Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend! It certainly was springtime here in Chicago with lots of sun and warm temps. Yesterday, I attended the annual Home & Housewares Show here in Chicago and this year did not disappoint! It was a wonderful 3 day trade show (not open to the public) hosted by the International Housewares Association (IHA) that focuses on promoting the sales and marketing of housewares.
Attending the show is one of my yearly highlights because I network with various companies dedicated to specialty gourmet food and culinary related products as well as area restaurants to work with for my blog and my culinary event planning with What’s Cookin Chicago. I’ve made quite a few connections and there will be a lot of great giveaways in store for our weekly Foodie Freebie Fridays as well as some amazing culinary events planned for What’s Cookin Chicago. I hope you stay tuned because there is some great fun in store for both my blog readers and fellow Chicagoans!
Another perk to attending the Home & Housewares show is the opportunity to meet some celebrity chefs. This year I couldn’t stay as long as I wanted due to some outside appointments I had in the afternoon, however I did get the chance to meet chefs and received autographed cookbooks from:
George Duran
Takashi Yagihashi
Sadly, the fabulous pictures I took with and of the chefs have to be put on hold because I packed away my camera cord… and I just can’t sort through the 40+ boxes right now. But I do promise that I will post and share them in 10 days – which is when we move and unpack!
For this week’s Foodie Freebie Friday, I want to pamper readers with housewares since I’ve been inspired by all the wonderful things I saw at the Home & Housewares trade show. This week, I’m giving away $150 worth in Pampered Chef products, chosen by one lucky reader!
Headquartered just outside of Chicago, in Addison, IL, Pampered Chef is a “premier direct seller of essential kitchen tools and part of the Berkshire Hathaway family of businesses. The Pampered Chef® and its sales force of Independent Pampered Chef® Consultants have been helping families prepare quick, delicious meals since 1980” — Pampered Chef Website
For more than 20 years, The Pampered Chef® has been helping to gather families around the table for quick, delicious meals that are as much fun to prepare as they are to eat. The business was launched in 1980 by company Founder and Chairman, Doris Christopher — an educator, home economist and mother who saw the need for professional-quality kitchen tools in the everyday kitchen.
Capitalizing on her knowledge of food preparation techniques and her natural talent for teaching, Christopher amassed an inventory of what she considered to be the essential home kitchen tools, promoted them under The Pampered Chef® name and began showcasing them at in-home cooking demonstrations called Cooking Shows.
We believe that multipurpose tools are the cornerstone of an efficient kitchen, and we’re committed to developing timesaving tools, tips and recipes that enhance shared mealtime and suit busy lifestyles. Our products are designed to be used in more than one way, so kitchens are no longer cluttered with rarely used utensils.
I’ll leave it up to the lucky reader to decide what items they want to choose from the online catalog worth $150! So if you have been wanting to stock up on some housewares from kitchen tools, bakeware, cookware, servingware and more, this is an Foodie Freebie Friday you don’t want to miss out on!
Some guidelines:
– Giveaway is only for those who live in the United States. My apologies to my international readers!
– You must have a valid email address so that you can be contacted if you win.
To enter the giveaway, leave a comment answering:
– What’s a kitchen gadget or tool you have but never use? Is there a story behind how you ended up with the gadget/tool? (Late night informercial perhaps?) I’d love to hear all about it!
Deadline: Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 12 midnight CST.
One Winner will be randomly chosen by Random.Org’s Interger Generator based on the number of your comment and will be announced on Friday, March 27, 2009. Good luck!
there isnt too much in my kitchen that i dont use, but i just had to have the little dippers by crockpot..i got two actually..i thought they would be perfect for a variety of dips at parties rather than one..well they are so small that no matter what i have needed bigger dishes of dips for our parties or i just use our fondue pots..so my little dippers are def a waste in my kitchen..i hope to one day use them, but right now they are BOTH collecting dust! LOL..
great giveaway..hope it chooses me!!! 🙂
I actually have 2 fondue pots that get pretty much no use. I was so excited about them and all of the yummy fondue I was going to make. I think I’ve used them once. :/
Once again, great giveaway!! Good question…I would have to say my manual mini chopper. Honestly I forget I have it. I usually use a knife or food processor. Thanks to this post, maybe I should try to use it more.
