swap, and the silicone spoonula that Annie talked me into at CannyCamp. I use those all the time!

I would have said my thermometer whisk, but it died on me. I tried two different new batteries, but it won't come back to life. Maybe that's why Williams-Sonoma stopped selling them.
Too bad; it is such a good idea.

"Everyone Out!!!" is one of my favorite gadgets!"

....as someone who cooks in a 35 sq. ft. kitchen I can definitely identify with that :)

Not gadgets, but I have to say the best purchase I ever made years ago was my stainless steel cookware and "one" good knife. I am absolutely anal about my cookware ! I have a friend that has teflon and plastic kitchen utensils, yuck !!

My current favorite is my yeast spoon. Last year Lori316 and I met at King Arthur store and she told me how great they are. Well one jumped into my cart and I bought it. I am so glad i did as I now buy my bread in bulk and have been making most of our bread (from a great recipe of Ohio Mom's for oatmeal wheat altered to our taste). Now instead of measuring out 4 1/2 tsp of yeast I scoop out to yeast spoonfuls.

I also love my oven gloves. These things go almost up to my elbow, and I don't feel clumsy in them (like in the ove golves). They can't be immersed in water but if my hand is damp I can still use them without worrying. I used a friends gloves the other day and... i will be taking mine with me to my dad's at Thanksgiving so I can cook happily. They are made of the material firefighters use. They are expensive, so I asked for them as a housewarming gift. If I lost them I would spend the $60 myself to replace them.

-Robin

Here is a link that might be useful: Oven Mitts

mimsic - Just a note that in your search for knives, do not be turned off by carbon steel. Most of the good quality knives out there are forged high carbon steel. While they may stain a bit with prolonged exposure to acidic foods, the won't rust on you. Your grandmother's is probably just of a different quality material.

Thanks Fenworth for that heads up on carbon steel. My grandmother's knife does get rusty if left wet but it is easy to get the rust off with a regular kitchen scrubby.

And I just remembered my most recent gadget, and this really qualifies as a gadget. Its a wood kitchen ruler with magnetic button for hanging on fridge, a hook for pulling out the oven rack and forked end for pushing rack back in. It was $2.50 at a cute little local cook store.

However, my new fridge doesn't support magnets so I hang it on the access panel on my radiator cover :)!

I'm a self proclaimed "Gadget Queen" 4 kitchen draws filled to the
brim w/gadgets of all kinds, & there's more hovering around.

I don't know what I call my favorite, it would depend on
what I was doing at the time. However, whatever task "I'm doing",
I have the gadget to make it easier..... :^ )

Lucy

I have a similar model to Annie's gadget, mine's called a Jim-O-Matic. It slices, it dices, and it does what the voices in my head tell it. But wait, there's more, the Jim-O-Matic also has a nice handle and it cleans up afterwards.

Other favorites include the immersion blender, and a multitude of ice cream scoops.

Sol

Yes Sol - you just reminded me: I LOVE having various size dishers. Can't beat them for blasting out evenly sized meatballs, chocolate chip cookies, etc.

When I was growing up we had a "mystery drawer" in the pantry. It was where you could find any number of gadgets, string, small paper bags, toothpicks, birthday candles, bottle caps, piercers, cutters, dabbers, broken things too-good-to-throw-away and the ocassional lost mitten. It was always a total jumble in there and opening that drawer wasn't done without a certain amount of trepidation. But you would probably find just the right gadget for the job that needed doing - if you didn't cut your finger while searching.

I have a model similar to Sol's and Annie's but mine must be the very old model :) The Larry from 1959 doesn't always work so well!

I love my Kuhn Rikon Vase Grinders, and the Kuhn Rikon Paring Knives! I love my pepper mills!

i'll second both the onion goggles and the zyliss garlic press. and i love having a couple of good knives but for me, the most often used and appreciated tool in my kitchen is my v-boerner mandoline. way better at slicing and dicing than i am...

I'm with kayskats--my Valdalia onion chopper. It has two blades for larger or smaller dices. You can chop all the vegetables for veggie soup in under 5 minutes. Makes them all pretty and the same size, too. I didn't get mine from TV either--found it at Wal-Greens.

Another sort of new thing is a 5" santoku--have a 7" but love that 5".

Also a set that contains a 2 c., 1-1/2 c., 3/4 c. and 2/3 c. measuring cups. Really handy.

I forgot to add the Timer On A Rope that Peppi gave me several years ago. It has saved many a meal.

I brought my Nicer Dicer (like the Vidalia Onion Chopper) to PFPP because I didn't want to chop potatoes & onions without it.