Kitchen Gadgetry

I actually gave my brother an entire waffle themed gift assortment for the holidays this year consisting of that wafflemaker, the book “Will it Waffle”, high-end malted waffle mix, bourbon barrel aged maple syrup, and artisanal blueberry syrup. It went over well.

I do like the idea of this, @ArmandoPenblade, and I especially like the idea that it’s not a uni-tasker. But I don’t think I can justify the expense at this time, since I can do those other things it does with the stuff I’ve already got.

I’ll wishlist it for further consideration, however. :)

-xtien

I’ve got the same setup and love it. I do have a question: do you put the waffle plates into the dishwasher? Technically they say they are dishwasher safe, but I’ve always heard that non-stick coatings should never go into the washer so I’ve been had washing them instead. I’m curious as to what your experience has been.

I have a griddler and tried the dishwasher on the plates at first. It didn’t really get them clean so I now only handwash,

So I make chocolate chip waffles about once a month and the amount of vigorous scrubbing with a soft sponge it takes to get the stuck-on bits of chocolate, uh, unstuck has been enough to expose a shiny ring of bare metal along the sharp edge of some of the waffle indentations. I figure something as harsh as a dishwasher would only be worse, so I’ve never risked it.

So, my grandma tried to give me an Instant Pot Ultra for Christmas. But being price conscious, she tried to get a deal on eBay and ended up with a very carefully advertised lookalike instead, and then it was out of stock in the interim. She finally got an order for the real thing in just now, so I should be receiving it later this week. Which means it’s time to stock up on Instant Pot (or at least pressure cooker) recipes. Any particular cookbook recs? Or I’d take a website or two, as long as you can vouch for them. America’s Test Kitchen did a pressure cooker (but not Instant Pot, or indeed 100% IP compatible, according to reviews) cookbook that I’ve snagged as I trust them, but it’s a big enough brand in the market at this point that specialty cookbooks are all over and of no reliable provenance I know of.

A bit late in reply here. Maybe you’ve figured some stuff out about the Instant Pot, but basically recipes for any pressure cooker need to only be mildly adjusted to work with an Instant Pot. But it will take a little of trial and error to get a feel for your pressure cooker.

Generally speaking, pressure cooker recipes generally expect a stovetop pressure cooker, which has a high pressure setting which is generally around 14 PSI and a low setting which is around 11 PSI or so. Electric Pressure cookers cannot get as high and generally run 7 PSI for low and 9-11 PSI for high. Your manual should tell you. In most cases, adjusting a recipe for an electric pressure cooker mainly consists of increasing cook time. I haven’t really found a need to modify liquids or other ingredients most times.

As for specific cookbooks, I can recommend the one below, but it might not be everyones cup of tea. It still takes a bit of trial and error for me to translate the recipes to my electric pressure cooker though.

https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Under-Pressure-Perfect-Cooker/dp/0544464028

And, I really came here to post this before I got caught up in all this pressure cooker talk.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CDWPFYO

Not many unitaskers get me (and I don’t consider a regular waffle iron a unitasker), but this looks tempting.

I love these bubble waffles from the stalls in the Chinese malls. I’m not sure I’d want one for home use though.

That would make a weird grilled cheese sandwich.

I just moved and have less counter/cabinet space for my kitchen gagdets and other bulky items. Adjacent to the kitchen is a nook that’s about 8’x8’ square (temporarily misplaced my tape measure, so that’s a guess) and I’m thinking that a prep & work table might be a good solution. Such as one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M87WG78

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01C4OJJ3I

Hive mind, what are your thoughts on stuff like this for smaller kitchens? The above is just an example, but seems to stand out in my research so far. I realize it’s not actually commercial quality, but I doubt I need true commercial quality in the home. Mainly I just need a place to put my commonly used appliances and some extra storage, and a place to do all the cutting/mixing, etc. Note that building an actual counter extension is not an option, as this place is somewhat temporary and I don’t own it.

I bought this thing maybe 7 years ago and it is VERY heavy-duty. I never worked in a commercial kitchen so I can’t make that determination, but it’s pretty much indestructible. Super heavy duty. And heavy.

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000GWED7I/ref=pe_175190_21431760_M3C_SC_dp_1

They also sell it with a wood top, and while I can’t vouch for that one personally, it does look more attractive if you have the space.

https://smile.amazon.com/Seville-Classics-Stainless-Kitchen-Bamboo/dp/B01BL1G9XI

Ikea website sucks for browsing, but I found a thing very close to what I have:

Only mine is longer (another drawer in the middle), and doesn’t have wheels. Mine basically looks like someone designed a couch table for the kitchen, it’s not terribly deep but is pretty wide.

It is probably the best purchase I ever made for my kitchen. Extra counter space, extra storage, doesn’t take up much room. it fit in my townhouse along a small wall dividing the kitchen and entry area that used to just be dumb and made it into an area that basically doubled our counter space with very little impact on our ability to move around the kitchen. The extra storage space (quite a bit, too!) was also very nice.

The Ikea looks great too, but it’s a bit less than counter depth.

Yep. Our issue was mostly not having enough space to fit in a whole new row of cabinets/counter, but something around half as deep (maybe 5/8’s actually?) was perfect.

Keep it coming! That’s the kind of stuff I’m looking for. So far I don’t think I’m seeing anything better than the Gridmanns but these are certainly more attractive.

Also researching stuff like this for my pots & pans:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KC3UJ50

We’ve been looking at racks like that. Nice.

Nesting measuring cups like this (also they have short handles) are awesome for the space conscious baker.

Bellemain Stainless Steel Measuring Cup Set, 6 Piece http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GSXFKYY/

They are also super sturdy, dishwasher safe, and my favorite. :)

(You need to look at customer images to see the stacking though, confusingly)

I’ve recently just realized that the top elements on our toaster oven don’t work anymore. The bottoms work just fine, but there is definitely no more broiler action available for us. It’s probably time to replace it.

Is the Breville one (that doubles as an Air Fryer) still the gold standard?

We have something similar to what Stusser posted. I’ll have to take a pic of it later. Essentially we found a heavy duty metal rack with wooden shelves at a furniture store. It was borderline as a piece of furniture. But it works as a mobile pantry. It had some low quality, shitty metal casters on it. We removed those and added high weight capacity rubber based ones that moved better and would lock. And that’s become something of a rolling, open cabinet for kitchen appliances and items. It essentially extended my small kitchen into my larger dining room, but we really needed more space to store things and get them off the countertops.

I had considered going the path of a work/prep table, but really, I was only considering that due to lack of counter space. Once my GF convinced me we really just needed to move things off the counter, it was an easy sell. There are still some spaces we haven’t gotten cleaned up in the kitchen, but I’m saving some of that for an eventual kitchen remodel and rethinking the storage in there entirely. And we will still have that mobile rack.