Living Large With Fewer Small Appliances
Oh How Large The Small Appliances Have Gotten!
Years ago, a small appliance was a hand mixer, or a toaster. Today, small appliances are getting larger and creating storage wars within our kitchens. Now that we are living in our dream location, in a building we longed for, its time to make some decisions on what “small appliances” will help us in our quest of living large in a smaller abode.
Friday Favorites
Knowing When To Let Go Of A Small Appliance
We have used this Ninja slow cooker for about 5 years. And when I say used, I mean at least 3-4 times a month. It has been wonderful for making large amounts of really good foods. It has been a guest at nearly every “party” we had in our larger homes. However, this puppy is worn out, the coating is off in places, and it’s a monster to store.
If you need 6-8 servings at a time (10 if we all eat the recommended portion sizes!) I do still recommend this multiple use small appliance. It’s a workhorse and made the “storage” cut in our kitchen for many years. I must say it is looking pretty good with a facelift but it no longer meets our current lifestyle. We have not used ours since moving into a smaller place in May.
Dual Purpose Small Appliances
The Stand By-Insta Pot
Comes In Red Now Too For Serious Holiday Decor
Some of the food bloggers I enjoy reading use Intsta Pots nearly every day. I enjoy the recipes and find I can convert them quickly to my old stand by dutch oven. Due to limited space, I am not ready to take on another large, small appliance. However, of late, these bloggers have been tossing around the “air fryer” concept. I guess Insta Pot has too and is now making a dual purpose machine. I do like the idea of storing one item that does many things.
The Old School Small Appliance
Thus we have decided to take the slow cooker to Goodwill. Someone will buy a new insert for it and have a super slow cooker that bakes and sears too. We will be using our old gem, a Staub Dutch Oven. It sears, it stews, it boils, it bakes and it cleans up like a dream. These are pricey and we are so thankful this was given to us by our dear friends who really “get us”.
We can feed 4-6 at a time out of this baby. She can go from the refrigerator to the stove top or oven as many nights as she is still full. If I lost it, I’d replace it immediately. She suits us perfectly and helps us in our quest to living larger with fewer small appliances!
Happy Holidays Coming Up!
As We Start Dreaming Of A White Christmas…
And a blue one, a red one, green, gold, silver and whatever other decor we find that inspires us! Let’s enjoy the whole month of December in our lovely homes with the ones we love.
How funny you are talking about this. We just had this conversation this week. We gave away our dehydrator when we downsized 4 years ago because I said I could use the oven if need be. AND we didn’t use it much at all .Do we miss it? No. I think we need about half of what we have…ha ha. But there’s no way I could get Rob to give away the Pizzelle maker…even though we only use it once a year.
XOOX
Jodie
If that is his first only vice I say let him bake away!
You are spot on with this post. We have small appliances we haven’t used in years. We have been getting rid of a lot of stuff that we don’t use anymore and our kitchen is our next project.
Use it or lose it and don’t rebuy it works so well in this area!