My Favorite Kitchen Appliances & Tools

I'm not a big fan of a kitchen full of appliances.  There are some things I'd just rather do without, even if the idea seems to be pretty cool.  I don't like clutter, but unfortunately because we have such a small kitchen and I cook every meal, our kitchen seems cluttered with just (what I consider) bare essentials.

Obviously, a fridge, sink and stovetop/oven are essential.  But I have heard of some who don't use ovens, or their oven is broken, so they use other ways to cook (campfire, crockpots, etc.).  Then you need enough plates, bowls and silverware for your family and guests.  Ours is so mix-matched right now because so many plates and bowls have broken over the years and we've bought some from thrift stores or on sale, so we really don't' have a matching set of anything.  I think it certainly LOOKS nice to have a matching set, but I don't feel it's essential!  I really like plastic for the kids - just don't step on them or they will break, too.  If you hunt, buy meat in bulk, or cook a lot of meals for your freezer, a deep chest freezer may be a good addition for you.  We have two - a smallish one that I use for freezing my garden vegetables, soups, meals, ice trays and small misc. stuff and the big one is used to store all of our bulk meats and wild game, milk, and larger frozen items.  I still use the freezer on top of our fridge for every day use stuff, leftovers that need to freeze flat before I put them in a big freezer, etc.

The things I use on a daily basis include my cast iron cookware, a combo spatula/spoon that I bought from Pampered Chef that no matter where I leave it, it's not supposed to melt (that's a good thing!), pots and usually a selection of bowls, whisks, measuring spoons and measuring cups.

The rest of our kitchen tools consists of a drawer full of knives (my husbands pride and joy), a bunch of bread pans and pie pans, glass jars for storage, big measuring bowls, casserole dishes, brownie pans and cutting boards are stored on their ends in a cabinet next to my stove.  Big mixing bowls, drying racks and cookie sheets are stored in my oven (for last of a better spot), bit pots and cast iron is stored beneath our oven, a drawer for silverware and misc. kitchen 'stuff' like a mellon baller, orange peeler, zester, egg slicer, toddler forks/spoons, syringes for medication, special serving spoons and misc. stuff that we don't use all that often.  I have a hand operated food mill, pressure canner and canning jars under my counter and misc. flower vases, big mugs and misc. storage containers. 

Next to my oven I have a wire closet organizer type thing that holds all of our herbs and spices.  I have big flower vases filled with frequent cooking utensils like spatulas, spoons, tongs, wire whisks, rolling pins, etc. My oven mitts are hanging from a nail on a cabinet next to my stove.

On a regular basis (4-7 times a week) I find myself using my food processor (making baby cereal and food, grinding nuts for meals, pureeing vegetables for meals (gotta hide those veggies somehow!), making pie dough when I'm too lazy to cut in the butter myself, etc.), crockpot (I think this is a busy persons best friend!), and recently my new KitchenAid Stand Mixer (a blessing from my mother this past Christmas). My food saver while not vital for cooking has been vital for food storage.  I try not to package raw meats in it too much because I can't re-use the bags that way but I do package raw stew beef and stuff like that.  Our leftovers, stocks and soups are all food saved to conserve space in our freezer and ensure they store in a way that will allow them to be used over a long period of time.

Once in a while we use our electric griddle for waffles, and once in a blue moon we use our fryer.

I have an electric hand mixer that I think we'll end up freecyling before long, and another handheld long straight mixer that we'll be using for soapmaking (and it's got a whisk attachment and some other sort of attachment that my husband was excited about), an electric knife (my husband likes to use it for carving turkey and cutting bread, but I barely use it).  I think that is the extent our our electric appliances.  We used to have a bread baking machine but I didn't like the hard crust or the hole that was left on the bottom so I freecycled that.  We also had a salad shooter (yes, that thing was ancient) and a popcorn popper.  All freecycled.  I don't mind cutting my own salad fixings and we pop popcorn on the stovetop so they were not needed in our kitchen.