The Top 5 Kitchen Appliances I must have!

– 9 July , 2010Posted in: Minimalism

I thought it’d be a fun exercise to go over my top 5 kitchen appliances:

DISHWASHER

We have been living 6 months without a dishwasher, and we’ve already had 2 big fights over it, namely the amount of dishes that have to be done, with the amount of food we each cook.

*sheepish*

When we cook, we use at least 2 pots or pans, a couple of bowls, plates… it’s a nightmare with all the chopping, straining and whatever else that comes with cooking almost everything from scratch.

A simple soup can take a whole sink, depending on whether I put chicken in it or not.

RICE COOKER

I eat about 3 cups of rice per day, at least one cup per meal.

I just love it. I love white rice, and no meal seems complete without it. Or at least some sort of starch like a pasta or potatoes.

At any rate, I don’t like babying my rice, and worrying if it’s going to burn or over cook, so the rice cooker is a must-have for me.

And that’s it!

I looked around our kitchen and we don’t own any other appliances that plug in.

We’re missing the dishwasher now, for sure… but we don’t have a blender, toaster oven, convection oven, or mixer.

Note: of course, for the HOME, we would have a washer at the very minimum.

We wouldn’t need a dryer, if I could do without.

I like letting my items dry naturally or on a clothesline.

Tags: Appliances, Kitchen, List, Minimalism

About everydayminimalist

I'm a 20-something year old girl who lived out of a single suitcase in 2007, and now I'm living with less, but only with the best. You don't have to get rid of everything to become a minimalist! Minimalism can help simplify and organize your life, career, & physical surroundings. You can read more about me as a minimalist. Or come and visit my other blog Fabulously Broke in the City where I got out of $60,000 of debt in 18 months, earning $65,000 gross/year.

smithburt21

Above all the kitchen appliance essential. I have seen that granite kitchen stoves are spread widely in market. We doesn't need to electricity and gasoline in our kitchen.
Kitchens
Lis

I have a dishwasher – his name is Peter. But apparently he's been broken for a while. lol.
- http://www.everydayminimalist.com everydayminimalist
  
  LOL I’m getting one soon!
http://minimalistmum.blogspot.com/ Jessica Parsons

We have a plastic pot rice cooker that goes…in the microwave! In fact, we have two, because we eat lots of rice too. And when I say we, I mean we.

We were without a kettle for several days. The time I missed it was when I wanted to get lots of water hot to fill up the EasiYo.
Emily

You do have a hand blender!

I was struck by this post because it had three things I just determined I didn't need in my minimalist purge: a microwave, a dishwasher, and a rice cooker. I make rice often but can do it on the stove in the same amount of time and with a smaller pot than what I had to clean with my rice cooker. Anything that can be warmed in the microwave can be warmed on the stove. And though I cook every meal from scratch, the dishes have not been too bad, particularly since my partner cleans when I cook and vice versa. In fact, knowing that they have to be washed by hand makes me think more creatively about how to use a dish twice in the prep process, etc., which not only leads to fewer dishes, but less waste.

However, my essentials are a stove & oven, fridge, hand blender, toaster (though in a pinch I could toast with the broiler or in a skillet), deep fryer (too messy for the stovetop), crockpot, and my popcorn popper (it's the only way to pop with air, and when we make popcorn we won't eat any other chips–sweet or salty). Everything else I can do with a pot or pan.

I really love learning how other people do minimalism. It's all about deciding the bare essentials of what each person needs…but what each person needs is different!

Here's Mark Bittman's take on kitchen minimalism: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/dining/09mini.h…

And Michael Ruhlman's: http://blog.ruhlman.com/2010/04/my-essential-kitc...
- http://www.everydayminimalist.com everydayminimalist
  
  I don’t have a hand blender yet. I haven’t picked it up.. not until August anyway. Then I might add it to my list.
nyx

we have all of those minus the rice cooker, additionally, we have a toaster but we've only used it 5 times, lol. Its cool, my step dad gave it to me so I'm glad I didn't spend my own money on that. Other than that, we have the basics: dishes, glasses, coffee mugs, flatware, 5 utensils, chef and paring knife, basic pots and pans, slow cooker, and 2 breakfast trays which we use to eat most of our meals.

My bf has a coffee maker and a blender but its rarely used by either of us. That's pretty much it as far as kitchen appliances go. We don't need that much. IMO you don't need a lot of what the department stores try to sell you. We don't have a paper towel holder, our paper towels stand up just fine without them. We don't really buy individualized gadgets like they tell you need.