I bought an alligator chopper and thought I would use it all the time because I am really sensitive to onions and chopping an entire one was always a two-step process … chop, cry, wait, finish chopping.
But I still need to slice whatever veggie I want chopped before putting it in the alligator chopper, for it’s second slice. So annoying! AND, creates more of a mess to clean up! Believe it or not, but I use my Pampered Chef chopper more now, because it doesn’t the trick without pre-slicing the veggies. And, I light a candle next to my cutting board when I chop onions and that has relieved some of my weeping 🙂
Pastry cutter! It was an impulse buy and whenever I try to use it I just get so frustrated and give up.
What a wonderful giveaway!
I’d say that my least-used kitchen tool is my panini press. I registered for it when I got married, thinking that I’d make all sorts of delicious melty sandwiches! Well, it takes up a lot of room and has found permanent residence in my basement. I find it’s just easier to use a skillet on my cook top! Oh well!
Great giveaway! I have a TINY Boston kitchen, so I don’t have the luxury of keeping kitchen gadgets that I don’t use. I would say the one I use least is my pastry brush, but when you need it, it’s perfect.
I have a small foreman type grill that we’ve never used. It’s really too small to be of use.
Great give away!
There isn’t much in my kitchen I don’t really use. But I guess if I had to pick I would say our fondue pot, we just don’t use it that often.
I’d have to say, it’s our blender, that we really wanted and putted it on our wedding registry. We got it out of the box at least, but it just sits in the cabinet! I guess we should get it out and use it!
The one thing that I bought was my garlic peeler…little silicone thing that you roll with garlic in it to get the outer skin off. I never use it! LOL!! I’d rather crush the garlic to get the peel off!
my kitchenaid actually….My kitchen is so small i didn’t have room for it on my counter and so I always forgot to get it out when I was doing anything that would call for it. I eventually ended up giving it back to my parents.
However we are moving out of this tiny apt soon and hopefully will have lots of great kitchen space to fill with awesome tools!
(email is in about page of blog)
Great giveaway! I have to say that we never use our coffee pot. I was just talking to my husband this weekend about putting it away in a closet since we never use it. My husband is the only one that drinks coffee, but he usually just goes to the coffee shop down the street from his office – it is great for networking! I think I will be putting it away tonight!
I would say the least used gadget in our kitchen would be our fondue pot. I just HAD to have it b/c me and DH really enjoy fondue & I thought we would use it often. I think we've used it once or twice. We normally end up going out for fondue when we have a taste for it.
I don’t typically keep anything that I don’t use, but I have a garlic press given to me as a gift, that I’ve never used. They seem to make more of a mess/more clean up than actually be helpful. I have pretty good knife skills so I prefer to smash and chop garlic using my chef knife, than fiddle with a gadget!
For my wedding shower I got a self turning can opener. I used it until the first set of batteries died (quickly might I add) and now it sits, taking up space in my drawer and I’ve gone back to my electric can opener. I guess I should just toss it.
I have a fair amount of equipment that I don’t use often, but I’m still glad I have. I can only think of one thing that was a poor purchase – an 11-inch tart pan. I eventually realized that most tart recipes call for a 9-inch pan, which I can never find in stores.
I never use our salad spinner/cleaner thing. I really liked the idea of it, and had used my sister’s before and liked it. But it’s big and bulky and I usually just rinse the lettuce off by hand.
The tool that I haven’t used yet is my candy thermometer. I’m just a little intimidated by the whole candy making process! What a fabulous giveaway!
creme brulee torch. it was a wedding gift (4 years ago), and we love creme brulee, we just haven’t gotten around to using it.
This more of an appliance, but for my wedding shower, my great-great aunt gave me a water heating pitcher. I have never used it. I can think of a number of ways it would be handy, but I never think to use it when the time comes.
Oooh after receiving your PC catalog I think I can come up with a way to burn through that $150 😉
My item would probably be our Rival Digital Griddle. We hardly EVER use it. We have to force ourselves to use it for bacon and sausage on Saturday mornings and even then we usually end up cooking stovetop 😉
I really use everything pretty frequently but have not used my waffle iron as much as I thought I would. It’s great to have when needed for a nice breakfast (or breakfast for dinner!) but it isn’t used as much as every other gadget.
