Useless Kitchen Gadgets

[marvholly]

Two just hit me this morning.

Egg slicer: my mom always had one and I did for YEARS, Probably had a bunch over 40 years. Last one died about 2005 or 2006. Have NOT replaced. Just used it to slice the rare egg sandwich or chop an egg for tuna. Just as easy to do w/a knife.

Metal pastry scrapper/lifter: never had one. Don't need one. Just as easy to do w/a knife whether it is pie dough or chopped veg (like I see TV chefs doing).

[Deleted]

I don't have any one in particular, but QVC certainly seems to have something for everyone. I'm always amazed with the number of useless items they try to sell.

[Deleted]

My Mom had a egg slicer too! Must have been in the Tupperware catalog in the 70's.

[Wisconsin Beth]

I love my egg slicer. I use it for mushrooms and strawberries too.

[Deleted]

I used to have an egg slicer and it broke. My kids keep bugging me to buy a new one. I will eventually.

[swamp]

egg yolk separater.

[Deleted]

Good one, swamp!

[Deleted]

garbage bowl..... uh, it's called the trash can!

[chiver78]

Oct 3, 2012 8:11:39 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I love my egg slicer. I use it for mushrooms and strawberries too.

I did that too, until mine broke. if I see a decent one on sale for cheap, I'll probably pick up another. until then, my santoku works nicely. the slices just aren't so uniform that way. unless I'm making a trifle topper, that's really not a big deal to me.

hmm....useless (to me) kitchen gadgets. my kitchen is so small, I can't really think of anything I have that I don't use for something. if I don't use it, it's not there. the only thing that comes to mind is the mandolin slicer that I tossed a couple months back - but that was more because it was a piece of junk than not actually useful. I'd probably buy a nicer one later when I have more space to store it. it'd be nice to have uniform slices of eggplant when I fry up cutlets lol....

re: the pastry scraper - I guess its usefulness is going to depend on how much baking you're really doing. when my parents owned a coffee shop back in HS and we were all doing a ton of baking for the pastry cases, that thing was worth its weight in platinum. I don't bake much now, but I'm sure I'd have one of those things if I did.

[2kids10horses]

Hey! I've got one of those egg slicer gizmos! It doesn't work.

I put the egg in it, and squeeze it shut, but all it does is break up the shell into a zillion pieces, and the egg fluids run out and make a huge mess. I learned to do it over a bowl, but really, I just don't get it!

[Deleted]

We have an avacado scoop. It doesn't take up alot of room, but its only use is as something for the kids to bang on the table.

[swamp]

Melon baller. what's wrong with melon squares?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Wasn't there something about a banana slicer in the last few months?

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 7:32:39 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Two just hit me this morning.

Egg slicer: my mom always had one and I did for YEARS, Probably had a bunch over 40 years. Last one died about 2005 or 2006. Have NOT replaced. Just used it to slice the rare egg sandwich or chop an egg for tuna. Just as easy to do w/a knife.

Metal pastry scrapper/lifter: never had one. Don't need one. Just as easy to do w/a knife whether it is pie dough or chopped veg (like I see TV chefs doing).

We have both, and use them, too - DW made gnocchi on Sunday and used the bench scraper and middle of the week last week we made egg salad...We have a lot of gadgets and all of them get used pretty frequently - do all of them get used all the time, no...but they get used multiple times a year.

Oct 3, 2012 8:20:23 GMT -5 2kids10horses said:

Hey! I've got one of those egg slicer gizmos! It doesn't work.

I put the egg in it, and squeeze it shut, but all it does is break up the shell into a zillion pieces, and the egg fluids run out and make a huge mess. I learned to do it over a bowl, but really, I just don't get it!

[NancysSummerSip]

Marvholly would hate my kitchen. More gadgets than you can imagine. . But I write about food, so the collection has a built-in excuse for its existence. ;D

Foodiedad, on the other hand, would likely feel right at home. I confess I never met a gadget I didn't like, couldn't find a use for or drawer space to stuff it into.

