Tag Archives: kitchen appliance

Cleaning Smaller Appliances

Cleaning is an art form even if for most of us it’s not one we particularly like to do. For toasters, kettles and many of their friends and associates, kitchen cleaning kind of passes them by most of the time. Pay attention to these metallic friends and they will appreciate you more. Consider the following tips when approaching your smaller but still significant kitchen appliances. Toaster Trick Nail polish remover to the rescue! Usually a toaster is kept on a counter and has a bread bag nearby. This often means that a piece of the plastic bag melts on one … Continue reading →

Cleaning The Stove: Some Hot Tips

Cleaning the stove can be one of those chores that make a root canal seem more pleasant to endure. Still, it doesn’t have to be that way if you don’t want it to be. Consider your stove a mountain with many stubborn stains to climb at the top of which is sunshine and a sense of accomplishment. Ponder the following tips the next time you are faced with the formidable task of cleaning your friend and sometimes-charred companion, the stove. Cleaning the Stovetop : Most stovetops can be washed down with hot water and regular detergent. For those spills that … Continue reading →

Organizing Your Fridge and Its Environs

Your refrigerator is your friend, but what kind of pal are you? Do you clean big white, black or almond-colored Sara or Frederick out every week or so to give it time to breathe and make way for new food friends to circulate? Your fridge has feelings too, even if they are mostly cold ones. Make the best of your friendship, if you dare, by considering the following suggestions. Place frequently used food items, like lunch-making supplies, in the shelves either on the refrigerator or the freezer door. This makes them quick and easy to find and will save you … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy-Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (These tips will also work in your friends’ homes, but I am quite sure that YOUR dishwasher isn’t there.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does no have such an … Continue reading →

The ice Shaver: No Abominable Snowman

The Hamilton Beach Snowman Ice Shaver is in a class all by itself. Unlike the elusive yeti known to hang out on mountain-tops and causes nothing but trouble, this shaver leaves no footprints in the snow and is easily found in most stores for a mere $19.95. But I already have a blender, you might cry! Well, this is different and the Snowman Ice Shaver is guaranteed to go places no blender would dare to tread. Unlike the coarse, uneven ice chips produced by most household blenders, this ice shaver makes soft and fluffy shaved ice that is extremely consistent … Continue reading →

The History of the Refrigerator: The Cold Truth and Hard Facts

Eugene O’Neil’s iceman was from another day and age, but the cutting and storage of ice goes back much further to 1,000 BC, in China. Before that time, snow, ice, cool streams, springs, caves and cellars were used to refrigerate food. The first cellars were holes dug into the ground that were lined with wood or straw and packed with snow and ice. Around 500 BC, the Egyptians made ice on cold nights by setting water out in earthenware pots that were kept wet. At some point in history, perhaps in the 14th century in China and the seventeenth century … Continue reading →

The Toaster In Your Home: Do You Know Where It Came From?

In the days of the Roman gladiators, toasting bread was a way to prolong its life (not the gladiator’s; the bread). In fact, the word “tostum,” from which toast derives, is actually Latin for scorching or burning. (In my house, the word would be synomous with ironing, but that’s information for another blog entirely.) In their conquests, the Romans took their love of toast with them and spread the custom as far away as Britain. Later, English colonists brought the tradition to the New World. In pre-electric times, there were a variety of methods employed to make toast. They ranged … Continue reading →

The Hands Free Can Opener: Use Your Feet!

Whoever heard of a can opener that didn’t need hands to open it? The next thing you know they will invent a can opener that doesn’t need a can! Seriously though, convenience has gone amuck with this new appliance, proving that moderation is fine in all things except moderation. This new appliance requires some close scrutiny. (Look, but do not touch!) This can opener is guaranteed to make you feel like a circus performer! No kidding! You can open a can, clean a counter, talk on the phone, and maybe even figure out a way to ride a horse or … Continue reading →

The Dishwasher As Energy Saver and Friend

Here are some tips to save time, energy and money while operating the dishwasher in your home. (Share these with your friends, but not the other machines in your home as they may become jealous and stop operating.) 1. Run the dishwasher only when you have a full load. It’s much cheaper that way. 2. Save energy by using the air-dry method rather than heat dry. It may not be as fast, but is more energy-efficient. The door can be opened to speed up the drying process at the end of the cycle and if your dryer does not have … Continue reading →

The Stove In Your Home: Wherever Did it Come From?

Men and women have always been smart enough to come in out of the cold and warm themselves by the fire. When preparing dinner by the fire became included in the process is anyone’s guess, but surely it must have occurred somewhere around that same time. Whether warmth emanated from a campfire, tent or teepee, according to many archaeologists, the very first stoves were open structures composed of natural stones. The first historical record of one being built occurred in 1490, in Alsace, France. It was made entirely of brick and tile, including the flue. The closed in brick stove … Continue reading →