I am completely in love with my melon baller. It is great for removing pits from peaches, plums, and apricots or coring apples and pears. Aside from balling melon, you can scoop out twice baked potatoes or roasted squash.

A close second would be my cookie dough scooper - what a time saver!

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best tool--probably my bench scraper, because it just does so many things... cleanup, dough cutting, pizza cutting...

worst--that orca silicone glove. doesn't block heat for more than a few seconds, totally fumble-inducing, and a dust magnet.

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I actually use my mandolin alllll the time. Enough that I want a more adjustable one. Mine only does thin and paper thin. I don't honestly know why I waited this long to pick one up.

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I love some of my cheap-o gadgets from Ichiban Kan (a Japanese one dollar store, essentially, in the San Francisco Bay Area), which include my garlic shaver (shaved so thin it's transparent), and various tools for packing bento lunches, including a little cast iron pan which has deep round wells (like a mini Ableskiver pan -- makes perfect little balls of stuff), and from Daiso (another Japanese dollar store), a set of melamine white dishes with quirky translations which I love, which are perfectly sized for mise en place. Oh, and the mini stainless steel pans, too -- perfect when cooking for one in a toaster oven.

By contrast, the stupidest thing I EVER bought (what was I thinking?!) was that "pasta express tube" you fill with hot water. Anyone want it? It's a plastic vase, as far as I'm concerned. PT Barnum would rejoice.

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Ditto melon baller (also helpful for fishing olives out of small jars), bench scraper (cuts pasta strips, hauls chopped veggies to the frying pan etc). Another fave of mine is my "egg" slicer which is super for strawberries, mushrooms and similar items. And my knife sharpeners!! I have an electric one for heavy duty regrinding every so often and a handy little kitchen drawer one I use every time I get out a knife, which keeps the edges honed well enough to cut paper. In the "what was I thinking" department: silicon (?) pot holders, salt grinder (!), marble rolling pin...

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I really like the Kuhn-Rikon corn zipper, but it took me a while to get the knack. For me, it's much better than using a paring knife to cut the kernels away. For a flat whisk, I really like this one: http://www.germandeli.com/wmf10siflbaw.html Works like a charm.

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Oh: favorite tool is the cherrywood spatula I got from Woodspoons.com: 12" long, spatula end 2.5" wide. I use it constantly: it stirs things better than a wooden spoon, it lifts things, it looks lovely, and it feels great in the hand. The Web site doesn't show this size, but he'll make it for you if you ask. He does have a spootle (see site) in those dimensions, though.

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I love my microplane and my tongs beyond all measure, but my favorite implement comes from a Japanese dollar store too (Marukai in Gardena): a pickle spoon. It's basically a slotted tablespoon with a hook for hanging it on the inside of the jar. There is no better way to fish out capers. Everyone's getting them for Christmas this year.

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OXO Good Grips 31181 Kitchen Scissors
http://www.oxo.com/OA_HTML/xxoxo_ibeCCtpOXOPrdDtl.jsp?a=b&item=46760

These are great for quick cutting of chicken breasts into bite size chunks to opening bags of triple-washed spinach to clipping broccoli spears into small bits. All around work horse.

Second place for me, is a cheap old plastic 'rice paddle' or shamoji. This isn't just for rice. Chop up some sundried tomatoes with the above scissors and toss them into a tub of cream cheese. Mix with the rice paddle. Stir fry, serve lasagna, it's got too many uses to list. Mine's not as hi-tech as this one, but does the trick:

http://www.houserice.com/nonsticricpa.html

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I thought I would get to use my plastic dumpling press set more often than I have, however it just clutters my cooking tool drawer. The presses are so awkwardly shaped that storage is a headache. I wish I had passed up these gadgets. I may change my mind if I ever use them and they work.

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I use my Kyocera ceramic adjustable mini mandoline FAR more often than the big Bron, which I mostly use for making french fries once a year (if that). I use it often for making thin slices of cucumbers, apples, and red onions for salad.

I've found that measuring scoops (mine are made by AMCO) are much more pleasant to use than regular measuring cups for dry ingredients.

The Chef'n Oil Wand is more useful than I expected it would be - it's very handy for smearing a thin layer of oil in a pan without wasting a paper towel.

I LOVE my Kuhn Rikon double balloon whisk.

Complete waste of money: Silicone bakeware. All of it.

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the pasta express thing makes a great pasta keeper. I put all my long pastas in it to keep the bugs away. was cheaper than the other jars they had at BB&B!

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I couldn't live without

Silicone spatulas and spoonulas. I threw out all of the wooden spoons (except the rice paddle), because I use these so often.

Silicone measuring cup set. They fold up to almost flat and things pop out of them so much more easily than the traditional measuring cups.

And I guess I am the only one here, but I bought some silicone oven mitts and I love them so much better than the cloth potholders which feel too slippery. Plus the cloth ones can get in the food, which is really gross.

I wish I had never bought

a quesadilla maker-ugh, not only is it fire engine red, the cheese always squirts out the sides and gets all gooey on the hot plate part. yuck.

A wok. I never use it enough to justify it. I constantly pull out the cast iron pans in favor of this one.

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I'm pretty basic - my most oft-used "gadgets" are my kitchen shears (you can never have too many scissors!) and the cheapy pack of 2 flexible cutting mats I scored at Ikea many months ago.

I also find my silicon oven mitt to be kinda cumbersome... Don't use it nearly as much as I imagined I would.

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I am absolutely in love with my Nigella Lawson whisk. It does practically everything. Last week I realized that I had forgotten that I even owned a flat whisk. I haven't touched the thing since I got this one.

[url]http://www.cheftools.com/prodinfo.asp?number=06-1163[/url]

And don't let its small size fool you... it's bite is much bigger than it's bark. ;o)

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favorites: my cleaver. it's just the sharpest knife I have, and the weight makes it so much easier to chop things than the typical "large kitchen knife".

food chopper. as in, the electric kind. I love it. Making adobo, quacamole (the seasonings; I don't put the avocado in there!), bulgogi, anything I need to puree... I love it.

Ice cream machine. Not that oft-used, but I love making my own ice cream. makes me feel justified in eating it.

Regrets: food processor. It's too big and ungainly and PITA to clean for "oh wow, I can shred some potatoes quickly!". Also, it almost sent me to the ER within 20 minutes of opening it as a christmas present, while using it to make christmas dinner for my parents. As is, I sliced the end of my finger off.

Waffle Iron. "Yay, waffles!" Yay for batter squirting out the damn sides and the pain of cleaning the griddle.

Foreman grill. I threw mine out. Such a pain. Why not just make whatever it is in a pain, or throw it in the toaster oven on "broil", and have all the fat drip into the broiling pan?

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Love:

My immersion blender - I now go to the gym more often (so I can make tons of smoothies when I get home, oh well) and its great for soup and guac and everything. I love this thing.
My anolon 10" chef's knife. So sharp and nicely weighted. Without a doubt, my favorite knife; and it was a gift, so even better.
Wok - bf uses it everytime he cooks and I love when he makes me dinner :o)
I love my italian grandma's pasta machine, even though I don't use it nearly enough.

Coulda Done Without:
My deep fryer - kinda goes against trying to go to the gym, and if I fry anything, its usually in the wok.
belgian waffle maker - i'm farrrr too lazy in the am to want to deal with this thing
garlic press - it seemed like a good idea, but i n e v e r use it

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I love my magic bullet cant make enough frozen mommy drinks and smoothie's for my daughter. Also my new sonic blade on sale at macy's for 1/3rd of the as seen on tv price.
could do with out rice cooker and fry daddy (to messy to clean)

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