No. We try to avoid single-purpose gizmos and we especially avoid electric countertop cooking appliances. We have a conventional toaster and nothing else.

Both omelettes and frittatas are so easy to make in just a simple frying pan, I'd have to wonder the need for any electric gizmo. I made a wonderful frittata last week in my trusty old cast iron skillet!

I just hauled my electric rice cooker out of the closet. Haven't used it for several years. It's just the two of us. I made a chicken curry last night and have enough for another meal - so I needed rice for that and I also wanted 4 cups of cooked rice for a casserole later this week. The rice cooker does come in handy sometimes. We also use a toaster and I have several slowcookers that get frequent use. Lucille - hope you enjoy your new gadget!

I don't collect kitchen doodads but my dh does. He recently purchased a scale for teaspoon and tablespoon measurements as well as one of those whipped cream canisters that you use with chargers. Instead of using it for whipped cream he said he will use it to marinade meats. I have no idea how he plans on doing that. He also wants a salt box that some chef he likes has designed.

Let me tell you about the George Foreman grill in the very back of a lower cabinet…..

No, i dont. My mother had every doodad known to man In her defense, she was a great cook and these were her toys, but now it hasfallen to me to get rid of them. Several coffee makers, a bean grinder, at least five french presses, scales, juicer, mixer, blenders, food processor, bread machine, waffle iron. i could keep going.

I won a bakery basket in a benefit auction, and this knife was in it. It’s awesome, and lives on the counter in the cutting board (the kind with slats on top and tray beneath) with the bread basket. Perfect for buns and baguettes.

Not electric, but I’d count it as a gadget. We also like both the plane and wire cheese slicers (one for hard cheese. one for soft), and our egg slicer.

Our most-used electric gadget (not counting toaster and coffeemaker) is the Foreman Grill with four different plates.

I've had things over the years, both purchased and given to me as gifts, but I am free of them now. I had to purge when we downsized, and, honestly, do not miss anything.

No place to keep them so it's easy to pass on these enticing gadgets.

I don’t buy electric gadgets, but have had a cuisinart for almost 50 years that I use all the time. A simple toaster, a large Kitchenaid stand mixer and an electric water kettle, which I bought so I don’t walk away and forget one on the stovetop. The most gadgety thing I’ve bought in years is a cherry pitter that pits 6 at once, so I could feed cherries to my grandson without worry. He’s older now but just got braces, so i am using it again. No hot pot, no rice cooker, no bread maker, etc. I saw a few people succumb to the latest greatesr gadget fad, then quit using them after not too long. Oops, just remembered Idid buy a small air fryer a couple of years ago thinking it would be nice to not heat up the large oven when cooking just for me, but it’s still in the unopened box because I dont want it on the counter and lack cupboard space for it.

Yes. I do. As long as I will use them and as long as they are pink, and the RIGHT shade of pink at that. Luckily, these gadget companies have started to wise up that there are lots of people out there who like colorful things, not just black or gray. I have my stand mixer, mini rice cooker, mini toaster oven, regular toaster, air fryer, little sandwich press, mini food processor, and it goes on. All in pink. I use them ALL regularly. Then there is the single serve blender for milkshakes, and the immersion blender..... Probably a couple more that qualify as gadgets. All in pink as well. They make me happy.

I didn't count my Kitchenaid mixer and Cuisinart food processor as gadgets. They are my right arm.

I like really nice quality basics. I popped into WS after brunch yesterday and could not resist a new end grain chopping block. Aside from that, I do have a panini press, which seems like an unnecessary gadget, but I really like and have had a lot of fun using it thanks to Mtn's, Make your own panini suggestions.

“Let me tell you about the George Foreman grill in the very back of a lower cabinet…”

LOL, mine spent time in the garage before being donated. Same with a Farberware indoor grill that was another gift long ago.

I’ve only kept the gadgets I really use. Some are used less often (e.g., mini food processor) but handy when needed.

Nope. I don't like alot of gadgets on the counter. We have a toaster which is occasionally used and a coffee maker only used when we have guests. I do also have an indoor grill that I use quite often, but it lives in the cabinet. I make frittatas quite often and they are so easy! I bake mine, usually in a pie plate (but I'm going to try in a cast-iron skillet now!). I don't often make omelets, but do so in a skillet on the stove. TBH, I am a bit old-fashioned about how I cook.

PS - I didn't even realize there is such a thing as a frittata maker! Let us know how it works out.

