Do you know that there is an appliance, which only cooks eggs or garlic pressers whose only purpose is to crush garlic into tiny pieces? Not quite versatile, is it?
When we talk about the market of kitchen appliances, a large number of appliances are available. Many leading brands like Currys, come with a number of kitchen appliances, Luckily, you can use coupons while shopping online to ensure that you don’t break the bank, but being able to save a couple of quid here and there can often lead to overspending and buying items which we really don’t need in our kitchen. It is true that some of the appliances really ease the way things go around, while there are others, which don’t even justify the cost we spend on it. So, in order to make choosing your kitchen appliances a little more simple, we have provided you with some tips here:
Know the return on the value of the product
This will give the answer to our biggest question – on whether a product gives back on its value or not. It means that by knowing the return cost, we can decide, the worth of a product. When it comes to refrigerators, they are used to store the perishable food items. So it is used by a majority of the people and it acquires a space in the kitchen. It is useful to many people and so we can consider that it has high return on value.
How many times you use it?
When it comes to ice cream makers, they are used to churn ice cream twice or thrice times, during the summer. So the product is used seldom in the kitchen and comes with less return on its value. This means that it is useless to buy a product, which you don’t use often in the kitchen.
One of the other ways to decide on the cost of the object is to divide the cost by the number of times it’s used. Suppose you buy a garlic presser for £10 and have used it three times a year, then the cost per usage comes out as £3.34. On the other hand, if you happened to buy a product of the same price which you use daily, then the cost per usage will turn out to be £0.34 per month. This means that you have used well the product in the first year itself.
Is it necessary to buy the product?
Now the answer for this question will clearly show you whether you ‘want’ the product or genuinely ‘need’ it. It is true that when it comes to kitchen appliances, we can get things done without using some of them, but the convenience of the appliance, make us use them more often. So it would be better if you could buy a product, that you may use in the long run compared to a one, which you may use only for a short period of time.
Is it difficult to maintain the product?
So, let’s take the example of a food processor. When it comes to using it, it becomes difficult to clean the appliance by completely disassembling it. Many a times, the thought of spending this amount of time can discourage us from using the appliance more frequently.
In case, you are planning to save some money while using these kitchen appliances, then you can think of these alternative ideas:
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Buy a used one
This can be a good idea if you are planning to get the appliance at low cost. You can get some of the finest ones on the local second hand store, but again you need to go through the above mentioned points to know whether you really need them or not.
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Borrow someone’s appliance
If you are planning to get things done at minimal expense then you can go for the borrowing and lending option. Yes, it is not easy to share the big fixed appliances, but you can definitely go for the small ones. So in this way, you can use all the appliances that you want without spending a penny on each of them.
Whenever you plan to buy an appliance, make sure you buy one that fits into your living style and needs. There is no sense in buying and piling up things, if you don’t have any plans to use them.
Some great tips in here. Think most people have made the made of ‘wanting’ a product & then finding it hardly ever gets used. One that springs to mind for us is a yoghurt maker, we did use ours a couple of times. Then the novelty wore off I’m afraid to say.
Excellent pointers. I’ll be sure to keep this post in mind. I just moved homes and so now I’m planning to purchase some new appliances but I wasn’t to sure on what to look for, since technology keeps evolving. I think I’m gonna try and buy and borrow some.
I agree with the ice cream maker I think its waste of time, money and space! its cheaper to buy and tastier!
Thanks for some great tips and advice!
Thanks for this, some very handy tips there. I like the idea of borrowing and lending.
A really good post. I especially like the idea of borrowing an appliance first. I must own up to buying things in the past that just sat in the cupboard taking up space. I must say though, as someone who has a lot of food intolerances, some appliances like my ice-cream maker have been really good investments, more so for myself than most people as it’s really hard for me to buy ready made ice-cream I can actually eat.
I do love a good kitchen appliance even though i don’t really have much room for any more. I’m currently coveting the Sage Waffle makers, they look incredible.
Very good points here! So true about the versatility and how many times you are going to use it. I have a huge ice cream maker which takes up a lot of space and hardly gets used more than twice a year sadly.
A good article – its so true! So easy to see a fab looking appliance that would look good in the kitchen as well, but you do have to ask yourself if you would still be using it in six months time!
Awh, I love my garlic press! It probably works out at about 0.00034p per year the amount of times I’ve used it.
Definitely a good principle to bear in mind, though. Especially with baby stuff – we had a Moses basket sit unused for months, which we could have saved on by buying something second-hand or borrowing one to try out.