LOW IMPACT KITCHEN: MORTAR & PESTLE | Little Homestead in the City.
I love this blog and I love the authors. They are my heros!
I’ve been trying to make more of an “unplugged kitchen” myself. The big exceptions for me would be the refrigerator and stove (both came with the apartment and I would seek an energy star appliance in a future home), my bread maker, and my crock pot. The later two are hard for me to consider giving up because, as someone who works a full time job, these really save me a lot of time. Unfortunately, I cannot live/work full time on an urban homestead like my beloved bloggers! I would also likely get a dishwasher in a future home since most studies show that an efficiently used energy star dishwasher is more sustainable than hand washing in a sink. I suppose I could do more hand washing in large buckets… hmmm…
Otherwise, I love my hand-powered food processor. I love my tea kettle. I love my bamboo chopping board and my high-quality knife set. I love my rolling pin. More than just about anything, I love my wooden spoon and tend to do more with that than anything else. When my microwave and toaster eventually kick the bucket? I don’t plan to replace them with anything. I want a more simplified kitchen. I want less gadgets and clutter. There’s something more organic and more magical about a kitchen where you do most of the work.
Author M. A. Phillips 
I see you’ve changed your mind about dishwashers. =)
Honestly, I love having a toaster oven. It uses much less energy than a regular oven when I’m cooking small things, like reheating leftovers. I’d feel silly toasting a bagel or reheating pizza in the oven. We don’t have a regular toaster though. Actually I’ve never had a regular toaster, even as a kid.
That is actually a very good point, Ash. This is part of why I like to publicly talk about these things because it’s good to share and see other perspectives. It’s really helpful. I suppose there must be energy star toaster ovens… An actual toaster seems less multi-purpose. I’ve never had one of those and don’t intend to get one.
There’s also an extent to which gadgets encourage us to prepare our own food, especially those of us with health or time issues. For years I didn’t have an electric mixer of any kind and did all my mixing by hand. I stopped baking for awhile because my hands hurt too much. So now I love my stand mixer. It’s not Energy Star rated, but I love that it’s 40 years old and has no plastic. Yay for things that are built to last!
Totally agree that things built to last are worthy of celebration!
And I’m not arguing for everyone to give up their gadgets. As I said, I’m not about to ditch my breadmaker or crock pot. We all know what we’re capable of and what we have time for. 🙂