My Instagram feed seems to be full, lately, of people using these fancy glass air fryers to make their meals. I fully realize that the air fryer doesn’t make the meal, the chef does. But, what can I say, I fall under the spell of beautifully filmed meals with soothing voiceovers. The other reason I am susceptible to the siren song of a new air fryer is that I haaaaaaate using the oven when it’s hot out. Did I hate it this much in our old house? I’m not sure. But I get so sweaty and uncomfortable, and it seems like the heat lingers forever, and our ovens have internal fans that kick in automatically and shut off automatically and they take FOREVER to turn off, so it’s always loud in my kitchen when I cook something in the oven.
Of course, we already HAVE an air fryer. It’s perfectly good, although it’s a little on the small side for cooking entire meals. If we got a new one, we’d need to make sure it fits. This house has a lot of storage, which I love, so most of my small appliances are tucked nicely away. Which appliances would I get rid of to make room for a new air fryer? (Especially a nice extra big one, with dual drawers?)
This got me thinking about which small appliances I use and which ones are expendable. I feel like I have a pretty typical array of small appliances: blender, food processor, toaster, mixer, crockpot. Some of them, like the food processor, I use only rarely. But it’s handy enough that I want to keep it. I think I would jettison the wok. The wok used to be my most-used small appliance, but I haven’t used it even once since we moved into this house. It doesn’t fit into the dishwasher (grumble grumble) and I am very opposed to hand-washing things, so I typically make stir fries and curries in a big pot on the stove. Which works just fine. I have mentioned many times before that I am scared of our Instant Pot. It has lived in our basement for several years now, and I should probably just get rid of it. The only reason I keep it around is that once in a while we make these very tasty burgers. Is that reason enough to keep a rather unwieldly appliance around? I don’t know.
On the flip side, some of my small appliances are used so frequently I could NEVER get rid of them.
- My electric kettle. I use this every single day to heat up water for my tea. In the dark old days before I had an electric kettle, I had a kettle I heated on the stove. It took too long to boil and the water was always too hot and I didn’t really like having a kettle constantly on the stove, but it was not easy to stow elsewhere. And then I went through a spate of heating my tea water in the microwave, which was fine, although the mug always got too hot. An electric kettle seems like one of those frivolous single-use items but it is NOT, it is magical. I don’t quite know why it’s better than the other methods, but it IS. My only wish is that it could be programmed to make my tea at a specific time, like my husband’s coffee maker.
- My slow cooker. This is one of those things that, if it were to break, I would order a replacement immediately. (I know this from experience; once I dropped the ceramic insert and it cracked in half and I placed an order for a new one so fast.)
- My stick blender. As you know, I love a good smoothie and I eat one almost every day. I used to make them in my blender, which came with a smoothie cup attachment. But the stick blender is smaller and lighter and just as easy to throw in the dishwasher. Plus, I can use it for making dressings and sauces and soups and all sorts of other things. I love it so much, I have two.
- My toaster. My kiddo has been on a dual Eggo waffle and sourdough toast spate, so the toaster is called into service most mornings. I like this one because of its extra long slots, which can fit a lot of sourdough. It does seem to need to “warm up” a bit though; the first batch of toast takes forever, the second batch burns if you don’t turn it way down.
- My mixer. You know I am a huge fan of making ridiculous cakes and cupcakes. How could I do either without my stand mixer?! I’ve had this workhorse since 2008, when we got it as a wedding gift. It’s a little more wobbly than it used to be, but still works great.
I probably don’t need a new air fryer. Clearly, I am already swimming in small appliances. But I would be interested in your most- and least- used small appliances. And in your favorite air fryer, if you have one.
Here is a gratuitous kitten photo, for those readers who enjoy such things.
Oooh this is fun. I love my air fryer. It’s huge though. I keep it in the pantry – we have lots of storage here too, thankfully. It’s a Ninja, and it’s a double basket, so that meat can be on one side and vegetables on the other and they never have to be in contact with each other! I use it all the time. I actually think it works better than the oven to roast things like chickpeas.
I don’t have three of your most-used appliances – no slow cooker, stick blender, or electric kettle! My most-used would be the coffee maker and the Vitamix. Oh that reminds me! Our Vitamix container, the actual blender cup, seized up a while ago and Rob bought a replacement, but it was a knock off. Here’s where I remind everyone you get what you pay for. This thing works, it works just fine, but it leaks. So always I have to clean up the gross smoothie mess that is on the Vitamix machine (machine? you know what I’m saying) every single day. Then he tried to get a replacement, but they discontinued our type of machine. So he CALLED Vitamix and it turns out we have a warranty on it that expires in August, and they are sending us a brand-new container! Yay! Also, boo that we wasted whatever money on this leaky one but YAY WE WILL HAVE A NEW ONE. Now let’s hope the motor doesn’t suddenly die and we have a new container with a dead motor. THAT IS NEGATIVE THINKING, LET’S MOVE ON.
