If you could only have ONE small electric appliance...

[sudsmaster]

Well, I'd look at it in terms of utility.

You can mix a lot of things by hand.

You can make coffee with a stove-top percolator, or use a manual Melitta filter with a kettle of boiling water.

And then there are the stove-top espresso gizmos.

A Cuisinart is nice but I got by just fine for many years with a good set of knives and a cutting board - and a simple Rubbermaid manual slicing gizmo.

Blender? Hard to find a manual substitute, but that begs the question of whether one really needs to blend things to begin with.

But speaking from experience, making toast in anything but an automatic toaster is a nightmare. I've tried the little pyramid things you stick on top of a gas burner. And they suck.

So my money would go towards a toaster. It performs a function that is difficult if not impossible to reproduce any other way, and toast is a mainstay of many breakfasts and sandwiches.

 

[frigilux]

I was going to say my 14-cup Cuisinart food processor. I use an 11-cup KitchenAid processor for most tasks, as it doesn't have an interlocked food pusher that has to be removed each time you want to open the lid, but the Cuisinart is my go-to for bread dough...

...Of course I could use my KitchenAid standing mixer for bread dough, and making whipped cream and cake batter with a food processor is kind of lame....but I use the food processor so often to cut butter into flour for crusts, biscuits, and coffee cake topping. 

Are you sure we can't keep two small appliances?

 

I'd be willing to live without a coffee maker, a toaster, and my beloved Waring professional ice crusher if I could keep both a standing mixer and a food processor.  

 

Lordy, I am never going to fall asleep, now, LOL!

 

[kenmore58]

My avocado Presto Vertical Broiler. Makes the best hamburgers and chicken!

Ron

 

[frigilux]

All right, all right...after much deliberation, I've decided to keep the KitchenAid standing mixer. I have a mandoline which can be used for slicing and shredding, and I have one of those half-moon shaped dough cutters somewhere. I can learn to cut butter into flour manually, right?

Boy Howdy, it was a difficult decision to trade the mixer for a food processor!

 

[polkanut]

I would choose my avocado Mirro-Matic Whiz Grid it can toast, broil, and fry on both sides at once, especially crispy bacon. 

 

[westie2]

Our Kitchenaid mixer and the accesories we have.

 

[mrb627]

Draw the Line

At what price point is it no longer a small appliance? I say anything over $300 is a major investment an cannot be considered a small appliance

Malcolm

 

[kevin313]

What a variety of answers!

How fun to see which appliances some of us just couldn't live without...sorry if I gave anyone nightmares over the thought of only being able to keep just one! The bad dream is over...we can all wake up and fire up our toasters, blenders, perculators, Mixmasters and food processors all at the same time!

 

[toggleswitch]

Slow-cooker/ Crock-pot. There is nothing else like it.

I can make coffee in a saucepan (Turkish-style) and strain it ................

I once did this at a Thanksgiving dinner where the host was just moving in and had nothing unpacked. The guests were amazed.

My naughty answer was, "If I can do this with 'no' equipment, imagine if I had some decent equipment." (Only the homos present cracked a smile). LOL

 

[tomturbomatic]

I would be forced to pick up a very non-electric chef's knife or a gun and force that obviously insane person out of my house or invite their soul to stick around and watch me use my blue & white Hoover Floor-a-Matic to clean up the blood they would be leaving behind.

 

[lordkenmore]

"At what price point is it no longer a small appliance? I say anything over $300 is a major investment an cannot be considered a small appliance "

Using this rule of thumb, I suppose one solution would be go to eBay and bid $301 on a coffee maker, $301 on a hand mixer, $301 on a blender....

 

[whirlpolf]

my TM 3300, definately.

...

 

[tolivac]

I just can't narrow it down to one-we all just have to have our electric and electronic "servants"---Oh yes-STILL haven't heard from the Thermomax folks for a demo!!Submitted a web request a couple months ago.Wanted to see it in person.Price really isn't the determining factor on "small appliance" its said that those which are portable and can be lifted and moved around.

 

[liberator1509]

Kenwood Chef

has got to be the one...

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

I would have to make it my COFFEE MAKER... Don't know why, but...--Zzzzzzzz...

-- Dave

 

[richukbristol]

I agree with David and the other guys, I would be my Kenwood Chef.
Rich

 

[petek]

Probably my Bosch Universal mixer with the blender and food processor attachements.. does that count as one. LOL

 

[tolivac]

Guess if I really had to narrow it down to one-probably would vote for the Kenwood mixer with the blender attachment.Do attachments count?I have 3 of those machines,one Under Rival,another under DeLonghi,and Viking.Funny how Kenwoods aren't sold under the Kenwood name in the US.