Talk about your appliances here- what do you love? Hate?

[Smee]

What household appliances and items would you never want to give up? Which could you take or leave? Which ones do you hate?

I've jumped on a couple of bandwagons which is funny to me because I'm notoriously cheap and primitive. I love my Vitamix. It was a gift; I never would have spent that much money on a blender, but I do love it and use it just about every day. It kind of had to grow on me. I didn't use it that much at first, but it has really grown on me. I use it for everything from cheese sauce to those floofy, fancy frappuccino drinks. It's not a necessity, but I really enjoy it.

I love my Dyson vacuum which brings me to a hate-- I hate hate hate my old Kirby vacuum. Biggest piece of overhyped, overpriced, and overrated crap ever. More than once, I've fought the urge to hurl that big, clunky, awkward thing out the front window. Because of my hatred of it, I've only bought cheap Bissells and such for the last 20 years, but they're pretty much disposable and don't do such a great job. I recently scored a Dyson and love its performance. Now if it will just last.

I can take or leave a drip coffee maker, but love love love a percolator.

I can take or leave an automatic dishwasher when I don't have one or when my old cheap one pooped out. I got a killer deal on a Bosch, though, and love it more than I thought I could love a dishwasher. My old one was loud and required a lot of pre-rinsing. I didn't mind, but it sure is nice to be able to just toss gunky stuff in there and let it run and be able to watch tv or talk over it.

I don't get the appeal of breadmakers. Bread is so easy to make. I wonder if it's one of those things I'd love if I had one. I can't imagine it. As it is, I have no desire to own one.

I love my countertop Oster convection toaster oven. I use it all the time for quick heating or cooking full meals. It's perfect for a two person household. I use my regular oven for storage more than anything.

I could take or leave our microwave. If not for Husband, I probably wouldn't own one at all.

If I could justify the expense, I would love to have the kind of fancy-pants washer and dryer that has windows where you can watch stuff tumble. It would be like laundry theater for me. As it is, my old timey washer and dryer work just fine and aren't in need of repair or replacement, and I line dry my laundry most of the time anyway. I just like watching laundry tumble.

[cintinative]

I am sure everyone is going to say different things which will be fun to read.

Well, I have a $20 off craigslist bread machine that I use to make the dough for me which I shape and bake. I suppose I could make it myself but this automates some of it for me which is nice since I am a SAHM. I like being able to put the ingredients in, turn it on, and have the dough done when I get back from errands.

I love love my kitchen aid stand mixer. Could not live without it. I hate hand mixers for some reason.

I use my microwave every day to reheat food and make oatmeal and heat hot dogs, etc. for the kids. I am not sure I could survive without one. On the flip side, I do have a toaster oven and never use it. I am not sure what I would use it for since we do have a toaster that we use frequently. What do you heat up in yours?

I don't have a fancy washer or dryer. Ours are 11 years old and I am hoping they keep going. No money in the fund to replace them and too much regular detergent to switch to one of those HE machines.

I couldn't live very comfortably without my dishwasher. It's not fancy, in fact, it's falling apart at 17 years old, but I still feel blessed to have it!

I have never owned a nice vacuum. We did have a Sears "knock-off" Kirby at one point--it was a bit pricier than a regular Eureka type vacuum. It broke in two on me when I was trying to clean the stairs. We got a refurbished replacement which also broke. The only thing I miss about it was the light weight. Currently we have a Eureka and it seems to work well, but it is only a few years old.

I hate my upright deep freezer. It's a Frigidaire. It "generally" works fine but since we have owned it the compressor failed and I lost everything, and it gets stuck in defrost cycles sometimes which causes the temp in the freezer to get above the right zone. I am told that this is "normal" for a deep freeze but that makes no sense to me. It also has a tendency to not close fully. I have a serious paranoia about this freezer after losing everything in it several times. =)

[Smee]

I use my microwave every day to reheat food and make oatmeal and heat hot dogs, etc. for the kids. I am not sure I could survive without one. On the flip side, I do have a toaster oven and never use it. I am not sure what I would use it for since we do have a toaster that we use frequently. What do you heat up in yours?

Everything! I'll warm entire plates of food or individual items. I also cook bread, casseroles, whatever I can fit into it. It does take longer than a microwave for reheating, but I don't mind and I generally prefer the texture of foods reheated in the oven to microwaved reheating. I do use the microwave sometimes because it's here and convenient. I could just do without it. I don't own a pop-up toaster. Anything that needs to be toasted is done in the toaster oven. That little oven is one of the most used appliances in my kitchen.

[LHath6]

My favorite appliance would have to be my KitchenAid stand mixer. I wanted one for a long time but was happy with my hand-me-down Oster kitchen center (my mom's wedding present) until the 3rd motor stopped working and was told it was cheaper to buy a new one than to fix it.

After that it would have to be my food processer. I love it! Especially since we eat a lot of onion and garlic. It saves me some time to just pop it in there to chop it than to do it.

