Do I need these kitchen tools?

[Fish]

I've been doing a lot more cooking lately, and I've acquired some nice new toys which have all had a lot of use. I love my new heat-resistant spatulas, my bigass cast iron skillet, and my ice cream maker (which I didn't buy, but borrowed long-term). I usually cook for myself or for 1 roommate.

I already have the requisite knives, spices, pots, pans, mixing bowls, cheap food processor, blender, and so on. I have limited space in my apartment, so I can't collect everything I might like, so I need to know:

1. Do I really need a crock pot?

2. Do I really need a pressure cooker? (I might at some point want to do canning, and I presume a pressure cooker is a requirement.)

3. Do I really need a stand mixer? I drool over the big $300 Kitchen Aids, but they take up so much counter space, and I have virtually none.

[vetbridge]

Crock pots are great. Throw stuff in, go to beach (whatever), come home to delicious meal.

Why not an immersion mixer? http://www.bestbetblenders.com/Hand_Held_blenders.html
I have a Braun. I can puree, dice, chop, blend, mix, make smoothies, you name it.

Pressure cooker? I don't own one, never missed it.

[Silver Tyger]

If you are going to do lots of slow cooking, yeah you need a crockpot. You can get small ones. I know you can slow cook on the stove using a big heavy pot too, but personally that makes me uncomfortable.

I've never canned anything but apple butter, which doesn't take a steam cooker, so no idea.

A stand mixer is unbelievably awesome, but unless you're going to be doing a LOT of baking and mixing, you probably don't want to give up the counter space. (I've moved ours to the top of the fridge, but now that counter is taken up by the microwave. Something about the possibility of dropping hot food on my face and trying to balance the damn thing when I needed into the cabinet behind it.)

Of the three, for me at least, the crockpot would come first. It's wonderful to come home to smell of MEAT and know you'll have yummy leftovers for the rest of the week.

I wouldn't buy anything until you feel like you really really want it.

[redtail23]

If you want to do much canning, you'll need a canner. I'm not sure if you can use a regular pressure cooker for that or not. I know that most I've seen wouldn't hold very many jars at once. The only thing we can is tomato salsa, and we just water-bath that.

I have a pressure cooker, but very rarely use it. There are Dopers that use theirs all the time. I keep meaning to do more with it, but haven't gotten around to it (see below re weekday cooking).

I use my crockpot more often, and would use it much more if I cooked more during the week. (Since I'm the last one home, I don't do much cooking on weekdays.) If you're only cooking for one or two, check out the new small ones. I saw a one-quart and a two-quart (WITH removable crocks, thank you!) at WallyWorld the other day for under $15. Of your list, this would be the first thing I'd get.

I didn't have a stand mixer until quite recently and didn't really miss it. Unless you're doing really heavy-duty mixing or baking a lot, I'd wait on this. We got the woman-child a "mini-stand" mixer when she moved out, but I doubt she's used it. It was a regular electric hand-mixer that had a little stand to hold it. I'm sure it's fine for cake batter and basic stuff like that, but wouldn't do any stiff or heavy doughs.

[on preview]Love my immersion blender! I've never tried to use it instead of a mixer, though. Blender, yes; food processor, yes; mixer, no. Will it actually do that?

[Ferret Herder]

2. Do I really need a pressure cooker? (I might at some point want to do canning, and I presume a pressure cooker is a requirement.)
There are pressure canners, pressure cookers, and combination pressure canner/cooker units. I don't know if standard pressure cookers can be used as canners, and yes, size will be a limiting factor too. I've only done jelly/jam canning which can be done in a water bath, but if you're doing anything other than that, you'll want a pressure canner of some kind.

My response to the other questions is essentially, "I'm not sure, do you?" If you love baking, especially bread making, a stand mixer may be an unnecessary luxury (the "real bakers knead their own dough" group or the "I'm using a long-rise no-knead method" group) or a wondrous invention that means you make bread a lot more than you would otherwise. Similarly, a crockpot is useful if you like that sort of thing. With food prices lately, I've been using it to stew up big batches of marinara sauce, cooking beans from dried, etc., and freezing the food in individual portions for later use. These tools are what you make of them.

