apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

You're supposed to peel asparagus? Why?

I hate hate hate unitaskers with a passion... but I hate small, stupid appliances even more. Like the quesadilla maker. Is it that hard to use a frying pan or a griddle?

Or anything from the Lillian Vernon catalog.

I really like my garlic peeler. Especially when you need to peel the clove without smashing it. Perfect worth $6 in my opinion.

I have to disagree with the diss on the spoon rest. While certainly not necessary, I do not agree that a plate or shallow bowl is just as good.

no way, i use the garlic peeler all the time. it's fantastic!

I actually like my spoon rest. A saucer or plate takes up more space (which is in short supply in my kitchen) and bowls are tippy. I use both as substitutes when the spoon rest is in the dishwasher, and they're poor replacements.

hahahahah at the banana slicer on the lillian vernon catalog.

I agree with everything but the garlic peeler. I find it incredibly quick and easy to use.

Um, I have one of those egg separators. Like the one pictured, it's handmade pottery. It was a gift. It's blue and actually quite cute (really, the face is cute!) and sits on my windowsill as decoration. Mind you, it doesn't get *used* much, but it's cute. :)

And I do own a spoon rest. But it's in the style of a plate with a slight divot in the rim so the spoon/tool doesn't slide around. With a flat topped electric range (don't blame me...I rent...they replaced my gas range...grrr), I needed something to keep my tools from sliding around onto the hot burner. Yes, learned that the hard way.

And I love iced tea. But a mason jar in the fridge is SO much better than one of those things. Tried the iced tea that it made at a friend's place once, and yuck. Watery tea.

My mom's spaghetti container had a pasta measurer built into the lid. I'm not sure how much we actually used it, though.

I'd actually love to have that pasta measuring tool! Even though it's a uni-tasker, I'd use it all the time, since I make LOTS of pasta. And it takes up a lot less room than a kitchen scale!

My mother-in-law is constantly giving me these kinds of gifts since she knows I enjoy cooking. It's sweet, but...ugh. The most recent is a little plate with tiny spikes all over the front of it. It came with a tough bristled brush. Apparently it is a grater. But I have a standard grater, and a lemon zester, and a mini-grater that I use for parmesan cheese and a few other things. Now I have to display this plate and keep track of the brush. I've never used it.

I agree on all except the meat injector. I use the one that comes strapped to a bottle of Tony Cachere's injector. I refuse to make a turkey without injecting it. Brining or marinading has its place but I think so does a meat injector. Thick meats like a roast or, again, turkey can't be beat with one. SO juicy and you can get bits of garlic or spices way deep into the meat.

Ive even injected ranch dressing into chicken and grilled it. Weird but surprisingly good. Oozes out when you cut into it. Do that with a marinade!

I have a cool spoon rest (a gift) that doubles as a pot lid holder (so I guess it's not a unitasker, anyway). But the rest of the stuff I have no use for.

One the one hand, I think a pasta measurer is a ridiculous kitchen implement. On the other hand, an old roommate left one behind and I use it way more than I like to admit, coz I'm terrible at eyeballing pasta...

I love my garlic peeler and my spoon rest. And I have a quality chopper (not that cheap horrible thing with terrible reviews that's linked to) and I love that too. Saves tons of time. My mom has an iced tea maker and I've always loved the tea she makes, but then she doesn't follow the directions exactly. I've never bought one, but I know I'd use one if someone gave it to me.

I've got to say, my kitchen wouldn't be complete without a spoon rest.

I also hate those peelers that attach to your index finger, and the Williams-Sonoma asparagus steamer.

I love using the onion chopper for garlic because I HATE touching raw garlic. My hands will smell like it for weeks, so this tool is helpful. Everything else mentioned is pointless.

I hate the kitchen gadget stores that sell this crap. Real chefs don't have a need for 99% of kitchen gadgets.

a pasta measure and spoon rest are good tools in my book. Like somethingelse i cant eyeball spaghetti to save my life.

alllebasii - try rubbing your fingers on something made of stainless steel - it sounds crazy but it works to get rid of the smell of garlic.

allebasii - rub your hands on stainless steel to remove the garlic smell.

