Kitchen Clutter: Can Your Small Appliances Pass theTest?

Yes, it is time to be ruthless. It doesn't matter if the wunderbar appliance was a gift from your Aunt Grace, or if you were incredibly excited to find one in your kitchen colors. If you don't need it, send it on its merry way. To clear out kitchen appliance clutter, first go through your kitchen and make a list of everything you have that plugs in.

Then ask yourself these questions:

Do I use it? Be real here. Often we overestimate the number of times we use or will use something. If you got the George Foreman grill and it seemed like such a great idea, but you only used it twice and now it's covered with dust...well, you know what you need to do. And fondue -- some people do, some don't. If you don't, there is no shame in that. Reclaim the space! If you come upon something that you only need occasionally, consider whether there is another place you can store it (such as a garage or attic). Appliances such as a roaster oven that you only need at Thanksgiving, or an ice cream maker are good candidates for storage outside the kitchen.

Does it do more than 1 thing? Appliances that are made for one purpose only rarely end up being worth it. Most families simply don't make enough fajitas to justify a Sensio El Paso Fajita Maker. Especially if you already have a stove, which works great for making fajitas.

Which brings us to the next question--

Do I have another tool that does that? Sure, blenders only do one thing, but you can't frappe any other way. So the blender stays if you ever need to blend anything. And most cooks do! But other appliances have overlap in their capabilities. A hot sandwich maker probably isn't needed if you have a toaster oven.

Some electric appliances you have could be replaced by deciding to do the task the muscle powered way. Even though I almost alway cook from scratch, I never use a food processor. I slice, dice, and chop with a chef's knife, and grating gets done with my trusty hand grater that slips so nicely in the drawer. Also, for our family of 9, even a four slice toaster is laughably slow. Toast gets made eight at a time the old-fashioned way, on our cast iron griddle. It wouldn't work for all families, but it is the right method for us.

Send your excess small appliances to a new home Decisions about which items are worth it are unique to each family. After asking yourself these questions, you should know whether you would rather have the appliance or the space it is occupying!