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I know that we've had some discussions about the Instant Pot. I came across this article about how some chefs are using them in professional kitchens:
One of my sisters has bought an instant pot, but due to lack of time, she had yet to use it last time we talked. She was excited about being able to make yogurt. Oddly enough, stores that carry the Instant Pot do not carry the accessories--such as a holder for individual jars for yogurt. The accessories have to be ordered directly from the company.
Let's morph this thread into a discussion of specialty appliances.
I've never owned or used a pressure cooker. For people with large families or very busy schedules, I can see that it would be a timesaver. Anyone who does low-acid food canning must have one. The canning I do is jams and pie filling (acidic), so I have not had a need for a pressure cooker. I did buy the Ball electric water kettle that I use for canning those. (And, I did buy that Ball jam maker--the one that does the stirring--which saves my arm and is great for small batches of four or five jars.)
I have an old 3 1/2-quart crock pot, but I don't use it that much, as I prefer to do roasts in the oven, and it is too small for most soups. I just make them on the stove when I know that I will be home for a longer period of time while they simmer. Most crock pots have hot spots, and the food does not cook evenly or sticks.
Yogurt makers are not built for the long haul, so if used frequently (every week or two), the wiring starts to fail, and some of the individual containers do not get warm enough. I wore out two yogurt makers, as the wiring tends to stop working around individual cups--something that has frustrated my sister who makes yogurt now as frequently as I once did (weekly or every two weeks) for perhaps three years or so. I do have a new individual cup one (from Tuesday Morning) that I will probably start using here (once it gets unpacked!) because I cannot get plain yogurt easily (much of it has fruit or at least vanilla in it, and that means added sugar), and the store that carries Stonyfield, my brand of choice, is in the larger town where we do shopping runs every three weeks or so. I have a yogurt maker that makes a large 1-quart batch, but I'm not sure that it works anymore, and the yogurt does not keep as well as the quart of yogurt I buy in a container.
I find that I cannot get along without my rice maker, but I've written in another thread about the frustration of the non-stick pot getting scratched--and that replacing it would cost as much, if not more, than buying another. (I've started using a "spoonula rather than the plastic paddle that comes ith it, as I think that helped scratch it when dislodging stuck rice.) The simple rice cookers also tend to have the rice stick a bit on the bottom, and I find that I need to pull the container out immediately once the cooker switches from cook to "keep warm." I'm hesitant to spend a lot for an upscale rice maker that only makes rice. I've noted that when I search on store sites for rice maker, more often than not, the Instant Pot or Multi-Cooker comes up.
My sister's idea is that the Instant Pot will allow her to consolidate most of these appliances into just the one. I'm skeptical that one pot can truly "rule them all," and anything electronic has the potential for failure, and the more complicated the machine, the more probable that a glitch will occur, especially if used frequently.
I've got a Zojirushi rice maker that I probably paid $50 for, but that was many years ago. It has a simple on/off switch. I've used it to make pudding a few times, but for the most part it just gets used for rice. The rice sticks a bit, but it soaks clean fairly easily.
We have a slow cooker that a griddle surface that you set the 5-6 quart pan on. We've never used the griddle separately.
Speaking of complex gadgets, our 48" dual fuel range has 4 gas burners plus a grill and a griddle, though we seldom use either of them. Both ovens get used frequently though. We also have as separate 4 burner electric cooktop and an induction cooker. (There's also a 2 burner electric cooktop in the downstairs kitchenette, but I don't recall the last time we used it.)
Both the kitchen and the kitchenette have warming drawers, which we've probably used less than a dozen times combined in 20 years.
There are 2 microwave ovens in the kitchen and another one downstairs, all 3 get used regularly.
And the instant hot water taps (one in the kitchen and another downatairs) both get used a lot.
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