Personally, I have two crockpots (one big 6 qt oval for when I'm making food for groups, one 3 qt for regular cooking) and a stand mixer. I make bread when I have the stand mixer, I didn't when I didn't. For me it makes baking more enjoyable. I use the crockpots not only for everyday-style cooking, but also for keeping food warm at parties. I even cooked a bone-in turkey breast in the large crockpot when I hosted my inlaws for Thanksgiving! (I inverted a little ceramic ramekin in the bottom and placed two thick carrots along the length of the crock, on either side of the ramekin. I poured a little chicken broth in the bottom for added moisture, prepped the breast with herbed butter under the skin the same as I'd done for the full turkey, and put it in the crock to slow cook. After a while I stuck a probe thermometer in the breast and cooked until done.) Today I used my smaller crock to cook dried chickpeas, so I could do other stuff around the house and not have to worry about watching them, boil-overs, etc. I cooled them, separated them into 1 cup measures, and bagged them in freezer bags for later use.

[flickster]

Crock Pot - Keep it - many different meals can be prepared from one unit.
Pressure cooker - I could live without this one. I never use ours, although my wife insist on using it for pre-cooking chicken. I find it just as easy (and tastier) to use a stew pot.
Mixer - Stand mixer can be replaced by a smaller hand held mixer until you have more kitchen space..

[Voyager]

Depends on what you want to cook.

Crock pots are great for prepare and forget meals, but since my wife works at home, we don't use it much any more. We used to use it a lot, though. Probably less of a necessity.

We use the pressure cooker all the time, especially in cooking fresh beans, which are excellent when cooked to onion and bacon. It is also good for tenderizing stew meat. My garden beans will start producing in a few more weeks, so it will get heavy use.

Mixers are good for bread making and all sorts of baking.
We use all these things more often than our ice cream maker.

[Vimp]

Another fan of crock pots - anything that you can prepare a meal the night before, and plug in in the next morning before work gets my vote.

As for the expensive Kitchen Aid stand mixer - I got one for Christmas two years ago, and have used it exactly never. It weighs a ton (I can barely lift it), and takes up waaaay too much counter space (it currently resides in a dark corner of the back porch. It may be moving to the basement -- or maybe to Craig's list.)

Don't have much feel for the pressure cooker - I've heard you can do wonderful no-stir risottos in them (see Crescent Dragonwagon's Passionate Vegetarian for details). Hasn't convinced me to buy one yet, though.

[silenus]

Crock pot - essential in our household.

Pressure cooker - never used one, probably never will.

Stand mixer - You can have my Kitchen-Aid when you can pry it from my cold, dead fingers! The only thing more useful in oh so many ways is the food processor. Dump your cheap one and get something solid.

[Critical1]

Crock Pot, the other white meat...ok that doesnt work well.

but I use the hell out of mine, at one point I owned 3 and would often actually have a use for 2 at a time. (2 meals ready to go in the fridge)

I cant even imagine not having one, the other 2 things on your list? I have no idea what I would use them for.

[Trunk]

I don't think you need a crock pot, especially if you have space issues. But, people seem to love them.

Certainly don't need a pressure cooker.

Stand mixer is nice to have if you ever start doing a fair amount of baking. Cookies, cakes. We use ours for pizza dough. But, we never got one until we had more counter space, and a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma (which, though otherwise expensive, still sells the kitchenaids at the same price as everyone else).

[Labrador Deceiver]

Why not an immersion mixer? http://www.bestbetblenders.com/Hand_Held_blenders.html
I have a Braun. I can puree, dice, chop, blend, mix, make smoothies, you name it.




I think you're confusing a mixer and a blender.