IMO you can get fine in life without buying an item for everything. We use normal spoons to eat ice cream. I didn't want to spend money on an ice cream spoon. I use a normal fork to make mashed potatoes. Instead of buying a knife set, we decided to buy a chef's knife and paring knife. Much cheaper that way and they do everything we want them to. They meet all of our cooking needs.

I'm not one of those people who will only live with 100 items, but I refuse to live with too much stuff. Minimalism is different to different people. I'm with you on the dishwasher, its a must have. Everyone needs to find their own comfort with minimalism. back to the dishwasher, in some studies they say that you actually save by using a dishwasher.
http://frugalzeitgeist.blogspot.com frugal zeitgeist

I love, love, love having a dishwasher!! It's been almost ten years, but I still get a total feeling of satisfaction when I finish packing it and set it to run.
http://juliettemaxwell.com Julie

I read a chain email about heating up water in the microvawe and i got so scared and freaked out that I'd rather heat up my coffee on the stove :s. Also, I hate the way food tastes when heated up in the microwave :S.

I want a dishwasher so badly!! Good choices.
- Meg
  
  Careful about being scared by those chain letters! I've seen some real junk being forwarded around by concerned friends and family members who don't check their facts.
  
  There is a small bit of truth in that one, but it's extremely rare and usually only a problem with new mugs because even small scratches help. Letting the water sit a bit after heating, using a microwave with a turntable, and being careful not overheat the water are good precautions, though. Also, don't reheat water in the microwave after already heating it there without moving it.
  
  Here's more info on the effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheating
http://twitter.com/CharlieChop @CharlieChop

I think the dishwasher and rice cooker can both be sent packing my book. I've cut back on regular rice consumption in place for more vegetables in my current lifestyle. I've never owned a rice cooker, and always made good rice with Teflon coated cooking pots.

As far as the dishwasher is concerned I feel that it is easily one of the most unnecessary appliances. The majority of the times I cook most of the dishes are cleaned before I finish cooking. I find that cleaning as I go is very effective. Also, most meals suggest waiting 5-10 minutes of cooling time before serving. This is a great time to knock out some and preparing larger items to soak.

I am kind of dreading that the new place I am moving to has a dishwasher. Between four people we hardly ever have enough dishes to run the dishwasher daily, lest we waste water. I also do not want the few dishes that are used daily to suffer waiting for a proper cleaning because we cannot fill the dishwasher.

I am still back and forth on the microwave. I focus on cooking enough for a single meal. In the situations of leftovers I only really eat them at the office, where we have three microwaves. Occasionally, I will heat the water for my tea, but outside of that I find it superfluous. Plus, I really love cold pizza.
Meg

* Gas stove-top — though not necessarily a full oven. My husband and I use the stovetop a lot for stir-fries, cooking rice in our Dutch oven, cooking beans, cooking soups, making tea, cooking stuff on the griddle… it gets a good bit of use, often several times a day.
* Toaster oven — I use this WAY more than the big oven. My husband uses it to heat up stuff like Gardein & make toast. I like it for bagels and roasted brussel sprouts. We also cook pizza in it. It's used at least once a day, usually.
* Fridge/freezer — I'd miss cold drinks and it keeps my produce fresh longer. Also allows me to keep leftovers.
* Food processor — I don't use it all the time, but it sure is handy when we do. We use it to juice citrus, cut up carrots for carrot cake, make hummus. Our blender is pretty cool, too. We actually have two and I use the mini blender quite a bit. The big one isn't much to talk about, but we're getting a Vita Mix soon and then it might become more essential.
* Microwave — Not an absolute necessity and I could live without it, but it does save time and energy sometimes. We mostly use it to heat up dips, reheat leftovers (like soup), and heat water when we just need a little.

I'd really miss our dishwasher, but we've lived without one before. I still wash a lot of dishes by hand and reuse them throughout the day if they don't need much of a scrub. I hate washing glasses, though.

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In a Nutshell

other blog: fabulously broke in the city
minimalist since: 2007 -- why minimalism?
talk to me: contact me here!
current location: canada/usa
home: hotel room
owns: 3 suitcases 2 carryons of stuff
# of items: more than 100!
furniture: 1 japanese futon
works: business consultant
gadgets: macbook pro, ipod touch (pda)
drinks: earl grey cream tea
practices: rebel yoga and de-cluttering
loves: minimalism, $$ management, traveling
quirk: must prep my food before eating
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