Underrated:
A good sharp knife
Stick blender
A really big wooden cutting board
Vinegar
Pressure cookers
Overrated:
Electric stovetops, especially induction
Food processors
Appliances that take longer to clean than the time they save
Microwaves
True for me as well. Only that my house has a regular, non-induction electric stovetop.
Vinegar as a ingredient for cooking or vinegar as a kitchen cleaning solution?
I have to disagree on this. I like my induction cooktop. Very fast to heat up especially a large quantity of liquid compared to a fire and very easy to clean after cooking.
Vinegar for cleaning solution - vastly underrated.
Need to include baking soda too, in this case.
Induction cooking is my strong preference. It is faster, cleaner and more efficient than other methods. That means thereās a little bit of a learning curve involved. For example, timing given in recipes may need adjusting to allow for the almost instantaneous change in temperature. Knowing how to cook helps. No need for double boilers. Cannot beat the ease of cleaning, either.
I donāt understand why induction isnāt more popular in US homes.
I have a 2 āburnerā Wolf induction cooktop that I love for its ability to boil water so quickly and ease of cleaning. I use it daily to make coffee and steel cut oatmeal. I also use it for pasta water and rice. Because I have a 1946 Wedgewood stove with burners that are not so strong it compliments it nicely.
In my case, our present house came with a newer, non-induction electric cooktop. I find it hard to justify the expense of replacing a perfectly good stovetopāas much as this one frustrates me. I learned to cook on a electric coil stove and so was wowed by the responsiveness of a gas stove back when we bought our first house (moved since then).
If I ever get to replace our current stove, Iāll probably take myself and my favorite pan to a kitchen showroom to test whatever induction and gas cooktops are available by then.
I agree with you and naf on this. Baking soda and vinegar as cleaning solution. They are food safe, which means it is fine if residue of them are left and ingestedā¦ unlike most other cleaners. I will also add hydrogen peroxide for disinfecting my cutting boardā¦etc.
+1 on vinegar. I burned a whole pot of caramel the other night. Put 50/50 vinegar/water in the pot & heated it upā¦ All gone caramel.
I burned some milk and rice mixture. With vinegar and baking soda and heat, I was able to save my pot! Very effective!
I donāt know why these tips are often listed as grandma tips, making them looks like them are old and non scientific solutions. Cleaning companies lobbies?!
I thought I had no use for a toaster oven until I got a toaster oven
So true. I hate my glass cooktop. And I am a stickler for it not being streaky so I am constantly cleaning it. Salted water? The worse!!!
I love my food processor but I always think twice about using it. Most of the parts have to be hand washed so I end up deciding if I can do it more easily by hand - and mostly I can.
Underrated: scale, especially for baking.
Overrated: anything made by Viking. Our kitchen was outfitted almost exclusively w/ Viking appliances (fridge is exception).
I feel there is a generation gap. A long time ago, people just use simple things to clean their kitchens. There were no specialized cleaners for kitchen. You want to clean your kitchen? Just grab something. I have a computer desk. I donāt have a specialized computer desk cleaner. Then, there is a period of time with blooming cleaners specialized for kitchens and bathā¦etc. Cleaners just for sink. Cleaners just for tiles. Cleaners just for stainless steel. (probably our mom and grandmother generation ā depending their ages).
Now, we are back to āsimple is betterā and āless chemical is betterā age. So I think there is a push to go back and skip over our mom and dad generation in this sense.
Expensive stuffs for being overratedā¦
Hold on hold on hold on!
Havenāt you famously stated hereabouts that you havenāt been down I-10 west of the Beltway since they paved it or something like that?
I want to know what circuitous route youāre taking to San Antone from Spring Branch?
Are you taking 290 to Austin and then down I-35, OR are you taking 59 down to Victoria and then up 87 through China Grove?
Inquiring minds and whatnot. 