To a degree. I just gave dh the new sous vide cooking tool from Breville. It is a turbo model and cooks a steak perfectly and evenly in 30 minutes. It is totally dependent on an iphone, but that works for us.

Very few gadgets. No use for them and no space. My hand mixer was my mothers and my food processor, only recently acquired, was my mil's. A set of good knives plus ditto of good pans and not much else required. Frittatas and omelettes are made in one of the latter. Although obviously, being a Brit, an electric kettle and a toaster (not a toaster oven) are not considered gadgets. They're sine qua non. Oh, we do have a sodastream to make sparkling water, thus avoidng plastic bottles. And an electric coffee grinder since the handle broke on our 1930s wall mounted one.

I grew up in a big, modern house with a big kitchen and my mom didn't keep anything on the counters. I have a tiny pre-war apartment kitchen and am the same way, although we have a coffee maker and an electric kettle, both because my husband wants them. We have a corner storage cabinet that I use for pots and pans, with no kitchen appliances. It's got a lazy susan, which I love. I don't want to have to move anything to get to something else. And unlike most apartment dwellers, I don't keep pots and pans in the oven..

Ugh, more than I want! At the moment DH has got the ice cream maker going here in the kitchen for his famous Fourth of July ice cream. Thank goodness it lives most of the year in our laundry room closet!

For Christmas, DD surprised me with this monster of a Ninja blender. It’s very handy but so big! When she moved back in with us, she brought along her brute of a Nespresso maker. She uses it at least twice a day, so I hate to ask her to keep it in her room. It’s also here in our kitchen on a counter. We have our electric coffee maker next to the toaster. Love that! And, DH has this too big espresso machine in the kitchen, too. He uses that maybe twice a week. The waffle maker was out for yesterday’s breakfast, but is already back in the storage closet. My Kitchenmaid mixer, hand mixer, large and small food processors, a George Foreman grill and my battery operated food scale live under a kitchen cab. My ancient fondue pot lives in the cabinet under my kitchen eating area, along with a crockpot and I’m afraid to check what else, Like I said, Ugh!!!

Lynn, you need to open a neighborhood coffee shop!

We have a soda stream, coffee maker and regular toaster, on the counter, all used daily. Also, there is a basket tray that holds the napkins, two kinds of salt (smoked and regular), pepper grinder and butter.

The extra smoked salt is my countertop guilty pleasure. Just like gadgets are the guilty pleasures of others. Everyone has their "thing"!

Not a lot of gadgets, but I do like some. More prone to buying the hand tool type like lime and lemon juicers (love!), tofu press, squash de-seeder, etc. Most of the time I end up using them a lot since I tend to gravitate towards the ones that facilitate the type of cooking I do most. I don't really have enough room for many electric gadgets, but I do love my Vitamix and somewhat frequently use my InstaPot for brown rice mostly. I guess I have a cold brew maker that I love as well.

As a non-cook (who has still made dinner most nights for 50+ years), I have few single-use gadgets. One the counter: a toaster-oven that gets daily use, mostly to warm rolls or bread; a carafe for pour-over coffee. That's it! I use the same pots and pans, and the same few knives, over and over. I have acres of counter space, but a kitchen designer once told me that only an 18-inch space is truly essential.

That kitchen designer was clueless.

I have two electric meat slicers - a deli style (expensive) one in L.A. that will slice meat (and some cheese) paper thin, and a cheap one in Cathedral City (where I am now) that I use mainly for slicing loaves of bread for sandwiches. I really do like getting uniform slices of bread, and so I keep this slicer on the counter whenever I has just backed bread. It is also good for slicing certain vegetables, just as zucchini. It sill slice meat - it just will not slice it paper thin, and it is a bit difficult to control the thickness of slices, which is okay for thicker slices but not for the thin ones.

I have a non-stick Cuisinart (I think) skillet with a metal handle that I use for making frittatas. When I made them in my cast iron skillet, they would always stick.

I have waffle irons at both houses, but I cannot find the one I have here at the moment, and I want to make waffles. I guess I will make pancakes instead.

I have everything I want and that includes an extensive coffee station with an espresso makermaker grinder and mocha Master. I have other things stored in the cabinet and some things are on the counter but it's whatever I want.

I think a gadget is in the eye of the beholder. My espresso machine is not a gadget to me, but my friend's rice maker is.

I do have 5 or 6. they sit unused Wrapped in plastic on top of my cabinets.

I know omelettes are supposed to be easy, but mine always end up falling apart. I could use a maker, but I guess I’ll stick to scrambled eggs.

