Kitchen appliances you don't need?

I was, unusually for me, side-tracked by an article about kitchen appliances people don't need, do have and don't use. 

It went through a list of about twenty. I did  not go so far as to actually read the article. I merely scrolled through, curious to find out what people have invented and managed to get manufactured. I was also curious about what people buy and then almost certainly don't use. 

I had not even heard of some things which made the list - a "breakfast station" and a "tea kettle" being two of them. (The first apparently makes breakfast for you. The second steeps the tea and all you need to do is pour it out.) I was puzzled by the pizza machine. (All it does is cook pizza.) There were other single use "gadgets" that can be easily replaced by more everyday items - such as a sharp knife.

My maternal grandmother loved such things. She was forever buying them. I remember the knife she bought for the sole purpose of cutting grapefruit. It disappeared when my mother took over the kitchen along with three hand juicers and then the electric one, the special "grater" (which didn't work), the four different types of vegetable peeler, the odd shaped ice-block trays, a device for reaching into deep jars and much more. Nana would see these things advertised on a day time cookery show she liked to watch. The next thing she would do would take a trip into the city (where all such shops were back then) and buy the item in question. 

Most of the items were cheap and nasty. They did not work in the way the cookery show suggested. Perhaps the "experts" there were more skilled but you really don't need to peel vegetables in four different ways. I have one peeler. It is the old-fashioned type. Middle Cat (much more dextrous than me) usually uses a knife. We don't own things that will scrape the corn off a cob - a knife does that. We don't own an avocado masher - a fork will do that. We don't own a knife that will sing "happy birthday" as you cut the cake. (We don't bother with birthday cakes either.)

Recently I cleared out another drawer. It is slow progress but I am making progress in getting rid of some clutter. Yes, even my mother had clutter - but not nearly as much. I have clutter but I am determinedly getting rid of some.

There was just one thing on the list that I do have - a bread machine. The argument for it being an appliance you don't need is that it takes up space (true) and it is possible to knead by hand and put it in the ordinary oven. I sighed. My paws are not strong enough to knead by hand. The Senior Cat tried to do this for me before we got the first bread machine. Even he had a problem kneading well enough. I never seemed to get the loaf right.

Enter the bread machine. My good friend I... found one in a second hand shop. She bought it for us and I used it. Ah, we finally had bread, the sort of bread the Senior Cat called "real bread". I added all sorts of seeds and occasionally walnuts and fruit, to the basic mix. I made bread from other flours occasionally. There was only one real failure. Our bread machine was used.When it failed the Senior Cat insisted we buy another one. It has been used...and used again and again. 

Do I need it now? Probably not but it does make good bread and I can freeze half the loaf I make. Yes, it takes up some space but I have space because I don't have all those other things cluttering up the kitchen.  I think I am allowed one appliance I don't actually need.