what is the most useless gadget in your kitchen

[Zengarden]

I posted an earlier post about what is necessary for a well equipped kitchen.

Let me now get to what is the least useful. I was thinking of egg cups. I guess they're cute but don't think that they're needed.

Your thoughts?

[claire de lunacy]

silicone garlic peeler. totally useless!

[Pei]

Yes! Those things don't do diddly squat.

They're even more useless than an egg cup. At least, on the rare occassions when you do need something in which to put one hard boiled egg, the egg cup is perfectly shaped for that one exclusive job. The garlic peeler doesn't even do what it's supposed to do.

[mamaciita]

I finally sliced mine open. It's a little bit more useful that way. . .

[Sarah]

I've been known to use egg cups to serve sake.

[FoodFuser]

I've been known to use sake cups to serve soft eggs.

[chowser]

I use my egg cup to hold ink to do calligraphy, upside down when I want a little ink, right side up for a lot of ink. It's perfect!

[Sarah]

The egg cup is starting to sound darn useful!

[trymonlam]

hmm... a egg cup jigger then. that sounds useful. i would get that over a garlic press any day.

[starlady]

When I was little my Mum used to use them for holding water for my watercolours and paintbrushes.

I also use them now for candle holders, as well as eggs :)

[wildfire]

Wow, now I have some ideas about what to do with my stupid egg cup

[Cinnamon]

O.T. but this part of the thread reminds me of a trip to the museum near downtown Prague. In the artifacts section they had various prehistoric or at least historic doodads, like bowls, knives, whatever. Then there were mysterious little things just labeled "children's toy." Many of them. That was the default label for something the museum staff had no idea about, I'm pretty sure.

Both a museum-touring companion - a great cook - and I shared afterward that we'd each seen some of those 'children's toy' labels and thought, "No. That's a _______ for doing _____" to do with cooking. (Sorry the specifics escape me, it's been awhile.) Egg cup would've fit right in.

[vermontpoet]

I love egg cups...but not for hard or soft boiled eggs. I make Pysanky (Ukranian Easter Eggs) and egg cups are a perfect display vehicle for them.

[operagirl]

Haha, I just bought *one* egg cup at a kitchen store last week. I couldn't help it, it was so cute . . . the little thing has squat legs and feet! Too bad I hardly ever eat soft-boiled eggs . . .

[Paulustrious]

You have one more than me.

My espresso cups double up as egg cups. And they have a convenient handle for carrying them, something most egg cups are missing.

[slacker]

I loooove my garlic peeler, it's one of the best gadgets in my kitchen. So ingenious.

[LindaWhit]

I agree - the garlic peeler silicone tubes perfect when I want a lot of peeled garlic cloves that are NOT smashed.

[Aromatherapy]

How? I have NEVER been able to get peeled garlic that wasn't smushed.

[pickledgarlic]

Buy 5 pounds of garlic you plan to pickle, on a lark. Then realize you have to peel it all.

You learn. Fast.

My hands staaank.

[LindaWhit]

Aromatherapy - I'm *just* seeing this response now! (Now that anything posted in a thread you posted in - even years ago - shows back up in My Chow, I'm seeing older threads I participated in!)

Anyway - this is what I'm talking about - Garlic EZ Rollers:

http://www.kitchensimple.com/garlic/g...

I just lightly roll the garlic cloves in the roller tube and the paper usually comes off - I don't press hard at all, but the paper sticks to the inside of the roller, and out pops the peeled garlic clove.

[kitchensalli]

Useless for garlic but I find it helps with opening jars.

[Pei]

I love the flat kind for opening jars, but the kind shaped like a tube can't even be used for that!

[durhamois]

this was exactly my first though!

[Mother of four]

Do I ever agree with you!

[silkenpaw]

Mine works fine but I'm too lazy to get it out. Find it faster to crush garlic and peel it by hand. Another gadget that finds no use in my kitchen is the pretty yellow hinged lemon squeezer; I prefer the wooden ridged "reamer."

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I wish I had my Mom's garlic peeler, worked like a charm. Drop in the garlic, roll lightly, and as long as it took to read this-done, whole, and clean as whistle.

Since ii don't have it I just trim the end off, and roll them in my hand. Being single has some advantages, like not having to worry about reeking of garlic.

[Candy]

When you have soft boiled eggs egg cups come in pretty handy to hold them up so they don't fall over on a plate or bowl and spill the yolk out. Did you know those "double" egg cups with small end and are large end have a function. When your eggs are perfectly cooked and you want to keep eat the first and keep the other warm, you fit the larger end over the other egg and put the egg you are eating in the top. If you are going this route it is good to have eggs scissors to top the egg perfectly. Then you just need hot buttered toast fingers for dipping.

I have gotten ruthless over the years about getting rid of useless gadgets. I have been given 2 truffle shavers in recent years. I have never had the opportunity to use them. I thought maybe to shave chocolate with but have found a vegetable peeler will work as well so they will probably be going away too.

[Zengarden]

I have an egg allergy. My friends know that I am unable to eat them.

Hence, the egg cups are useless (to me).

[Bugswife]

I put my husband's vitamins in the very cheery egg cup every morning

[riverwalk]

I like that idea. Also your husband is lucky and spoiled! How nice.

[HLing]

if your truffle shavers are adjustable, they're great for creating paper thin Fennel, apples, parmaggiano reggiano, and pretty good for shaving toaste block of either the Taiwanese or the Italian Bottarga. No peelers can do that.

[riverwalk]

I enjoy the Rosle gourmet slicer for that purpose, so well-made and balanced in the hand. Dishwasher safe, sealed handles. Love Rosle everything. Just wish they wouldn't be making things in China lately. I do think some items are still made in Germany though. Their gourmet slicer is adjustable, has refill blades available, and has a very sharp blade. Perfect for truffles and things that you mentioned.

[CookieGal]

I use my egg cup every weekend to make my daughter "chucky egg & soldiers" an english classic, the above dish.. soft boiled egg, with slices 1/2 wide of heavily buttered bread .. untoasted in this house.
I have always wondered about those double egg utensils! Thanks for the info!

[starlady]

I love egg and soldiers!!!! Still have them when I am feeling under the weather

[pdxgastro]

I have an egg holder with 2 indentations but one of them clearly says 'NACL'. I got it at Ikea. Have not seen it there since.

[iyc_nyc]

Candy, i'm not getting the double egg cup use. How do you keep the contraption stable when the egg cup is sitting on one egg (which rolls around??) and holds another? And what are egg scissors?

Thanks.