Okay, so coffee maker and Vitamix. I use my food processor a lot and also my stand mixer. Both of those are at least weekly. Jake has toast on mornings he doesn’t work/ have school so that gets used. Hmm. I think that’s the majority of it.
The Vitamix situation is harrowing! I am so glad that they are sending a new one, and it’s going to be awesome and no more smoothie goop. (Sometimes when I use the blender I overfill the cup with smoothie and it oozes too, so I think I know what you mean and EW.)
Which Ninja air fryer do you have, Nicole?!?! Maybe it could fit in the drawer where the wok currently sits, unused???
Essentials in our house are coffee grinder, coffee maker, electric kettle, toaster, crockpot, stand mixer, stick blender, regular blender, waffle iron, and ninja air fryer/instant pot combo. I rarely use my ninja as an air fryer because I have to do things in batches and just find my oven is more efficient. Maybe once the kids are gone (mine are 22 and almost 19) I would use it more. I primarily use it as an instant pot, it make the best hard boiled eggs!
I used to work in a kitchen store and my husband thinks we have too much kitchen stuff. I say you need the right tools for the job!
Okay, I am fascinated that your waffle iron is an essential! In my head, waffles are An Event. But it sounds like they are more common in your life? How do I make waffles a more regular aspect of my day????
Thank you for the kitten picture!
I use the blender to make smoothies, and am intrigued by the idea of a stick blender. Does it really work on frozen fruit? How bad is the vibration in your hands? With arthritis, I could imagine it being too much for me on a regular basis.
Otherwise, we use the toaster over a lot (for both toast and ovening), so that’s probably our second-most-used appliance. I have a Keurig, but I mostly make cold brew to drink iced coffee, so it doesn’t get everyday use.
I don’t have arthritis, but I do have trouble gripping things, and I have never had an issue with the stick blender. The portion you hold is pretty ergonomic. I have never noticed the vibration, either! I will intentionally notice it today when I make a smoothie and report back.. It does work on frozen fruit! I have successfully blended frozen mango, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and bananas with no issues. Some people are very wary of the stick blenders, saying it’s easier to get injured, but I have so far had no issue. Something to keep in mind though.
Those were dark days when we had to boil water on the stove for tea. Once you know better, you do better! I even went so far as to get a small electric kettle for travel because a lot of the places I stay don’t have drip coffee makers and it is Just Too Much to boil water on the stove even for a day of two.
We don’t have a lot of counter space, but even so the air fryer instantly earned a spot on our counter. We have a model that’s wide but not tall, and it flips up so that it doesn’t hog the counter when we’re not using it. The only downside is that the opening is a little narrow, so sometimes things are too tall to fit inside it.
Grump Instant Pot. I would use it a lot more if it was instant, but ours takes so long to seal. But there are a few odds and ends that it does well. It lives in our basement 360 days a year.
I had to take a break in the middle of writing this comment because Doggo decided to take a break from being the refined and grown up young lady that she mostly is. Normally she naps at this time of day but for whatever reason she decided to party in our upstairs bathroom. Act one was to fish a wad of tissue paper out of the trash and chew on it, act two was to chew paint chips from a section of the wall that’s peeling. Gah, teenagers am I right????
The appliances that live on the counter are the toaster oven, air fryer, and microwave. We have a regular kettle always on the stove– I have tea 2-3 times a day.
There’s a food processor, blender, and stand mixer in a closet in the hall just off the kitchen. Waffle maker and pizzelle maker are in the basement.
Oh and we have an immersion blender but I am afraid of it so I don’t even know where it’s kept, but Beth uses it.
Hee hee! More gratuitous kitten photos please!
I agree- the electric kettle is magical. I argued against it, because we already had a perfectly good kettle that sat on the stovetop. But this one is so my easier, quicker, AND now that I’m drinking green tea (sigh) I can just push a button to heat the water to the correct temperature (175, not boiling.) If that kettle broke I would order another one asap.
I use the blender to make smoothies (but I have an immersion blender- should I be using that?) and an air fryer, which, like yours, is inconveniently small. The toaster gets used, and OH YES, the other thing we use a lot is the rice cooker. Once again, I argued against that (can’t we just make rice on the stovetop?) but it really is so much easier.
