Bob...funny you should ask. I just got one at our local thrift store for $10 since one of our other male cooks here had a recipe that just called out for one. I didn't have a pan wide enough and heavy enough for what I planned to make.

If you live in a hot climate some of these small appliances are nice as you can cook outside on a deck or porch and not worry about heating up the place. imho, elec frypans are like blenders. Great for what they're good for, and easily found at thrift shops for $10 or less. In a fry pan, make sure it's totally immersible (noted on the bottom of the pan).

You will prob have to put up with Harvest Gold at those prices, but hey it's almost back in fashion as a retro color. ;-)

I love to use my elec frying pan outside on the patio when I fry anything. That way the whole house doesnt smell of fried food.

This is funny, Bob. I told my husband I wanted an electric pan for Christmas. When I picked him up off the floor, we went looking. After seeing a Cuisinart fry pan that was trash (the bottom of the cooking surface was dented with the heating unit so that it was lumpy). I changed my mind. The next day I was at Lowes and cruised through the grills. Low and behold, a small black Weber dual burner was lurking in the back. Just my size, exactly what I wanted. We got it and I used it this evening. Wonderful grilled chicken! Good thing I didn't get a fry pan!

P.S. I have a well stocked kitchen and found I didn't have space to store a fry pan without moving a bunch of stuff I routinely use. A grill upgrade was my best option.

Somewhere between A) and B) for me. I love my electric fry pan for making pancakes, latkes, patties of any description, sloppy joes, stir fries etc. Maybe use it once a week. Slightly regret I gave my DD the better of the two I had when she moved out :-)

I have a large stainless steel electric frypan which was wonderful when I had a family to cook for, but now there's only me, it's really too large to be useful. But by golly I got my money's worth out of it over the years!

Being stainless steel, it was a breeze to clean, went into the dishwasher when there was room enough for it, it had a lovely flat surface just wonderful for cooking pancakes or fritters. It roasted whole chickens or legs or lamb plus veges; I even baked a few cakes in it when it was too hot to turn on the oven. It's great even for stirfries, as a slow cooker for stews - it's even good for frying! Great for French Toast, bacon and eggs, you name it. It's the only frypan I've ever had big enough to cook 4 T-bone steaks at once. Heck, there was at time I didn't have a stove, and that frypan stood in for just about everything - that, plus a microwave were all I had for months on end. We ate very well, thank you.

I love my electric fry pan! I use for what Colleeen does, pancakes, french toast, french fires, especially latkes. Get the biggest one you can. I had a small one, my grandma got a new large one and she couldn't lift it, so we switched. I use it all the time!

I have a Farberware, similar to the one in the link, but mine is nonstick! Very easy clean up. After years of using it, it got a little gunky on the outside stainless part, but a good steel wool scrub, cleans it up sparkling...almost!

Here is a link that might be useful: electric skillets

A! For sure. I use it all the time.

Bob, here's the one I just got...if I ever find a rectangular one rather than the square one, I'll snap that one up and recycle this square one. Yes, latkes too for this Catholic but Lithuanian girl.

When I was preparing meals on a regular basis for a bunch of hungry boys, it was indispensable. With larger portions of meat, like pork chops or ham steaks, it was great to be able to cook enough for 6 in one large electric skillet instead of dragging out 2 regular ones. If I wanted to fry a lot of catfish or chicken so we'd have leftovers, it was a huge time-saver to have that extra-large capacity and cut down significantly on the number of 'batches' needed. And I just never seemed to develop a knack for gauging heat accurately enough. So things that were very temperature-sensitive, like pancakes, never turned out well unless I had help from that little dial thingie!

A couple of years ago, mine finally died. With only 1 child left at home by then, I decided it wasn't practical to replace something that took up so much storage space since it would be used very infrequently. But after reaching for it a dozen times -- and then remembering I didn't have one anymore -- I finally broke down and got a fancy new Cuisinart. Love it! Can't believe I did without one so long. There are just some jobs that nothing else can do as well. The new one has a glass lid. You might look for that feature if you decide to get one. It's a nice little bonus to be able to see what's going on when the lid is in place. And ditto what dishesdone said about getting the biggest one you can. Unless you never cook large quantities, you'd lose lots of the benefits with a small one.

Maureen, here's a rectangular one, currently unavailable but maybe you can inquire at Cuisinart about it. It sure looks nice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cuisinart Rectangle Electric Skillet -- Cuisinart

The first thing I ever learned to cook, at about age 5, was pancakes using moms electric frying pan, The kind with the big long handle like a pan and the temp dial and cord on the end, not detachable. That thing got a lot of use over the years. Somebody gifted me a B&D square buffet type many years ago which I used quite often, again for pancakes but also stuff like swiss steak, casseroles. Then I sort of stopped using it, why I don't know, and I use stove top pans now. Naturally being the appliance collector I am I have numerous..in fact I just found this beautiful poppy red one not long ago, unused. It's a GE

Here's another one in the corner for an electric frying pan. I hve a wonderful Wolf gas 6 urner stove, which I use a lot, but we still use that electric frying pan a lot also. I prefer it for bacon, pancakes, french toast, a large quantity of anything. Mine is an oval Presto (not what I would have bought). I would likea rectangular one also. DH and I have been married 39 years, and this is probably only the 4th or 5th one we have owned, and we use them a lot.

My Mom used an electric fry pan several times a week when I was growing up.

How I wished I had one when we were in our temporary kitchen!!! So convenient and so easy to clean too! And they make the best pancakes and I imagine english muffins would come out perfect!!

Michelle

Michelle, I kept looking for a used one while we renovated (figuring I hadn't used one in about 20 years, forgetting that I was single and didn't cook as I do now...). The only thing I found while renovating (again, thinking I'd pitch it afterwards) was an electric wok. Useless almost...

I never thought of the heat issue, since most of our renovating SEEMED to be done in cold weather but at 18months, that can't be true. ;-)

My grandmother had cast iron skillets well-seasoned, but it was the electric frying pan she reached for when she wanted to fry chicken or chops. (The avacodo green one. LOL!)

For me, the answer is B. When I need it, I need it, but I don't need it often. And right now I don't have one. Grandma's finally gave up the ghost. I have an electric fryer we bought thinking it would serve as a replacement, and I detest it. I'm lusting after the one in PK's picture!

My mom used them so much she'd wear them out every couple years, which in a way was nice since there was something to buy as a gift! For years she favored the 15" size large Presto ones, which she later supplemented with a regular size one for when it was just the two of them.

I have an old Hoover, with a warming tray underneath. Don't use it a lot, but love having it and it's handy when I do. I used to use it when we'd to go the lake to fry fish in.

A couple of years ago friends of mine were throwing out the one he got as a wedding gift from his first marriage. Had never even been out of the box.

I use it a number of times throughout the year and find it to be VERY handy.

My mom had one on the counter during my entire childhood, and used it all the time.

If they are deep enough, they work really well for frying fish (and as many posters noted, you can move it outside so the house doesn't get smelly). I was given one when I went off to school. At that time I really wasn't much of a cook, but I made zillions of batches of Hamburger Helper!!

If you have the space for one, get one. The temperature control really makes frying easy.

I have an old cheap one. It's great for parties. Both for cooking, and for keeping things warm in a buffet. I just used it Saturday - put 2 layers of foil-lined gyoza in there crisp and warm and yummy.