[slacker]

Cherry pitter. Used it once when I was mascerating cherries and peaches in some dark rum. Got all sorts of cherry juice squirted all over me. Besides, I prefer my cherries straight up, and not wasting any of it.

[wak]

Never used mine for cherries, but very useful for pitting olives.

[TexasToast]

I was gonna say, Williams-Sonoma does a great cherry pitter, but I also use it for olives.

TT

[slacker]

Yeah, I don't like to waste any of my olives either, and the pitter leaves a lot of fruit on the pit. Also like my olives straight up, and when cooking with them, just chew carefully.

[JudiAU]

The better models remove less flesh. Very useful for pie!

[braineater]

Mmmm, olive pie!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

We had a couple of cherry trees back home, and used the pitters quite often. The worked great.

[Lrosenberger]

You can use a paper clip to pit cherries! Works great, just partially unbend it.

[Katie Nell]

Funny you should mention egg cups- you don't know how many times I've almost posted "What else can you do with egg cups besides put an egg in it?!?" I don't have any, but I've always loved them and am not a huge egg fan. I still might get some someday... they're too cute! I can't help it!

I kind of like the garlic peeler if I'm peeling a bunch of cloves that have to be left whole, but I really don't use it all that often.

I think probably my most useless gadget is the food chopper, but that's just because I don't like to clean it!!

[Candy]

Oh I got rid of the chopper pronto. It never did work properly and even though I could throw it in the dishwasher it was just a PITA

[litchick]

oh i hate that stupid zyliss food chopper. i bought one after it was featured in the nyt about 6 or 7 years ago and it sure didn't last in my kitchen very long.

I also rue the day I got a set of silicone baking items -- loaf "pans," bundt "pan," etc. Totally useless.

[soupkitten]

oh those big silicone baking things just SUCK

but i like the little compartmentalized ones not for baking, but for making individual frozen desserts.

[kanosis]

What was I thinking! I should have learned when my mom bought one 40 years ago! They were useless then and useless now! Did I learn? No, I bought one 5 years ago and was still useless.

[LaureltQ]

I got a square and loaf pan as a hand-me-down "You bake all the time, these are for you!" and they're WAY bigger than standard sized ones, so you can't find recipes that work for that volume. Biggest waste of cabinet space. Yet I can't bring myself to throw them out.

[shana]

I just saw in a magazine an idea using a bunch of vintage eggcups - they put sorbet in them all and then displayed them on a tiered cake stand - like a cupcake tower - it was precious and I'm going to try it.

[kiwijen]

I have a chopper (bang on the top variety) which is somewhat useless to me, but it's great when my 4 year old son wants to help in the kitchen. He can chop without me having to worry about his fingers or his proximity to knives. Our egg slicer is also good for kids chopping mushrooms.

[Katie Nell]

That's true, no kids yet, so I hadn't thought of that! :-) Great idea!

[chef chicklet]

I love soft cooked eggs in my little egg cups eaten with my itty bitty spoons!

[pdxgastro]

Demitasse spoons are perfect for that.

[silkenpaw]

I use my food chopper all the time because I really loathe chopping onions. It's a pain to clean but I'd never cook if I didn't have it, so it's worth it. Mine is a Rosle.

[riverwalk]

I have been a Rosle binge buyer for the last few years, and the chopper is one item I haven't tried (although I bought the one with the pull string a few weeks ago on clearance at WS). I assume you mean the one you push down on right? I read a review that it was terribly hard to push through, so I never really considered it. I want to know if it dices and chops useable squares or not. The spinning one does smaller cuts. It would be great to find a chopper that chops small but not too small and I am also always looking for a reason for one more Rosle gadget. I hope you are still around as I see your post is nearly a year old. Thanks.

[Procrastibaker]

I have a strict no-useless-gadgets policy. This has made me think about all the stuff in my kitchen. It is really all useful. Kinda cool. I did just get rid of some totally useless basting brushes from IKEA (round with some sort of "hair" bristle). Totally stiff and gross. Now I have a silicone one.

[riverwalk]

Although your Ikea ex-baster sounds disgusting, there are things for which a natural bristle baster works better than silicone. My ideal kitchen list includes a natural brush as well as silicone. In reality I have 3 silicone of various handle lengths and 2 natural bristle with various handle lengths. (Don't like getting burned in the oven or grill plus I am a gadget junkie). Fantes.com even has feather ones for thin liquids like egg washes plus a discussion on advantages to different types of basting brush materials. Natural bristles hold more but require different hand care for washing and sanitizing. Silicone can go in the dishwasher as can nylon but can melt in direct heat contact. Bakers use more natural bristles. I do not like wooden handled anything because of the extra care required. I still have them though.

[alkapal]

what do you mean by "direct heat contact" ? i'm just trying to figure out how bristles are superior to silicone vis-a-vis heat resistance.

[Kagey]

I have a mushroom-shaped brush that is supposed to clean mushrooms, I think. Mainly it just scratches them up. But it's too soft to be used as a nail brush, so I really don't use it for anything.

I also have a salad spinner. It fits into the category of one-purpose items, which are generally prohibited in my kitchen. But I can't imagine not having one. I use it for all sorts of leaves and herbs. But still it's big and taking up all that space...

[MaggieMuffin]

That is why I got a mini-spinner too. More junk I suppose, but I love my big and small spinners just the same.

[riverwalk]

I just got the Rosle mini chopper/spinner on sale at WS and it's great for that. No electricity (-easier to use), chops or washes and spins herbs with a separate storage lid for fridge, makes sauces, and half of it can go in the dishwasher. It pulls so you can totally control how much you want to chop/spin and it's really small so it's not so demanding for space. My big OXO salad spinner has commandeered too much space in storing it or even in using it in the fridge. Sometimes I resent it. Did I see a collapsible salad spinner out there? Can't recall, but it's a good idea. Oxo has gone to a stainless bowl (read lots of complaints about their bowl not lasting before) and Rosle has the one of my dreams at a nightmare cost. Nice, all stainless etc. They are such space hogs, but it seems with the Rosle I could use the bowl for other things, I don't know, haven't seen it in person.

[rweater]

<<I have a mushroom-shaped brush that is supposed to clean mushrooms, I think. Mainly it just scratches them up. But it's too soft to be used as a nail brush, so I really don't use it for anything.>>

Yes, I received one of those as well and it was also useless! I just didn't really understand the point and it was too soft to be used on things like potatoes or other vegetables.

I also purchased a Pampered Chef pizza stone. I used it once, ruined the pizza and that was it. I still have it. I'm trying to figure out what the heck to do with it.