At a benefit picnic, we bought a pan at the ”white elephant booth”. It’s a small skillet with poacher inserts and a lid. Did we need it? no. I can poach an egg with just a pan of water, DH likes using little poacher cups for a more uniform egg, and we had some of those. But But, these are more non-stick and have a little knob to lift them with, and there’s the glass lid. So, now for $5 we have a pan just the right size for one scrambled egg, any number of poached eggs, etc. The big problem is the lid. We will figure it out.

I started using the George Foreman grill during the kitchen remodel, became a fan, and still use it. It cooks a frozen piece of fish perfectly in just minutes, and so easy to clean!

I have a little waffle maker that I have been using less and less - it may go to the VoA soon (but I am going to try making Mac'n'Cheese waffles first!) I use my air fryer/convection/toaster oven a lot. I use my little rice cooker regularly, although more often to steam eggs than to cook rice.

The one gadget that I don't use that often is the instant-pot type thing. I use it more in the winter, maybe twice/month, to make bean soups or pot roasts which I really don't bother with in summer. It is big and bulky enough that it lives in the cabinet at the bottom of the basement stairs - no room for it in the kitchen.

I could definitely weed out some of my collection of small baking dishes and cooking pans. Some of them are like new! I can't remember the last time I used my larger skillet or the chicken fryer (I very rarely fry anything now); or even my hand held mixer - I just beat things by hand. I cut down my quince bush, gave away the calamondin, and my cherry bushes only produce enough for fresh eating, so I should probably also get rid of the hand tools used for making preserves - haven't done so for a few years.

I got a small gadget off Temu and just ordered another one ........Only .09 cents! I love it.

I have teeny tiny whisk that came with an order via a friend. It is perfect for whisking my single (or double) egg for scrambled eggs in the morning, and takes only a teen tiny bit of room on the dishwasher rack.

DH uses the instapot that I got in a benefit auction, all the time. I have yet to use it, myself. He makes various beans and legumes. and beets.

While I totally agree with those who said one can use a skillet that is already there, I am happy with my frittatta/omelette maker. It is quite small and only makes two, two egg frittattas or omelettes but that is fine for me. My veggie/ham/cheese frittatta came out out nicely browned with the cheese melted yet the center soft and not overcooked, and tasty.

It sounds easier and more sure-fire than me doing it in a skillet. Is it easy to clean?

It was easy for me. I could see though, for those overfilling to where it drips out, cleaning might be more involved.

If you ever have leftover spaghetti, that makes the very best fritatta. The bottom becomes golden and crispy like tahdig. Eggs, cream or milk, Parmesan and the spaghetti, ideal fritatta.

Grandma never wasted any leftovers, and that spaghetti frittata brings back memories of her! When I make it, I add a little ham or spinach, and I leave the sauce on the leftover macaroni. Double yum. I have perfected sliding the frittata onto a plate and then inverting the frying pan over the top to flip it. It works 99% of the time, but the thrill is in the execution!

Somewhere I have a recipe from the Today Show for something like the leftover-spaghetti frittata.

The kitchen doodad I really collect is containers for my utensils. The cabinets and drawers we have are pretty useless. So they hold the clunky stuff while cooking utensils go in various holders. They mostly follow a yellow-grey-stainless theme. I have a large coffee mug for whisks, a thick glass vase with a shape perfect for the wooden spoons, an actual utensil holder (LeCreuset, got it at tjmaxx), and a holder made by a former neighbor who was a potter, for a particular category of utensil.

Then there is the holder for the dishbrush, scraper, etc. The holder for hand soap and lotion. The two-tiered produce basket. Three little square plates hold pepper grinder, salt shaker, salt bowl, which is actually an old-time cheese jar like the Kaukauna jars.

Quite a conglomeration, but ya have to make do. And, it’s fun to keep an eye out for anything yellow and grey to add to the collection, if I feel it’s worth the counterspace.

If you need a change up, you can make a Spanish Tortilla using potato chips! I tried it once and it was good.

https://www.seriouseats.com/salt-and-vinegar-spanish-tortilla-recipe

or

https://food52.com/recipes/82201-tortilla-espanola-with-potato-chips-recipe

or

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021078-ferran-adrias-potato-chip-omelet (may be behind a paywall)

I have this salt and pepper shaker that is sort of gadgety because I only use it for my one egg in the morning. I also took it out of the plastic base and put it in a tiny handcrafted wooden box.