[vetbridge]

I think you're confusing a mixer and a blender.
Nope. My immersion mixer has a whip attachment. I use it to whip cream, make batters, etc. I have a breadmaker for the heavy stuff, but my Braun and its multitude of attachments can handle most anything.

From here:Epinions (http://www.epinions.com/content_15959297668)
The main piece is a blender. It is a long stick blender that screws on to the motor. At the end of the piece is the blade enclosed in a plastic casing. This allows you to grip the housing and mash and blend anything the stick blender comes in contact with.
The next attachment is the chopper. It consists of a round dish with a very sharp blade. It can best be described as a mini-food processor. It has a lid that the motor fits into. The whole piece is best used with the motor and lid being held with both hands. I find it is great to make small amounts of Salsa.
The next attachment is the whisk. It is a mini hand held mixer/blender. I find I use it to mix liquids instead of getting my big hand held mixer out. It is quick to attach to the main motor and I have found it saves time when mixing whipped cream and egg whites.
Next in line is the beaker. The beaker is a container that holds the product you are making. In a true sense of the word "attachment" it is not one. I find however that it is easy to clean and more convenient than mixing items in a bowl. The beaker can be cleaned very easily by hand or throwing it in the dishwasher.

[Jimson Jim]

I'd vote no on both the crock pot and the pressure cooker. I have whole books of crock pot recipes but they are almost all adapted from other recipes which either call for braising or baking. You use a dutch oven and low heat in the oven to do nearly everything you would cook in a crock pot.

Now a Kitchen Aid is wonderful. We use it for bread, batter, cookies and fillings for pasta. I don't think it takes up much more space than a crock pot.

[Ferret Herder]

Nope. My immersion mixer has a whip attachment. I use it to whip cream, make batters, etc. I have a breadmaker for the heavy stuff, but my Braun and its multitude of attachments can handle most anything.

From here:Epinions (http://www.epinions.com/content_15959297668)
I have one of the Braun multi-mixers (http://www.epinions.com/BRAUN_MULTI_HAND_280W_3_SPEEDS_Mixer) and think it's great for someone who needs a hand mixer, immersion blender, and chopper for small tasks. These days I pretty much only use the immersion blender attachment, though. I have the stand mixer for most other mixing except tiny jobs - and for those I might just take a fork or whisk and do it by hand. The chopper is nice but the effective capacity of the bowl is maybe a cup before you worry about leakage. I bought a full-size food processor recently which will take over tasks the chopper couldn't handle, and for smaller jobs I'll just use a knife. I might use the chopper bowl for chopping an onion or two, as my eyes go berserk while cutting onions with a knife.

[Zsofia]

You need a pressure cooker if you are canning things that require it. That is NOT most jams, jellies, pickles, preserves. It's things that have insufficient acid on their own - meats, etc.

I use my pressure cooker sometimes but wouldn't consider it essential. I use my slow cooker often enough that I WOULD consider it essential, especially for company.

I use my stand mixer a ton, but I bake. That's mostly what I use it for, and I'd say you don't need it if you don't bake but if you do bake it will make your day.

[Labrador Deceiver]

Nope. My immersion mixer has a whip attachment. I use it to whip cream, make batters, etc. I have a breadmaker for the heavy stuff, but my Braun and its multitude of attachments can handle most anything.

From here:Epinions (http://www.epinions.com/content_15959297668)


Does the whisk attachment handle solids? It looks like a great tool, but not really comparable to a stand mixer in any way. That being said, it would probably handle the needs of a great many home cooks, the majority of whom have very little need for the power of a KitchenAid stand mixer.

[vetbridge]

Does the whisk attachment handle solids? It looks like a great tool, but not really comparable to a stand mixer in any way. That being said, it would probably handle the needs of a great many home cooks, the majority of whom have very little need for the power of a KitchenAid stand mixer.
Solids like pieces of butter? Yes. I do no baking, other than bread, and for that I use my breadmaker. But for whipping cream, beating eggs, making salad dressings, stuff like that, it can't be beat. And it stores easily in a drawer!

