I am not a huge kitchen gadget collector, but I do have some favorites. I thought I would share about my favorite old standby, my hand blender, as well as a new recent favorite, my olive wood grater. 
I absolutely love my hand blender which I've had for years upon years. It is such a truly wonderful time saver. When I used to purée soups I would have to transfer hot broth and vegetables from my stock pot to my blender in several small batches. This would always take a decent amount of time and make a big mess while also adding to the dishes I would need to clean. On several occasions I also over filled my blender and had a blow up mess and burnt my hand.
Because of this I was reluctant to make creamed soups too often but that all changed with my hand blender. It was $30 at Bed, Bath & Beyond and I purchased it with one of their 20% off coupons. For how much time it has saved me it is some of the best money I have ever spent.
A double batch of soup now takes me about five minutes to purée and I can do it right inside the stock pot which eliminates the extra dishes. Saving time + reducing dishes = awesome!
My cheese grater is a recent acquisition from my trip to Italy that I am quickly falling in love with. My old grater had become rusty so when I spotted this at a little shop in Sorrento for €12 I knew I had to get it. The olive wood box the grater slides into holds whatever you are grating keeping me from accidentally making a mess. Pretty and functional: kitchen gadgets don't get better than that!
Linked To: Centsational Girl's Favorite Kitchen Gadgets Link Party