Blog: It was planned with military precision – swiping one at a time under the cover of darkness. I finally completed my mission and it felt good, especially the clear view of my kitchen surfaces, writes Tracey O’Sullivan.

Then – “Darling, guess what I found in the garage today while getting out the lawnmower – the juicer. How good is that? We haven’t used it for ages.”

But worse was to come: “You haven’t seen the breadmaker anywhere have you?”.

The juicer had found its way back and was plonked once again next to the microwave, coffee machine and blender. You see I understand my husband’s need to have gadgets, especially in the kitchen, becasue he’s a boy and that’s what they do. Also, he’s the family cook (and a very good one at that). I didn’t mind as he filled up our wedding list with various items I had never tried before. Not being a cook I didn’t even register whether or not we really should.

Now I wish I had done my research and said a firm no to the veritable feast of electric wizardry that our dearest family and friends were going to treat us to. A survey has revealed today the 20 most useless gadgets people waste their money on. That’s a conservative estimate in our house and, believe me, they can cause havoc.

Every so often him indoors gets a blast of nostalgia for that ice cream maker (the one that was going to save us so much money until it became too cumbersome to use and Duchy Originals launched their divine version of the frozen dessert). He then insists on undoing all my good work of putting it away by seeking it out, using it once and then leaving it to gather dust.

Gathering dust is about the only thing most kitchen gadgets are good for. They may seem like the best thing since sliced bread – okay that was a gadget worth inventing – but their use is short-lived. Maybe it is because we are a cash-rich but time-poor society and most of the time we can’t be bothered to make do and mend when we can just buy instead. Also, so often they just don’t do the job well enough. And with a gadget-mad husband I’ve tried most homemade delights from a new fangled machine, from yoghurt to toffee apples. Well, the toffee apples were from a toy my step-son Noah had for Christmas which was used once. I don’t want to get started on the whole kitchen gadgets as toys rant, but he’s also had a popcorn maker (used three times) and the some slush puppy contraption (can’t even remember if it made it out of the box).

But for now it’s my kitchen surfaces that I am trying to rescue. It’s the clutter I can’t stand. Even if they are put in the kitchen cupboards, I want rid. I’m sure making bread is so much more satisfying without a machine to do it for you. It’s what we should all say to ourselves the next time those shiny metallic creatures with their flashing buttons and whirring tunes are proving almost too tempting to resist. I really must try it sometime, if only on behalf of my better half.

Although, on second thoughts, I might just allow hubbie to keep the juicer for now. I mean if those self-cleaning kitchen surfaces they are talking about at all the science fairs become available I’ll be first in the queue to buy.

Top 20 Most Useless Gadgets
1.    Electric candles
2.    Electric nail files
3.    Laser guided scissors
4.    Bread maker
5.    Egg slicer
6.    Egg boiler
7.    Back scratcher
8.    Electric fluff remover
9.    Fondue set
10.    Mini disk player
11.    Yoghurt maker
12.    Back Massagers
13.    Cocktail shaker and stirrer
14.    Electric carving knife
15.    Sodastream
16.    Facial tanners
17.    Teasmade
18.    Waffle iron
19.    Foot spa
20.    Towel warmer