I’m realizing that I have relatively few kitchen appliances. No food processor, no air fryer, no toaster. Hm.
I LOVE my KitchenAid and my immersion blender, though. I could never live without them. We use our Instant Pot A LOT and I would replace it immediately if it went down.
We actually used to have an electric kettle, but after we replaced it two or three times, we went back to just a regular kettle on the stove. We are old skool and don’t mind it.
The ones that live on our counter top and are used daily are out combination toaster/toaster oven/air fryer/pizza cooker/etc, cuisinart coffee pot, and coffee bean grinder. I also frequently use an immersion blender that also connects to a small food processor which I use fairly often. I rarely use my stand mixer, big food processor, or crock pot but wouldn’t get rid of them so they are stored away.
You should definitely get rid of the instant pot if it intimidates you! I love mine but have long used pressure cookers and they don’t scare me. The instant pot ones are pretty fool proof but you clearly don’t need it and those things take up a lot of space!
Lovely kitty photo! I can’t get enough of him. My most used appliance is my 30+ year old Krups coffee maker. When my son-in-law and daughter were staying here, he used my blender a lot for smoothies (I got it for my wedding in 1984). My daughter used my teakettle (not electric) for her tea. I am very prehistoric in my appliances so I’m the wrong person to comment. LOL
Hello Lenny! What a cutie!
I enjoyed seeing your Kitchen Aid picture! I’m still loving my mixer with cheese grater attachment. But I’m with you – I don’t want to start the oven when it’s hot out! I have an air fryer, but I hardly ever use it, and I feel like it gets really hot too. My favorites besides the mixer are my toaster, griddle, and crock pot. I used to have an Insta Pot. I had used it just a few times when the seal got stuck and we couldn’t get the lid off. My husband even used tools. We finally just threw it away with the food still inside. I LOVE my crock pot. I had an electric kettle that wore out and I never replaced it. I’ve been using the microwave. You’re right, the cup can get too hot.
Kitten pictures always welcome!! He’s so gorgeous.
I use the toaster, kitchen aid mixer, bread machine, and immersion blender ( the mini chopper attachment), mini waffle iron. I use my instapot for stew, corn on the cob, all sorts of things. Electric tea kettle for tea water, and U use it to pre-boil water for pasta, etc so it takes less time.
I probably should get rid of my crock pot, but it comes on handy at the holidays. Also the big food processor – I can’t remember the last time I used it.
oh, I have a deep fryer that lives on my counter – French fries and chicken strips taste so good. Homemade donuts when I have the energy.
why do toasters never work easily?
We have 2 different coffee pots, a toaster, a blender, and the kitchen aid mixer living on the counters and use an electric griddle (pancakes and sandwiches), a breakfast sandwich maker, a wok, a stick blender, a Chemex, a french press, a coffee bean grinder, a small veggie chopper, and a milk frother often enough for them to live in cabinets. The crock pot, Instant Pot, bread machine, omelet maker, and air fryer are banished to the basement storage room until we need them– which is not super often.
With you on the slow cooker, stand mixer, and toaster. I also depend on a small Cuisinart electric chopper and an electric coffeemaker. My kettle is old school, sits on the cooktop until I need it.
I boil water on the stove in a pot. Maybe it IS time for a kettle?
I don’t have an air fryer or an InstaPot but sometimes wonder if I’d enjoy having both?
I always thought I wanted a KitchenAid, but I actually don’t bake very much and don’t have much counter space, so using electric beaters works just fine.
We have a toaster that we store in a cupboard, but it comes out most days. It holds 4 pieces of toast which is genius.
I love my slowcooker; don’t use it every week, but use it enough that it’s a beloved appliance.
I dont know what we did before our electric kettle. its so nice!!!!
I think the only appliances I use in the kitchen are the Kitchen Aid mixer, the hand mixer makes an occasional appearance and the coffee maker. Other than that, the rest is The Husband’s. I will say that he loves his stick mixer and air fryer. In the event you decide to get a new one you can probably toss the toaster; since he now makes his toast in the air fryer (how? I don’t know).
Your mug! Your cat mug is giving me strong flashbacks to a book I had as a child! About a little kitten in a big box! Who then later is a cat and the box no longer seems as small! This is going to drive me crazy until I think of it!
Green Eyes, by A. Birnbaum! I’d thought the mug might be an image actually from the book, but no. Just: white cat, red box.
I don’t own an air fryer. Or a toaster. Or a microwave.
