What about all those other appliances in your cupboards? Reacquaint them with the light of day using these ideas.

Cappuccino Machine

Food stylists and professional chefs, such as David Burke of davidburke & donatella restaurant, in New York City, have long known a great — albeit weird-sounding — trick for making delicious scrambled eggs: Do it in a cappuccino maker. Just crack an egg into a coffee cup, whip with a fork, then insert the milk foamer (do not use the milk-uptake valve). The steam will cook the egg in seconds — no oil or butter required.

Coffee Grinder

Use it to make very fine bread crumbs. Be sure to clean the grinder thoroughly first, though, unless you want coffee-flavored crumbs.

To make infused sugar you can sprinkle on cookies or buttered toast or add to a cup of tea for flavor and sweetness, grind together sugar and either a cinnamon stick or dried fruit (blueberries, citrus peel). The sugar can be kept in a sealed jar for up to 6 weeks.

Note: Trying either of these ideas with a burr grinder could break it.

Coffeemaker

Don't toss it because you've sworn off coffee. Give the machine a good cleaning, then use it for brewing fruit-infused tea — a perfect summer refresher. For peach tea, place 8 tea bags and 1 chopped ripe peach in the filter and brew, using 4 cups of water. (With loose tea, use 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup of water.) You can also try this with berries, apples, or dried fruits.

To make spiced cider, place spices, ginger, and orange slices in the filter, then brew using cider instead of water.

Sno-cone Machine

Use it to create a bed of ice for raw oysters or shrimp cocktail.

It also makes a great granita. For a coffee version, brew coffee and add sugar to taste. Freeze it in an ice-cube tray, then grind the cubes in the machine.

Electric Knife

You unearth it from its box twice a year, for the Thanksgiving turkey and the Christmas ham, right? Keep it handy and it can help you around the kitchen all year long. It's great at cutting delicate foods you don't want to flatten (ripe tomatoes, cinnamon-roll dough) and for carving out clean-as-a-whistle, crumb-free slices of bread or cake.