I have a small fondue pot that I bought when it was on sale at Le Gourmet Chef. I bought it on a whim, thinking I was going to use it. I think it’s been 3 or 4 years, and it’s still in the package.
One tool I never use is my mandoline. It’s sad because I’m sure it would be incredibly helpful, but I’m always too lazy to get it out, or I just forget altogether!
One of the gadgets that I received years ago is the George Foreman grill. We just don’t use it anymore now that we have a house and have a real grill. The food just doesn’t taste the same compared to a real grill!
And this is a great giveaway!
jnmiller at mywdo dot com
It’s sad…I never use my blender!!! I always end up using my 11 cup food processor or the mini-prep to mix everything, I have a hand blender that I’ve used more. I also have an oxo food mill…it’s still in the box. I was planning on making gnocci…haven’t gotten to it yet!!
Oh, I really want to win this one!
I have one of those little choppers (where you hit the top repeatedly to chop what is under the blades), and I never use it! It is just so time intensive to clean. Now that I have a good set of knives, I just use those!
I have a cookie press that I have never used. It’s still in the box. I make cookies all the time so I think it is ironic that I haven’t used it! I keep thinking that I’ll use it when the holidays come, but then another year comes and goes…
We have an espresso maker, but we rarely use it. We have such a small kitchen, which means we can’t keep it on the counter. We have it packed away because we have very little counter space, as well. Getting it out is such a hassle. One day, we’ll use it more frequently (or so I hope)!
I don’t bake much, but I used to imagine I would bake more – I like the results, but don’t much like baking. So of the collection of baking items I rarely use, I’ll pick the flan pans 🙂
There’s isn’t much that we don’t use. We do have a george foreman that we rarely use just because we have a real grill now. We also have a salad spinner that I rarely use. Perhaps when we have kids, we’ll use it more often.
I work very hard to keep unitaskers out of my kitchen because it’s SMALL.
One thing I have that I never use is my garlic press. (Ok, I will grab it in a real pinch)
Normally when I use garlic I need at LEAST 4 cloves, so I don’t mind chopping, and those things are impossible to clean. We got it as a wedding gift, though it was not on our registry. 🙂
great giveaway!
culinarybliss at gmail dot com
I love Pampered Chef products!!! Oddly enough, one of my least used kitchen gadgets is a Pampered Chef sandwich maker/press. It’s a wonky piece of equipment that only has one use for encapusulating bread together. I haven’t found another use for it since I got it.
Not much I don’t use because I recently moved, but there’s one thing, and that’s a hard boiled egg slicer. I’ve tried in vain to find another use for this gadget, which is very pretty looking, but I can’t think of anything. It was given to me as a gift from a committee I worked on – they gave it to me because they couldn’t think of anything else I wouldn’t have!
I have my mandolin slicer and rarely use it…I had to have it when I went to the Food Network (one and only) Great Big Food Show in Cleveland. So I bought one and have used it maybe 2 times since then…I keep forgetting about it! LOL
The other thing I got from the show was my Microplane and I use it ALL the time. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT. 🙂 I can always use some PC stuff, I’d love to win!
What a generous giveaway! I love pampered chef…although I have a lot, I know I could easy spend the $150 🙂
I bought the pc kitchen shears several years ago and I have yet to use them. Everyone talks about how wonderful they are but I just don’t use them. I think I’m afraid I’ll get them messed up! I need to break them out of my drawer and put them to use!
For my wedding, I received a popcorn popper, but I don’t ever eat popcorn! So, it’s been sitting in my cabinet collecting dust. Sigh.
– Eva (evitawylie at hotmail dot com)
I have never used my electric knife. Apparently my father in law thought we needed one…I have NO idea why. Two years later, it still sits in the box.
Wow – what an awesome giveaway!
Hmm.. I loove kitchen gadgets. The one I can think of that I don’t use is my spaghetti measuring thing. It’s a thing that tells me how much to use for 1-4 servings, I prefer to guess!
That trade show sounds awesome to attend!