I do have a stick blender, mixer and a hand held mixer. Also an ice cream maker. A waffle maker too.
I have no place to put all the appliances. And probably own too many already. But I would love to try an air fryer.
So you need the little Breville countertop oven that I have. It is a little oven and it toasts and broils and proofs bread and ALSO IS AN AIR FRYER. It heats up the kitchen way less than the regular oven (and my mom carries hers outside to the screened in porch and cooks out there when she feels that it is too hot). We use ours way more than we use our regular oven. It’s also the only appliance that I leave on the counter. Everything else goes into the pantry. Our house is a big house and it has the smallest pantry in the world so I turned that into an appliance pantry (and for appliances and lunch boxes, it is an enormous pantry) and built a bigger pantry for all the food. So I have a place to keep almost as many appliances as I want.
I too am terrified of my Instant Pot, although I grew up in houses with pressure cookers in the kitchen, so I shouldn’t be? I keep thinking it’ll be so useful if I make more Indian food…
I love my stick mixer! (The air fryer, food processor, and mixer are my husband’s areas of expertise.) We have a slow cooker, but I’m too impatient to ever use it for dinner–I pull it out once a year to keep hot cocoa warm at our holiday party crowd.
I can’t with “hot things and plastic” anymore- so I don’t have a coffeemaker and just use a French press I can put away in a cupboard. And I boil water in the kettle but it’s suck a pretty bright yellow Chantel kettle I actually like leaving it on the stove- it’s like a statement earring for the kitchen.
I can’t with the air fryer for the same reason on plastics. My blender is glass. But dang it do I LOVE my food processor and it’s plastic. And I use it for nothing but popcorn now, but the microwave still sits on the counter being all plastic and blech. I got manically anti-plastic in the kitchen (as much as I can anyway) when my youngest was a baby… and it’s stuck with me since.
I have the same air fryer as nicole. I know this because she has shared photos. Or maybe it’s just that the name is the same. It is HUGE. I don’t hate it but I rarely use it, so I resent its constant presence on my countertop. We hosted over the weekend and we stuck it in the pantry and I prefer if there, in a would-be timeout. Coach bought it as a Christmas gift and he uses it sometimes.
my stand mixer is huge. Maybe it’s commercial grade. I love it. It lives in the pantry until I haul it out.
I have four crockpots and I love them all. Yes, I do sometimes use all of them at once.
I cannot think of the name of my blender that I use for smoothies, but it is better than my Ninja that broke too soon. I have never had a stick blender and am intrigued because it would be nice to make a single serving protein shake for myself with my dairy free milk and make a giant vat for myself people to keep in the fridge.
I used to swear by my Instapot. Did you know that you can use it as a slow cooker? My favorite thing to do was to put a chicken breast, a potato and a few carrots in there, hop in the shower and when I was out, voila, I had dinner! It was great. I also used my Ninja blender a lot. I do love an air fryer in the summer, but I mostly use it to roast veggies or tofu, so I wouldn’t really need a double slot or larger one personally, even when cooking for four. For single serving smoothies, I used my Ninja, or sometimes the Magic Bullet, which is not as strong, but will whizz up fruit pretty fast.
I have an air fryer and an instant pot, but I rarely use either.
I do use my food processor about every other month when I make a huge batch of dog food, so that I could never live without. Since I gave up bread (for the most part) the toaster is looking lonely too.
LENNY!
I sold my Instant Pot because I was too terrified to use it. HA.
My favorite appliances are my toaster (but I think I need to upgrade since it’s too small for sourdough toast), Keurig, and Crock-Pot. I have an air fryer I use infrequently, a popcorn popper, and a food processor. The stick blender is intriguing me! I don’t do smoothies because I just hate cleaning a blender, but maybe I need to investigate this option!
LENNNNNNNNY
I was terrified of my instant pot and didn’t use it for a year and a half. Two separate people offered to come walk me through the first use, and then I just decided one day. We mostly use it these days as a rice cooker, and it is the absolute best for that, and it is on the counter. I use my slow cooker a lot, but it is in a glass cupboard. Air fryer is on the counter just because it fits – I use it in fits and starts, probably will this week because it’s hot and the barbecue isn’t working and I’m also afraid of it and my husband is away. Stand mixer is on the counter although I don’t use it that often. It’s more about what looks okay and is bulkier than what I use the most I think, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?
Inquiring minds want to know – did you replace the air fryer? Did you ditch the instant pot? (There seem to be VERY Strong Feelings on both sides of the IP debate…)