I'd have to go with the "Quesadilla Maker" my mom bought me a few years back. Heavy, large, and pointless, this gadget is like a gigantic waffle iron for quesadillas. I could see it in a restaurant that churns out a thousand of these a day, but I am fine just using a pan.

Garlic peeler: we have a round flat rubber piece that's supposed to be used to open jars with, but I also found it works to peel garlic, and can be folded into a small funnel for refilling my spice jars. Instead of a tube, just get a flat multi-use one.

My onion chopper is probably in my top 10 of useful kitchen tools. While, yes, you can chop with a knife, my somewhat crappy knives slip on thin onion skins and on more than one occasion I have been milliseconds away from slicing off finger tips. With 4 pushes on the onion chopper I have chopped onions, non-teary eyes, AND fingertips! I call that success!

I love the blog, but I'll have to disagree with some of your choices.
First, the injector. This is for injecting whole cloves of garlic, olives, peppers, etc. into sides of meat. When you have a lot of people to feed and have a huge side of beef or pork, this is a time and finger saver.
Second, the egg separator. That thing is awesome and I've wanted one for the past year. It's just a fun thing for the kitchen.
Third, the chopper. My grandmother has worn out several of these things because it's easy to use and she doesn't have to worry about cutting her fingers. Also it's great for kids to help around the kitchen without handing them a butcher's knife.
Lastly, spoon rest. I think a nice looking spoon rest is a lot more elegant than having a saucer sitting next to your stove. Granted, it's another thing to wash, I just like the way they look.

Did I mention I love the blog? :-D

That picture of the egg separator makes me nauseous.

Even though it's perfectly easy to separate eggs with the shell, my husband bought Yolky (because he is a sucker and can't resist those egg gadgets with the cartoon egg/chicken faces). It's totally useless, too small to fit a normal sized egg. Thumbs down on Yolky.

Spoon rests are totally useless. If I need one, I'll use a tea saucer or a bowl/plate that will be used for serving. In a moment of weakness, I bought some pot clips, but find that I don't use them much.

And that egg separator is disgusting as well as useless. Why would you want that in your kitchen? If I did want an egg separator, I'd go for something cuter.

I think one reason why kitchen gadgets tend to pile up is that, along with promising to make certain tasks easier, they're relatively inexpensive and small enough to be thrown into a drawer and forgotten about.

The only one I don't agree with is the spoon rest. A plate does not work as well! Wooden spoons tip over on a plate since there is no indentation for it to sit in. This means that they end up on the floor. Not to mention, plates take up more space than I have on the stove.

That said, I've done without one since my last one broke. I really need to replace it because this means I set the spoon on the stove and have a mess to clean up later. Spoon rests save me from having to scrub the stove!

The garlic peeler is how I got my fiance to help in the kitchen. It did the job no other tool could do.

When you or people you cook for are on a diet, the pasta measure is helpful since most of us can't eyeball the standard 2oz (!) serving. I like my Tupperware spaghetti keeper that has a 1- or 2-serving measure that you pop in or out as desired.

alllebasii - you can also wash your hands with Kosher salt to eliminate the garlic smell.

I love my garlic peeler. I never used a spoon rest until I met my husband but now I count on it.

I hate that egg separator. A lot.

Spoon rests are key - you can keep spoons on the stove and don't need a large plate or lots of counter space.

For pasta - get a wooden pasta rake that has 4 circles drilled out of the handle to measure. Great solution to uni taskers and I find wooden rakes to perform much better than stainless or plastic ones. Wood rakes are less likely to have the pasta slip off and are sturdier than plastic which sometimes wilt a bit from too much boiling water.

My husband LOVES his iced tea maker - it's not the one in the picture, but the one he has uses loose tea or bags, and it's great.

I have that identical avocado slicer. I love it! And since I have room in a drawer, I don't think there's a problem.

I agree with the rest of the stuff, though.

We got an onion chopper and my husband loved it -- until it was time to wash the stupid thing. Not fun.

Also, we live in the South (home to some of the most hard-core iced tea fans in the world) and I don't know anybody who has one of those iced tea makers. I know plenty of people who used one once and then threw it out in disgust. Mason jar in the fridge or make it on the stove like regular tea, then chill it.

