Curious: Nagging Questions With Unimportant Answers
 

Y'all - I'm curious about something and thought we might use a thread for this type of thing. Ask your own questions and/or answer other people's at your will and discretion.


In your kitchen, do you leave your small appliances like the toaster, your Ninja, your blender, your George Foreman grill, etc. out on your counters all the time or do you only pull this stuff out when you want to use it?

I only pull stuff out when I want to use it, I put everything back because I have OCD and things have to be almost perfect.

Depends on the small appliance. Like the toaster, coffee maker, and stand mixer stay out on the counter and everything else gets put away. I guess those are the things I would use the most and have room for on the counter.

I HATE things on the counter. I would like to have bare minimum (like just the coffee maker and a bowl of fruit) but I lost when it came to the the big honking bread box. sigh

Unless I am being super lazy, everything usually gets put away. Keurig stays out, of course. It annoys the hell out of my partner when I put the toaster away, but I prefer the extra counter space.

toaster and coffee pot are out.. everything else is out of sight.



Do you unplug appliances when not in use?

Yes, it can be a hazard if you don't

My big Kitchenaid mixer is always out and the Keurig but pretty much everything else is hidden away under the counter. xJackhammer would really like it if the toaster could stay out but we use it so rarely that I can't oblige!! LOL.

And YES, appliances are unplugged when not in use!!

Really hate "stuff" floating around on counters, though it still happens occasionally.

Coffee pot, cutting board, knife set on the counter. I got rid of most small appliances a few years back. I figure most food that I like really only takes a good knife and a pot. :eating: I do still own a high speed blender, rice cooker (which is a great multi-tasker), and a mandolin for bulk chopping. They all live in the pantry.

I leave the coffee pot plugged in.

Rice Cooker questions
 

Assumptions: The love of the rice cooker is motivated by its ability to make rice sticky. Is this correct? If so, my question is if it will make brown rice sticky?

I keep a lot of stuff out on my counters (small appliances, knife stand, cooking utensils all in a container, potholders all in a container, cutting boards all set up vertically behind the knife stand, etc.). I like everything to be within easy reach, as I'm sort of a wandering, random-idea-having cook. I have a lot of counter space, finally, in this house, and I put it ALL to good use.

While rice cookers are often used to make sticky rice, they won't make non-sticky rice sticky. Rice's stickiness is determined by the variety not by the cooking method.

I only know the brand of white rice I use for sticky rice, not the variety, so I'm not much help, but try a variety of short to medium grain brown rices and one of them is bound to be sticky. If you succeed in finding out the variety of white rice commonly used to make sticky rice, you will then know the best brown sticky rice, too, as the difference between white and brown is just how the rice is milled/how much of the bran is left intact.

The slow juicer, blender and the French press stay out; the other small appliances, panini grill, rotisserie, canner etc. are stored out of sight.

I have packed up the microwave, toaster and electric can opener and will sell them as a package deal as part of my effort towards better health(the microwave) and minimizing.

And yes, appliances remain unplugged until needed.

That's funny, I've only ever made sticky rice in a pan. My rice cooker is a dead simple one I got in a Japanese grocery store in Seattle 30 years ago, the switch says "cook" and "warm" period. If you want on, plug it in, if you want off, unplug it. I don't eat much rice anymore, I use it mostly to cook oatmeal and lentils. :blink: I've been known to cook pretty much anything in it. Roger Ebert can too. :eating: I just recently found out about his obsession with them, and he can't eat. Go figure.

*Staying with the theme of unimportant answers*

ETA: I'm talking about "sticky rice" for sushi or fruit deserts. If your talking wallpaper paste just use short grain brown rice, add too much water and cook it too long. My mother has this down to a science.

I have a "garage" for the toaster, the can opener, and a popcorn popper. The Foreman grill lives on the counter because I use it every day. Everything else has a cupboard space.

At the moment mot of the small things are put away with the exception of the my kitchen aid mixer sad coffee pot.I do have a couple of large book case type shelves that I keep quite a few kinds of glass jars and things to hold flower,corn meal as well as sugar.My food processor is on the top of it plus some assortment
of baking pans and that I use a lot this time of year.Also I have a fairly large book case near filled with cook books from nearly where, some are collectors ithem's from a along time ago and I am always looking for more,even old bar drink books..heck I even have some old Betty Crocker books from the 30's and 40's..I really do use these books cause they have some great things to cook in those . Only thing that is plugged in is the coffee pot as it is on a timer and the fridge and two freezers a well as this fancy stove I bought last year it is gas but needs electricity for the times,lights.

I stopped using a microwave too. Other than the rare occasion when I make popcorn (since I forgot my popcorn maker in Mass.) I reheat food on the stove, just like we did when I was a kid

The microwave is under the cabinet, unplugged of course. Mostly because I needed the counter space. I keep the toaster out because it doesn't take up THAT much room. And I was on an English muffin jag for a while. But that gets unplugged as well.

I don't have much for appliances honestly. Blender, dehydrator, French press and toaster. The toaster and microwave are actually on loan lol. I take everything else out as needed and it gets put away.

I have a large kitchen for the size of my smallish place. No microwave :), but I have a toaster/convection oven in its place. The juicer, mixer, and blender are in the pantry, but I keep some cooking oils on the counter, curry mix on the counter, coffee press, tea kettle, a bottle of kahlua and some green glass containers on the counter. Three chopping boards of varying sizes in different places and I still have lots of counter space.

I have lots of counter space and if I had my way everything from the toaster to the standing mixer would be on the counter top. Blender, juicer, food processor, coffee maker, toaster, you name it (I'm addicted to small appliances since I grew up in a third world country and I spend a lot of time making up stuff in the kitchen). However, my wife would toss it all in the trash and since we have endless cupboards, everything is stored. Except for the blender, toaster, and the sodastream because I use them daily; and the standing mixer which is darn good looking and a piece of kitchen art in itself.

BTW, I never unplug my appliances but got curious since some of you do. I went "googling" and found this interesting article:
household appliances you should unplug