[mrsdutt]

Electric can openers. If you want to keep up muscle tone, use a hand held one.

Toasters. Any chef I know toasts bread in a pan. I'm not a chef, so I use a toaster.

Choppers. Doing this by hand is also good for the muscles.

Ice cream scoopers. Using a big spoon works just as well.

Flour sifter. Since flour is pre sifted these days a few stirs in the flour with a measuring cup does the job.

A good thing to have is a knife sharpener. I need one for the 3 knives I own.

Another great thing is a crock pot.

[Wisconsin Beth]

When I use a big spoon to dish out ice cream, it bends. And I don't have the patience to let the ice cream thaw. And I have crappy spoons too.

[swasat]

Panini press.

I know, I know, some people seem to LOVE theirs. I never found any use for it. A metal spatula or a countertop grill works just fine for that.

[alabamagal]

Salad shooter (from the TV ads several years ago). I always wanted to buy one and shoot sliced carrots all over the kitchen

[milee]

Oct 3, 2012 9:39:32 GMT -5 mrsdutt said:

Toasters. Any chef I know toasts bread in a pan. I'm not a chef, so I use a toaster.

Pretty sure chefs do that because they always have an oven on and preheated, so it's no biggie to just toast some bread. For most people, it makes no sense to heat up the whole oven for just a slice of bread or a bagel. Much less time and electricity wasted to just stick it in a toaster.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 9:43:29 GMT -5 swasat said:

Panini press.

I know, I know, some people seem to LOVE theirs. I never found any use for it. A metal spatula or a countertop grill works just fine for that.

I have been drooling over one of those for a long time.

[daisylu]

I bought my mom an egg slicer a couple years ago, and she loves it. She also uses it for other things like strawberries, and I do not have to worry about her cutting a finger off.


I have tons of kitchen gadgets, and use them all. I do not think that I have ever brought one home that I did not love.

[Deleted]

I finally spent $18 @ Williams Sonoma for an ice cream scoop. That's the best money I've spent in a long time.

[milee]

I threw my ice cream scoop away, hoping that making it harder to dig the stuff out would make me eat less of it.

Hasn't worked. I just bend our regular spoons now.

[wvugurl26]

I know someone who did toast in the oven but she did it that way when making breakfast for a bunch of people. For just a few slices it doesn't make sense.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 10:21:15 GMT -5 wvugurl26 said:

I know someone who did toast in the oven but she did it that way when making breakfast for a bunch of people. For just a few slices it doesn't make sense.

Our toaster oven broke last year. We do toast like this now. Maybe we will get a toaster again sometime.

[Abby Normal]

Oct 3, 2012 8:11:39 GMT -5 Wisconsin Beth said:

I love my egg slicer. I use it for mushrooms and strawberries too.

And Kiwi's and Olives!!!

[Abby Normal]

Oct 3, 2012 10:02:08 GMT -5 milee said:

I threw my ice cream scoop away, hoping that making it harder to dig the stuff out would make me eat less of it.

Hasn't worked. I just bend our regular spoons now.

Use a fork and eat straight out of the carton.

[NancysSummerSip]

Williams Sonoma

Love that place. It's a porn shop for foodies. . I could live there and sleep with everything in the store.

[mrsdutt]

Oct 3, 2012 9:44:37 GMT -5 milee said:

Oct 3, 2012 9:39:32 GMT -5 mrsdutt said:

Toasters. Any chef I know toasts bread in a pan. I'm not a chef, so I use a toaster.

Pretty sure chefs do that because they always have an oven on and preheated, so it's no biggie to just toast some bread. For most people, it makes no sense to heat up the whole oven for just a slice of bread or a bagel. Much less time and electricity wasted to just stick it in a toaster.

NO, they do it home. My DS and my SIL. And it tastes real good that way too. On the stove TOP. I specified using a pan. Geesh, what people will pick apart.