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I don't think I've ever been in a kitchen that didn't have a spoon rest. It's not really necessary, but it's always there. You use a saucer when you first move out, until somebody gives you a spoon rest...I don't know why...

I'm with you with every item except the spoon rest. In a kitchen with limited space (so limited, that there's no room for a saucer sometimes!), the spoon rest is essential!

I'd like to tack on a few more:
tomato slicer
electric skillet (why not use the stove?)
microwave bacon trays
babyfood freezer containers

The Vinturi wine aerator is amazing! I didn't believe it until I did a blind taste test and there was truly a difference. I have even convinced a French friend that this was more than a "stupid American gadget" (her words, not mine):-)

Re: avocado slicer. A spoon? How the heck do you slice an avocado with a spoon?

My son and DIL gave me an avocado slicer in my Christmas stocking and I love it. It performs exactly as it was designed. It scoops right down to the skin and creates perfect slices. Yes, I could slice the avocado with a knife, but this lets me do it in record time with zero fuss because I don't have to peel the skin away from the flesh before slicing.

Would I have bought one from myself? No, but I use it at least once a week---which is why they gave it to me. They know how much I love avocados.

people peel asparagus?

SunnyBlue said what I was thinking... how do you slice avocado with a spoon? A spoon is great for scooping it out for guacamole or whatever... but some of us actually want a nice presentation in our salads. ;) And we eat avocado nearly every day - that thing would be great for me.

I am partial to spoon rests ever since making a little one out of clay in the shape of my foot when I was in elementary school.

Oh, keltrue? That banana slicer is HORRENDOUS. Hahahahahaha!

YES, you DO need an asparagus peeler. They are meant for WHITE asparagus, which needs to be peeled. A normal peeler will work, but dedicated peelers work better. Trust me on this, I own several.

Seems spoon rests have lots of fans, but I don't see the point. It doesn't save you any work because you still have to wash the spoon rest instead of wiping the stove!

I avoid the issue altogether by tapping it over the pan to make it less dirty and then either resting it across the top of the pot or setting it on the counter or an already-in-use cutting board directly next to the stove. I have to wipe the counter anyway, so it's not like it's making a mess.

p.s. to the people about using a spoon for an avocado... cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. use a large spoon to scoop out the flesh in one piece. it's easy. just run the spoon around the outside gently and you'll scoop the whole thing out. now you can slice it with a knife or chop as you like!

Oh good grief we have hundreds of these stupid gadgets my husband is a complete sucker for them... I toss them out and he replaces them - the garlic peeler, endless spoon rests... and what he doesn't buy my mother-in-law gifts to me... egg separators, onion choppers... yes I have been blessed with them all. I am a complete minimalist and could run my entire kitchen with a sharp knife and a chopping board... I have even been blessed with a heart shaped frying pan that "flips" your pancakes for you... as you flip it all the batter runs out the side ... I kept it for ten years and never used it and finnaly I could stand the guilt (of not using it) no more and tossed it! If only designers knew how they were killing us - there is nothing wrong with classic.

1. Here's what I use for a spoon rest: the stovetop, next to the burner. I'm going to wipe down the surface around the burner anyway, for crying out loud.

2. My son had a bee allergy. I always carried insulin and a syringe. Now the syringes inject meat and poultry with herb infused wine or whatever else I fancy. There IS a big difference in flavor!

3. The most infuriatingly awful gadget I ever bought was the Squid Orca Silicone Brush and Baster. It was a baster with a brush at the end, so you could squirt and paint on your savory juices or glaze in one operation. Brilliant! But it was a cool looking, non-functioning piece of junk. They had to have employed a designer who hated the company!

That egg separator is hideous. Absolutely horrific. Whoever designed it should be forced to sleep in a room filled with those. And the manufacturer should be sued...

The only thing I actually use is the garlic peeler, and only if I have to peel more than two cloves.

Not a big fan of the spoon rest, just don't like the way they look, so here is another vote for using small plates.

I'm a sucker for kitchen gadgets. Some have been pretty good....although I've maybe used them once or twice, then put them away. The novelty has kind of worn off...so now they're filling up my kitchen drawer. I really like the garlic peeler that is like a rubber tube where you put in the clove, then roll. It really works well! I use that often. The most useless gadget is the one used to cut a mango and it's supposed to separate the pit. The first time I used it, the mango turned into mush...the blade wasn't sharp enough.

