I loooooove my yogurt maker. I use it once a month or more, so it definitely earns the cabinet space (or at least, earns it more than, say, the malignantly dusty tart pan, juicer, and espresso machine).

I want a zester. And a food mill. And a mortar and pestle.

Wow. I'm lame. Those are really normal items.

I love you, breakfast!

Honestly I want a blender that I cannot kill. I go thru blenders like people go thru shirts. On an average I kill one every three months. I am too cheap to by the expensive ones so I buy the $19 ones and they cannot take all the lentils I try to blend. I know, I know.. I am pathetic!

Also -- I would LOVE (if I had a larger kitchen) to get a larger food processor and one of those nice big ranges with five burners and a grill. I could go on and on!

Santa are you listening?

Oh, no you di-n't!

Ohhhh I want that

Dear Santa -

Please bring Monica one of these. She needs the pow'ah of a 2.25hp Poulan two-stroke.

Sounds like you might be seeing gadgets like this at Eve's Bar-Kitchen. Will come in handy for things like the watermelon-tomato popsicle that was part of last weekend's special 'watermelon cocktail' (which we at the bar who were enjoying the drink were challenged to name...but failed to do - yet!)

Wow, and the price includes a carrying case.

Monica-- forget about Santa, bite the $ bullet and buy yourself a VitaMix blender. It's the home version of the machine that Starbuck's uses to make Frappucinos, and most high-end restaurants have in their kitchens (same motor, plastic housing instead of metal).

It will keep working for the rest of your life, and if you amortize the cost over your lifetime, it is not that expensive. This thing is so worth it--it has a 2 HP variable speed motor--strong enough to run a tablesaw. It makes sorbet out of chunks of frozen fruit or ice cubes. The most amazingly smooth purees, even out of raw vegetables. And there is a grain grinding jar available that will turn your various pulses into flour in seconds. I use mine all the time. I know that I must sound like a shill for the company, but it is my "They'll have to pry this from my cold dead hands if they want to take it from me" kitchen tool. There are many good knives, mixers, food processors, but there is nothing that is in the same league of versatility or power when it comes to blenders.

www.vitamix.com

A couple of comments after reading this thread:

Yes Monica, there is a Santa Claus, I bought my Vita Mixers for 25 dollars off of craigslist

I subscribe to the "Alton Brown" school of gadgets, avoid uni-taskers, get rid of stuff that you never use.

I still am a sucker for gadgets, and hace to cull the junk out once a year.

More reason to have another DR sale in the future

Except, of course, for the Super Bass-o-matic '76!!!

I'll see your flower-shaped egg mold and raise you one 3-in-1 Coffee Maker/Toaster Oven/Grill!

And to avoid quipping... mdt, you need to check out this site!

I want one of these!

Men should not like this toy!

Gasoline-powered appliances! What a splendid idea! Why stop with this, though? Why not gasoline-powered refrigerators? Gasoline-powered can-openers? Replace all of your electric knives with gasoline-powered knives!

This message has been sponsored by OPEC. Keep on drivin', America, and thanks!

This thing was designed for the alcohol-centric world of boating or car-based bartending. I think it would look hot next to all my Dale Earnhardt memorabilia.
Love how the website hooks with, "Be the Life of the Party...Get More Dates!"

It ain't typical, it's unpredictable, (it's available), it's a miracle! It's stackable, it's packable, it's make me laughable!

--->the egg cuber

I'm really not sure how I feel about a square egg. Guess it's about as good as green eggs & ham.

To keep in line with what seems to be a plethera of odd breakfast making items: For those busy sugary sweet coffee lovers there's the Self-Stirring Mug.

Actually what I'd really like is a dehydrater and a juicer, but we lack space. Alas I can neither hydrate nor dehydrate.

I do kind of miss the industrial sized mixers. Nothing like whipping up 40 lbs of butter cream. Oh power tools...

Hmmmm...appropriate gift for a bridal shower? Maybe if I pair this with the octodog.

Depends on how much you like the bride and/or groom.

While on the subject of food and kitchen gadgets, take a look at this one. Let's see, Vintage brand seltzer costs, what, 59 cents at Whole Foods (prolly 42 cents at Giant). I think I'll pass on this one...
Oh, wait! How did I know Boating Life would pick this up?

As someone who loves seltzer, I just had to take a look. I hate lugging those Vintage bottles home on the bus; no room for groceries. It took 5 clicks to find out the price; $79.99. Shesh! Why do they make life so difficult??!!

Here is another fabulous single-purpose gadget that I don't think I should live without!

We got an electric egg poacher/cooker as a wedding present, and although it is ugly as hell, we didn't dare give it away because you never know when you might need a perfectly poached egg in 3 minutes. The gadget that I'm always tempted by is the Hot-Diggety Dogger-- you know the bun and weiner cooker that's always in the Skymall catalog on the airplane? Someone tell me if it really works! The gadget I've never regretted buying is the handheld lime and lemon juicer. Works perfectly every time, straining as much of the juice without the seeds.

I'm queen of the single-purpose gadgets, and I got this for Christmas. It works, though I've only used it once. The husband keeps insisting on putting all my gadgets away, so out of sight, out of mind. But that reminds me, I should pull that out

I've been intrigued by that, but it seems like it would be hard to clean the weiner juices from the cooker.

I want this little guy!

Does it use real coffee? The in-laws have a pod system and while it makes decent coffee I can't help but worry about the plastic products that can't be recycled....

Why, yes, it uses real live coffee. It has an " insulated thermal reservoir" inside, too. Ipod not my coffee. I'm a very anti-pod person. I got an ipod one year for X-mas and left it in the box for nearly two years. My dad accused me of selling it (what a jerk!!).

This well worth my 600 pennies.
Ridges are hot.

My seven-year-old wants an Octodog.

Um-ah. I thought the trick to this was using the back of a fork!

This cutting board is apparently a few years away from commercial production, but when I saw it this morning I had one of those "Oh my God this is so cool I need this yesterday" reactions. What do you think?

Cutting Board Scale

Speaking of souped-up cutting boards, I was visiting my parents last weekend, and my mother, who is a very good baker, now swears by this, a pastry board with removable icepacks inside. Particularly good for making pies in the middle of summer.

Be very scared.

I want these:
Mr. Woody Hot Dog Cookers

Though I wonder if a decent-sized kielbasa would pull mister woody down face first.

I think I will leave this one to Mr. Al_Dente.

I think they're fairly popular--or at least they've previously been introduced--in the UK. I first heard about this on a mailing list with a lot of non-USAians. Interesting concepts

I don't know about you, but I've always wanted to be able to make my own McMeal smoothie. to serve with my cochiken.

Am I the only one wondering why mdt is concerned about the size of Al's kielbasa?

That’s a solid enough endorsement for me:

The electric chair..... for lobsters. http://www.crustastun.com/index.html

Or, the alternative…

Cuz no kitchen is complete without one of these:

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemType=PRODUCT&itemID=2361

magnetic bottle opener

We had one of these when I was growing up. They are actually a pain in the rear to use because the spokes don't poke into the pickle easily. My mom used to use it on hearts of palm, which are softer.

I am the proud and happy owner of an apple, peeler, corer. Best part of owning the gadget: my sous-chef/husband is completely in charge of operating the device and producing the sliced peeled apples for apple pie production.

Think of the pictures you could take.

I'd like a new camera to go with it too please.

A sampling from one of my all-time favourite stores, ThinkGeek.com

• Collapsible Chopsticks
• A chef's quad timer, terribly useful sounding and cheap as a pair of collapsible chopsticks.
• Perhaps coolest of all, a spork made of titanium