I requested on our wedding registry a cheese slicer because we use it at my grandparent’s quite often. But that’s because my grandpa eats strange cheese and they regularly eat the big block of Velveeta. Me, if I get a block of cheese, it’s usually to be shredded so I never use that cheese slicer. Why, oh why, did I register for that?
I would have to say “The Magic Bullet”. We recieved it as a wedding gift. Though my aunt doesn’t know, I know the backstory. My cousin loves the infomercial, and when my aunt came to visit they sat down to watch it late at night. Before you know it, my aunt is on the phone, not ordering one, not two, not three, but FOUR magic bullets.
I’m hanging on to it, thinking that it would be good to make baby food with. We’ll see!
I LOVE Pampered Chef, what a great giveaway! For kitchen gadgets, I try and be pretty proactive with getting rid of things I don’t use, but I think right now, the fancy juicer we got as a wedding gift would absolutely qualify. We’ve used it once, but it is one of those things that we think we could get into one day, we just haven’t yet.
I really try to use everything I have, sometimes even searching out recipes specifically to help out lonely and underutilized kitchen gadgets. I do have one gadget, though, that gets NO love whatsoever–the avocado scooper my mom got me for Christmas. Do you want it, Joelen? 😉 It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gift, it’s just that scooping avocados with a serving spoon isn’t that difficult!
When my husband and I became homeowners, my dad gave us this clunky hamburger patty shaper/press. It’s stored away in the darkest corner of our kitchen cabinets and hasn’t seen the light of day. My dad saw it on a late-night infomercial and thought it would be a great housewarming gift for us. It’s more trouble to set it up and clean it than getting my hands dirty to shape burger patties myself.
I have a garlic press and have never used it. I really don’t view it as useful and find mincing the garlic myself is pretty quick.
I have a fondue pot in my kitchen that I HAD to have for my bridal shower. DH gave me such a hard time about registering for it and swore I’d never use it. But I HAVE used it – once. In the 6 years I’ve had it. Whoops.
I would love to win this PC giveaway, I don’t have any PC items!
I never use the cheese slicer that my husband insisted on buying. It is beautiful, but I relaly don’t serve blocks of cheese that often.
This is kind of embarrassing to admit we own and not really a small gadget, but a few years back I bought my hubby a small cotton candy machine for his birthday, we used it once and ever since it has been hid away in the back of a closet.
The tool I haven’t used is the french coffee press. We don’t drink cofee in the house (of course I cheat at work), so we thought a coffee press was a great alternative for our guests who do want coffee. Anytime guests come over they either don’t want coffee or they are like my mom and MIL and they bring their own pot.
I have a few gadgets I never use. I have a garlic press, an egg separator and a pastry cutter. Not sure if any of them would make my life easier or not….Guess i should give them a try!
I haven’t accumulated many gadget through the years. The deep fryer I received as a wedding gift hasn’t seen the light of day and safely stored in the basement!
Great giveaway…I would have to say that my crockpot gets far less use than I thought it would. Ever since I started following blogs I have had far too much fun trying all the fun new recipes I have found to bring out the slow cooker on a regular basis!
Really
I have no use for this machine
Christmas 05′ I was happy as a clam
Envisioning all its great uses
Christmas 2006 it was dusty
On the floor tucked away
Occasionally thought about
Kicked to the curb
Existence forgotten about
Rice cooker I don’t need you!
I bought an avocado slicer years ago. I used it a few times in the past but now I just use a knife.
What a great giveaway!
My husband LOVES tostones (or, banan pese, as they’re called in his country…). So – we make them pretty frequently.
I was surfing the internet one day – and read a really nice article about a Puerto Rican guy who invented his own plastic tostoneria – well, of course, I just had to have it – because it could be used to shape plaintain cups as well as normal tostones!
Well… I have never made the stuffed tostones rellenos, and, the plain tostones are much easier to shape using the bottom of a regular coffee mug and a sheet of parchment paper! No pieces to wash, no sticking to the plastic.
I have Silpat non-stick silicone liner for baking that I’ve never used. I got it as a prize for being the first to answer a question correctly at a pastry demonstration. I forgot I had it until your post; I always use parchment. Maybe I’ll remember to try it now.