[anniemax]

<<I also purchased a Pampered Chef pizza stone. I used it once, ruined the pizza and that was it. I still have it. I'm trying to figure out what the heck to do with it.>>

Did you preheat before hand? It takes longer to preheat any pizza stone then to preheat an oven. Also, most manufactures recommend putting pizza stones in with nothing on them the first few times, to help break them & burn off any odd smells. I don't think PC is one that requires that though, IIRC. Also, you can keep your pizza stone in your oven all the time, it helps keep the oven temp more even, even if you're not baking directly on it.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

My friend lovers her stone, and was disheartened when she broke it. She lucked out, and I found one that same day she told me about it in a Goodwill store. They use it all the time for cookies. Personally I use cookie sheets that my Dad made decades ago for my Mom. Never had a problem with them, so I am not looking to replace them anytime soon.

[riverwalk]

You have cookie sheets that lasted decades? Your dad missed his calling, he could have made a mint on those! Do you know what they are made of? I am looking to replace my half sheet pans that are no longer made as well as they used to. I don't want another warped one and that seems to be a classic mission to try to find one that doesn't warp.

[pdxgastro]

Did her stone crack neatly in half, by chance? Mine did,and I'm still using it. I just push the 2 halves together when I cook something on it.

[teresakendrick]

I have several Pampered Chef stones and stoneware baking pans (although I have never cooked pizza on any of them). I LOVE mine. They are the color of dark mahogany now and are completely nonstick. I love baking cookies on them. They don't burn..even when I forget and leave them in too long. I have the mini bar pan that I use almost daily. Perfect for 6 biscuits.

I've only had one pan to break... my 9x13 baking dish. I dropped it on a tile floor.

[StrawbrryF]

HA! I have a potato-shaped one for cleaning potatoes. Just as useless.

[TexasToast]

I have one of those and do use it for mushrooms. I also have a potato shaped brush and use THAT one as a nail brush as it has harder brissels.

TT

[raj1]

The most useless thing in my kitchen is one of those standard-size American rolling pins you can buy in any grocery store--about a foot-long with handles. Julia Child referred to them as "just toys". I agree. I keep it just to show people what NOT to use. I use a French rolling pin or the huge ball-bearing rolling pin I bought somewhere. The large one is like steamroller; it does all the work.

[RiJaAr]

i have a gorgeous long marble rolling pin, no handles, works wonderfully.
a btw, whats so hard about peeling garlic without squishing it? i can do it just fine with a paring knife and my hands. never tried a garlic peeler.

[Mel Gee]

Garlic is easy to peel without gadgets. Slice off the "root" end, and tap the clove lightly all over with the flat or back of a heavy knife. Except for that ultra-fresh garlic with a really tight skin that you just bought in Gilroy, the parchment jacket will peel away with moderate effort.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

That is my standard pin, and I have never had any complaints. Just make sure it is a good wood like maple, and not some foreign mystery wood.

[cstout]

raj1, yes I have one of those awful rolling pins & I think that has been part of my problem in rolling out a round dough.....have been thinking about one of those ball bearing pins, but somewhere I read they rusted. Did yours do that?

[HillJ]

Honey dipper...a spoon works fine last I checked

[Covert Ops]

Yeah I never understood those. How are they more effective or less messy than a spoon? At least with a spoon I know how much I'm getting. . .

[jen kalb]

I had a really pretty lucite honey jar with one of those dippers - but it made such a mess it was pointless. The jar + spoon or knife works fine.

[BedazzledLV]

the reason i buy honey in the squeeze bottles. No need for any type of contraption.

[durhamois]

My dad used to stick a table knife in the jar of honey, and then withdraw the kife while simultaneously rotating it in his hand (as if the honey were on a rotisserie spit). This got the honey out of the jar, plus it's easier to scrape the honey off a flat knife than off a spoon or a honey dipper. Less drip, less waste.

[riverwalk]

OK even more useless is my Le Creuset little honey dipper with a wooden handle. I can't throw the whole thing in the dishwasher because of the darn wood, so I end up getting honey all over me taking it apart because the only thing worse than hand washing the stick handle is if I had to hand wash honey off of all those grooves on the stupid dipper. It does look so cute though, hanging along side all the other little Le Creuset wooden handled colored-silicon mini tools. They make me feel like a little kid again. I do cringe every time my hubby uses one though. It's not just the hand wash only policy but they have to be oiled as well without getting the oil on the business end of the gadget. Pretty useless and annoying, but so cute.

[alkapal]

isn't the honey dipper supposed to be left alone with the honey in it; that is, why do you wash the honey dipper and bowl?

[Antilope]

Yep. A wooden honey dipper. Maybe I can use the end of it to crush grapes. Although I don't know why I would want to crush grapes. ;-)

[cayjohan]

Hub bought me one of those color-coded inside-out citrus squeezers; you know, the ones that America's Test Kitchen and Rick Bayless are always using? Sorry. My trusty ol' reamer does the trick with less blue language over positioning, and the hand sieves the seeds.

[JK Grence the Cosmic Jester]

Funny, I went exactly backwards. My reamer sits in the drawer not doing much, but the squeezer one gets used all the time. In goes the half, squish, done.

[Scrapironchef]

Second on that, faster, easier, more efficient. I actually ended up with two, large for lemons and small for limes.

[EWSflash]

I kept forgetting to bring my lemon/lime inside-out squeezer to Mexico when we went and bought a new one down there, so now I have several in different sizes and love each and every one.

[HillJ]

Squeezing a halved lime or lemon btwn tongs juices the fruit really well. Just be sure the citrus is room temp.

[redgirl]

i know this is a really old thread but couldn't resist...i have a wood citrus reamer that i use no less than 4x a week. love that thing. cheap and works like a juice-extracting charm.

[JK Grence the Cosmic Jester]

Hey, it's a fun thread, I can't blame you for coming back to it!

I've somewhat gone back the other way. My yellow squeezer sits collecting dust as the enamel peels off, while my glass countertop reamer (with little nubs to keep seeds and excess pulp out) gets all the use these days.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I am looking to get a Mexican style squeezer after watching my friend's wife run through a ton of limes one night. Cut in half, toss in, flip, squeeze, flip, next one. Reamers will get the pulp out if you need it though. I found a Wear-Ever restaurant type squeezer at a thrift store which smashes it sideways. Haven't really fully tried it out yet.

[alkapal]

i want to get one of those flip style squeezers lemon sized. my lime sized one i got at a yard sale is brilliant : thorough and quick!

