The Kitchen Appliances You Should Never Buy, According To Professional Chefs
Do you have a collection of shiny appliances in your favorite hue that you lovingly display throughout your cooking space? While these colorful kitchen tools can add flare to your countertops, before adding another item to your collection, you need to ask yourself a very good question. Will you use it or are you simply buying it because it's the same shade of red as your KitchenAid stand mixer?
Instead of wasting money on a cherry-colored dust collector, it's better to save your cash for something you actually need. For instance, some consider a KitchenAid stand mixer a culinary must-have. Marco Arreguin, the Executive Chef at Puesto, told Insider that this is his favorite kitchen tool and that its many attachments greatly enhance its usefulness. Plus, Mashed dubbed it the best stand mixer of 2022. Lance Nitahara, an Associate Professor at the Culinary Institute of America, revealed to Mental Floss that both a food processor and a blender are necessities as each one does an important job. The blender is designed to create smoothness, while the food processor allows for larger chops. And culinary bigwig Bobby Flay told Men's Health that he has two coffee grinders: one for the obvious use of grinding his coffee beans, and another reserved for grinding an eclectic variety of spices and seasonings.
If you're still pondering that purchase that is less useful but pretty, perhaps you'd like to learn what appliances are considered a waste of cash by professional chefs.
Avoid the single-use niche appliance
Do you have an ice cream maker from the 20th century still in its box? Have you never found an occasion to fire up that baked potato cooker? Everyone has at least one kitchen purchase that they regret. Perhaps, by following the advice of professional chefs, future shopping mistakes can be avoided.
First up, some valuable words of wisdom from chef Carrie Nahabedian. She told PureWow that it's best to eschew single-use appliances and opt, instead, for things that have multiple purposes. Yup, for most people that breadmaker, yogurt maker, and egg cooker might not be the best choices. On the flip side, Shaun Quade, the owner of Melbourne's Lume, shared with Good Food that if "it slices, it dices, it's 20 different gadgets all rolled into one," it's not very helpful. He recommends owning a single high-quality knife that suits all your cutting needs. And culinary legend, Gordon Ramsay, is not a fan of the microwave. In fact, he told Insider that the devices are for "lazy cooks" and that they could never replace an actual frying pan for creating a desirable texture or browning.
Admittedly, if you love your corn dog maker, automatic potato peeler, or pickle picker, there's nothing wrong with that. Good for you. But, if you've suffered buyer's remorse more times than you can count, it's time to be extra cautious in the kitchenware department. Never fall for the vapid beauty of appliances you won't use again.