Equipment Recommendation

[snappyllama]

Howdy,

I'm a total newbie that is planning on taking a CP class (thanks for the advice from my prior thread).

While taking an inventory of kitchen items I could re-purpose to CP, I dropped my ancient stick blender onto my scale upon which my sad candy thermometer was sitting - managing to break everything. Smooth, very smooth of me. No one was hurt, and my pets have finally come out of hiding.

Help me spend my money! If you have any recommendations for replacements, I'd love to hear.

• Stick Blender: Cusinart 200W? I think that's the one I see most folks using on youtube.
• Scale: my old one was a cheap model that didn't work well when I bought it 10 years ago. I'm hoping a decent replacement can be had in the $50 range.
• Thermometer: I've been eyeing those neat laser-pointy-ones. Amazon has some for under $20, but I wonder about quality at that price point.

I would rather have things cost a bit more upfront than have to make replacements down the line. This is just for a hobby, so light/medium-duty would suit me.

Cheers

 

[IrishLass]

Sorry to hear about your mishap. I hate it when stuff like that happens!

I see a lot of people using the Cuisinart stickblender on YouTube, too. I've never used a Cuisinart stickblender myself, but I think that's the same one AnnMarie from Brambleberry uses and sells, so it must be a good one. I have a cheapie Hamilton Beach that I bought at Walmart back in 2006 for $19.00 and it's still going strong, believe it or not. I have a couple of back-ups just in case, though, one of which is a Kitchenaid stickblender with a stainless steel shaft (my other back-up is the same Hamilton Beach model).

As for a scale- I love my KD 7000 made by My Weigh. Lotioncrafter sells it for under $45. I love everything about it, but the thing I love best is that I can disable the auto-off feature so that it never turns off unless I switch it off myself.

As for thermometers, I use my trusty probe thermometer made by Pampered Chef. It's one of those that's attached to a long wire that plugs into a hand-held digital read-out device. One of these days I'd love to get my hands on an instant-read Thermapen. They're pretty pricey, though- around $100. I've thought about getting one of the laser ones, but from what I've read, there seem to be a lot of mixed results with them, so I've put off buying one for the time being.

IrishLass

 

[snappyllama]

And I found my answer to the stick blender question. http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=33470&highlight=cusinart.

Still not sure on the scale and thermometer...

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks IrishLass! I'll look into the scale and thermometer you mentioned

 

[IrishLass]

You're welcome!

IrishLass

 

[MagicalMysterySoap]

I don't use a thermometer so I can't help with that. I purchased my stick blender at the thrift store, it's an old Braun one and it works great. It doesn't really overheat and I can have it running for minutes so it's awesome. I do see a lot of soapers use a cuisine art one. As far as a scale, I love this one the kd8000: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001NE0FU2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 it's awesome and less than 33 bucks with free shipping

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks MagicalMysterySoap (love the name, btw). That's the scale I'm eyeing.

 

[MagicalMysterySoap]

Thanks MagicalMysterySoap (love the name, btw). That's the scale I'm eyeing.

Aww, thank you. I'm a huge Beatle fanatic . I know if you purchase it you will love it!

 

[IrishLass]

As far as a scale, I love this one the kd8000: http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Scale-Bakers-KD8000-Weight/dp/B001NE0FU2 it's awesome and less than 33 bucks with free shipping

That's a really good price. Do you know if that one is different from the KD 7000 or an upgrade?

Aww, thank you. I'm a huge Beatle fanatic .

I'm a huge Beatle fan, too! I've always loved them. My niece was able to see Paul McCartney in concert last month. She said it was awesome. She said his voice still sounded as great as it did way back when. Does that man ever age? lol


IrishLass

 

[Soapsense]

I use a laser thermometer and love it, paid $25 for it,

 

[snappyllama]

I use a laser thermometer and love it, paid $25 for it,

Awesome, would you mind telling me the brand? I would love to open a box and tell my hubby, "There's something in here you'll use too".

 

[Soapsense]

I wiil check, but my husband actually bought it for the camper to monitor tire temp. I think we bought it at Harbor Freight.

 

[snappyllama]

I wiil check, but my husband actually bought it for the camper to monitor tire temp. I think we bought it at Harbor Freight.

You know, I really hate buying anything at Amazon that I suspect might need to returned at a later date if it breaks. I think I'll just make a trip to an actual store (gasp) to pick one up. I bet my feed store might carry one...

Thanks!

 

[MagicalMysterySoap]

That's a really good price. Do you know if that one is different from the KD 7000 or an upgrade?



I'm a huge Beatle fan, too! I've always loved them. My niece was able to see Paul McCartney in concert last month. She said it was awesome. She said his voice still sounded as great as it did way back when. Does that man ever age? lol


IrishLass

The KD 8000 weighs more than the 7000. Those numbers stand for the max capacity in grams that they can weigh

Aww, yay! I love meeting Beatle fans! I saw him last month also, maybe I attended the same concert as her lol. I saw him at Dodger stadium and I can confirm, he was amazing. I am in shock of his energy and still being able to perform fabulously at his age, he has the energy of a young person. Best concert experience ever.

Sorry for the slight off topic!

So yeah the KD 8000 is awesome and the price is great on Amazon

 

[Soapsense]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002198GY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That is the one my husband bought, but he said he got it cheaper at either Northern Tool, or Harbor Freight.

 

[dillsandwitch]

This is very similar to the one i use. about the same price I paid for it too.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Non-Cont...Electrical_Test_Equipment&hash=item4620672f56