[KRS]

I threw away my box grater 30 seconds after I tried a Microplane.

[soupkitten]

YES!

[flourgirl]

Not me. My box grater has really nice bigger holes on it for things like grated mozz, grated chocolate etc. I only use my microplane when I need fine grated cheese or grated peel - stuff like that. I not only kept my box grater - I have 2 that I like for different purposes. (And yes, I have a food processor, use it all the time - but for some jobs I just don't feel like making such a big mess and fuss.)

[al b. darned]

While my microplane has its place, nothing beats my box grater for grating potatoes for pancakes, cheese, veggies, and of course, chocolate.

[Jay F]

For the life of me, I cannot use my microplane. I bought it to grate citrus rind and parmigiano-reggiano, and it is the clumsiest thing I've ever used it. It buckles constantly as I grate the cheese across the little teeth, and I've cut my knuckles on the thing at least three times. I love how small it grates the cheese, but I wish it were easier, and safer, to use. I've pretty much gone back to my box grater full time.

And I have so many tools devoted to juicing citrus fruits. I would love to love the one-piece wooden reamer, but the seeds constantly fall in whatever I'm juicing into. I have another glass reamer, with a pouring spout, with which I can pour the juice through a strainer. But who wants to use (and wash) two little doohickeys?

I usually end up using my electric citrus juicer. It's more to clean up, but it does the best job.

I noticed someone posted about the uselessness of her mother's copper bowl. One of the first things I learned to make when I started cooking were souffles, and someone (Joy of Cooking, Burt Wolfe, Julia?) recommended getting a copper bowl.

I LOVE MY COPPER BOWL.

It and my set of Flame Le Creuset were my first two big cookware purchases, and I have used my copper bowl hundreds of times, I'm sure. I don't have a stand mixer, so I don't have an easier, faster way of beating egg whites, but I don't often feel I'm lacking anything not having a stand mixer (I've read too many bad things about KitchenAid, so I've _almost_ bought one a dozen times, but I always pull back at the last minute), and I continue to use my copper bowl.

[Mother of four]

What kind of microplane do you have? I have a few of them and absolutely love them. Mine do not buckle, and grate Parm cheese beautifully, along with zesting lemons and grating garlic along with so many other things. I will admit that I did have a little blood with the garlic when I first started but I'm good with it now...a little practice makes perfect!!

[Jay F]

It looks like the one in the first pic, but you can see in the second pic they come in different sizes. IIRC, I bought it based on how I was going to use it, which was for grating lemon zest. I haven't done that in a while, so all I use it for is parmigiano-reggiano. Is it maybe the wrong blade (what DO you call those things?)

[Mother of four]

I have one of those and also the skinny one. Love them both. Fun that we are both online at the same time! I call them Microplanes!!! Also great to grate Nutmeg.

[Jay F]

I use my box grater for nutmeg, too. I grate it on the side with the things that look most like they'd cut your hand if they were to touch.

I micrograted a little p-r into some chili this morning. I still have difficulty.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I have my Mom's 1950 KitchenAid with glass bowl-still running great, and I have a 70's vintage KA that I found at a thrift store for $30 that I use more now. Mom's will be for special things, as she has passed away. If I need more capacity , I have a Hobart A-120 12qt I found on Craigslist for $295.

[silkenpaw]

I love my microplane box grater.

[Jay F]

Now that sounds like a good idea. My (non-micro) box grater is much easier for me to use than the microplane I have.

[EWSflash]

I'm in the greatest-adaptation group when it comes to microplanes, I use them for so many things. One thing I noticed, though, my original isn't very sharp any more, making it a pain in the butt. Next time I find it Im going to repurpose it for some damn thing, probably a garden doohickey, but get it out of the kitchen drawer.

[alkapal]

i wonder if some fine sandpaper passed a couple of times over that microplane might sharpen it?

[liveforfood]

The microplane is the only thing one needs for fine grating--ginger, lemon peel, hard cheeses, etc. It works so well! But, for heavier cheeses, one needs a box grater or some kind of grater with larger holes. I guess you can always use the food processor for that, though.

[riverwalk]

I have several blade size Microplane graters, but my favorite thing of theirs is my rotary grater. It is so fast, and so sharp, and I hate to admit it but it's better than my Rosle rotary grinder. I have 2 sizes of blades for it and it's perfect for cheeses and chocolate and fast, dishwasher safe. Love it. Remember, Microplane has a little label on the package that says what that size is good for. When I bought my first one, I thought there was just one size and that's not correct. By size I mean size and shape of holes. Rosle is coming out with a new box grater that looks amazing, I saw it on their German website so I don't know when it will be here. I have to say though, the Microplane rotary grater is better than the Rosle, which makes me sad because I am a Rosle junkie.

[alkapal]

someone built a better (box) grater?

[Robert Lauriston]

The most useless gadget in my kitchen ... the broken Hamilton Beach Model 30 Drinkmaster milkshake mixer?

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P...

[chowser]

Hmm, how many pampered chef parties I have been to...

long stainless cylindrical bread pans so bread comes out shaped like flowers and hearts

perogie maker (rectangular piece of plastic with half holes where you put the dough on it, fill the holes, put another on it and roll with a rolling pin)

sandwich/perogie maker where it cuts out the crust, like a Smucker's uncrustable

apple corer

mini chopper as mentioned above

stone loaf pan

other than that a gift: ice tea maker (I don't even drink ice tea), pint holder for ice cream

[Candy]

Well those cylindrical bread pans do have a use. Mine is not frm PC and is just round. If you are making pain de mie which is a very tight, firm grained bread it is essential. I have found having an apple corer makes peeling apples go much faster. I never got to PC parties. far too expensive for what you get inb local kitchen shops.

[chowser]

I don't have the apple peeler/corer which is what I wanted. I must have ordered the corer only by mistake--it's a thin cylinder you press through the center of the core and then it's stuck there. I have to put on oven mitts to pull out the corer w/out ripping my fingers apart in the small slicer. Apparently, you can also core a cucumber and put a carrot through the core. I can't figure out why anyone would want to do it unless they wanted to be Martha Stewart.

I don't make pain de mie but if I did, I wouldn't make it heart or flower shaped! :-) I have used those pans for quick breads (took me while to figure out how to make it so the batter didn't ooze out). It's fun for kids but if I didn't have it, they'd be happy with loaf shaped quick breads. I'm guessing the same person who'd want to core an apple into a cucumber might LOVE it!

