Appliances on your Countertop...

My air fryer oven is much more efficient than my wall convection ovens at most things, but especially reheating things like patties and pizza , broiling, and dehydrating.

Hi shrinkrap,

I have two different sized ones with convection, and no wall unit at all–though they’re not called air fryers. The small one (I just replaced) always does toast perfectly–almost like my old toaster–and small reheating of pizza, etc. My big one can roast potatoes and/or hold any of my ECI cocottes up to 7 1/2 qt.

Ray

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You should try a magnetic one. I have a few. They’re available in all price ranges. I think NOLA Boards makes ones that are beautiful and well-conceived.

I think the key is to find one with the Goldilocks degree of magnetic attraction. Too little, and heavy knives are insecure. Too much, and you need to aggressively twist the blade off, which can be bad for the edges. The pricier ones use rare earth magnets that are hidden beneath wood or plastic, This makes for a prettier appearance, but I like the small surface area of the simple exposed, narrow metal bars. Even though many of my knives are carbon steel, I’ve had no problems with rust.

Bob Kramer has licensed a magnetic “block” design to Zwilling/Miyabi. There’re even stacked and another design that one here will call cultural fusion, but don’t tell Kramer slots are unsanitary…

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Hi Claus,

I originally got one of these reluctantly when I finally gave up my precious toaster.

I’ve replaced and updated three times, and now I’ve got a small oven that’s quite remarkable for all the different things it can do.

You’re right that it’s just a mini oven with convection.

But you might find yourself using it more than you think.

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Thank you for the knowledge and advice my friend. My brother has a magnet for his miyabi knives and I bet it’s the one you mentioned. Unlike me, he’s a minimalist and doesn’t have difficulty passing up good deals on things he doesn’t need. He chose the miyabi knives after careful study of modern commercial kitchen knives and once he picked he was done for at least a decade and possibly for life. I admire him for that and so many other things. Next time I’m at his place I’ll check his knife magnet and ask him how he likes it.

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We use our Phillips air fryer all the time for reheating leftovers and cooking cruciferous veggies. I agree it’s efficient (compact) and fast.

For toasting bread I like my sunbeam radiant toaster but I need to tune or repair the dial on it perhaps this weekend as it overtoasts at the moment.

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Hi alarash,

Before selecting anything that would help you “grab,” you need to first select a minimal batterie of kitchen knives from your collection: seven is the number I have in my #1 group of knives–and it’s not a bad number.

Once you have your batterie identified, a storage solution may present itself.

I like your way of thinking, Ray. It’s logical and practical.

Currently I have knives semi organized in a drawer. Not only do I have enough low end commercial kitchen style NSF approved chef knives for a medium size restaurant (no exaggeration) but I also have an example of just about every type of knife one could want, including oyster shuckers, Japanese varieties, etc.

My brother on the other hand has only the 5-7 miyabi knives he would ever need for 99.9% of his kitchen activities displayed gorgeously on his magnetic wall strip.

Why I search for and hoard bargains is a mystery to me except that it must be associated with some reward pathway in my lizard brain, probably also related to my eating habits and resultant body habitus. Is there a 12 step program for me? Darn it.

Hi alarash,

We did have someone on Chowhound who specialized in finding Revere ware. He was your cookware twin. Maybe you remember.

I think it’s great. Think of your findings like a sort of Smithsonian treasure–mostly kept in storage–but with rotating displays that you feature.

The displays could be put up and taken down on a magnetic strip.

Might work.

Rat

Sorry I overlooked this and failed to respond. Yes, a Bamix is drawn towards the bottom, but it seems manageable. I don’t slide it around glued to the bottom. I lift, place, and move it around, usually slightly tilted so that only two prongs are on the bottom. It just sucks stuff in from all over the pan and blitzes it. It does not get nearly as much action in summer, but if it ever gets cool, it will go back to cranking out creamed soups. First, we must survive the next five months of Texas summer.

I decided to see if I’d like a magnetic holder. This is a cork-backed engineering ruler with 6 neodymium disk magnets (dimensions much like a US penny) sandwiching the over-sink window’s glass. The knives (Santoku 7-in, chef’s 8-in, cheap “Classic” branded Henkel or Zwilling steak knife) together mass 400 grams and there’s no sign of the ruler wanting to slide down under this amount. I think it’s stable enough to add 2 more magnets behind the ruler, without matching magnets to sandwich the window, to hold 2 more knives.

Works pretty good, except like Kaleo mentioned, pull force is a problem and this one is extremely “grabby”. I put up a second ruler (cork-to-cork) and tried to place the knives again, but that extra ~ 1.5 mm distance made it so the knives wanted to slip off. So Goldilocks is a good descriptor.

I do have some weaker neodyms on the fridge but they’re in use holding junk, so maybe I’ll give this another go tomorrow when I’ve got a bit of time. The magnets are widely available online (I use K&J Magnetics) and I think my current bunch costs about a dollar per 2 magnets.

P.S. storm really tossed up a bunch of junk - I’m sure my wife will say I should have gone out and cleaned up before I took this pic.

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Hi CCE,

for both my styles of magnetic, I’ve relied on the wisdom of my supplier for magnets used–and distribution–and my own sensibilities for what knives I should or shouldn’t try.

My custom cherry wood strip almost forces the spacing–and I use similar hard steel damascus knives that weigh less than 300 gm. My Zwilling magnetic slots work best with 7" to 8" knives, but can handle heavier and wider knives. So that’s where I have my 8" X 4" cleaver and my heavy debas–that I’d never put on my strip.

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Excellent experiment, counselor.

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You got it. Nothing special, except the marketing.

What’s going on with that extension cord thing?

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Hi Greg,

Except

those “nothing special” little ovens continue to be almost essential to many of us.

An electrical fire waiting to happen?

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Hi MTS,

It connects to my bigger oven. There is a proper outlet way back there that I couldn’t figure out how to connect properly to my short cord–it’s a temporary solution that’s lasted for several years already.

There’s ample plug-ins.

Someday I’ll fix it the right way. . .

Ray

Your “bigger oven” has a wattage that demands an industrial, heavy duty cord. There’s a reason the countertop oven instruction manuals say do not use with an extension cord. The wattage of these ovens exceeds or bumps right up agains the rated wattage of a lamp-type extension chord. Very, very dangerous. There are short connector cords with flat plug heads that are made to connect appliances to inaccessible outlets.

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Hi Meekah,

Thanks for your concern.

I’m fully aware of the problem–have a solution as described above–and will implement–probably when we add final touches to the upgrade carried out three years ago.