Kitchen appliances chat

Cheers.

I reckon we're just gonna get a new 'normal' vac.

Can recommend a shark vacuum cleaner if you want a cordless

Ah bugger stacked tumble dryer on a strong shelf. Didn't think to check which was door opened. Tried to flip the door round, don't think it's doable on this model, lost the bit the door catch - goes down into the machine and struggling to fish it out

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Flip it upside down, job's a good 'un.

Think they mean a fixed pulley line, with the big pulleys like this.

I already had a 12' scaffolding pole in the ground and a wall at the other end, so I rigged up a Heath Robinson mixture of cheap ebay stainless pulleys and a cotton line with tensioner.
Nice thing is that you can stand in one spot and peg clothes on, move it along and repeat. I added a vertical line/pulley to one end so I can hoik it up above head height once done, but it does get a bit hard to move when fully loaded and tensioned up, which I guess is the reason for the large diameter on those^. You need something to join spread the load between the two halves of line too, proper ones are not cheap and you need a few, but more pulleys and carabiners worked ok.

Will it rotate 90 degrees on that worktop? Squint at my phone suggests no.

Haven’t bought a vac yet but it’s going to be a eufy L60 when we do.
Spent the money on a Poulson lamp off balding Buddha and some expensive spare parts to fix it up instead.
Mid century aesthetics are more important than dealing with floor fluff.

Don't think so. There's now an electrical connector that receives the door lost down in the machine so it's currently out of commission

Any recommendations on a stick blender that’s good but not enormous money?

Normally it's possible/easier to remove the front panel to get access to the internals.

Cheap and even medium priced ones just don’t last very long. Bamix is the stick blender you will buy once. They still make spares for older models, I was in a cookery shop in Amsterdam and they were boasting how customers of theirs still have ancient 1980s bamix blenders where all that has been done to them is a replacement power cord.

I love this kind of product and I hate the fact I've had x number of dead cheapo stick blenders in my life. If I wasn't brought up such a tightarse I'd have bought one years ago.

dealing with floor fluff

Two cats, a four year old and three storeys have led to us having more vacuums than is probably necessary.

Shark bendy cordless - ground floor main duty, really good if the filters are kept clean/replaced
Vax upright corded - for deep cleans, very powerful, good spinny brush head. Pain in the arse to lug about. Keep knackering my toes.
Vax cordless - first floor, OK, doesn't hold much
Henry - DIY duty only, fucking bullet proof
Shark mini cordless - ms_com's office, surprisingly good for its size
Draper 20l wet&dry - shop/shed vac, cheap, does a job. Have a dust separator for heavy duty work to save the bags.
Bosch 18v cordless -shed and play house cobweb remover, shit, slightly better with Milwaukee batteries and an adaptor. Needs the filter fully dismantled to properly clean
Draper briefcase sized vac - was intended as a shed vac but is shit. Total shit.

House is still a perpetual shit tip.

Have worked in professional kitchens quite a bit and the good ones tend to use robot coupe. Looks like a basic one is £250 so unless you're happy to spend that money I'd probably follow the Bamix recommendations below if I were you.

On the other end of the scale I have in my home kitchen one I bought from Tesco for a fiver 10 years ago. Own brand and obviously way less good than a professional model, but it has never broken in that time.

Yes to bamix stick blender (esge Zauberstab in Germany). Had one from the eighties that got lent to someone, suffered a few years with something else, finally have one again.
Don't be an idiot like me and go for the strongest 350w version, they claim it doesn't work with the accessories, and sometimes one of the small herb cutters would be nice.

I'll keep an eye on them, and try and pick one up when there is a decent deal on maybe.
The bamix seems to have lower wattage than some other premium competitors, say 200/250w vs a Braun multiquick at 1000/1200w.
I expect at least some of it is for the sake of impressive high numbers, as 1200w in a stick blender sounds excessive.

e.g. this Braun multiquick 7
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Braun-MQ7045X-Blender-MQ7045/dp/B07YN8TNTQ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3G2AT4T2AI4YT&keywords=multiquick+9&qid=1704804548&s=kitchen&sprefix=multiquick+9%2Ckitchen%2C67&sr=1-3

My use will probably be more often as a food chopper for marinades and whisking, rather than blending soups.

Is it new? An unscrupulous person might return it as not working, and buy a new one with the door the right way around

I can do this I think (they offered me an exchange rather than repair as within 30 days) but don't want it to go to landfill....
May sleep on it, cancel repair, go for different model. I went for this one as can plumb it directly out

Not kitchen appliances chat but still kitchen equipment chat…

If one were to treat themselves to a decent general-purpose chefs knife (as it’s still on my birthday/Christmas/anniversary gift ideas list 😂) what should one look out for? I feel this group may well have delved into this rabbit hole a lot.

Currently a Wustof or Mac 8” chefs knife look like a potential options. Do like the look of the dimpled Mac so that potatoes or onions in particular don’t stick to the blade. A couple of food channels on YouTube exclusively use Global knives, but as it’s sponsored/gifted for them to use not sure if that’s a ringing endorsement. What’s other folks experiences?

This is the thread that has delved into this rabbit hole a lot
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/147065/

Victorinox Fibrox is cheap and all you will ever need.

mac / tojiro dp / wusthof /shun /etc are all basically functionally the same but look nicer. I personally don’t feel that the dimple things do much to help food not stick or find that to be a problem but that’s me. global is fine but rather ££ and some dont get along with the handles.

i’d get the Victorinox if all you care about is cutting.

I need a toaster, a blender / processor, and a stick blender.
Not 40k banding but not shonky Amazon own brand.

Blender/processor I’ve used a Tefal Optichef stick blender (link to tefal) unit for several years now for soups/pastes mainly and it’s great. Never had to think about it and it just works. No idea how much it was as it was a gift, but knowing the gifter around £50/60?

I brought my parents a dualit stick blender/chopper (link to nisbets listing) combo for Christmas this year and feedback so far has been very positive. Obvs too early for any indication on longevity.

second recommend for the dualit - which probs means i'll get that one and smash it to pieces over time....

Get a Breville toaster.

If you read up thread you'll see everyone is creaming themselves over bamix sticks, so get one of those.