[Candy]

I like that long thin apple corer and have never had a problem until the wood handle rotted and broke off. I am looking for a replacement. I do have one of those corer slicers but sorely miss that corer. I don't know why removing the core makes peeling for pies go faster but it really does.

[Kelli2006]

Chowser, We must have the same friends as I have the plastic pirogi maker and the molded bread pans. I have a pump-up sprayer for oil that I wasted $20.00 for. I have some stainless steel molds for petite-fors. I have a mushroom brush. I have many baking pans that were required for a single job, that I have never used since, but I don't want to give them away.

My sister had a Rubbermaid fetish, and i think I have 2 pieces of almost every storage device that they ever made.

[itsrob]

I used to use the pump sprayer a lot, then realized that a small squeeze bottle was just as effective and easier to deal with (fill, clean, grab in a hurry).

[chowser]

Oh yeah, I should add the perfect pancake maker to that list and pancake molds. I have a lot of useless stuff...

[Velochicdunord]

Ooh. I would kill for a stone loaf pan right about now. I've been messing with the NYT bread recipe, and a preheated container that can hold some heat is essential to good results.

I have many metal loaf pans, but none with substance.

[chowser]

How would you use the loaf pan to make the bread? I've used a pizza stone w/ a pan over it (ruined the pan color...) but would you use the loaf pan to hold the bread and cover it? Or put the loaf pan into the pot? I love the bread but don't have the right pot. I don't think it's big enough--it's 9" long. Hmmm, now you have me thinking about trying that out somehow.

[Velochicdunord]

The NYT recipe is for one loaf. It's a very moist loaf. The trick, according to the recipe, os that the bread dough must be tipped into a covered/sealed preheated container with an interior glaze and some mass to provide an even heat all around the breat. Preheating the container means that the dough surface seals when it hits it. It has to be covered or sealed to provide the steamy enviroment necessary to generate a flaky but not too tough and chewy crust. So, a 9" x 4" loaf pan, with a tinfoil hood to provide some room for the rise would work wonderfully.

[personalcheffie]

You're too nice calling it Pampered Chef. I refer to them as Pampered S**t.

[sillyrabbit]

The best garlic press I've ever used is from PC.

[personalcheffie]

The original Zyliss from Switzerland has been copied by many a company, including PC.

[sillyrabbit]

Aha! So that's who invented this ingenious contraption! I didn't think PC was so clever. Well, my kitchen wouldn't be the same without it.

[soupkitten]

aha! ALL garlic presses are pieces of S**t, though!

[financialdistrictresident]

I just heard about Pampered Chef. Popular in suburgatory.

Based on the few products I've seen personalcheffie is spot on :)

[riverwalk]

you just described the most common things I see in thrift stores on the kitchen shelves! also seen frequently there: mini electric sandwich grillers like the Foreman grill, but not limited to Foreman, mostly little pocket sandwich makers. Also seen frequently, cheap pots and pans that people tried once or twice and realized they are worse than useless, they cost money to use from ruined food. Lots of fondue forks and sets, too-heavy dishes, corn removers for cobs (most do not work although ATK likes OXO's), and poorly made peelers and all gadgets of poor construction.

[alkapal]

foreman grills could take over the goodwill stores empire if they came alive one night,

[cheesehead in recovery]

Hey, that Perogie making thing...If it can be used to make empanadas, I'll be glad to take it off your hands. Indeed its a unitasker, but when you have a husband from argentina...a empanada making du-hikey would come in handy! (one persons's junk is another persons gold...something like that)

[chowser]

Too bad we couldn't do a craigslist like exchange here. The problem with it is that it works well in theory but not in practice. The ends don't seal up (you're supposed to use a rolling pin and roll over the plastic when it's all assembled) and it doesn't come out of the container easily. So, you fight with it to pop out and you have to seal it individually with a fork after. I think PC stopped making it. Along this idea, only rectangular and white:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...

[Davwud]

Fire Extinguisher.

I've had it for years and never used it.

;-)

DT

[saraeanderson]

You must not have run into the useless kitchenware phenomenon of silicone bakeware. I live in an old apartment with old appliances, and was making cornbread with my oven set at 425. I don't think its temperature conrol was all that good, though, because I came in and found the silicone pan on fire in the oven. If you've ever played The Sims, you'll be able to picture how I reacted. My husband was smart enough to remember the fire extinguisher, though.

[newbatgirl]

OMG, I have played the Sims and now I am LMAO at that. Sorry, I know it must not have been funny for you at the time.

[Mother of four]

Count your blessings, Davwud!!! How about the electric egg cookie that I received as a wedding gift many years ago. By the way, I love my egg cup, use it for a soft boiled egg all the time. I am about to add the stupid electric can opener (that never works) to the list, the manual one works just fine.

[EWSflash]

Wow, I hadn't thought of an electric can opener in years. Never could g4et one to work worth a sh__. The oxo safety-edge manually operated one is the only can opener for me.

[ZenSojourner]

We had one that worked just fine. As I get along in years. it occurs to me that I may soon need to find another.

[ChickenBrocandZiti]

Can't stand that OXO safety opener. It's impossible to squeeze the water out of a can of tuna after you use that thing.

[BedazzledLV]

lol thats why they make a can strainer doohickey i always see in the canned meat isle at the grocery LOL I like old school can openers and draining the old way though ;P

[goodhealthgourmet]

i got one of those can strainers for free with something ages ago so i tried it once out of curiosity. no more effective than the can lid itself, and all it does is make one more thing fishy that you then have to wash. stupid, stupid invention.

[riverwalk]

I'm loving my Rosle one with the safe edge feature (they have 2). It took me 5 min to figure out how to use it, but now my husband and I swear it's the best.

It was the only one that convinced me to give up my electric space hog that I loved because you didn't have to hold or catch the can and it had a flip around cover to hide the guts when not in use.

[financialdistrictresident]

I'm left handed and could never get a manual can opener to work. I had an electric can opener for years and loved it. I discovered the OneTouch can opener and love it. Use it all the time and have given it to several people. Fits in a drawer.

One person's trash is another's treasure :)

[liveforfood]

I agree--the electric can opener is one of the stupidest gadgets. I never understood why people (including my mother) would take up precious counter top space with something that never works well. I like my manual, fail-proof opener just fine!

[goodhealthgourmet]

the electric can opener is one of those things that makes no sense for someone who can use a manual model, but it's a godsend for people with injuries, arthritis, and any other condition for which the manual one is just too difficult.