I actually like the onion chopper. You can get onions and garlic and whatever else to the "minced" stage in about 10 seconds, without risking fingertips. And it's not THAT hard to clean...

I bought pasta measuring tool to help with portion control and used it once.

A few years ago, I received the "Nicer Dicer" as a gift from my partner's mother. When I first got it, I was thinking, "We'll drop it off at Goodwill on our way home."

Well, I figured I should try it before donating it. And I've kept it. It has come in handy for dicing vegetables quickly to stuff in cabbage rolls or bell peppers.

The other gift I got from my partner's mother - an electronic mandoline slicer - did get donated to Goodwill. Now that was a serious waste of space.

I have a great spoon rest - but it's an upright frame and the base is a standard removeable bowl which I sometimes use to place ingredients for later. I don't think I'd be as happy having one of those standard rests though.

The worst kitchen gadget I ever received was a self-flipping spatula. Had a trigger handle. Totally stupid (unless maybe if you have serious wrist problems...?)

We keep a spoon rest next to the coffee maker, so that everyone drinking coffee can use the same spoon and not muck up the counter. It goes in the dishwasher every night.

I had a garlic peeler, but got rid of it when I started smashing with my chef's knife and chopping. Replaced it when I started making Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic as my go-to weeknight dinner for guests. Makes the dish doable. And is kept in the occasionally used gadget box at the bottom of the basement stairs (most of which is holiday and baking equipment).

Got a garlic peeler for xmas one year....tried it....was bored.....then returned to the worlds most useful
kitchen gadget THE CHINESE CLEAVER!!!
Used the blade sideways and smashed it...and the skins fall off...and used the handle as a pestle and the garlic is nicely mashed.
The Chinese Cleaver...it slices, dices, chops, peels
and smashes!

There is only ONE item in your kitchen that should only serve one purpose, and that's a fire extinguisher.

someone once gave me one of those ridiculous microplane rotary parmesan cheese graters with the crank handle. Talk about a useless, PITA gadget, and they're EXPENSIVE! But the kicker is that I'm a lefty and it's completely unusable for anyone other than righties.

I second jodicb on the Vinturi. Don't have one yet ($40!) but I did a blind taste test and the difference was incredible. It's the only wine aerator I will eventually purchase or recommend.

As for the rest, I'm with you.

I shall give myself a timeout for getting a kick out of the egg seperator. Little kids love it, and most kids do go through a "gross stage". The best egg seperator is the one from tupperware parties. But y'all have to play a silly game to win one. I use a spoon rest. I smash garlic to peel it. Ripe avocado, practicaly peels its self. I have mini and big cuisenarts. Long with good knives and my mixer. I am a happy cook

I own a spoon rest and it's a lot better than a plate (too big) or bowl (the spatulas with long handles tend to tip out of those and fall on the floor making a mess).

But the rest yeah....

I have to agree with some of the above. I've managed to avoid most of the crap, although a spoon rest would be nice. I've always done iced tea with a jar in my sunny kitchen window.

But peeled asparagus? White asparagus? Isn't the skin the part with the most nutrients and taste?

Re: avocado slicing - cut avocado in half, remove pit. Slice with knife while still in peel, scoop out with spoon. Perfect slices, no extra silly gadget!

I love my spoon rest.

My mom has that same iced tea maker, and it's actually pretty great. She used to make sun tea all the time, but it took longer to make than for us to drink it! It's nice to be able to have cold iced tea ready to drink in 5 minutes (if you have tons of ice on hand).

And the wine aerator totally makes a difference, especially if you don't want to wait an hour to properly decant and aerate your wine.

The first present my children ever gave me after their first Summer camp was a spoon rest I had it for years but I agree its not necessary. I make iced tea by leaving a teabag in a bottle of water overnight in the fridge, we like it weak with no sugar. I use the potato peeler for the asparagus.

ok everyone. avocado slicers are amazing. end of story.

