Things I have in my kitchen (equipment)

I guess everyone has their own idea about what constitutes essential kitchen equipment, and I have often been surprised at what I find in friends' kitchens. Not all my friends have had electric kettles (jugs, to you Aussies) or even toasters. A saucepan on the stove, and a griller do those two jobs just as well.

When I first got married, I had a kettle, a griller, and an electric frying pan. That was it. No stove (cooker, to you Brits), no microwave. But it worked. We did get a stove within the first year, I have to admit, and I have added a great many bits of kit since then.

I prefer not to have a whole array of 'single function devices', so I don't have a dedicated crepe maker, egg poacher, omelette maker or any of those things. So what do I have? I'm going to take as a given that you expect me to have things like a kettle, toaster, stove, fridge and microwave, as well as a fairly standard selection of saucepans, casserole dishes and knives, okay?

Starting with 'things that plug in':

• Electric beater. Non branded and used to death!
• Food processor. Jamie Oliver... and fabulously compact! I use pretty much all the fittings to varying degrees, and would be pretty lost without it. My previous one broke and I was bereft until I replaced it.
• Coffee grinder. Non branded. Often pressed into service for grinding spices, too.
• Breadmaker. I very rarely use this, but it was a gift and it makes the most fabulous bread. I keep it because I am useless with yeast. Useless, I tell you. Any time I try a recipe that involves yeast, we have a disaster on our hands. But not with my breadmaker. You should taste my kardemummakrans (I'll have to share that recipe with you, won't I?)!

Non electricals:

• My cookie gun has featured on this blog before
• Three tier steamer saucepan. This is how I cook vegetables... almost every day. I hardly ever immerse my veg in water.
• Microwave steamer. I use this primarily for fish (when making fish pie) and asparagus, but it does get used for other things, too.
• Pressure cooker. I don't have a slow cooker/crock pot, but I am addicted to my pressure cooker. My mother didn't have one when I was a child (still doesn't has far as I know), and nor did any of my aunts, uncles or grandparents. By contrast, everyone in my husband's family appears to have one. So as soon as we got our first stove, my husband went out and bought me a pressure cooker. I was terrified of the thing. The first time it hissed at me, I ran to the bedroom and hid under the bed! Now I use it several times a week in the winter and slightly less often in the summer. Stews, soups, potroasts... I can't imagine being without it.
• Silicon baking 'tins'. How did I ever cope without these?
• Sugar thermometer. I use this when making things like lollipops, fudge, jam, etc.
• Several coffee plungers in different sizes and two teapots.

I think that's about it... although I'm bound to remember something else when I go downstairs to make a cup of tea later.