[EWSflash]

Probably why they don't sell them today, eh? I was referring to the can strainers for free
I don't have an electric can opener either- we got one for a wedding present and traded it in. I have one of the hand safety can openers that doesn't give a jagged edge and don't need anything else- I don't use cans that much, I don't think anybody does, at least not anybody here.

[alkapal]

i JUST saw a can strainer hanging on one of those "impulse ourchase hooks" in the canned food aisle two days ago -- and it was something ridiculous like $3.

[Davwud]

Oh let's see......

Bread maker, GF Grill, Mushroom shaped brush (As mentioned above), ditto for the corn shaped one, adjustable measuring spoons, ravioli crimper, there's others of course.

Some of the things I've been sharp enough to stay clear of are; double sided pancake frying pans, spatula/tongs, egg shell remover, anything made by pampered chef, anything sold by Ron Popiel or the other woman, magic bullet, um......

DT

[feedmec00kies]

a george foreman grill is handy if you're a lazy/kitchenless college student, especially for making grilled cheese samwiches without all the butter. if you aren't... well, hopefully if you care about your meat sitting in a pool of it's own fat while it cooks, you probably should try and get a leaner cut or trim it yourself before cooking! :-D

you really think tongs are useless? they get lots of use at home, but i guess it's the way my parents like to manipulate stuff when they cook.. which is why chopsticks are used for cooking a lot as well.

i don't really have any useless kitchen gadgets.. but that's probably because i'm still in school and my house has kitchen stuff that's shared by everyone... we do have a never-used egg cup though. and a really cheap, blunt pizza cutter (any pizzas that have actually been made here and not ordered, frozen or with dough from the store, are cut with knives.)

[Atahualpa]

I think he realldy did mean spatula-tongs. They were advertised on TV a while back and were supposed to be tongs that were flexible enough that when locked togther you could use the joined tong faces as spatulas and turn pancakes etc.

[Davwud]

Yes.

I have three pairs of scalloped tongs. They get tons of use.

I did dig out my GF grill to make panini's last night and it worked great. It's still fairly useless but at least it's now a unitasker instead of a nontasker.

DT

[feedmec00kies]

Hmm, never heard of these spatula-tongs.. though honestly my mom has trained me to have very little faith in any kitchen devices advertised on TV most are pretty lost on me (sounds familiar now, though)

[personalcheffie]

Ah, the spatula/tong set and spatula egg turner that won't damage the yolk. My hubby just HAD to go to the "As Seen On TV" store locally and pick me up a set of these, along with the thing that looks like a flat whisk, that is supposed to grab everything, and can not grab and pick up anything. Sheesh!

[Davwud]

PC and Feedme.

I couldn't think of the name of the woman at the time but her name is Cathy Mitchell. She sells a lot of other crap like the GeMagic. That whisk thing is supposed to be so dextrous you can pick up a dime with it. What a load of crap.

DT

[queenscook]

I love my bread makers; I'm on my fourth, fifth, and sixth right now! To explain: I had already had three that over the years finally gave up the ghost, so I bought my fourth. However, the pan was quite scratched up, and the bread stuck to it more than it should have, and the baked loaves were always hard to extricate, so I bought another (my fifth). I kept the one with the scratched-up pan, though, to use just to make dough, for when I want bread shaped different than the pan (braided challah, a round loaf, etc.) Then, I inherited one from my MIL when she moved out of the country, which made six. As I said, #s 1, 2, & 3 are long gone, but I'm very happy to have the three I have. I have occasionally used two at a time, especially when preparing for large sabbath gatherings.

I also like the adjustable measuring spoons. When I bake, and am measuring out a 1/4 tsp. of one spice, an 1/8 of another, a 1/2 tsp. of salt, etc., it's easier than messing around with the set of multiple spoons, and having to wash three or four instead of one (I certainly don't bother to wash between spices).

[liveforfood]

I passed on my Zojourushi bread machine to a friend, who uses it almost daily. It was a gift to me and I kept it on the top of my cabinet, since I never used it. I had almost forgotten about it until cleaning one day when I noticed it there, covered with a half inch of dust! I cleaned it off and my friend said she wanted it!

[riverwalk]

That reminds me of another useless space hog, the device made to insert your bread machine bread into it to get the guide sticks to show you where to slice the bread. It cradles the bread and has slots where to cut your loaf. Space hog.

[Andiereid]

My Baguette molds - those racks that are open-hole non-stick racks for baguettes? Didn't work for squat. I'm beginning to think that to make good baguette (the thin, crusty stuff with the chewy center) you have to have a wood stove that goes up to 1000F hot metal lights behind your eyes invincible oven (apologies to OK Go) I used them several times and they didn't do diddly.

[j2brady]

Two things actually...

1. A sandcastle shaped bundt pan...totally useful if I evr made budt cakes but I don't so hence the uselessness.

2. A nutmeg grinder from williams-sonoma which is totaly uni-pupose and doesn't even manage to do that particularly well. Especially compared to a micro-plane!

Either way I love them both for the whimsy of it! Useless, yes! But I love them!

Jenna

[Andiereid]

I have that bundt pan! I've used it once! But you're right... I love it!

[chef chicklet]

I've seen that bundt pan often, and resisted. My logic was that it was a one time thrill to show off, and that I'd not use it again. It was too pricey! The little ones are very cute too! Wish I liked bundt cake... but never have for some reason..

[SoCalVal]

Was that bundt cake pan being sold through Williams-Sonoma? I vaguely remember admiring a pan that sounds like that but since I don't have kids (and my one niece is a high school teenager), I didn't see when I'd be inclined to make a castle-shaped cake. Still, I thought about buying it...just because (it could join the other useless gadgets in my kitchen -- juicer, food dehydrator [too much trouble to clean], mushroom brush, apple corer/slicer, more cake pans [couldn't resist getting Nordicware from the local thrift shop for $3-5], cake mold that makes a "Barbie-doll" cake for the aforementioned high school teenager [never got around to making it...and she was a youngun in elementary school who was very into Barbies when I bought the thing]. Ah, countless items I have! There are way too many to name them all; I'm just extremely fond of kitchen items!

I did donate to charity the breadmaker I bought "for a steal" from a thrift shop (and never used), along with the giant electric roaster I bought from a friend (and also never used). I gave my mother the Wolfgang Puck commercial stand mixer I absolutely had to have (and...wait for it...NEVER USED). Would you believe I still want another stand mixer...???

[Alice Patis]

The Alton Brown measuring cup. I so wanted one after watching him use it for years, and when I got two (the big one and the less big one), ho hum! Plus it's a HUGE pain to remove the sleeve (for cleaning) and to put it back on again.