In defense of the chopper-
(a) great for arthritis ppl (not like I have it but I get it)
(b) it will chop most anything into tiny bits- kinda like a (shock!) food processor for dry stuff (so if you don't have a good processor (which are quite cumbersome and use electricity) this is a great option-- nuts are typically what i use it for (find it perfect for nuts for coating cookies)
(c) Ever not want your hands to smell like garlic or onion- this is a nice option
(d) Imagine you have to cook for around 20 ppl, or have lots of stuffing during the holidays to make- getting one of these or the alligator style onion chopper that shoves and onion through a great is worth the time it takes to chop a ton of stuff. You'll eat up less time and be more relaxed socializing.

And the spoon rest is kinda nice- usually a fun artistic statement.

I would agree about the iced tea maker, if I didn't make at least one pitcher of tea a day, and my hubby wasn't a freak about it being just the right temperature. I haven't followed the directions in years. And it works beautifully.

I'm not much on unitaskers, in general, but I follow a rule that if I haven't used it in six months it gets donated.

Most of these I haven't tried so I can't comment either way. BUT, I used to have that Iced Tea maker and I miss it every summer now. I have a feeling you never tried it. Loose tea, tea bags, it makes iced tea with the right ratio that is hard to achieve through regular steeping and then adding ice.

Honestly, though, some of these items are convenience tools. There are times when I love chopping onions, when I have the time to really cook something wonderful, but there are times I WISH I had an onion chopper (and am too lazy to plug in an appliance let alone chop) and I want to make something quickly.

I believe that anything that helps people put good, fresh food on the table is a good thing. If it makes them want to cook more, it's a good thing. There are those of us who stick our noses in the air, saying "real chefs" don't need these tools. I don't disagree; but a mom with four kids running around the kitchen might not want to have to wield a knife for the time it takes to chop that onion or peel that garlic. Although, she could probably use the cathartic feeling of whacking that glove!

Most of these things seem to be made solely for people who don't know anything about cooking to buy them as gifts for people who enjoy cooking (and, consequently, have no need for them.) I'd much rather someone buy me some nice olive oil, or a weird ingredient that I've never tried before, or *anything* edible, than getting kitchen gadgets as gifts. People who cook all the time tend to be finicky about the stuff they use, and also don't have a ton of extra storage space in their kitchens for nearly-useless objects. (I feel strongly about this issue...)

The flavor injector mentioned in the post is the one from Ronco. It's not really a regular flavor injector which works quite well at injecting liquid flavoring and stuff. The Ronco version has a giant nozzle and their idea is that you can inject stuff like garlic pieces into the meat. And that simply from that, it tastes better. But instead it just tastes like the meat would have tasted except with an occasional explosion of garlic flavor...from eating a piece of garlic.

I was given a spoon rest as a gift. I doubt I'd ever have bought one for myself, but since I have it, I use it and find it, uh, useful. If I didn't have it, though, I would be doing the same as a previous commenter and just putting the dirty spoon on the stovetop. I'm going to clean it later anyway.

I also have an *old* iced tea maker that used to belong to my parents. Again, wouldn't have bought one for myself, but since I have it, I use it, and I like it.

@rosebudrmm

I didn't mean for my comment to be snobbish. My point about "real" chefs not using this crap is that these types of gadgets actually cause people to either not want to learn about cooking or not like cooking altogether. It just seems like people who don't know how to cook might see these gadgets as savior ("oh, if only I had xyz, THEN I'd know how to cook well"). 9 times out of 10, the gadget either doesn't work or is much more trouble than it's really worth. It's defeating to the uninitiated. It also makes good cooking seem unattainable. Also, it seems like the people who would buy this stuff end up NOT investing their kitchen dollar where they should: good knives and their upkeep. I've run into so many people who hate cooking and I attribute it to the fact that they simply don't have good basic tools. Adding unitaskers adds to their inability to cook at a base level.

I'm not saying that some of these aren't useful (if I had 100 avocados to slice or if I chugged iced tea every day, I'd be all over this stuff), but none of these unitaskers are absolutely necessary in any sense of the word and it's not helpful to poor cooks.

My this post is subjective!

OK, this former socal girl who was raised on avocados from the backyard is solidly on the "avocado slicers are ridiculous" bus.
But I do have one if anyone wants it. really.