The only appliance that I hate is my stove! We bought a smooth top when we built our house and wish I had held out for gas! I have permanent burn stains from boil overs! I have tried everything and nothing gets them off. Not to mention I am not a big fan of electric stoves anyways. I like being able to control the heat and theat is really hard to do without gas. The only reason I gave in is because we are out in the country and propane is so expensive. I just hate paying $400 a month in the winter to heat the house!

[Heather]

I love our Dyson vacuum cleaner! We've had it for 4 years and it works great. If we ever move to a house with an upstairs and downstairs, I'd get another one for the second floor. I'd get the ball one. They didn't have that one out when we bought ours.

The other item I love is The Perfect Egg Maker. It's one of those As Seen On TV things. DH wants to buy all the As Seen On TV stuff so I have to hold him off. But we did buy this one and we love it. Had this for over 5 years I think, maybe 6. Our kids can easily use it as well. I found another one at Good Will and bought it to have as a back up but it didn't work well at all and we ended up throwing it away. But the one we bought new works perfectly.

[clippyclippy]

I'm completely in love with my new Miele canister vacuum. Years ago I had a central vac system that was awesome. It sucked like nobody's business.

So when we moved into this house, I again had central vacuum. But this this time it sucked in a bad way. As in, it didn't suck- if you know what I mean...

For years I lived with it. The house never felt clean and it just wasn't fun to vacuum knowing it really wasn't cleaning well, but I didn't think I could justify a new vacuum in a house with central vac. So I just lived with it.

Until one day when I just got fed up! I was cleaning for company and I was so irritated, I called my dh at work and told him I needed a Miele! He was surprised, because it was a little out of character for his frugal wife, but without hesitating, told me to go for it!

So I did, and an hour later I was happily vacuuming my little heart out!

It's so wonderful. I just can't put it into words....

[3timesoccermom]

My iced tea brewer gets used twice a day, (sometimes 3) and makes a gallon of tea. If something happened to it I would be in the vehicle as fast as I could to Walmart to get another one. I may drink a Dr. Pepper once a week but I drink tea every day of my life, all day.

The microwave also gets used every day though I never cook in it except for steaming broccoli.

I have 2 stand up freezers that I'd be hard-pressed to do without. I'd even have another if there was room.

I love my front load washer - it's an Amana, my 2nd FL and it's wonderful and I have a huge capacity dryer too.

I just ordered a portable ice maker and I hope to love it.

I would love to have a rotisserie cooker, a big heavy-duty mixer, a bread maker and a food processor but don't have room for them.

Somewhere around here is the Cuisinart ultra deluxe food processer I got for a wedding gift - it only worked a couple of years and the company had switched hands and would not make good on the "lifetime" warranty. Anyway it came with every blade and doo dad available at the time and it still irks me to think about the short time I got to use it. Have never (and never will) buy another Cuisinart product again.

Whoops - forgot, I have a Dyson vac too and it picks up very, very well.

[CW&M Mom]

I have a brand new...as in brand spanking new Whirlpool flat top stove. It has the 4 burners and the fifth that warms, it self cleans, steam cleans and the bottom coil is completely covered so it never gets dirty and you would never have to clean around it. So far so good!

I love my GE Profile dryer. It has a anti bacterial button that bakes your clothes for 2 1/2 hours. Great when you've had to wash and dry something that has something really nasty on it (since drying is really what kills the ick in your clothing). It's ginormous and I love it.

I have a kenmore vacuum. It's okay. I'd rather have a dyson though...but hubby won't justify the cost yet. I refuse to ever by a eureka or hoover again..and like this particular kenmore brand and the last one we beat to death.

My washer...kenmore...really don't like it that much. Will get the new HE top loader when it dies some day.

our fridge is a kenmore...came with the house..and it's the nicest fridge we've ever had. No complaints so far.

MIcrowave...is okay. We use it daily.

Toaster is okay. We use it several times a week. The other appliances only get an occasional use.

Oh and we have a maytag dishwasher. I really like it. It's a roll away as that is the only thing available for our crazy kitchen.
We'd have to do some major remodeling to fit a dishwasher in otherwise. It's new, and it works well. Bummer thing is it's white, and none of the other appliances are...but it was the only one we could get without waiting for weeks.

[momof2inohio]

I love our new washer and dryer that DH just bought me...Samsung front load washer and dryer.

I have a kitchenaid mixer that we got for a wedding gift 8 years ago and I love it!!!

Our dishwasher is a Kenmore and its ok. When it dies I want to get something nicer...

We got a new refrigerator 2 years ago and I really like it...its a Whirlpool.

Microwave is ok...its a GE built in over our stove which is also a GE.

I would love to get a new vacuum. We have a Kenmore now but I want to get a Dyson.

I also want to get a flat top stove soon!!

[JulieDB]

I got the LG high efficiency washer and dryer. Top loader. Love them! G.E. appliances in kitchen. Nothing fancy.