UK1 and I have several favorites in common. My favs also include:

• Zojirushi neuro fuzzy rice maker -- it's awesome even if you're a great rice maker because you don't have to worry about timing your rice to finish cooking at a specific time and you don't waste a burner on a pot of rice
  
• Meat temperature probe -- specifically a Thermaworks probe with an external alarm so it alerts me when the food reaches a pre-specified temperature
  
• Kitchen scales -- digital, precise to the gram. If you ever look for digital kitchen scales on Amazon, notice the items that it suggests people frequently purchase alongside digital scales

I'd also include:

• Double layer baking sheets -- no twisting and warping when you put it in the oven
  
• Wine fridge -- I have a Danby with two temperature zones, which is nice for chilling both white and red or different types of beers
  
• Immersion blender -- specifically a Kitchenaid model that's been discontinued. I burned mine out while trying to pulverize dried mandarin orange peel that was packed too tightly into a jar and within minutes had bought a replacement on eBay. (Thank goodness for eBay.) I won't make that mistake again.
  
• Silicone pot cover -- never mess around with saran wrap again when heating items in the microwave and never worry about being unable to find a lid that fits a specific pot
  
• Paella pan -- I have to mention this, since I got a lot of grief over in OMNI a year ago when my father (stepmother) gave me a paella pan. I was insulted because a) I am the family paella maker and it's ridiculous to think I wouldn't own my own paella pan and b) the paella pan I own was a gift from my father years ago.
  
• Riedel stemless wine glasses -- dishwasher safe and take up less room in the cabinet
  
• Microplane -- great for shaving cheese over pasta
  
• Mandoline -- don't laugh, but I have this one and it's awesome. I've owned it for 15+ years, using it at least once a week (and for a long time using it daily) and it still rocks
  
• Great knives, natch -- I'm a fan of both Henkels and Global
  
• Electric kettle -- I know Europeans and Asians reading this will think, "Well, duh. That's about as obvious as saying a fridge or stove is a great kitchen gadget," but they aren't that common in the US.
  
• French press coffee maker -- Great for making ice coffee, which is my daily brew.
  
• Martin Puryear pan scraper -- Cleaning up is a breeze with this tool
  
• Instant Pot -- I'd never heard of this before a couple months ago and once I did I didn't know how I ever lived without it. Pressure cooker + slow cooker + rice cooker + steamer + yogurt maker + braiser all in one appliance. I can caramelize onions overnight using the slow cooker and then serve them with perfectly cooked short ribs that I've pressure cooked in less than an hour. (Needless to say, I don't use the rice cooker function.)
  
• Silicone rubber bands -- Great for trussing poultry, etc., and machine washable so you never need to ask yourself, "Do I have cooking twine?"
  
• Parchment paper -- If I'm slow roasting anything in the over, I line the tray with parchment paper. It's awesome.
  
• Almost anything by Oxo -- If I'm shopping for a kitchen tool, I always look to see if Oxo makes a version of it. They have a very talented design team that takes commonplace tools and improves upon them.

Things I own but wish I used more frequently:

• KitchenAid mixer -- My kitchen is small, so it lives in my hall closet. I dig it out when I'm baking or whipping cream, but it doesn't get used as frequently as it would if it were on my countertop.
  
• Regular (Kitchenaid) blender -- I lent my Instant Pot to a friend so she could try it for a week and I'm borrowing her Vitamix in exchange. I love how easy it is to make green smoothies every morning with the Vitamix, but it takes up so much room. I'd probably do breakfast smoothies more frequently if I had my Kitchenaid blender on the counter. Instead, it's in the back of a cabinet.
  
• Silicone egg poaching pods -- Love poached eggs, but make them far too infrequently. This makes perfectly shaped poached eggs and takes all of the guesswork out of the cooking process.
  
• Food dehydrator -- I mainly use mine for drying herbs. Really should use it for drying fruits such as apples and bananas.

For lovers of gadgets, I highly recommend the kitchen section of Cool Tools. They've turned me on to a bunch of great items.

It's interesting about the Zoji. Certainly in the UK the price makes it a great leap of faith. Non-owners often have an opinion about them ..... but only when you own one are you completely blown away by them. To be able to get your curry in the slow cooker and the rice in the Zoji and then simply eat a perfect meal later in the day is a great thing. It's one of the few meals I cook where I can have a break between prep and eating.

Also a great convertee to Nespresso. Having had big industrial strength Gaggias and gone through the whole roasting from green bean and blending to our own taste and then discovered with some doubts these little machines - if you are just an espresso drinker then these are stunning machines. And the pods last forever. Ignore the dates.

The other thing I'd add to my own list is cigar humidors (it's a bloke thing ....) and those nice cigar exporters in the Swiss airport free zones that export in perfectly legal smallish quantities ...... and save us a packet on the tax on quality cigars ....

The Nespresso is a splurge I personally can't justify (love my French press coffee), but I'm always thrilled to find that I'm staying in a hotel room with a Nespresso machine...I go to town.

I think they are ideal for those that love their coffee but don't drink it all the time. I use to waste so much coffee. Now the pods are always fresh. We often have offers where you get a large initial free supply which makes the machines great value.

I had forgotten to tell you about a relatively new development that might be a better alternative to the traditional pizza stone.

Some years ago some home pizza enthusiasts were looking for an alternative to the traditional stone in the domestic lower temperature oven environment and found that thick stainless steel was superior. This was particularly true for New York style (which is the US closest equivalent to Neapolitan) but it also improved Neapolitan as well. This has now become a commercially available product and if I were restricted to domestic oven temperatures this would be what I'd look at. Google pizza stainless steel.

Look at the "crumb" on this Neapolitan style .... something I'd say nearly impossible on traditional stone at less than 900f'ish.



.... and some more info at ..

The Pizza Lab: The Baking Steel Delivers

Kuhn Rikon Kochblume Spill Stopper

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...L._SL1000_.jpg

• High carbon steel knives.
• A pressure cooker with good inserts. Like this, for example
• A food processor. Slice, dice, chop, your food.
• A mandoline slicer. Even, thin cuts.
• Ye random microwave.
• A cast iron cookpot (and a pan).
• A grinder For example. Dry/wet grind spices, coffee, nuts, chutneys, etc.

Sorry, I meant to mention that, too. I'm not a pizza cooker, but I know a number of people who have switched from a stone to a steel and rave about it.

I have a good knife, a good coffee maker, a sandwich maker (basically a little grilled cheese thing), a good toaster over (with a pizza setting!) and that's about it. I make do though.

I am in awe of some of the kitchen gadgets here. My own list is:
Kitchen aid mixer
Magimix food processor
Magimix blender
Panasonic bread maker
Rice cooker
Weber kettle BBQ + Mr Flyingbee to set it up and cook on it (does that count as a kitchen gadget or is it a garden gadget?)
Mini cupcake maker
Crumb catcher bread board
Salad spinner
Fat separating jug for making gravy

I'm loving the idea of the fancy rice cookers and pizza ovens.

Fancy rice cookers and catering pizza ovens are two things that you know in your heart are probably over the top when you are sweating about buying them but when you get them become central to your life. I know this is sad but it is true.

I have had an Instant Pot for a few months and love it. I am a total kitchen gadget devotee.

Wish I'd logged in earlier today, but Amazon had the Instant Pot marked down to $99.99, which is as low as I've seen it.

get a pizza steel. stones break at high temps

A good knife, coffee grinder, and a moka pot.

Living life without a microwave oven was weird but I got used to it.