[vison]

I use my crockpot all winter for porridge, but it's put away now. I have every kitchen appliance and gadget known to man and god and I don't use the half of them: thank heaven I never did buy a pressure cooker, just another thing to take up space. What would I really miss? My Cuisinart food processor and my Braun immersion blender.

If I was starting out as a cook, I would adhere very closely to this rule: do not buy anything that has only one use.

You really NEED only a good paring knife, a good chef's knife, a cast iron skillet and one stock pot. I think everything else is a luxury, and some are pretty nice luxuries.

[vetbridge]

Another cool crockpot use: At bedtime place a peck or less of cored/peeled apples in the crockpot. Set on low. In the morning you have applesauce! You can refrigerate or eat warm. You can eat as is (chunky) or you can whisk so that you have smooth applesauce. Different varieties of apples can be used for different tastes.

(Personally, I leave the skins on. And no, do not add water, or anything else)

[Fish]

Actually, I just got an immersion blender the other day (an Oster brand). It has no special attachments I'm aware of but it's oodles more convenient than hauling out (and cleaning) the blender I inherited. I've also got a tiny, underpowered two-beater hand mixer but I can't remember the brand... Crapstone or Gearloose or something.

I was thinking that a pressure cooker could double as a large pot, of which I had only one (a measy 5.5 quarts). I've run into the problem before where I didn't have enough pots so I definitely needed another. Instead of getting the pressure cooker, I got an 8-quart stock pot.

My rooommate is attached to the Kitchen Aid stand mixer particularly because it has an attachment for grinding meat. We can already chop meat in the food processor, but apparently he needs something with More Power (insert Tim Allen sound effects here).

[Cervaise]

I know you didn't ask about this specifically, but:

<tangent>my bigass cast iron skilletTake care of this, and it'll take care of you. I switched over to cast iron a few years ago and will now cook in virtually nothing else. I have three pans: small (2-person frittata size), medium, and bigass. The only times I don't cook in them are when I require a pot (stock, pasta, deep-frying, etc, which is what the enameled dutch oven is for) or for anything highly acidic (which will destroy the seasoned surface).

Definitely worth the moderate pain in the neck to get used to their requirements and take care of them properly.

</tangent>

[Fish]

Actually, I have more than one cast iron skillet: the 13 or 14" skillet that I use quite regularly is the biggest-ass, and I have some littler-ass skillets that also see use: a 6 or 7" skillet that I just got (on sale) and a 9" square cast iron grill that I use for fajitas and Philly cheesesteak and stuff.

I don't use them for everything; I find it's easier to cook crêpes (for instance) in non-stick aluminum. (Easier to adjust the temperature, certainly; crêpes are finicky and cast iron holds onto heat for a while.)

By "highly acidic" what do you mean? Onion and tomato red sauce? Lemon-vinegar sulfide bolognese? Liquid Plumr custard?

[JimmyFlair]

To the OP:
I've never owned or used a pressure cooker, and I cook a fair bit.
Crock pot? I have one but have used it maybe 3 times in a decade. I know that I'm underutilizing this, but haven't really looked into what else I might do with it.
KitchenAid stand mixer? I got one for Christmas two years ago and discovered that I use it ALL THE TIME. I'm baking way more, but have also put on about 10 extra pounds from baking pies all the time, so beware!

Can I also solicit some Doper Cooker's opinions?
I, too, am enamored with cast iron cookware. I've recently noticed this little number (http://www.surlatable.com/product/cookware/grills+%26+griddles/le+creuset+caribbean+blue+oblong+skillet+grill.do)
But am I just seduced by the Oh-so-pretty turquoise color? Will a cast iron pan with grilling ridges make a difference in broiled meat not getting soggy on the bottom?

