Pro tip: that $25 used rice cooker from Facebook Marketplace taught me a hard lesson about checking seals.

My kitchen smelled like burnt plastic for 3 days after the gasket failed and leaked water all over the counter in Brooklyn, has anyone else gotten burned buying secondhand small appliances?

3 comments

3 Comments

wren2301d ago

Holy crap, a toaster oven nearly set your curtains on fire? That's terrifying! Honestly, I thought I had it bad with the rice cooker leaking water everywhere, but sparks are a whole other level of scary. You're probably right that for anything with serious heat, buying new is the safer bet. I just hate paying full price for appliances when you can find deals. But yeah, a fire hazard is not worth saving 40 bucks.

charles8361d ago

Learned that same lesson with a toaster oven from a yard sale. The heating element sparked on the second use and nearly caught my curtains on fire. Stick to new stuff for anything that plugs in and gets hot. Saves you the headache and the smoke smell.

colescott1d ago

Had a buddy pick up a used espresso machine from a garage sale once. Thing worked great for a week then the pressure valve blew and shot hot coffee grounds all over his kitchen ceiling. Took him forever to scrub that sticky brown mess off the paint. So yeah, @charles836 you're totally right about avoiding anything with serious heat if it's been through who knows how many owners. Some deals just aren't worth scrubbing coffee or burnt plastic out of your apartment for days.