What a great giveaway!
I was actually thinking about this exact thing the other day! The kitchen gadget that I don’t use is my bread maker. We registered for it thinking how great it would be to make homemade bread all the time and how easy it would be the bread maker. When I opened it at my shower I was SOOO excited. Well, I made one loaf of bread and it was awful…rock hard and inedible despite following the recipe. I decided after that incident that I would rather buy my bread from the bakery, ha! (Although I am slowly starting to get over my yeast fear and make my own). Needless to say the bread maker now sits in our front closet with boxes stacked on top:)
YES! Totally my fondue pot. Honestly, a fondue pot? I *HAD* to have one. Found a rockin’ deal on eBay. Brand new. Had a rockin’ fondue party… once. And there it’s sat in the box since then! We haven’t used it since way before I was pregnant and my kid is two. Doh!
I have yet to use my fluted pan I got from my bridal shower almost 2 years ago!!! Guess it’s time to make some angel food cake!
I have a little dipper crockpot that came with my big crockpot. I’ve never used it and probably never will. I can’t bear to throw it away though.
I never use my mandoline. It is in a cabinet and I forget all about it.
It’s funny that you ask this because I just used my breadmaker for the first time last night! My grandpa gave it to me when my grandma passed away and for some reason I never got around to using it. I can’t believe I waited so long! The bread I made came out wonderfully and I want to make fresh bread every single day now. Haha. 🙂
I have an apple slicer that I have never used. I really don’t even know how it got in my kitchen.
Great giveaway! I can’t think of a gadget I don’t use at all but my waffle iron is definitely not used as often as it could be. I’m always too hungry by the time breakfast rolls around to take the time to make waffles 🙂
My mini muffin pan and tart shaper, I had dreams of making amazing little baby tarts and muffins but it never actually crosses my mind to do so when I am in a baking mood!
I never use my cookie press (coincidentally from Pampered Chef) because even though I’ve had cookies that other people have made using the press, I have never produced one that I thought was worth the work. For years now it has remained in the box, neglected.
The kitchen gadget I use the least is my garlic press. My MIL bought it for me a few years ago but I used it once and haven’t since. She knows I cook with garlic a lot, so the thought was nice, but that thing is a real pain to clean. Plus, chopping garlic with a knife is not that hard.
I have a stone casserole dish that is one of those items I know I SHOULD use but just haven’t gotten around to it yet… when you only cook for yourself, making a big casserole seems a bit daunting even if what you bake it in is a very special piece. Someday I’ll try it, though!
I am going to have to say my garlic press…..I’m sure everyone just gasped. But for some reason I really like to mince it with a knife.
Ohh! This looks fun! I have lots of gadgets but the one that I was so excited about but don’t use is our Cocktail Shaker. I’ve used it to make Iced Tea with Lemonade. I guess we need to have more cocktail parties!
My mother-in-law gave me this weird little plastic ring that is supposed to help peel oranges. I have no need for one since neither me or my husband eat oranges. So it sits. I should throw it away, but I just know once I do, she’ll visit and ask to use it!
Great giveaway! I have a cheese grater thingie that I think I used once. You know, you put the cheese in it and crank the handle. It’s just too tedious when my box grater can do it better/faster.
I have a garlic press that I’ve used probably once or twice. I guess I don’t use it because it’s kind of a pain to clean. Recently, I was given another garlic press as a gift, so now I have two garlic presses that I don’t use.
I have the perfect pancake maker. I really have to say, I did think the infomercials for those just made me want pancakes not really the maker. My in-laws gave it to my husband one year for Christmas and I have yet to even take it out of the box…I don’t think he even remembers that he got it.
I don’t end up using my food processor as much as I want to. It is so bulky that I keep it on a high shelf and then I don’t want to get it down when I need to use it! And I always have difficulty working it–can never get the pieces to fit correctly. It was on our wedding registry and I really want to start using it more frequently!
I have a heart tart pan that I have never used. We rec’d it for a wedding gift but have no idea from who! There was no card on it – just a post-it note that read “To the Fidos”
our last name is Pfeiffer!!!
Ooo ooo! What a great FFF! The kitchen gadget I use least has to be my blender. Once I got a food processor/blender combo, I have absolutely no use for the full blender.
