Household Appliances Used Every Day

Anyone who does any chores around their home has a favorite appliance. Even renters, who may only call a studio apartment home, have one appliance that they value above all others. There are so many to choose from, that it might take a little time to weigh the value of all your choices before answering the simple question - which one is most valuable to you? I did not have to think for more than a second, when the idea of which appliance I could not do without first popped into my head.

As a home owner, one of the very valuable appliances in my house, is the stove. It has prepared a great number of wonderful meals over the years - turkeys and roasts, lasagna and pork chops, chicken pot pies and steaks. The top of the stove is also a meal preparation oasis, four burners to accept pots and pans filled with burgers, soups, chili, fish, vegetables and a vast array of pasta dishes. Yes indeed, the stove certainly deserves a place on the wall of fame when it comes to most valuable appliance; but it is not my most valuable. In the same family as the stove, is the microwave oven. It too, has served us well for years and years. Defrosting things, boiling one cup of water to make jello and making popcorn, are just a few of the things we use our microwave for. With the advent of those great steamer bags that you can now purchase vegetables in, it becomes an even larger asset in the kitchen. But with all the things that a microwave oven can do, I could still live without one. Toaster ovens are handy for many, but we don't even own one. We do have a rotisserie oven that we received as a gift at Christmas, and it certainly is nice to have when we want to prepare something in that rotisserie fashion; but again, could I live without it? Yes I could. As a matter of fact, I lived without one for years! Is the crock pot or slow cooker considered an appliance? I think it is, and we do certainly use ours a lot. My wife has started scouring the daily paper for recipes sent in by readers that she can prepare for us. We both really like the idea of being able to combine all the ingredients of a meal into one pot, turn on the low heat setting and voila, six to eight hours later, have a wonderful meal. Did I mention that this simple cooking appliance is my choice as most valuable? No, I did not. Waffle irons, blenders and mixers, tabletop electric grills - all handy to have and useful in their own way, but certainly not the most valuable in the house.

Food storage appliances are certainly very valuable to the homeowner. Over the years, my wife and I have progressed from our very first refrigerator with the tiny freezer compartment located above the refrigerator section, to a much larger, side by side unit. In addition to that, we also have a moderately sized, stand alone freezer. Both of these items are handy to have when it comes to storing food items that require cold or freezing temperatures. But you know what, even with the functions they serve and the convenience they offer, they are not the most valuable appliances in our home. I know, I know, during power outages we all scramble like crazy to save what we can that we have stored in them, and that alone could indicate how valuable they should be considered. They are valuable - neither one however, is my choice as most valuable. Now, I don't consider a portable generator to fall into the category of "appliance". I consider that to be a tool, so I will go no further other than saying it would be handy to have one during those periodic power outages so I wouldn't have to scramble around, looking for every cooler I own, to store things from the fridge and freezer. As a tool, a portable generator is very valuable. As an appliance, not even part of the discussion.

Where would we be without our clothes washers and dryers? Either at the laundromat a couple times a week, or down by the neighborhood stream, looking for a nice flat rock to use to beat our dirty clothes against! Some traditionalists might still be using wash boards and large tubs for cleaning their garments. Those would be the same folks who refuse to believe that the wild west will ever by settled or that some day, a reliable replacement for their horses will be found! I must admit, down in the basement of my parents house, next to the old wringer/washer that my mom used, there was a really large galvanized tub with a wash board resting in it. I never saw my mom use that contraption, so I'm guessing she kept it for sentimental purposes only. Anyway, washers and dryers are very valuable in todays world, but without them, you could still do your laundry at the laundromat, perhaps at midnight when more machines are available. But don't use the heavy duty, extra capacity washer or dryer unless you really need it. The tend to cost more than the standard units, and if someone comes in with comforters, blankets, jackets or any other bulky items, and they see that you are already tying up the heavy duty machine with your pedestrian load of common laundry, they tend to get snarfelly. Snarefelly - mean, giving dirty looks and muttering unkind words barely audible across the room.

