Essential kitchen appliances

Would you think me a bore if I showed you my favorite tools for cooking? Even if you do, that’s exactly what I will be doing today. Now, I don’t have the fanciest of appliances, but I have ones that work, most have lasted me a good while and I simply couldn’t imagine my kitchen without them.

Philips hand mixer

Let’s start with the oldest purchase in my kitchen. This hand mixer was one of the first kitchen appliances I bought when I was just a student. I’d decided I wanted to make my own cakes and pies and bought this on a whim, not even knowing whether it would be any good. I am not kidding when I say, I’ve probably had this thing close to 10 years or possibly even longer. And it still mixes like a dream. I mainly use this for making sponge cakes, muffins, cup cakes, cheesecake and the like.

Pineapple slices

This little contraption isn’t a torturing device and technically not really an appliance, as you have to power it yourself, but I still think this is a nifty little kitchen tool. It makes slicing up pineapples as easy as pie. You just slice off the top, then stick the center of the slicer over the center of your pineapple and then you press and turn. The result will be a massive spiral of pineapple, with the juice left inside the pineapple, which you can pour out and save for later. Less of the mess, but to great effect.

Blender & hand blender with accessories

Blenders are something I could not live without. My big stand alone blender I use for making smoothies. I just got this one last spring after blowing up yet another blender. After buying new blenders I am thinking of making a serious investment and look into a Magimix or Vitamix, but I won’t buy anything like that until I have a kitchen all of my own.

A hand blender is such an easy tool to have in your kitchen. Of course you can buy a big do-it-all kitchen appliance, but this thing was only €10 from Hema and it works like a dream. It came with a chopper, a hand blender and a whisk. I never use the whisk, but the hand blender is great for pureeing soups and sauces and the chopper works great for homemade pesto, hummus and cauliflower pizza.

Apple corer and slicer in one

How handy is this?! It’s only a small thing that doesn’t take up too much space and it slices up your apples in the blink of an eye. It cores your apple and then slices it into 8 different parts. So easy, so quick, that making one of my favorite snacks: apple slices with peanut butter becomes a breeze.

Spiralizer

My most recent addition to the kitchen family is a spiralizer! For years these were nowhere to be found in The Netherlands and last spring I just bumped into one. I used to use a julienne peeler for making zoodles, but with this, you can spiralize anything. Each string is as neat as the next and it packs a lot more flavor. I’m thinking of using this next week to see if I can spiralize some sweet potato and make myself some oven fried curly fries.

Of course I also have a kettle and a coffee maker, but those are not that interesting I think. The kettle I have can boil water at different temperatures (handy if you’re a bit of a tea snob like me) and the coffee maker was a gift from my brother. I no longer own a toaster as I hardly ever eat bread anymore and thus have no use for one. Plus the one I had was pretty much ruined by a housemate who insisted on using it for pop tarts and grilled cheese sandwiches.

What kitchen appliance can you not live without?