I have a decorating gun that is still in the box. I was so excited to get it but I’ve had it for a year and a half and never used it.
Ooooh Pampered Chef… Come to Mama!!!! haahha
The one gadget I have that I do NOT use is my Garlic Press! I love it, and I would LOVE to use it, but whenever I DO use it… I get a MIGRAINE headache! I spoke to my Neurologist and He said that there are so many oils released when a garlic press is used that quite a few people report getting migraines when using them… ODD huh?
Leslie
LeslieVeg@msn.com
http://leslielovesveggies.blogspot.com/
One gadget?? I’ve got about sixteen fun ones from my mother-in-law … a plastic orange peeler, a straw-cleaner (so you can reuse plastic straws).. the list goes on 🙂
I have to say a cheapo knife set that I got before I realized how much difference a few bucks could make in quality and handling comfort.
My breadmaker. H bought this for me years ago and I used it like once or twice when I first got it. We’ve lived in our current apartment for 3 years, and all it’s done is collect dust. It just seems like so much work. I like homemade bread, just not my own I guess!
Oh we have a few – all wedding presents! A soup tureen, a sandwich maker, and a quesadilla maker! All of them are on shelves in our basement because we have a tiny kitchen. We registered for the sandwich maker but it’s been used maybe twice in 3.5 years!
An ice-cream scoop! I prefer to eat it straight from the carton.
I would have to say my big cheese grater. I usually just buy grated cheese, so I don’t use it often! Great giveaway!
The show sounds like a lot of fun. I have a pasta machine attachment for my Kitchen Aid but every time I make homemade pasta I feel like rolling it out by hand instead.
My breadmaker!! It was a gift from coworkers who knew that I LOVED to make and eat bread – so they thought it would be something I really liked!! Unfortunately, most of the bread I make is good, old-fashioned, no-need-for-a-breadmaker bread!!
It’s not even IN the kitchen – it’s sitting in our basement on a shelf, collecting dust. 🙁
What a great show to attend! As far as gadgets we have that don’t get much use I would have to say my ice cream maker (KA attachment) since Hubby is Lactose intolerant I don’t make it very often.
I just had to have a mandolin this past Christmas. In 3 months, I’ve used it once! I totally thought I would be making chips, scalloped potatoes, cutting vegetables…but no. Not at all. It’s too hard to clean!
the apple corer!!! i find it easier to just get a knife and slice it the way i want!!!
I have never used a little wooden press for making mini tarts. I bought a mini muffin pan and the press expecting to make mini tarts or cheesecakes but I have never made them. I usually decide to make the full sized dish instead of “minis”. I hope to one day use it though. Perhaps for a New Years appetizer. THank you!
My mandolin! I thought it would be great to thinly slice veggies and what not. Um..to date I think I have used it once! You see I hate washing dishes and this contraption has lots of parts…they seem to multiple while they’re in the kitchen sink.
I think I will pass out if I win this one! I love PC!!!! I have a rolling pin, I never use it, because I never make fresh dough, but I make deviled eggs, and I put them in the PC deviled egg container. I put the filling in a sandwich bag and pipe in the filling, this should compensate for my lack of dough rolling, right?!?!?! 🙂
How cool that you got to meet all those chefs – I’m jealous!
I never use my salad spinner. We buy the pre-washed stuff now from Costco.
I got an electric juicer for my wedding, that I’ve used once. It makes a slightly burnt plastic smell when I use it, and I find that using the sturdy, hard metal, manual kind is way more effective.
I never use my egg white/yolk separator. It look like a deformed whisk and I am sure it does a great job but I separate the old fashioned way (using the sell).
Sweet giveaway!
I never use my fondue pot. As in, ever. And I HAD to have it, because it was from WS and was electric and sooo nice. And now it just its in the cabinet, longing for chocolate. Poor little thing.
I registered for an avocado slicer which I used once. It made more of a mess…it’s so much easier just to cut it and scoop it out! Oh well…at least it was fairly inexpensive!
