H gave me a food processor more than 20 years ago. I used it once or twice, then stuck it in the back of the cabinet. Recently I reorganized my cabinets and now that it’s accessible, I’ve been using it a lot. I even bought a mini that I use frequently. I don’t know what my hangup was (the blade? Little kids?) back then but I’m glad I kept it!
Same story with my Kitchenaid stand mixer. It was from MIL, and I’m finally using it and appreciate what it can do.
Anyone else change their mind about an appliance/gadget?
First I must say I love my Kitchenaid stand mixer.
I just found our ice cream maker in the garage. When my kids were little we used it all the time - it’s a pain to use and time consuming, but we made some great flavors. Plan to make some cookie dough ice cream tomorrow.
My old bread machine. Use it to make the dough for yeast rolls. For some strange reason, I hate to knead dough.
I almost gave away our rice cooker because we never used it when I saw that you can make steel cut oats in it!
Win! I have perfectly made oatmeal every morning and no longer have to stand and watch/stir the pot!
My food processor sits out on the counter permanently. I use it at least once a week and sometimes more.
I’m not a gadget person but the two you named - food processor and Kitchenaid stand mixer - are the ones I use constantly.
I don’t use my KA mixer often but I love just having it around.
I use most of my gadgets since “kondoing” my kitchen and making things more accessible.
My old bread machine. Use it to make the dough for yeast rolls. For some strange reason, I hate to knead dough.
I’ve used my KA mixer more in the past 6 months than I have in the past 10 years. I’m loving baking again.
Mandoline. I was always scared of cutting myself and the holder/guard didn’t seem to always sit well on the veggies. But a few months ago, I saw this amazing invention - cut resistant gloves! Inexpensive and they work. Now I pull the mandoline out and use it a couple of times a week.
I’ve always used my Kitchenaid stand mixer 2-3 times a week, but I go through phases with the food processor. For the quantities of things I need processed, it usually seems to me that it will take me more time to set up and clean than to just chop the stuff. But I do pull it out to make hummus.
I want to hear more about using the rice cooker for rolled oats! I love our rice cooker and use it every week for rice.
You are inspiring me to get the food processor out of the basement. I received it as a thank you gift for unofficially mentoring a new employee at work I have never opened it. It is about 10 years old. I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer all the time and it sits on my counter – just never saw the need for the food processor and my kitchen is small with space at a premium so never even took it out of the box
@thumper1 my Aroma rice cooker has a setting for oatmeal. I just put the water and oats in and turn it on. It probably takes about 20 minutes or so but I don’t have to be around. Once it is done it will hold them in the Keep Warm setting. And my rice cooker is able to do just one serving - I never liked cooking a week’s worth in a crockpot and warming them up.
@milee30 Can you recommend a brand of cut resistant gloves? I did not know such thing exists either! I stop using mandolin, shucking oyster, since I do enough harm to myself with just knives alone.
A friend invited us for a Hawaiian themed dinner last weekend. She was trying out the NYT recipe for guava cake and I offered to bring coconut sorbet or ice cream, feeling sure Wegman’s would have some. When they didn’t I dug out my old Donvier ice cream maker, which I hadn’t used in over a decade. The ice cream was delish. 
I just got an inexpensive pair on Amazon. Think they were under $10. Both my son and I use them, so they get used a couple of times a week and we’ve had them about a year. There is a small wear spot starting on the thumb of one, so we’ll throw that away and use the other (I only wear one on the hand that’s holding the thing being sliced.)
Not sure I’d trust them to prevent a stab from the pointy end of an oyster knife, though; not because they’re not strong but because they’re woven which seems more designed for preventing slices rather than a direct poke which might separate the woven fibers. They might be fine, just not sure.
But they’re perfect for using the mandoline. When I wear one, I even slice garlic cloves because it’s no biggie to hold the clove and slice until the tiny nub. So much easier to be able to use the mandoline now.
@milee30 @allyphoe Thank you. My scarred hands thank you!
I agree about oyster knife. In fact I gave it away when my friend, a very experienced cook, stabbed himself and needed stitches at the emergency room. When I crave oysters, I go to restaurants. For lesser quality from grocery stores, I throw them on the grill.
For those who just pulled out their food processor for use, there was a cuisinart recall for blade replacement 2 years ago. Check your model number.
https://recall.cuisinart.com/
^ I did pull mine out to see the serial number for the recall whenever that was. Funny, even after getting the replacement blade, I still put it back in the cabinet for another year or more.