Kitchen appliances chat

We had the Brita one (installed it ourselves in a rental in Barcelona as the water is undrinkable). It was great. A little bit lower pressure than normal, but totally fine.

Toasters:
I'm a Dualit clockwork person myself, but my sister left some appliances in my London house ^{(golf club)} (she was renting it from us for the last 3 years). One of them is the Kitchen Aid "Artisan" toaster.

It is a truly mental thing. It has motorised toast slots, not just for the up and down but also the bread thickness. You pop some bread in, it gives a little "bong" and then motorises the bread down into the toaster. Blinky lights count down until it's toasted, then it bongs and the toast slowly rises. And if you leave it in too long it descends again to keep it warm until you're ready to butter it. All these things are highly amusing but it's £300!

Some people have more money than sense, and I appear to be related to one of them.

I bought my 2 slice Dualit 33 years ago, before the likes of John Lewis and Heals started selling them, and they were made in Peckham. I think I paid £50.00 for it. It has worked faultlessly since then. The only maintenance I've done to it is to mount the timer on rubber grommets to reduce the early morning clatter up with which I will not put.

up with which I will not put

Very good

Some people have more money than sense, and I appear to be related to one of them.

Idk almost £200 for an adult size Dualit that'll still end up not properly toasting on one side of one slot vs £300 for what sounds like a fucking sick toaster?

I know which one sounds like the better value proposition.

One day I will have one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y&t

Ha, we had one of those but it was 300 for that and the variable temp kettel. Bought it just for the looks as my wife wanted all red kitchen stuff at the time didn't know about all the auto stuff until we got it.

It was great, weighed a fucking ton though. Bought it 7 years ago, still going strong, we gave it to my mum when we left blighty.

Superb bit of kit. I'd be hunting one down if I lived in the US.

Our aeg competence oven has shit the bed.
Replacing the parts is £450.

What’s the best thing to do here?

Buy a new oven from FB marketplace. So many cheap ovens of all types.

Eat raw food?

agree fb marketplace has insane value. Currently buying a £1200 hob from someone for
£200 cause there's a few scratches on it and they left it too late to return.

After researching air friers and slow cookers for ages, and realising they are all massive (we don't have loads of worksurface space, I got a thermal cooker, and I bloody love it.

https://mrdscookware.com/

All the advantages of a slow cooker, but not having to plug it in, I can leave it anywhere. And cause it's sealed, I can make amazing chicken stock overnight and not come down to the house stinking of chicken. And it's pretty small.
I'd still like an air frier, but I'm waiting to find a small slimline number.

Surely must have phenomenally good insulation to retain heat to cook for 7 hours?

well finally took the plunge and decided on the next toaster to try out my slices of jacksons " normal sized " bread in / on

ladies and gentlemen meet the Cookworks Long Slot 4 Slice Toaster, cheap and cheerful,
can't wait to pick up a loaf of jacksons this weekend to try it

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/7236145

however just as i thought i'd finished my quest for the new toaster i introduced it to some morrisons the best sourdough crumpets ............... and i was just about to take it out the back with my sledgehammer and be done with toasters forever, however .......

....... with a little persuasion i managed to get them down .... and more importantly back up again with a little force but they fitted ... just, very snug though

i don't forsee any issues with the jacksons. might go a bit toast crazy tonight with some regular hovis from todays shop

If you have a microwave - the microwave rice cooker is amazing. Even with additions. Perfect rice every time. Haven’t touched the actual rice cooker since.

Are there any combo washer/dryers, with the drying part being heatpump-based?

Ideally mid-price…

Mid price is unlikely. I know aeg do one because advertising

Which microwave rice cooker?
I have owned several in the past, and they've all been pretty unimpressive.
My view of perfect rice is similar to a Italian's view of al dente.

@amey (I think) once posted a fool proof rice technique that I have now been using for years with perfect results each time.

Recommended 9/7 would yentz

I looked into this when I bought mine and couldn't really get a straight answer.

I think washer/dryers are already a bit heat-pumpy in how they operate compared to a traditional dryer, that's why you don't need to vent them.

For me the sign of a good toaster is can it take a hot cross bun, toast it and then eject it rather than burning it and squashing it and jamming it into the elements thus requiring the toaster to be unplugged before digging the now cold, charred and crushed remnants out of the fucking toaster.

i am pretty sure i can only dream of hot hot cross buns with this puppy
there'll be carbonisation for sure as the bun is wedged up against the elements

i've got at least a couple of years to do my reasearch for the next one, lets hope in that time toaster research moves back to large wide slots
or maybe i can find retrotoasters.com and get a good 90's toaster in NOS condition from an avid collector and muffin fanatic

Re all the microwave rice chat, isn't microwaving plastic quite bad in terms of health/microplastics?

This one got reco'd earlier https://www.lfgss.com/comments/17282307/