Masterchefs or kitchen hoarders?

Fancy kitchen gadgets may well be in vogue, but millions of these costly items are simply gathering dust.

New research from Direct Line Home Insurance reveals that 65 per cent of Brits own pricey kitchen technology, including bread makers, coffee machines and food processers that rarely or never get used.
 
With the cost of each of these culinary contraptions averaging £65.51, this equates to a staggering £8 billion worth of kitchen equipment almost untouched in UK homes.
 
Approximately 10 per cent of the kitchen gadgets gathering dust in people's cupboards have never even been used. The remaining kitchen gadgets have seen daylight an estimated six times, which brings the cost of toasting a sandwich, brewing a coffee or using any of the other gadgets people hoard, to around £10.68 every time.
 
The most commonly owned but unused kitchen gadgets are toasted sandwich makers, with 26 per cent of Britons possessing but rarely using one. Food processors (21 per cent) slow cookers (19 per cent) and George Foreman grills were also high up on the list of pricey gadgets lying dormant in our homes.
 
Jenny Trueman, home insurance manager at Direct Line, comments: "Cooking more adventurous dishes at home is certainly a growing trend and perhaps a reason why we own so many of these pricey gadgets. The value of these items really do add up and this is something worth remembering when it comes to home insurance. It is easy to underestimate how much your possessions are worth so don't forget the unused or unseen items in your home as these still count."