Must-Have Kitchen Tools

It's no secret to those around me.....I LOVE kitchen gadgets and tools. However, I am not one of those people who has everything under the sun in their kitchen, I only love stuff that works and is useful. I don't buy gadgets just because they're cool or because I might use it once a year, I buy them for functionality. I've had some dud gadgets and I've had some phenomenal ones. Here are the ones I just don't think I'd be happy without...sometimes it's not necessarily the brand of the product, but sometimes it is.

Garlic press

I love my garlic press.  I use garlic in almost every dish and the thought of having to finely chop and press every single clove is enough to make me cry.  I have the Pampered Chef garlic press now, but I've heard some good things about this OXO press.  What I love most is that you can put the garlic in the press without having to take the time to peel it first.

 

Manual can opener

I fell in love with this Zyliss can opener the day I opened the package.  It doesn't slip off the can, it's smooth to operate, and it locks into place while you're opening the can so you don't have to exert continuous pressure.  My son is left handed, so he's broken all our other can openers, but this one works great for left or right handed people.

Apple Peeler, corer, slicer

I've blogged about the many benefits of this apple peeler, corer, slicer before.  If you want to read the full review, check it out here.  Needless to say, this is a fantastic product for those who do a lot of apple dishes or canning in the fall.  It's saved me a ton of time and hand pain and I don't think this is one item that I'd want to do without.

Stick/immersion blender

This is such an awesome and versatile product.  The main use is as an immersion blender for things like making mashed potatoes, gravies, soup base, etc.  However, you can get some affordable attachments for this as well that turn it into a mini food chopper/processor, a high speed whisk, etc.  I use this all the time to avoid pulling out the bigger appliances.

Convection toaster oven

I love this little appliance because of it's versatility.  Not only can you use it as your main toaster, but you can often times avoid using the main oven when you're making smaller dishes like scalloped potatoes, brownies, small batches of corn muffins, etc.  It saves me a lot off of my electric bill and also time in pre-heating the oven.

I could go on and on about some of the other essentials in my kitchen, but we'll save that for a later time!  So, do you own any of these?  What's on your "essential kitchen gadget" list?