Also don't get anyone you like the silicone measuring cups. Very flimsy (flour goes flying if you grasp it too hard), you can't fill it to the brim with liquids (liquids spill out when you go to lift the cup) and you can't begin to guess where the halfway point is (yes I'll fess up, I often fill a cup part way up coz I'm too lazy to get out another cup of the correct size).

I think I'm the queen of useless gadgets. I have a box of gadgets I still haven't unpacked since I moved in May. But the 2 above are the worst that come to mind.

[chowser]

I have that measuring cup that Alton Brown recommended, too. It looked great on his show. I have no idea how to use it--which side is wet, which is dry, how to measure. Another useless gadget. And, it's not dishwashable.

[Davwud]

We have one as well. Guess what?? It's from Pampered Chef. Guess how much use it gets!!

DT

[LaureltQ]

My dad had one of these when I was growing up and I LOVED using it. I've since tried to track down one without success.

[Kelli2006]

They are called Wonder Cups and are available at Chefs catalog, King Arthur and Pampered Chef.

[John E.]

I've seen them at Goodwill, usually for a buck. They seem to be best used for baking when precise measuring is needed for things such as sourcream, peanut butter, shortening, and similar non-liquid nor dry items.

[buttertart]

My mom had one (1960s, it's not new) and swore by it - I got one and threw it away, it was impossible to slide up and down.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I just picked one up especially or making pies. I use it for measuring things like shortening. Stuff it in, then push it out the top where you can slice it off with a knife. Lots easier than a measuring cup.

[buttertart]

I wish I had my mother's, you're right, they are very useful if they work right.

[jen kalb]

my mother had/a two part shortening measure (in fact at one time she bought them for all her home ec students in the 60s).but Its not the wonder cup with the clear outer sleeve but a two parter which has grooves you set the smaller piece into. Very easy to use. I still have one but it is getting decrepit.

The wondercups seem to create some kind of vacuum and tend to be to hard to put together/take apart.

[mabziegurl]

my garlic press is the most useless thing ever, i have to peel the garlic anyways, then push the galic in, repush some of it, then clean the thing... my knife is out anyways, so i'm going to toss it out right now...

[EWSflash]

I use mine all the time- different strokes, I guess.

[liveforfood]

Different strokes, for sure. My garlic press is fantastic and I use it multiple times a week. I have one with a large holder for the garlic (holds several cloves) and pressed garlic is great in vinaigrettes, which I make often.

[alkapal]

i love my zyliss garlic press. i have had other brands, but zyliss is the best.

[spigot]

Love this thread - very instructive. Note to self: don't buy single-use items, very large/bulky items, and, er, things that are badly designed or try to fix imaginary deficiencies in existing products. (Like, who thought up silicone measuring cups, and why?)

Here's mine:

- Salton drink mixer, a years-ago Christmas present. Weak motor; does what my blender does only slowly, half-assedly. http://www.salton.com/product_details.asp?product=5 Waste of space, makes me bitter.

- Polder and Williams-Somoma remote thermometers. http://www.amazon.com/Polder-307-Deluxe-Preset/dp/B00004S4TZ and http://www.williams-sonoma.com/produc... I really wanted these to work out, and it was super-fun wearing the "pager" device. But they both worked only once, never again.

- Gorgeous stainless steel Moha salad spinner. I do not eat enough leafy greens to justify housing this ;-/

- Annoying huge breadmaker, a gift from mom. Used seven times and never again.

[Neuromancer]

I had plastic empanada/dumpling presses. They were unnecessary and didn't even work when I remembered I had them and tried to use them. I put them out by the curb for scavengers.

My bread maker was also pretty useless. I agree with Spigot -- too big and bulky for the number of times I used it before I gave it to a friend who wanted one.

And someone mentioned the pump-up oil sprayer. Mine clogged almost immediately and is hard to get clean. It's sticky, clogged, and unpleasant.

[EWSflash]

Plus eventually it starts to smell like rancid oil and do you really want to anoint everything with the smell of rancid oil?

[ZenSojourner]

Hmmm. Odd. My dumpling presses worked just fine, and saved me a lot of steps.

[mimolette]

dishwasher
it takes me much less time to hand wash the dishes than to arrange the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. I absolutely hate placing dirty dishes neatly in the dishwasher.

[NYchowcook]

Oh how I wish I could afford to install the dishwasher (that is sitting in our outbuilding since we bought our house in June). I try to clean as I go, but find that I am ALWAYS washing dishes. And as you cook, where do the used dishes and utensils end up? In the sink! In the way! Finish baking and there are gobs of dishes; those annoying measuring spoons, big bowls w/ chocolate batter, etc. I would happily cook all day if I didn't have to stop to wash yet another batch of dishes!

My hope is that someday when I remodel the kitchen I will have TWO dishwashers. While one is running, I can load dirty dishes in the other one!

[mimolette]

I wash as I go most of the time. a few seconds a dish, faster than opening the dishwasher door!

[vickib]

I got my first dishwasher two years ago at the tender age of 41. I will never go back. I love the darn thing.

[Mother of four]

I couldn't imagine being without one!!!

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Being a single guy I don't usually generate that many dishes, so my dishwasher has become a dish drying rack, and storage unit. It surprised me to find out that I really should use it living in the desert. Turns out a dishwasher uses less water than hand washing does.

[al b. darned]

OOOOHHHH! Given the choice of a dishwasher or a washing machine, I'm grabbing my quarters and heading for the Laundromat! Yes, I hate doing dishes that much. Besides, the dishwasher sanitizes dishes better.I have an old house with non-standard counters, so i have to have a portable unit. A bit of a pain to set up, but definitely worth it.

[Sooeygun]

Well, I don't have a washing machine or a dishwasher and I would much rather have the washing machine. Schlepping clothes to the laundry, not guaranteed that there's a machine free, etc, etc...I'd trade that for doing dishes by hand for sure.

[Pamela]

I find that a lot of the gadgets at Williams-Sonoma are not only overpriced but useless.

Someone gave me a stainless steel apple corer from W-S. At first, I thought it was perfect. Well, the corer was shipped as a gift, and it did not come with any labels, instructions, or even an itemized shipping list. I finally figured out what it was only because there was an itty bitty label on the plastic bag--one that was barely discernible to the human eye. After I discovered what it was, I then had to figure out on my own how to use the damn contraption, since it came with no directions. It was hit and miss, but after I figured out how to use the corer, I discovered that to use it effectively, one has to have the strength of a 300-lb man.

