The $1 "paring knife" from a Pampered Chef party. My fingernails are stiffer than its blade.

Hah! Mine is actually very similar to you Sam - I was once given a Mistral Hot Diggity Dog machine, which is evidently only found in Australia:

http://www.ebay.com/itm...

Complete with bun warming spikes!

Last Christmas my mother gave me an electric egg cooker. It hard boils eggs "perfectly in 7 minutes." My kids enjoyed it for a couple of days but now it just takes up space in the pantry. Thanks Sam, you've reminded me I need to drop it off at the thrift store!

This is more tool than appliance, but someone gave me an OXO corn stripper. It leaves about half the kernels behind. A sharp knife works so much better.

My friends mom had the plate where you bang frozen meat on to 'activate' it and it thaws faster. What a pointless invention

I was given a Quesadilla maker. It is like a panini press or waffle iron. Put the stuffed tortillas between them and press. It is a perfect garage sale item. A flat top or skillet works just fine.

Not too set on gadgets...The only useless thing in our kitchen was once a microwave.When it broke we never fixed it and gave it away.We only used it to reheat (or recycle,as a friend says) left overs and coffee,make pop corn,and melt chocolate.Can't think of anything to do in a microwave that would not be better made in another way.

A crepe maker

The Food52 staff had some good giggles over the "Pasta Express" the other week:

http://www.youtube.com...

In my family, we still use "Ginsu" to describe anything of questionable provenance or performance. ("Thanks for loaning me your power washer - totally Ginsu.") I don't know if they sold decent knives or not. But everyone knows the early infomercial marketing techniques were hilarious.