Disappointing Kitchen Accessories

[OldGuy43]

My latest disillusionment with so-called labor saving devices came when I bought a little 3 cup food "chopper". I'm a reader of instructions and after the usual two pages of "Don't use this if the cord is frayed." and "Don't use this in the bathtub or shower."

stuff the first useful instruction said, "Cut the food into 1/2 inch cubes."

Heck, if I'm going to do that I may as well just chop the stuff the old fashioned way. I packed it up and took it back to the store unused.

Has anyone else bought something that was really disappointing?

 

[wyoDreamer]

I bought a mandolin slicer from Pampered Chef. You have to use the pad that comes with it to push your food over the blade because of the safety feature that raises the blade only when the pad passes over it so you don't slice the skin off your hand. I can live with that I guess, but the pad only has a smallish oval shaped opening to put the food through to the blade and the pusher has these spikes that come down to hold your food in place while you slice. I hate cutting the veg into pieces to be able to slice it, and everything comes out perferated. I like to put whole slices of tomato on a sandwich and my heirloom tomoatos just don't fit - last summer I had to slice one into thirds to get it to fit into the holder. I peeled and cored 5 pounds of apples and used the mandolin to slice them for dehydrating because it is best to use uniform slices for dehydrating and I was going to gift them to my neighbor for her kids to snack on after sports. After dehydrating, over half of the apple slices had black dots on them. Her kids are pretty picky and I know they wouldn't eat apples with the spots as I have seen them toss whole apples because of a single bruise.

 

[Oregon Blues]

A mandolin slicer is for a specific purpose. While I suppose you could use one for generalized slicing, it would not be very efficient. For uniform slices, the slicing blade on the food processor works a lot better. For me, the best tool for slicing is a sharp knife.

I have a mandolin because it is the only way to make radish ginger pickle. The radish must be thin enough to read through, and I can not slice that thin with a knife. The mandolin is the most practical way to make home made potato chips. It's for things that must be both uniform and very thin.

For dried apples, I use the corer/peeler. That give me a nice thin slice in a long spiral. If I dry the spiral whole, the kids really like those. Or cut the layers apart for a more traditional dried apple.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I now use the peeler/corer and just bought a new food processor at the Balck Friday sales. Well, hubby bought it for me, I was working. This KitchenAid Food Processor has an adjustable thickness blade for slicing. We'll see if it ends up on this list or not.
It made great dumplings for the Chicken 'N Dumplins on Tuesday night.

 

[donrae]

Pretty much any chopper/slicer thingie. I just use my knife and cutting board.

I keep looking at a food processor but haven't taken that leap yet.

I do love my little immersion blender. Broccoli soup, split pea soup, and turns even firm-ish avocados into yummy guacamole!

 

[wyoDreamer]

Last night, standing at the kitchen counter dicing up to the tomato to add to the stir-fry it hits me! After slicing and dicing the carrots, onion, zuchinni, mushrooms, and cabbage - I should have used the new Food Processor!

Oh well, it may take me a while to remember that I have a nice one now.

 

[OldGuy43]

Last night, standing at the kitchen counter dicing up to the tomato to add to the stir-fry it hits me! After slicing and dicing the carrots, onion, zuchinni, mushrooms, and cabbage - I should have used the new Food Processor!

Oh well, it may take me a while to remember that I have a nice one now.

Oh no, thought I was the only one who did stuff like that.

 

[galanie]

Pretty much any chopper/slicer thingie. I just use my knife and cutting board.

I keep looking at a food processor but haven't taken that leap yet.

I do love my little immersion blender. Broccoli soup, split pea soup, and turns even firm-ish avocados into yummy guacamole!

If you're good with a knife and a cutting board there really isn't much reason to wash, I mean use a food processor! It's so easy just to run hot water over that knife and wipe and put it away in it's block. And with a good blender (yesterday's food processor) I don't need another darn machine on my countertop. Oh yeah I have them all. And avoid using them whenever possible. Diced onions? Garlic, Whatever? Knife and cutting board. Easy fast and super simple to clean up after. I so very much love gadgets but no longer get them because they are always useless in the end.

 

[Happy Chooks]

The most disappointing kitchen gadget I have is a waffle maker. The waffles come out soft, not crispy. I'm not a waffle fan either, but it was a wedding gift.

I can't honestly say this gadget is useless, because I haven't used it yet. My grandmother bought me a personal pie cooker to my birthday this year. (cooks individual sized pies). I know she spent a lot on it, but I have yet to use it.

I also was once given the tater twister - went to goodwill without ever being used.

 

[BonnieDaleFarm]

I think every kitchen accessory I have had has been a disappointment. Bread machine, waffle maker, stand mixer, food processor, blender,...etc. I have found simple gadgets are the best. Plus makes for so much more room in the kitchen.