[Cervaise]

Le Creuset is good, but you're paying for the name. You can get reasonable-quality stuff at Target and the like. Or if you insist on Le Creuset, go to a discount store like Tuesday Morning the day their shelves are stocked, and see what they've got. Also, go to a donation-type store, like Goodwill; Le Creuset sometimes shows up in their kitchen stuff, because inexperienced cooks will make something that stains the enamel, and think the object is ruined, and give it away, unaware that a bit of oven cleaner will polish it right up, good as new. You can get a $500 casserole for relative peanuts this way, but it takes some browsing and scrounging.

By "highly acidic" what do you mean? Onion and tomato red sauce? Lemon-vinegar sulfide bolognese? Liquid Plumr custard?Liquid Plumr custard is not very good; the chemicals prevent the egg yolks from setting properly. I'd use Windex, or Soft-Scrub in a pinch.

But yeah, tomatoes are bad (like red sauces), or anything with lots of lemon juice. Also, white wine, like for deglazing the pan after making a fond.

[JimmyFlair]

Le Creuset is good, but you're paying for the name. You can get reasonable-quality stuff at Target and the like.
I kinda suspected that the Le Creuset name accounted for the high price. I've seen non-pretty ones for $15-20, but I'm a sucker for otherwise ordinary goods in a pretty color.

[Zsofia]

Well, if you're in the market for a Le Creuset dutch oven (which you should be - it's the piece of cookware I use, swear to god, more than any other) sometimes you can get a grill pan like that with a dutch oven in a package deal. I got one that way, from Amazon.

ETA - once I walked into a Le Creuset outlet which was selling everything in a box 40% off and everything out of a box 60% off... because they were moving across the street and that stuff is heavy! Unfortunately I already had my dutch oven. I did buy some "reserve wedding presents", though.

[Kolga]

Related but tangential question to this thread: I'm one person and rarely cook for more than me. When I do, I have a big-ass 6-qt. crock pot, but I want a smaller one for just me, for things like green chile, red/Texas chili, soups, a small roast (I buy roasts on sale, cut them in half), etc.

What size do I need/would you recommend? The 1-qt. and 1.5-qt. ones advertise themselves as hot dip/fondue holders, so I assume those would be too small. A 3-qt. or 3.5-qt.? Those are hard to find. Would a 4-qt. be too big?

Or can I just use my big-ass one and put small amounts of food in it?

[Labrador Deceiver]

I kinda suspected that the Le Creuset name accounted for the high price. I've seen non-pretty ones for $15-20, but I'm a sucker for otherwise ordinary goods in a pretty color.


Hmmm. I'm not sure that you can find enameled cast iron cookware for that cheap. Le Creuset & Staub are usually priced a little high, but you can easily find deals on them. Le Creuset has outlets all over the place.

[levdrakon]

When I was a young man my mom used to always tell me the one thing a young man should have is a crock pot. It's soooo convenient chopping up all the ingredients and preparing everything in the morning and coming home to a warm nutritious meal at the end of the day.

Never owned one. Somehow I'm still alive. My wife owns one, but she's never used it for anything I don't make in my Le Creuset dutch oven, and the crock pot is harder to clean.

Never owned a pressure cooker. My best friend cans all the time. She just uses a really big aluminum stock pot to boil things. She's still alive.

I used to slobber over those Kitchen Aid stand mixers, but realized I don't bake, and don't want to gain all the pounds if I did start baking. It's also just a hell of a lot of gadgets which will need cleaning. I really try to minimize my "time saving" gadgets that actually waste clean-up time.

My counter has my rice cooker, my coffee maker,the microwave and a small toaster oven, all of which I find handy. Actually, I put the rice cooker on a shelf, but I use it enough I could leave it out.

[vison]

I have dozens of pieces of Le Creuset, and I bought only 2 of them new. The rest I've found in thrift stores and garage sales. I have some pretty rare pots, too, with colours and patterns that haven't been made in decades. Just check that there are no chips; the discolouration inside is immaterial and can sometimes be bleached away. "Cousance" is a good brand, too, made in Belgium, and you can sometimes find some good pieces made in Denmark.