Faith, I appreciate what you were trying to say here---certainly there lots of useless gadgets floating around our kitchens. Consider if you will, my 80-year-old mother-in-law.

She peels potatoes with a paring knife. I gave her a splendid Williams-Sonoma vegetable peeler and she turned up her nose at it; she never used it. She thinks a vegetable peeler is the tool of a poor and lazy cook.

Yeah!! I don't have any of these things. Decluttering does help. Now if I could just get my SO organized . . .

Egg separators have always seemed like a waste to me (the one in the picture is disgusting), and I don't understand the point of those porcelain ginger "graters." It's a slab of porcelain with little nubs on it. Does that really do anything? My trusty microplane grater is the absolute best $10 I've ever spent on my kitchen. The spoon rest seems to be the most debated object on the list. I bought one because I thought it was one of those standard kitchen things you "should" have, but I should have realized that I've been cooking since I was 5 and never used one. Why on earth would I need it now? It's in the bottom of a drawer somewhere.

Someone up there brought up the Electric Skillet, and I just wanted to defend it's honor.

When deep frying chicken, I've found that using an electric skillet is the easiest way to regulate the temperature of my cooking oil. It's a pain in the ass to wash, but it makes delicious chicken.

My mom used to use it to make Swiss Steak, and it was always amazing.

My favorite single-use gizmo is a hard boiled egg slicer. Sounds lame, but it makes pretty slices for topping potato salad and asian noodles, and if I want to "chop" an egg, I just slice it once, rotate it and slice it again into almost perfect little egg squares which I find oddly satisfying.

As for the Great Spoon Rest debate of '09, I am not philosophically opposed to spoon rests but I have learned that I prefer not to have one--one less piece of stuff cluttering up my cooktop. If I need something, I grab a small dish or use a bowl or plate or I already dirtied up while prepping the food.

I love my iced tea maker... we get the majority of our fluids from that thing. Ours isn't like the one in the picture (although my grandma has that one). http://www.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx?DeptID=58070&CatID=58070&Grptyp=PRD&ItemId=14f4ea1&cmRef=http://www.jcpenney.com/products/C054019.jsp
That's the one we have... need to order a new pitcher though as my husband broke ours...

@eaevansmd: You can't or better should'nt eat unpeeled white asparagus. The skin is stringy and unpleasant. So you have to peel it, where a dedicated peeler comes handy. So it is a bit more work then the green variety, but the result is - in my mind - just far better.

I bought a stainless steel spoon rest recently, but only because the shape indicated it would make a superior kind of ladle for the thick chunky potato and veg soups I cook up in a big stockpot on cold weekends - and sure enough, it's definitely made serving up easier, quicker, and drip free!

I also actually use a toasted sandwich maker, and they're notorious as becoming clutter for most people - I reckon, be guided by your tastes and what you like to eat, not by fashion.

For everything else, I usually get by with 2 saucepans, one large Ronco knife, and I do cook 90% of my meals from raw ingredients...

my spoon rest is a resin one that my best friend gave me for a house-warming gift when i moved into my first apartment 25 years ago. it goes in the dishwasher.

One of LAs top chefs taught me this:

1. Select an avocado: Do NOT remove the peel. Select a plate or container and put it within reach.
2. Cradle the avocado in the palm of your non-dominant hand.
3. Select a knife a little longer than the length of the avocado (not your longest knife).
4. Slice all the way through the peel to the pit in longitudinal lines all the way around the avocado. You're making the slices, so size them as you wish.
5. Starting at the narrow end of the avocado, peel away a strip of skin on one slice.
6. Using your knife, flip that slice out of the avocado and into a container.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 until you are done.
8. Wash your hands and admire the beautiful slices you made.

I used to work in a fun kitchen store that sold many of these gadgets (thankfully, nothing that shot egg whites through nostrils). We would all turn our noses up at the unitaskers, but every gadget would eventually find an enthusiastic, loyal customer. Take the plastic banana slicer - in walks somebody making dehydrated bananas in bulk, and then the mom trying to find ways to let her kid safely help in the kitchen.
The one product my boss refused to stock on principal was a banana hanger. They don't keep bananas any better and they take up more counter space than just putting the bananas out. Customers would always ask for them, but she just wouldn't do it.
My personal favorite unitasker is the OXO cherry pitter. Sure, it does olives too, but olives are disgusting, so it's a unitasker in my kitchen. I would happily pit cherries all day with that thing!

