UnoakedChardonnay's Profile
Seriously Now -- Which countertop appliances do you leave out on your counter?
"Ifjuly": Do I understand that your kitchen is U-shaped? Maybe my friend's solution could spark an organization idea. She needed extra counter space, but only sometimes. So she replaced the under-cabinets opposite from her everyday working counter with a rolling cabinet. That gave her a lot of extra counter-working space when needed, but the cabinet pushed out of the way for the majority of the time when she didn't need it.
I wonder if I described it clearly. I can SEE it clearly...
Anyway, construction is involved, but could make a standard kitchen more functional for much less money than redesigning the whole kitchen.
5 Kitchen Gadgets you can't live without???
Soapstone cookpot (photo attached), we can't imagine a better slow cooker
Carbon steel French saute pan (37 years ago, seven bucks at the hardware store)
Stand mixer
Box grater
Garlic press
Counter Top Kitchen Appliances?
I don't know why we have an Omega Juicer. I just HAD to have it. What did I get for making my own juice every day? An extra 20 pounds. It sits on a shelf. It's in perfect condition. I can't imagine using it again, but I can't seem to part with it.
I will now. I'm inspired by this thread to donate it to someone who will like to wear an extra 20 pounds! (Of a regular day, I just don't eat four carrots, a whole beet, a whole apple, plus all the other stuff one is inclined to shove into a juicer...that can be a real weight-builder!)
Seriously Now -- Which countertop appliances do you leave out on your counter?
I'm like "fauchon," and believe less is better. On one end of the kitchen is an espresso machine. On the other end of the kitchen is the stand mixer. There is a toaster in between, but it's really getting on my nerves because it's clutter.
There is an electric kettle I use every day to make tea, but I don't even leave that on the counter.
There are a few appliances we use, like the immersion blender, and I did recently acquire a convection toaster oven (see? I need to get rid of that countertop toaster) because I bake bread a couple of times a week, but don't want to heat an entire large oven to do it. The small oven is out of the way on a shelf, and it works great.
But a rice cooker? A bread maker? We have pots and bowls for that sort of thing. We have a waffle iron, but I've recently managed to concoct a great pancake recipe, so...anyone need a waffle iron?
Can anyone recommend a good tea pot?
I may be a bad citizen, but it works for me. After trying every kind of tea pot, every kind of tea cozy, every system, I finally landed on something unorthodox, perhaps, but each morning, the last cup of tea is just as good as the first cup because of this simple item: a thermos.
I use a filter by Swiss Gold (I believe, but see photo below) that is long and narrow and fits into the thermos. I add loose leaf tea (and a dose of sugar) to the filter, fit it into the thermos, pour just-to-the-boil water into the filter (that is snug in the thermos), place a stone coaster over the filter to keep the heat in (since the thermos lid doesn't fit with the filter in place) and steep for five minutes. Then I remove the stone coaster, carefully remove the filter, pour my first cuppa, screw in the thermos stopper and lid, done. Open that thermos an hour or six later and steam still rises. Ahhhhh!
