Our toaster oven gets used quite a bit too - especially for smaller quantities of things that might otherwise go in the oven - and yep, helps not to heat up the kitchen in the summer. The toaster oven also heats up faster. Reheating things that you want to be crisp (not mushy like the microwave might produce).
I’m really inspired to try and clean my counter space up - but I need to do this when NO ONE is around and I have some time to think!
We have everything out: rice cooker, nespresso machine, two coffee grinders (should be one but… Oh it’s complicated), coffeemaker, toaster oven, Kitchen aid mixer (way too big to put away), blender and micro wave. We do put away the Instapot, food processor and slow cooker.
I would love to have a dedicated coffee station and a dedicated baking area.
24/7
Kitchen Aid mixer (in corner under a corner cabinet…really not in the way…at all.
Electric tea pot- I use a French press for coffee and DH drinks tea. We love this electric kettle.
Toaster- this one could move below…but we use it almost everyday for something.
OTher stuff: crock filled with wooden spoons and other cooking utensils. Salt and pepper mill, sugar bowl.
Around the sink…soap dish (it’s special…was a gift from my masters thesis advisor). Liquid hand soap.
No appliances on the counters. The 1960s toaster is kept in an upper cabinet; it’s used only on weekends. Dh uses a French press for coffee, unless we have overnight guests, and it’s in the same upper cabinet. The Kitchenaid mixer and Magimix food processor are too heavy to lift, so they stay on a small cart in the pantry and are wheeled out as needed. We got rid of all of the made-in-PRC small appliances years ago, so that cleared a lot of space in the cabinets.
There’s a paper towel holder and hand soap by the sink in the island. Unless company is coming, a kitchen towel is usually spread by the sink to hold clean glasses or utensils that need to air dry. On the other counters are large platters on stands to hide the electric outlets, along with a few small pottery pieces and the S&P. The knives are in a drawer, as are the spices, kitchen towels, cloth napkins, etc. I have to clear out the junk drawer once a month or else it overflows.
Thinking about all this is an interesting exercise. Some of it depends on who is home. The coffee maker and toaster go away if the offspring are not around. I haul them up for guests if needed.
Paper towels I avoid for the most part, but others always expect them, so I keep a roll around for a few rare tasks like wiping a layer of oil into washed cast iron, and guests. Otherwise I buy packs of cheap washcloths for any misc needs and a supply of old kitchen towels, as well as pretty new ones.
In use and out are: the blender, compost bucket, a little stack of small cutting boards, the sharp carbon steel knives on the big cutting board, bowls of garlic and onions, salt, pepper and soy sauce near the stove, a few jars of wooden spoons, spatulas and graters, the hot water pot, the fruit basket, and the water filter pitcher.
Our most used small appliance (after the electric tea pot) is our rice cooker…but we keep that in a pantry cabinet. Blender and crock pot are also in a cabinet. So is hand mixer. So is waffle iron.
The ice cream maker and the bread maker are in the basement. We seldom use them.
I forgot one thing. We have a banana holder on the counter too.
“The Kitchenaid mixer and Magimix food processor are too heavy to lift, so they stay on a small cart in the pantry…”
Brilliant solution. I have a corner in my pantry where such a thing can easily go. 
@doschicos, we actually use our toaster oven for toasting bread and bagels, in addition to what other people have mentioned. I’ve considered getting a “slice” toaster, but it would just be one more thing on the counter. My kids used to eat a lot of pizza, so it was probably the most used appliance.
@zeebamom, what is a “salt pig”?
@inparent, it is used for kosher salt. I keep a little spoon in it or just grab a pinch as needed. Surprisingly enough, the salt doesn’t clump.
http://www.emilehenryusa.com/Salt-Pig-Spring-plu620201.html
Can we discuss garlic?
Maybe my problem is that I don’t use enough of it, but whatever I buy seems to go moldy/bad after just a week or so. I love the idea of buying a ton of it and keeping it in a bowl on the counter, but I’d never use it all and would just wind up throwing it out.
A specialty store near me sells peeled cloves in a plastic container. I bought that and froze the cloves in baggies, but when they are defrosted they seem to have lost their texture and their punch.
Is there some simple solution I’m missing? Or do I just need to buy new garlic only when I know I’m going to be using it?
(As opposed to onions – I go through at least five pounds, sometimes ten, in one week.)
We buy minced garlic and keep it in the fridge; seems to retain its potency. Real cloves are too much bother for me.
Garlic lasts a long time in my kitchen, next to the stove. It’s bananas I have trouble with.
@lookingforward : How long is “a long time”?
I put garlic in nearly everything, but you shouldn’t store it on a counter. It needs to be in the dark in a container that will allow it to breathe. Mine lasts a couple of weeks. I usually have a spare head in the pantry. Maybe you need a better source that sells fresher garlic?
VH, months. I don’t peel any section til needed and then only that clove (or more.) But I agree with mathmom that the little pots with holes are supposed to be the way. I may just be lucky with that spot.
You can also buy a bag of frozen garlic cloves. I like the minced.
I have “an office” drawer in my kitchen where I dump the bills, papers and can stuff my computer in if needed. Dedicated just to my paper mess. We actually have a den where I could work but never seem to get there. I like the kitchen best.
I keep my garlic with my onions in a rattan basket in my pantry so dark and dry. I don’t have any issue with it for weeks. Past that, its still fine but might start to germinate so I take the germ out to avoid bitterness. Best to just by a head than buying it already peeled IMO.
@VeryHappy Do you live in a really humid environment? How are you storing it?
IMO, peeled or minced garlic does not taste garlic-y enough. I do what doschicos does: store mine in the sack it came from Costco hanging in the dark pantry.
My grandpa used to make onion and garlic “braids” and hang them in the kitchen. They lasted a looooong time.
I just picked oodles of garlic from my garden for the first time this week. After they dry out I’ll need proper storage - anyone ever use items like these?? (i know, I know, more things to clutter the counter!!)
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_p_85_0?fst=as%3Aoff&rh=n%3A1055398%2Ck%3Agarlic+keeper%2Cp_85%3A2470955011&keywords=garlic+keeper&ie=UTF8&qid=1468516274&rnid=2470954011