Cheap enameled cast iron, such as IKEA sells, or Target, is just not as good. It's all made in China and is simply not of the same quality. It develops hot spots very quickly and the enameling chips easily.

I have a grill pan like the one in the linked photo and my little boys like it for grilled cheese sandwiches, pressing the sandwich with the lid of a small cast iron casserole and getting nice criss-cross lines. It's nice for grilling a steak or a fish fillet, but hard to clean if you burn something.

[vetbridge]

the crock pot is harder to clean.
Not if you use a disposable liner! (http://www.epinions.com/review/Reynolds_Slow_Cooker_Liners/content_228595633796)

(Has anyone used them? I haven't)

[Bridget Burke]

....Stand mixer is nice to have if you ever start doing a fair amount of baking. Cookies, cakes. We use ours for pizza dough. But, we never got one until we had more counter space, and a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma (which, though otherwise expensive, still sells the kitchenaids at the same price as everyone else).

The Kitchenaid Kartel controls mixer prices pretty effectively. But Williams Sonoma & other retailers are allowed to offer "exclusive" colors. Martha Stewart's Retro Green model, no longer in production, is the Holy Grail. Or you can customize (http://flameka.com/default.aspx) yours.

(I'm not a serious baker, so I have no need for one of those mixers. Even if I sometimes wonder which color I'd pick.)

[Ferret Herder]

Not if you use a disposable liner! (http://www.epinions.com/review/Reynolds_Slow_Cooker_Liners/content_228595633796)

(Has anyone used them? I haven't)
I have, and think they work well. I only use them for things that I think have a lot of "baking on" potential. It takes me a little while to find the opening on the bag (hint - it's opposite the side that has an obvious sealed-together strip) and I get annoyed by the one-size-fits-all bunching that goes on, but it's a small price to pay. You may find that condensation creates a little "staining" inside the pot so it should get a quick wash anyway. And obviously, don't use this if you needed to do any cutting inside the pot!

I found myself wondering if I could use two bags next to each other to cook two dishes at once. Obviously the bags would have to hang out of the sides of the pot rather than be opened up over the top, so I don't know what that would do with moisture, etc.

(I know that some crockpots have crocks that are divided into two compartments, but I don't have one of those crocks.)

[Zsofia]

I've never had a problem cleaning the crock pot - as long as you don't have one from the 70's where the insert doesn't come out, you just dump it in the dishwasher. Where's the problem?

[Ferret Herder]

I've never had a problem cleaning the crock pot - as long as you don't have one from the 70's where the insert doesn't come out, you just dump it in the dishwasher. Where's the problem?
Not having a dishwasher? That junk gets really baked on some times, especially a sticky casserole-style dish and a full day of cooking, and having to soak the crock for a while and then practically chip/sand away at the remnants gets old.

[Zsofia]

Not having a dishwasher? That junk gets really baked on some times, especially a sticky casserole-style dish and a full day of cooking, and having to soak the crock for a while and then practically chip/sand away at the remnants gets old.
Well there's yer problem!

[KneadToKnow]

You can get reasonable-quality stuff at Target and the like.
Damn straight. I got this Lodge grill pan (https://secure.lodgemfg.com/storefront/product1.asp?menu=logic&idProduct=3940) at Wal-Mart for less than $15.

Not having a dishwasher? That junk gets really baked on some times, especially a sticky casserole-style dish and a full day of cooking, and having to soak the crock for a while and then practically chip/sand away at the remnants gets old.
Fill the crock with water and a little detergent and set it to "Warm" for an hour or so. That should help.

[levdrakon]

I've never had a problem cleaning the crock pot - as long as you don't have one from the 70's where the insert doesn't come out, you just dump it in the dishwasher. Where's the problem?It's not really that big a deal but like I say, I don't use one. My spouse occasionally does but it seems like cooking juices always bubble out and down the sides and on the counter and she doesn't like parts of her fancy gadgets getting run through the dishwasher so the extra clean up just isn't worth whatever extra convenience you get from using one. It's just MHE.