I'd seen these hard boiled egg "cubers" in Cost Plus and thought they were the end-all of useless kitchen gadgets until I did a google search a few mins to find them for this blog.

1. cubed HB eggs (sit on a towel, because you might pee your pants) http://bored-night.com/index.php/Weird/A-Cube-Hardboiled-Egg-WTF.html

and then I found links for these!!! (I must really be bored today!)
2. "molding" and dying HB eggs for the kiddies. this blogger lives in S.F. -- please tell us why you need to do this???
http://lunchinabox.net/2006/06/22/williams-sonoma-for-egg-molds/

3. frying eggs into shapes - a gun?? who whats to eat a Smith & Wesson fried egg? Do they use "Wesson-ality oil"? http://www.prankplace.com/fp_eggmolders.htm

p.s. peeled asparagus - was this invented when someone was high?

Ummm, the garlic peeler is one of the most USEFUL tools in my kitchen.

My spoon rest fell and broke about two years ago and we recently wrapped up a two year stretch without a freezer. No freezer! I quickly adjusted to working without a freezer but I missed my spoon rest every day.

My Iced Tea Maker is the most used tool in my kitchen.

I've had a couple of different models and I've made tea on the stove. I prefer the Iced Tea Maker because I can set it up and leave it to brew while doing other things, unlike on the stove when I have to boil the water, add the tea, let it steep, and then strain it, all activities that require my attention.

Also, for whoever said that tea with a tea maker makes tea that is too weak, you just need to change your ratio. Personally, I don't like my tea iced per say, so I just add cold water. And I can differ the strength, both with the dial setting on the tea maker and by changing the amount of water I add. The same thing would work with the ice, just add less and you'll have stronger tea.

The egg separate that you have linked to is atrocious. Disgusting.
I've never used the garlic peeler but it looks interesting and for five bucks I would buy it.
Spoon rests are unnecessary. I know many of you love them. I dislike unnecessary clutter in the kitchen. When they are not in use, they sit on the stove 24/7. I'm with the reader who sets her cooking spoon on her stove and then cleans her stove top when she is done cooking. Or, use a saucer. I love my saucers as spoon rests.
As a carbovore, I've overdone it thousands of times on pata quantities so I can see the benefit of a pasta measuring thing. At the same time, reading the directions and using simple math can get me to the right quantity.
The kitchen gadget I love Love LOVE is my chopper. I have high quality knives and I have solid knife skills but for mincing onions, celery and garlic, I always use my chopper. Chicken salad is ready in under five minutes. And, clean up is super easy. Every thing rinses clean.
I also love my apple peeler. It's unitasker but in the fall, when making apple pies and apple desserts, the apple peeler is Bomb-diggity.

I received that nasty "snot" egg separator as a joke gift one year. Not only hideous, but stomach turning!

@Bandana... you are cracking me up!! Wesson-ality?? hahahaha!

@! - I apologize if you thought that was directed towards you! It was actually a general statement, not in reference to anyone or any particular comment.

I love to read about useless gadgets. On long flights, I amuse myself by trying to determine the most useless gizmo in the Sky Mall catalog.

However, the all time most useless gadget has got to be the Evriholder Tuna Strainer.

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=797288

This is so funny. I just threw out my plastic avocado slicer two weeks ago because I realized how truly useless it was. I was only able to successfully use it once, and then it took forever to clean out the little pieces of avocado from the blades.

I have a cheesy looking egg separator too, but I'm not ready to let go of it just yet!

Dulcibella, I hang my head in shame - I just used the Evirholder Tuna Strainer tonight. Twice. Have I sunk this low? What's my life come to?? Tomorrow I'll wear a scarlet Letter G for gadget on my blouse.

Ha! I told my friends their wine aerators were useless! they insisted there was a difference, but I did not taste it. I feel like it's just one of those mental differences you psych yourself into feeling. Like feeling as though you're hurrying things along by pushing the elevator button more than once.

I love my 'onion chopper' but it's for WAY more than onions! NUTS work well...carrots, celery, eggs, chocolate... Yes, a knife IS better, but when in a hurry, it works great!

