I find non-electric citrus presses to be so much more efficient and easier to use than an electric citrus juicer.
But I can’t imagine having a kitchen without citrus presses. They are among the gadgets I use the most in the kitchen.
I have small handheld ones for lemons and limes and a big stand-alone one for oranges and grapefruits. There’s no substitute for fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice.
I don’t cook all that often, but when I do, fresh citrus is likely to be a component.
Microwave,
Keurig (won it in a raffle and it’s in my son’s room, I have never used it),
crockpot,
toaster,
deli quality meat slicer
food procesor
Vitamix blender
waffle iron
deep fryer
electric can opener (I have RA and struggle with opening cans and jars)
Oh no. Trust me. I’m way lighter Microwave (though that’s a basic, not a small appliance), Keurig, toaster, George Foreman grill, KitchenAid. That’s it. (When my D lived here, we had 2 toasters since she needs to be gluten-free.)
There is a blender and a Cuisinart food processor in the cabinets and they haven’t been used in years. I’m not even sure I’d know how to work them at this point. I am sooooo not a cook, at all! Even now that I’m retired, I thought … oh, maybe I’ll start … naaaaah.
Drip coffee maker - beans are ground at the shop where I purchase them.
Toaster
Magic Bullet
Vita-Mix blender
Electric carving knife
That’s it - I do not have a microwave in my kitchen. I hate microwaves and cannot imagine cooking with them. There is a very small one in the garage used solely for the kids to pop popcorn.
Microwave
Coffee grinder
Brand new instant pot
Crock pot-- rarely used and now that I have an instant pot, probably never will again
Vitamix
Immersion blender
Toaster oven
Keurig in my office at work
Hand mixer
Waffle iron
Raclette grill – we used to live in Switzerland
I squeeze lemons and limes using my hands. The citrus is so cheap at Costco I don’t care if I don’t sqeeze out the last drop of juice. I don’t need much in the recipes I make - no key lime pies here, unfortunately.
I noticed that several people who list toaster ovens didn’t list toasters. That’s pretty surprising to me. Do you really not have a toaster or did you just forget to list it? No judgment, I’m just curious.
@nottelling – have never owned a toaster as no one eats toast. The toaster oven is used for either melting cheese on open-face sandwiches or reheating pizza (rare these days, as teenage boys finish all pizza). Tonight’s very lazy, hot weather dinner was leftover flank steak, diced peppers, tomatoes & avocado, with shredded cheddar on corn tortilla. Heated them open face in toaster oven as that was even faster than turning on the grill. (Did I mention it is reallyhot out?)
Re: juicing lemons and limes. I find that I can get more juice out if squeezing quarters by hand, but when rushing, use a swing arm manual juicer—ancient, from Crate & Barrel. Tried replacing it with shiny new one from W-S, but it was useless and left most of the juice in the lemon or lime. I probably use the citrus juicer two to three times/week for salad dressings, marinades or cocktails.
Four knives and a large wood cutting board are most frequently used items in the kitchen.
@HarvestMoon1 – do you have any sort of electric mixer? What’s left off of these lists is as interesting as what’s on them to me.
You certainly can use a fork as a citrus reamer, or just squeeze limes by hand, but I had a feijoada party for 30 once and would not want to squeeze limes for caipirinhas for 30 with just my hands or just a fork!
ETA: swing arm manual juicer is what I meant by “stand alone citrus press.” I do think those heavy duty swing arm manual juicers are the easiest and most efficient way to get all the juice out. And it is the least likely to ruin my carrara marble counters that are severely allergic to citrus.
When you say electric mixer do you mean the appliance with those rotating/spinning arms? No I do not own one of them. My baking consists of brownies which I can mix in a bowl by hand.
So interesting. As I said, I don’t cook that much but I do rely on my handheld electric mixer for creaming butter and sugar for chocolate chip cookies and for whipping cream, and other similar tasks. Making frosting, that kind of thing.
I also have a KitchenAid stand mixer but rarely drag it out of the pantry. Might donate it to my sister.
Correction re caipirinhas – now that I think about it, we hand-muddled all those limes for those freaking caipirhinas one by one with a wooden muddler. Never again. Do not recommend. But serving caipirinhas to a crowd does not require a citrus press/ swing arm thingamajig.
I have seen really tall juicers with massive swing arms but that would be overkill for my limited uses.
Agree with you about need for small hand-held mixer although I would drag out the Kitchen Aid if making frosting. Of course, I would need to thoroughly wash all the dust off of each piece first…
Making frosting? LOL @notelling I usually just use Nocciolata which is a higher quality and organic version of Nutella. My local bakery is also willing to sell me small tubs of their homemade frosting if I want something other than chocolate.
I forgot I have a hand mixer, an electric carving knife, a shake/malt maker, and an ice cream maker. All used once a year. I guess I keep them because I have space for them.
@CT1417 – Oh, okay, got it. That’s what I would call a “handheld citrus press.” I have a couple of those for limes and one for lemons that I bought in Ensenada, Mexico ages ago and that work GREAT. Not as cute as the lime green ones though!