Appliance Love

We're not big into kitchen gadgets or having a bunch of small appliances that hardly get used.  Frankly, we just don't have the room to store these things and I'm not really one to go above and beyond when it comes to cooking or baking.  A lot of our small kitchen appliances were given to as gifts and all those are pretty cool and might be considered to have some "bells and whistles", but honestly, if we're buying it ourselves, as long as it does the job, it's fine.  We had the same $20 toaster and $30 coffee maker for 7 years until we remodeled our kitchen two years ago, and actually we sold the pair for $20 at a yard sale so they really served us well! 

One appliance we "splurged" on after the remodel was our Cuisinart Brew Central...not super duper fancy, but definitely better than our prior coffee maker, and it had a timer!  Movin' on up!  Then this past November I got sucked into QVC.  The new and improved Keurig Platinum was the Today's Special Value.  I made the hubster sit through an hour long presentation.  We ooohed and awwwed as they talked about what it did and how it worked and then we went about our business.  A few hours later on that night we both kind of looked at each other like "we NEED to order that"!  So we did.  In a pretty cinnamon color and on easy-pay :)  The poor Cuisinart now sits on a shelf in the basement awaiting it's fate.

I have never loved an appliance like this.  It is fabulous!  Plus it's so pretty, it steals the show in my kitchen.  We were always coffee drinkers, this just took it up a notch...actually, a couple notches, it's that awesome.

Here she is:

We've recently started ordering our K-cups from CoffeeWiz.com.  Their prices and selection can't be beat, and bonus, free shipping on orders over $50.  When we're in a bind we can always pick up a box at our local grocery store or use the My K-cup (which came with our fab deal from QVC) with our own preferred ground coffee, easy peasy.

We store our selection of K-cups in a cute little tin "lunch box" on our counter (we replenish when needed from the seperate big boxes which are stored on a high shelf not easily accessible to my midget self).  It's cute and holds the K-cups perfectly!

My favorite K-cups:

We have ours programmed to turn on/off at certain times of the day, and by "on" I mean that the water is heated and ready to brew at the push of a button. If the machine is in "off" mode, it generally takes about 3-4 minutes for the water to heat up to the right temp.

 Here's how she works... first you choose your K-cup and put it in the brewer.  Today's choice was Butter Toffee, yum!

Then place your mug below...

Make fun of my coffee mug if you must.  I own probably six different mugs with my name on them, mostly from theme park gift shops, but I have a compulsion about buying things with my name on them since they're typically hard to find.  This one is from the Arabian Nights dinner show in Orlando, circa 2006 :)

Next you choose your mug size...

  I use the 10 oz. size, second from the right, while the hubster prefers the 8 oz. size in the middle (he likes a stronger brew).  Notice the selection all the way on the left of the little screen.  That's for iced coffee, neat-o!

Then you just hit the "brew" button and you're good to go. 

 

In less than a minute you have a perfect cup of coffee!  Add a bit of sugar and a splash of creamer (huge rave for the new Bailey's creamer, I love the caramel) and I'm in heaven.

Hmm...I think I may have a cup of decaf after dinner tonight!