[pulykamell]

1. Do I really need a crock pot?

No. Unless you plan on doing a lot of slow cooking and want the ease of turning on the thing before you go to work and then having a meal ready for you when you come home. It's very useful, but not necessary. I personally just use an enameled cast-iron dutch oven (which I bought at Target for $20 on clearance, just as good as the expensive Le Creusets from my experience so far. I've had it for two years, and haven't noticed any hotspots or chipped enamel). It's far more useful for my purposes.


2. Do I really need a pressure cooker? (I might at some point want to do canning, and I presume a pressure cooker is a requirement.)

Once again, no. Nice to have around, but not really a requirement. Speeds up the cooking of a lot of foods, but not a requirement for canning at all.


3. Do I really need a stand mixer? I drool over the big $300 Kitchen Aids, but they take up so much counter space, and I have virtually none.

I'd have more regular use for this than the other two, but you can just as well live without one.

You don't need any of those three. It's more a question of what type of cooking you will do, and what will save you the most hassle or time.

[romansperson]

No. Unless you plan on doing a lot of slow cooking and want the ease of turning on the thing before you go to work and then having a meal ready for you when you come home. It's very useful, but not necessary. I personally just use an enameled cast-iron dutch oven (which I bought at Target for $20 on clearance, just as good as the expensive Le Creusets from my experience so far. I've had it for two years, and haven't noticed any hotspots or chipped enamel). It's far more useful for my purposes.



Once again, no. Nice to have around, but not really a requirement. Speeds up the cooking of a lot of foods, but not a requirement for canning at all.


I'd have more regular use for this than the other two, but you can just as well live without one.

You don't need any of those three. It's more a question of what type of cooking you will do, and what will save you the most hassle or time.

What pulykamell said.

I do not now, nor I have I ever owned a pressure cooker, and I cook practically every day. Not necessary at all to me, but how often do you think you would use it?

I do own a crock pot, but mine can also be used as a deep fryer and has adjustable temperature settings on it, so it does a bit more than your average crockpot. I don't use mine a whole lot, but it does come in handy on a hot summer day when you don't want to heat up the house with the oven, for instance. If you prefer to 'set and forget,' you could find a crock pot a useful item.

Out of the three things you mentioned, I do think the stand mixer is going to be the most useful - most people have already mentioned baking, but KitchenAid stand mixers do A LOT more than just mixing. You can get all kinds of attachments for them - shredders, slicers, juicers, grain mills, meat grinders, sausage makers, pasta rollers/cutters, ice cream makers - they are multi-purpose tools. My stand mixer is actually an old Kenwood model which came with a blender attachment and a catalog full of a whole slew of other stuff.

In the end a stand mixer may actually end up saving you a bit of space if you buy an attachment for it instead of purchasing a separate standalone item. They are heavy, but that's a good thing. You don't want to be mixing up a large amount of heavy dough and have the thing rock itself off the counter.

One thing about the planetary gear type mixers, though - they don't do a great job at whipping egg whites, so you might want to keep your hand mixer around. That's what I use for egg whites - it does a better job in about a quarter of the time.

[Mama Zappa]

I've heard stories about the things you can do with a pressure cooker - cooked whole chicken in half an hour, cooked-from-dry beans in an hour or so... but have never really felt the need for one.

I do have, and use, a Crock Pot, but sporadically. I'll go a couple of months between uses sometimes. When I do get it set up and use it, it's great.

Ditto stand mixer. If you're doing any real baking it's worth it. I have a handheld which gets used for any small tasks, but anything like cookie dough needs the stand mixer (my handheld is, admittedly, wimpy, but it struggled last week just making a batch of Nestle's Toll House cookies). If you don't do a lot of baking, a better-quality handheld might work for you. The uses romansperson mentions for the Kitchenaid mixer are real uses, but not things the average cook does, so I wouldn't necessarily consider those when making the decision.