Another vote for a mandolin. It is just sitting collecting dust waiting for Thanksgiving when the potato gratin will finally give it the chance to see daylight. 🙂
Great giveaway! Oh man, I have a ton of stuff in my kitchen I never use – 2 coffee pots, a Foreman grill, a quesadilla maker, bowl scrapers, ice cream maker, salad spinner, etc. I’ve used everything except the ice cream maker once, but probably none since then! Sounds like I need to clean out my pantry!
I don’t really have any gadgets that I don’t use, although we were given a slushy maker (?) for our wedding and that is sitting in the box collecting dust.
We registered for a quesadilla maker and have only used it once… its much easier to make the quesadilla on the skillet in my opinion. Oh well… 🙁
Probably the thing collecting the most dust in my kitchen is my mandolin as well. It is a cheap, knock off brand & has never worked quite right, so I never use it!
I think this is a GREAT give-away & if I won, I would probably have to get the PC version of the mandolin — because I would DEFINITELY use it more than the one I have now!!!
I would have to say that I don’t use my fondue pot. I got one for a wedding present and LOVE fondue– but just haven’t found the time/effort to make it… I will have to go find that fondue pot and make some soon!! Love the giveaway!!
I hardly ever use my blender. I had visions of smoothies but sadly it has been used once to blend soup. Since we never use it, it sits on top of my cabinets as decoration.
I don’t have much that I don’t use- but I do have a hard boiled egg slicer- not sure when that is ever gonna come out of the drawer…
I have a canning kit that I’ve never used. I bought it because the idea of making homemade salsa and putting it in jars for later use sounded great at the time. I just never got around to doing it.
We registered for a mandolin, I used it once, cut my finger and it hasn’t left the cabinet since.
I have an apple peeler/corer/slicer that I never use. By the time I haul it out and clamp it to the counter, I’m over it. Then it wobbles around and honestly does a really bad job of peeling, coring, and slicing the apples.
It was a wedding gift from our cat. Honestly- someone purchased it and had it sent with a note that said “Dear mommy and daddy, I hear you can make awesome curly fries with this! Love, Maggie.” It’s been six months since the wedding and none of our loved ones will fess up.
The waffle-maker we received at our shower. i loved the idea of it, and it was awesome the first time. After that, it always overflowed (even with 1 T of batter), and the outside burnt before the inside got a chance to cook.
That first batch was really tasty, though!
I think the kitchen item that I thought I would use the most, and now never even touch it is one of those quesadilla makers. I love quesadillas and used it for like every meal for a week, and then it got put in the “gadgets” cabinet and hasn’t been pulled out since.
I bought this crazy stand to help “organize” my pot/pan cabinet. You could stack 4 pans neatly and hang 3 pots… like on a pyramid. However, it didn’t balance well, so after a few tragic collapses, it was relegated to the back porch where it will wait for another job function.
Wow! I had to read through some other answers to find something I don’t use! Since I don’t have much space, I try to only get things I’ll definitely use.
I’d have to go with my Creme Brulee torch. I bought it because one of my daughters wanted Creme Brulee for her birthday instead of cake.
I used it once, and haven’t used it since!
i never use my mini bread pans. i always think those little loaves LOOK like a good idea, but i just can’t be bothered with them!
My rose bundt pan and rose cupcake pan. Used them one time for an client. Even though I buttered and floured the pans the cakes still stuck and I had to dig them out just to throw them away. arrrgggh. Still bitter about it.
wow i would love to win this
i had a KA pasta maker attachment and sadly i have only used it twice since getting it 🙁
Great giveaway! I would have to go with the crock pot. Would love to start using it more and I see so many great looking recipes, I’m just really bad about deciding what’s for dinner that far in advance.
That’s tough…I think I’ve used every tool/appliance in my kitchen and if I haven’t used it, we’ve moved 3 times in the past year, so I’ve thrown them out! There was a terrible zester my Grandmother in law gave me, that was hard to use and had a wooden box that everything was supposed to drop in, but since the zester was terrible, it didn’t work. Great in theory, but took up too much space-toss!
