Which kitchen gadget is the biggest waste of money?

[gordonartist]

Which kitchen gadget is the biggest waste of money?



By Jonathan Richards The Times.

FOR 4.5 million Britons it was a domestic vision too blissful to resist: making your own pistachio gelato at the first hint of sunshine.

But for most people who buy an ice-cream maker, all that churning and freezing quickly becomes a painful bore.

Ice-cream makers have replaced fondue sets as the least cost-effective item in the home, a study has found. They are taken out of the cupboard on average only once a month and cost £19.50 for every use in the first year of ownership. Fondue sets, although used only once every two months, are cheaper and work out at £5.50 a session.

About £2.5 billion worth of gadgets begin to gather dust only a month after purchase.

Among the other poor performers were foot spas, which average two uses a month at £1.75 a go, exercise bikes and games consoles, which are used only ten times a month after an initial high of 20.

By contrast, a kettle costs only 5p per boil.

The survey, conducted by the price comparison website pricerunner.co.uk, asked 1,500 people how often they used a range of items during the first year of ownership.

“People often buy ice-cream makers and games consoles because they think they’re must-have items, but don’t consider how much time they have to use them,” said Gary Goodman, European marketing director for pricerunner.co.uk.

“It’s far better value to buy a television or an MP3 player that you use every day.”

Lucy Grass, 28, a doctoral student from Shoreditch, East London, said she bought a £35 ice-cream maker two years ago and has used it only three times. She said: “It just takes so much time to churn . . . also by the time you get the bowl cold enough ” usually two hours ” you could have gone to the shops and bought some.”

DAB digital radios pay themselves off quickly, at 25p per listen, and a mini-vacuum cleaner costs only 31p a go.

Also highly efficient was the shredder, costing 14p for each use.

A spokeswoman for John Lewis said that ice-cream makers had become more popular because people liked being able to control the amount of fat in their ice-cream, and that £279 would now buy a machine with an in-built compressor which overcame the need to put it in the freezer.

“For a serious hostess, that’s a good investment,” the spokeswoman said.

WHAT TO PASS BY AND WHEN TO SNAP UP

The least cost-efficient purchases were: ice-cream maker, £19.48 per use in the first year; fondue set £5.52; exercise bike £4.56; rowing machine £3.66; TV £2.99; laptop computer £2.92; DVD player £1.84; foot spa £1.75; sat-nav system £1.48; games console £1.17

The most cost-efficient were: kettle 5p; electric toothbrush 14p; shredder 14p; toaster 18p; steamer 24p; fitness video 24p; DAB radio 25p

Gordon.

[telaquapacky]

No question. Salsa Maker. It is basically a hand-cranked food processor. At least a food processor is motorized, though it takes ten times as long to clean as it does to use. A Salsa Maker isn't even motorized.

I just use my knives and cutting board. I don't use the Salsa Maker because it takes too long to clean. I would use it if I was cutting a large quantity of stuff.

[Bez]

Smoothie maker ??? looks just like a blender with a jug / tap. Now I haven't acually got one, so you guys may know better

[Nomad]

I paid $200.00 for an X Box 3 yrs. ago and I still cant figure out how to play all the games. I do like the Tiger Woods golf game but after youve done it 100 times it loses its sparkle.





(ok thats not a kitchen gadget...shoot me) :p

[Waltzing Matilda]

The hotdog maker has been my worst purchase:p

[Maxi_Uno]

Bez wrote: Smoothie maker ??? looks just like a blender with a jug / tap. Now I haven't acually got one, so you guys may know better


There are some nice ones out there, we have one (one of the first) but the spigot broke off so we are kind of looking around at others, we take powdered vitamins so we make smoothies for breakfast, that is why that spigot was great.

[LeanneinEngland]

For us it was a bread maker. It was great fun in the beginning, having hot bread all the time and putting in all the ingredients. But it required a lot of ongoing financing, and the bread kept going stale before we could eat it all.

What we did eat ended up being so high-calorie that we had to stop eating it in order to not gain weight!

A good idea in theory -- not good at all in practice. :p

[chonsigirl]

telaquapacky wrote: No question. Salsa Maker. It is basically a hand-cranked food processor. At least a food processor is motorized, though it takes ten times as long to clean as it does to use. A Salsa Maker isn't even motorized.

I just use my knives and cutting board. I don't use the Salsa Maker because it takes too long to clean. I would use it if I was cutting a large quantity of stuff.
Oh my, I never heard of one. You just use a regular blender to make good salsa!

[CARLA]

Nomadness Kitchen gadget mister not toys, but then again you could call the X BOX an kitchen gadget.. I don't go in the kitchen it's scarry in there..:-3

[minks]

Bread maker for me as well, not to mention the loaf is smaller than store bought and you can't ever slice even decent size slices nicely.... what agro, hardly worth the cost of that paper weight.

[woppy71]

Gotta say it would have to be the food processor, being a trained (ex) chef, i can probably chop as fast as one anyway, would rather use the money for boozin' :wah:

[DesignerGal]

I would say my most useless kitchen gadget is the oven.

[Shweet tatersalad]

Wife

[Richard Bell]

I guess this study assumes that the product is no longer used after the first year.

I have a Sunbeam electric frying pan that my mother gave to me. She's had it forever (I remember it from childhood). It's at least 50 years old. I use it several times a week. Last time I used it was about two hours ago !

Given the fact that almost all modern appliances are plasticky pieces of crap, churned out of a Chinese factory, they probably only last a year, anyway.

Alongside my Sunbeam is a Hamilton-Beach mixer that I bought two years ago at a second hand thrift shop for a dollar. I'd estimate it's vintage as late '50s - early '60s. Works a treat, and contains more steel than most new cars.

R.B.

[Nomad]

SnoozeControl wrote: Mushroom/boiled egg slicer. I got one free years ago, and its still in the box.




Take it out of the box silly ! Dont you eat salads ?

Boil up some eggs and slice them for your salad, perfect slices.

[chonsigirl]

The kitchen sink-it seems to always collect dirty dishes for me to wash!

[buttercup]

Richard Bell wrote: I guess this study assumes that the product is no longer used after the first year.

I have a Sunbeam electric frying pan that my mother gave to me. She's had it forever (I remember it from childhood). It's at least 50 years old. I use it several times a week. Last time I used it was about two hours ago !

Given the fact that almost all modern appliances are plasticky pieces of crap, churned out of a Chinese factory, they probably only last a year, anyway.

Alongside my Sunbeam is a Hamilton-Beach mixer that I bought two years ago at a second hand thrift shop for a dollar. I'd estimate it's vintage as late '50s - early '60s. Works a treat, and contains more steel than most new cars.

R.B.


you just brought back a lot of childhood memories for me talking about your sunbeam electric frying pan, thanks