Well, it’s that time of year again. What? You say you wait until the last minute to buy your Xmas gifts too? You procrastinator.

Ok, just in case you’re one of the 5 people who shop early - what about this sleek electric kettle from Proctor Silex? I used to have one of these in the dorms, and it’d probably make a great gift for a starving college student to boil up water for tea or ramen. The kettle clocks in at 1 quart capacity and 1000 watts for power. The heating element is actually the type that is not enclosed in the base, so that you need to make sure to immerse it in enough water - although the device does have a “boil-dry” safeguard to auto-shut off in case you forget about it.

For those folks who’ve been looking to get a KitchenAid Blender and can’t afford the high price tag, if you are willing to live with slightly used accessories then you might want to look into a “reconditioned” KitchenAid Blender on Amazon.com.

The price cut will generally be about 50% off, since new models go for around $100 and the reconditioned ones can be found for $50. That is, when you can find them. Most of the reconditioned stock varies in color and availablility is actually sold by third party vendors… the best advice is to keep checking to see when the color you want becomes available.

Bring a little of the old and a little of the new into your holiday season with this “Hourglass” timer by Polder. Polder, of course, is famous for making a ton of different great …

Ok, so Panini Presses are all the latest rage it seems. The basic idea behind these sandwich grills are a lower and upper non-stick cooking surface connected by a hinge (similar to a George Foreman grill). You just put sandwiches inside and close the press on it. The heat makes nice grill markings on the sandwiches and also cook the contents to some extent.

Cuisinart makes a few pretty nice presses including this “Griddler” Panini Press which sports 11 x 7 inch grill plates. One of the best things about it is that it features a “floating hinge” which allows you to adjust the grill hinges to accomodate larger than normal type sandwiches like hoagies. Others that don’t have the hinge often struggle to contain a taller type of sandwich.

I’m interesting in getting one of these because people have said that they can be used for other things besides normal panini sandwiches including grilled cheese sandwiches, veggies and pork chops.

This might be one of those holiday gifts for kitchen folks who have everything. It’s a festively colored red 12 inch Quesadilla Maker. It sort reminds me of a George Foreman Grill. You just place …

I don’t know an awful lot about immersion blenders, but I’ve been thinking about picking one up for quite awhile. So I can only go by looks, and this model CSB-76BC from Cuisinart looks rather spiffy …