Oh! I have a beaut! In the 80s my Dad had this crazy squirt gun thingy that kept melted butter hot, so you could just squirt it on your popcorn at will. Puh-lease.

All you people complaining about how gross the egg separator is are the ones people like me buy them for, knowing you'll be grossed out even thinking about it. We're just like that :)

Oh man...I use my avocado slicer EVERY DAY! It's the only thing on this list that I own, actually. Dern handy!

I dunno, those tuna strainers can be handy. Especially if you get tuna in a more flimsy can draining the tuna can be messy and frustrating. I eat a lot of tuna, so I'm a bit biased.

The comments have actually made me curious to try the garlic peeler, I always thought they were a bit of a gimmick.

I LOVE my spoon rest! Saves on paper towels and looks good on the countertop.

Do I get a gold star because I do not own any of these dreaded uni-taskers? All I needed to learn how to cook ll I learned from my mother and grandmother. They were awesomely creative and sophisticated cooks who cooked everyday with just a few basic tools at their disposal and a repertoire of techniques. Not to mention a love of good fresh ingredients. Nuttin' high-falutin' for them.

As for aerating wine, I have a mini-mini whisk because it's helpful when whisking a small dish of vinaigrette or just one itty-bitty egg for an egg wash, if I don't want to use a fork for the job.

On a lark, I found it does a nice job of aerating a glass of wine. I do not have wine aerators nor do I decant wine into a carafe. In my own blind taste test, I found the glass of wine aerated with the mini-mini whisk had a better, richer flavor than the un-whisked glass.

i must say i disagree with several of those. First, you clearly aren't from the south...hello! good ice tea is worth the space. Second the onion chopper is very useful, and also helpful with nuts, herbs, garlic, etc. Third, if you deep fry a turkey, then a flavor injector is useful, or if you inject vodka into mellons, and they do work.
I also like my spoon holder, so there...

Now things I do find useless: panini maker, mango slicer, and rice maker.

I have a much simpler style egg separator that I use all the time. I suppose it depends how many eggs one needs to separate at once, for me I make homemade cat food, so I do 6-8 at a time and a utilitarian style plastic egg separator like this one - http://www.housewaresandbeyond.com/p14223-Better-Houseware-2831-Egg-Separator.html - is a huge time saver.

In defense of the garlic press (one of the very few gadgets that I own), it is NOT a unitasker

My baby is transitioning from purees to something more chunky. I discovered that my garlic press is the easiest and fastest way to generate textured foods that are not a choking hazard. (just insert fruit or veggie and squish)

Love my garlic press....

The only one I must defend is the spoon rest: any plate small enough to fit my stove would not catch the inevitable drip from the spoon handle.

Forthright Fattie,

The plate with the spikes on it is a ginger grater. Nothing else grates ginger like it--useful for any kind of Asian cooking. You can also use it to grate garlic for curries.

Wow...quite a response to this post. People are very passionate about their kitchen tools! I agree with most of these (especially that egg separator...blegh!) but I'm going to have to disagree with the iced tea maker. We use one of these constantly in my house...but then again I live in the South. We love our iced tea :)

Not sure on that garlic chopper. I like fingernails, thank you, and long while at that. Manicured in bright colours, too. Also, not a chef, just a cook, and not enjoying onion tears, or its smell on my fingers, for that matter.

We have a brilliant chopper from OXO and my onion is chopped much quicker than your video suggests it'd be possible for normal people. The chopper also minces loads of other produce, when needed, and can make a tasty rough pesto in no time :)

I can't think of many unitaskers around, but I do love the tiny nutmeg grinder which also holds the nut in use, and hardly ever needs washing.

I agree with all except the spoon rest. Decoration is not useless and I've been eyeing up spoon rests lustfully for the past few years. I just can't justify the expense, even if it's only 5 bucks, when other things work...they're just uglier. Besides, when my fiance cooks...he puts the darn spoon down in a different place every time (even if there's a plate handy) hopefully a spoon rest will cure him of this annoying habit.

My spoon rest is beautiful and useful. (I consider beauty a function too.;-)

I've never been impressed with food choppers. Got one once, donated it after the first try to Goodwill.