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Funny you should ask! Several weeks ago when my daughter's birthday was approaching, I requested SE recommendations for a coffee maker & waffle iron. No coffee maker recommendations came to my rescue---so, blindly I pick out one & ya know what? She has used it ONCE!! Okay, LPC, this is where you come in---you recommended a waffle maker & it sits wrapped under the tree as we speak! So you will be the first one to hear if doesn't use this appliance, either :)

Wow...How did I miss the coffeemaker question? :( If you want a grind and brew type station, my BF has a Capresso that's amazing. I hope she gets some use out of the waffle iron.

Bear one thing in mind...the "I-really-really-really-really-want-it" toy of the month sometimes does languish in the cupboard after the novelty has worn thin. Just think of all those juicers that were going to yield "health in a glass" that got used a couple of times but were determined to be too messy or cumbersome... :(

Prepare yourself because any weight concerns after the holidays may give the waffle iron a slow start. (If she's a waffle fiend like my daughter, it'll come out of hiding sooner rather than later...)

I disagree that kitchen appliances are insensitive. I love getting new gadgets, and requesting certain appliances from my in-laws has saved me from many other bizarro gifts that I will never use (i.e. cartoon character sweatshirts, strange holiday decorations). My husband was never happier than when my parents got him the blender he had been drooling over for months! I guess it just goes back to "it's the thought that counts". If you know a person well and believe that they would find it useful or enjoyable, it can be a great gift!

I don't think appliances are necessarily insensitive. (OK, maybe a steam iron). My brothers and sisters got together last year and bought my mom a Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer. Her old Sunbeam finally broke down! She was thrilled!

I think that certain appliances given as a gift to aid and complement a person's pursuit of his or her passions, hobbies, recreational pursuits, etc., are not at all insensitive. Quite the contrary, they are extremely thoughtful. If it's something they've specifically asked for, then you are honoring their request and demonstrating that you care about their wishes. If it's something you know they've been wanting but can't/won't buy for themselves, you've shown that you pay attention to their needs/desires, and that your gift was intended solely for the recipient's pleasure. How can that ever be considered insensitive?!?!

Now, when you're talking about an appliance along the lines of a vacuum cleaner (so they can do more work?), a toaster (an inexpensive everyday item that can be picked up at the local drug store), or an electric hedge trimmer (especially if you've been nagging the recipient for months about that overgrown shrub by the door)... yes, I agree. Insensitive to the extreme. (Unless, of course, they specifically requested it.)

When hubby got my xmas wish list, he was dismayed. Why? So many kitchen appliances and tools. He felt that I was asking for things that were part of my ordinary housework. He said that everyone else in the family would be reaping all the benefits of these gifts, while I would just be working. What a love he is to be so concerned. I promptly set him straight, by explaining that these were things I'd never feel good buying for myself, that I'm already a reluctant chef, and that my primary culinary motivation for pleasing the people I love (and eating well myself). The tools will help me do what makes me happy, and will inspire me to make things I tend to avoid because of the "work" involved...

That worked! I'm personally VERY excited to be receiving my coveted appliances this year!

we do our present exchange christmas eve with family friends. since i was about 12 i have asked for/received cooking gadgets. they have been some of the best/most useful presents (especially my kitchenaid stand mixer and my mandoline). but i know for a fact that my brother and the other "children" all think that i am very strange for preferring appliances to cds.

I'm not giving a kitchen appliance as a gift this year, but last year I asked for, and received, a KitchenAid stand mixer. Even though it wasn't the type of present my mother likes to give, I use it at least 3 to 4 times a week, and I love it to pieces. Every time I bake something, I sing her praises, and that's more than I can say about the ugly sweaters, ugly jewelry, and bad dvds cluttering up the Guilt closet...

My best friend loves baking, but doesn't do it often because she has only a failing hand mixer, and not enough time to do things by hand. So this year it's a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for her.

Not an "appliance" per se, but I gave my associate (who is just starting to get serious about cooking) a Microplane box grater as a holiday gift after hearing about how it took him hours to grate cheese for a recipe. Nothing else makes perfect grated cheese and chocolate and . . . well, just about everything.

That is a great story, Maureen. And it shows the iconic value besides the real value of those Kitchen Aid mixers. They really are something, those mixers!

It was strange reading your story though, for mine is similar but a bit flip-flopped.

In my first marriage I got a Kitchen Aid mixer. I'd wanted one for a long time but did not feel "entitled" to it for some reason - though it was probably just one of those "because" reasons that does not have a whole lot to do with reality.

I did get one for my birthday one year. I bought it for myself - it was during a period of some years where that husband was not working but rather avoiding working (besides avoiding other things like the decision of whether to have a family or not, a family in which the Kitchen Aid mixer certainly could have been well used in my mind).

I loved that mixer. It was strong. It reminded me of when I had been a pastry chef and used a similar though older grunged up version at work - the linzertortes, the pate a choux, the cookie doughs, the whipped cream, the beauty of it all.

When I left him I left pretty much everything there. I could not carry the mixer.

It haunted me for years, the loss of that mixer. I always wanted another one but never got one - not through a second marriage, and not till that marriage was ended too. (Yeah, I can choose cuts of meat well but apparently had not learned how to do the same with men ha ha.)

There was always a bit of sadness and anger whenever I thought of the mixer.

Several years ago a friend gave me a gift certificate to Amazon, and my fingers hovered over many things. They finally clicked on that mixer.

A hole has been filled in my heart and mind now that the mixer sits on my counter. That sounds odd, I know. But true.

Vive la Kitchen Aid!