My choice for most valuable appliance, in my home, is the humble, hardworking dishwasher. Yes, I could live without a dishwasher. Yes, I did live without a dishwasher for many, many years. Yes, I know that all I need to do to replace it, is fill the kitchen sink with hot water, adding some dish washing detergent as the sink fills, and start using a little dual purpose sponge to clean all the dishes, cups, saucers, glasses, silverware, pots, pans, cookie sheets - aargh! Standing all the while, looking out the kitchen window at the back yard and categorizing all the other things I wish I could be doing, other than all those "dishes"! When I was younger, my sister and I had the glorious chore of washing and drying all the utensils used after every meal. It was never a pleasant experience. As a kid, there was always something more vital to do than washing and drying dishes. Playing baseball or football, seeing how far I could throw a rock or exploring the fields and woods behind my parents house, were all much more worthwhile ventures than participating in household chores. When I enlisted in the Army, and attended basic training at Fort Dix New Jersey, I was the lucky recipient of three cycles of "KP" or kitchen patrol. I think I was cursed during those episodes, as on two of the three cycles of performing the other duties associated with KP, I was assigned the ultra important and apparently necessary task of hand washing pots and pans. Do you know how many pots and pans are used in preparing meals for hundreds of people? Lots of them! And I'm not talking about your basic, run of the mill, two or four quart pan that you boil eggs in on top of the stove, or your standard, twelve to fourteen inch skillet that you fry your eggs in. Oh no, I'm talking about the humongous POTS and PANS and TRAYS that are required to prepare meals for a hungry hoard! I'm talking about the giant spoons and ladles that are required to effectively mix the contents of those giant pots and pans and trays. And you could not use just hot water to accomplish this task, oh nooo, you had to use nearly scalding hot water to insure that all germs and bacteria were eradicated and removed from the cooking utensils. I don't know what manner is used these days to accomplish getting all those pots and pans clean, but I think that in today's world, even military recruits serving their turn on KP, don't have to wash anything by hand anymore.

My wife demonstrated the "wisdom beyond her years" trait, that many women possess, when it came time to chose the dishwasher she wanted to purchase. She did not just settle for the cheapest one nor did she opt for something with more features than we really needed. And she did not pay any attention to my comments about just washing dishes by hand instead of incurring the expense of a machine that does the same job. Back then, I was really naive about how badly I really, really wanted and needed a dishwasher. Nope, she was wise enough to realize that some day down the road, when the shine had worn off the daily drudgery of washing dishes by hand, it would be wise to have a machine that you could just put your dirty plates, cups, saucers, silverware - even pots and pans into, press one or two buttons, and be done with the chore. She was even wise enough to spend a little more back then, to purchase a machine that does not require us to first rinse the dishes off before putting them inside. Believe it or not, there are folks who wash their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I just don't understand people like that! And, our dishwasher is actually multi-functional. In addition to being a great work saver, the dishwasher also doubles as an entertainment center for our challenged cat, Goofy. The machine my wife purchased, has a shiny, black reflective front panel. When it is running, Goofy will stroll into the kitchen to check out the noise and the water splashing into the sink as it is ex pulsed from the washer, and he will catch sight of his reflection in the door panel. He will reach out and try to touch the other cat that he sees, he will start talking to it - in cat talk, which can only be understood by other cats and sometimes, well trained owners, and then he will start walking all around the machine to see where the other cat goes when he walks away from the door and his reflection disappears. Our dishwasher is considered as being a portable unit that can be rolled anywhere in the kitchen or even into the pantry. But the nice, thick wood surface of the top of the unit, makes a great chopping block or prep center when we are getting our meals ready, so as a general rule, the machine sits in the middle of the kitchen, awaiting the next duty that it will accept and complete, without uttering a single complaint. In one appliance, my wife was able to find an apparatus that fulfills many functions - dishwasher, entertainment center, food prep area, minor storage area and something on which I can lean when looking out the kitchen window at the back yard!

That's it, my choice for the one appliance that I know I could live without but choose not to. It frees up my time and my energy. It helps me to not relive the nightmarish experience of basic training pots and pans KP duty. It is functional and wise beyond its basic, intended purpose and when the day comes that it no longer operates properly and has to be replaced, trust me, it will be replaced faster than dead batteries in the television remote control! The humble and hard working, heavy duty dishwasher, my personal MVA - most valuable appliance.