Hellobee Boards

kitchenaid stand mixer if you like to bake/make bread! I lurve ours. Also, an immersion blender if you like to make soup. A mini prep (like one by cuisineart) for quickly chopping onions/other veggies. A garlic press--such a time saver!

I love my toaster and microwave. Probably more my microwave. The oven and I aren't friends. I am good at getting burnt with the oven. I also don't like our Fry Daddy but we don't use it normally anyway.

@LuLu Mom: I second this! KitchenAid Mixer and a good food processor.

You need a good mixer. I had a cheapy (two actually) and they crapped out on me in the same night. I tried to make bread with my old stand mixer and it was horrible. I'm hoping for a KitchenAid stand mixer. I have a manual food processor as well, I love it for chopping onions.

If you are making your own pasta, you should really look into one of those very simple pasta rolling machines, like this:

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/3666039/?catalogId=60&srccode=cii_328768002&cpncode=35-132395573-2&cm_ven=MSN_PLA&cm_cat=MSN_Shopping&cm_pla=default&cm_ite=default

The key is you need to know how to knead, and pasta is very forgiving if you don't already know how.

I have a bread machine but I get better results from kneading myself and baking off in my regular oven. A great resource is Artisan Breads in 10 Minutes a Day (or some similar title).

@runsyellowlites: actually pasta IS very forgiving!

It really depends on your cooking style, but it's hard to know what you'll use the most until you actually have them in your house! I think it's a good idea to consider what types of things you'll be making and what each appliance would offer, but there's still going to be some trial and error.

That said, my most-used kitchen appliance is my food processor. I would be sunk without it, I use it for slicing/shredding veggies, making small doughy items like pie crusts, pureeing anything and everything, grinding up nuts and seeds, etc.

Second on the list would be some sort of electric mixer. A stand mixer is nice but a hand mixer will do just fine for 90% of things if you don't have space or don't want to make the investment. (I have both and use them for different things, but that's not at all necessary.)

Next, I'd say a crockpot but I see you already have that.

I rarely use my blender and have never felt the need for an immersion blender. I love my coffee grinder but it's not a necessity for a lot of people, same with the electric coffee maker.

ETA: I have the pasta machine @looch linked to, and I always make the dough in my food processor -- no kneading by hand required! And yes, pasta dough is very forgiving, it's actually more common to have problems because you didn't knead/roll it enough than because you did too much!

@locavore_mama: I meant it is forgiving, it's a good dough to practice on, because it comes together very easily and you don't have to knead it aggressively because you will also be using the rolling machine.

My mom does a very simple recipe, using just flour and eggs and even I can tell when I've kneaded enough!

We use our toaster and microwave the most. Beyond that we have a panini press/grill, stand mixer and stick blender/processor that also get used depending on the season. I actually find that our cast iron grill gets a ton of use these days though that isn't an appliance!

These are my must have's:

Rice cooker, Toaster, Keurig (coffeeeeee), Microwave, and Crockpot.

@runsyellowlites: I think the classic also has a tilt-head. The Artisan has a more powerful motor so if you're between the two, the Artisan is a better choice for bread, and you CAN make it work -- I wrapped some clear packing tape around the pin area so the head can't wiggle too much. It doesn't look great but it's okay. The head still wobbles enough to make an awful thumping noise while it's kneading dough, though.

I am so old school. A good set of knives and a cutting board! I would like a KA to bake and make ice cream with LO though!