I have one of those choppers that are suppose to be used to chop herbs, nuts, and onions but I just rather use my knife. DH loves it so I keep it around for the OFF CHANCE he might cook. hehe
Well currently, none of our kitchen gadgets are being used because they are all packed up in storage… 🙁 BUT, when we get settled in our new home and unpack them all, guranteed the item that will seldom/never be used is this blender/food processor combo we were given as a wedding present (we definitely didn’t register for it!!!). It’s a lousy food processor and a lousy blender, I think the manufacturs thought consumers would be ok sacrificing quality for the space saving it provides.
I have a bread maker that I just had to have this last christmas. I bought it and wrapped it myself the day after thanksgiving and haven’t looked at it since the day I unwrapped it on christmas. Maybe I should stick to letting my husband by my presents.
I have this weird salad chopper/salad server thing. It looks like scissors with a spoon on one side. Yes, very weird. So the point of this thing is that you would put the lettuce in the bowl and then you start cutting it. In the meantime you can use it to also mix the salad. Don’t ask. I got it from my friend and she thought it was the bees knees. I tried it once and had no idea how it worked and why any one would produce these things. SO it sits in my drawer collecting dust. I should just toss it.
Ok..I bought the Magic Bullet, seriously thinking it would work. And yes I saw it on the informercial. It doesn’t chop well, so I decided to give up! I keep telling myself I might try it again one day…
Oooo Joelen you know my weakness. 🙂 Thanks for hosting all of these amazing giveaways!!
I have a smoothie maker that was a bridal shower present that I never use. I did not even register for it but my cousin’s silly grandma bought it for me anyway. It just sits up in the cabinet and collects dust. I think I need to have a garage sale and get rid of it.
This is a GREAT give-away!
I have a list of the misfit gadgets:
1. Kitchenaid mixer (sad but true)
2. Bread maker
3. Bundt pan (I need a GOOD recipe
from the good old days!)
4. Rolling pin (a blast from the
past)
5. Salad spinner
Sounds like a garage sale is in my future.
Well, where to start…I have a little electric frying pan, its about 4 inches by 4 inches big. My mom just thought it was so cute and that I should have it for Christmas. Seriously, what can you fry in that small of a pan. I mean maybe a 1/4 pound of hamburger? but why? So I have it still, it sits in the cupboard, I don’t even know if I’ve used it at all! It’s cute, but really?
My mother in law likes to buy as seen on tv items, one year it was a can opener, the next year the vidalia onion chopper, the next Shamwow! so I dropped the can opener, the vidalia onion chopper is just a waste of time, I like using my chef’s knives! lol so that’s my useless kitchen utensils!
I actually have two things that I haven’t used in ages but I really want to! One is a stovetop smoker (looks like a lasagna pan with a very tight lid) and my bread machine. One of these days, I’ll get going and dust these poor things off – I’ve made some great smoked meats and breads with them, and they deserve another chance!
I would have to say I don’t get much use out of my mandoline. I think I have used it only twice for the same recipe!
The pasta maker attachments for my kitchen aid that I just HAD to have. Tried one once, lots of work, and couldn’t get it right. I still have hopes of trying again in the future…
I got a breadmaker from my mother-in-law as a wedding shower gift…I’m ashamed to say I haven’t used it yet. Guess I need to find a good bread recipe!
What a great giveaway!!
I actually use most of the things in my kitchen, but the one thing that has never been removed from it’s box is a mandoline. I was actually given it from someone who never used it, and now I’m doing the same!
I guess I should start to use it, but I’m actually a little scared of getting a kitchen injury from it…so we’ll see if it ever gets out of it’s box, or maybe I’ll pass it along to someone else 🙂
The one thing we got from our wedding that I really never use is our waffle maker 🙁 Its just to much of a hassle to clean and im just not a huge breakfast person
About 10 little glass measuring bowls. Apparently people use them to put each adn every ingrediant into and then dump it into a mixing bowl. I use 1 of the 10 as a receptacle for my hamburger grease.
Gosh… I *almost* never use my pastry blender. In fact, I’ve never used it for its intended purpose; I only use it to mash the eggs when I make egg salad for sandwiches (so… very little!). In fact, I somehow ended up with two. ???
My electric can opener (gift from brother 6 years ago). I don't keep appliances on the counter and it's much easier to grab the manual can opener from the drawer. And everytime I move, I wonder why I am hanging on to it.