Lesson: Do not buy the apple corer from Williams-Sonoma. It's less aggravating to hand-peel, core, and cut the apples yourself.

[S. Britchky]

Twenty years ago I had a corer/slicer that, as you say, required great strength to use. One night while preparing apples for a Thanksgiving pie I pushed down on it so hard that a blade broke loose and sliced deeply into my right hand -- I still have the scar. It didn't hurt until my wife saw blood running all over the white-porcelain sink and started yelling!

Needless to say, I agree with your advice about doing the work with a hand knife you can control.

[Pamela]

After I read your post, I searched through my utensil drawer and promptly threw away the corer. Your experience sounded frightening. I see how this particular corer could easily cut deeply through flesh, and/or result in an accidental amputation, particularly with the sheer force required to use it.

[jen kalb]

the apple parer-slicer my 'rents gave us. neither my husband nor I can figure out how to make it to function. Theirs works fine.

a V-slicer I also cant figure out how to use - where are the instructions to these things?

food mills - I have a couple but they are very tedious to use -fee like they are mis-calibrated and not pushing the food down through very well like my old foley did.

an expensive flexible-bladed knife I bought a long time ago - cant remember what its supposed to be good for, but Ive never found a use

[flourgirl]

I use my V-slicer all the time to cut onions. I really hate cutting onions, and when I need a lot of really thin slices I always use the V-slicer. I also use it anytime i need a lot of very thinly sliced tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, etc.

[itryalot]

I love my food mill (just broke and need to get a new one) for mashed potatoes, pureed veg to put into a gravy, passing canned tomatoes through to remove seeds for tomato sauce.
Now I have to figure out which one to get - SSteel or big white plastic one.

[riverwalk]

did you ever buy the mill? if so, what kind did you get and do you love it or not? I am lusting for the Rosle one, but I am a Rosle junkie (no I don't work for them in any way but you would think I do because I love them.)

[alkapal]

tell us riverwalk, do you like rosle? LOL maybe you SHOULD work for them.

[NYchowcook]

I bought a nifty apple/pear corer from my local kitchen store that works great. It's a metal blade offset from 90 degrees in a circle on a handle that slices through the core (once you slice the fruit in half).

[UncleVinty]

I am a Kitchen Utensil junkie. I love all sorts of things, so I have items I have not used for a long time, but I wouldn't call them useless.

But if I had to nominate something it would be my Hamilton Beach Electric grill. It does not heat evenly on both sides and without removable plates it is too hard to clean so I just do not use it.

[kobetobiko]

I have several madolines but none of them work. Or should I say they don't work the way I expect them to work. I am really looking for a good one that works as it promise. If anyone has any suggestion please let me know!

[jillp]

I agree with the previous poster about the mandoline; I use my benriner more often. I also keep but absolutely never use a rotary egg beater. Don't ask me why I think that I will ever need to use this if the power is out so I cannot use my hand mixer. I have kept this my entire married life and it'll probably be taking up space in a gadget drawer when I die.

[SChalfant]

Corn on the cob forks. Seriously - how hard is it to pick up corn?

[ctl98]

My sons actually use this! This is because they can't wait for the corn to cool before digging into it. The corn is too hot to hold but apparently not too hot to eat. LOL!

[macca]

Yup- I agree. I have them- and they are used for corn only by the kids. I do use them to prick the skin of a duck as it roasts, though- so I guess they have some merit!

[itryalot]

Ditto; I like my corn really hot too. We use them all summer.

[othervoice]

My kids love them and I use them for my corn also. It's easier to hold hot corn while rolling it in butter. We use them all summer too.

[Jay F]

Do you mean these? I love these.

[LindaWhit]

Ditto that. When they're fresh out of the boiling water or off the grill, corn holders are needed.

[Jay F]

And they're so cute, corn holders.

[southernitalian]

You just have to be careful where/how you store them. I always put them in a zip-loc bag and throw it in a drawer. Inevitably, I'll be digging around in the drawer looking for something and I stab myself. But they are definitely necessary in the summer.

[Radiothomas]

Agree on the nutmeg grater... just too damn small to be of much use. But it was a gift - and now I have a microplane. Hurray!

[saraeanderson]

Single-unit measuring cups. I don't need to measure 1/3 of a cup with a different cup (and yet a different thing to wash) than I do 1/2 cup.

As I mentioned above, silicone bakeware. Not only are they NOT KIDDING about the upper temperature limits, but the pans don't hold their shape and you end up with cracked cakes and cornbread. The oven mitt was no good too. Cool to use and reach in and grab things out of boiling pots of water, but inflexible and awkward. The little pac-man-looking ones seem a lot better.

[AnneInMpls]

Silicone bakeware has a temperature limit? Eeek! My silicone muffin cups didn't come with any info, and if my silpat sheets did, I've thrown it away. What's the max recommended temp for silicone?

Thanks,
Anne

P.S. My vote for mose useless gadget: an odd little bean-shaped scrubbie, designed for cleaning out the inside of a plastic bottle. It looks a little like a plastic-mesh edamame in the pod. I found it in an Asian grocery store and bought it because it's so weird. But I've never used it.

[Davwud]

I have a silicone muffin pan and it works great. I just about only use it to make single serving fritatas but I haven't had too much problem with it. Just have to either put a sheet pan under it or fill it on the oven rack or it will spill.

Didn't know it could catch on fire.

DT

[JIRodriguez]

If you buy the silicone bake ware get the good stuff that goes to 500 °F. Generaly you are not baking anything above 500 °F. And I love the muffin cups becuase they are re-useable!

[Pamela]

I don't own one, but I have seen many people who do have "banana trees" and they always make me laugh to no end. These are usually wood or metal "trees" in which people suspend their bananas. Technically it's a gadget, I suppose, since it is supposed to have a function,although I would argue otherwise.

Banana trees make absolutely no sense to me. First of all, hanging already picked bananas from what is supposed to be a simulated tree is not going to slow down or speed up the ripening process any. Second, if the purpose of the banana tree is to save space, I don't see how it does, because one of those trees take up just as much space required if one were to simply set down the bananas on the counter.

Things like this really make no sense at all. Whoever invented this stupid contraption, though, must be a millionaire by now, because I see these all over the place.

[Andiereid]

My SIL gave her mother one of those things for Christmas one year and we all howled laughing. How ridiculous. I think my MIL gave it away.

[Shazam]

Not to mention, how does it hold up one banana?

[Davwud]

I was under the impression these "Trees" sole function was to keep the bananas from getting bruised under their own weight.

DT

[lora]

Hanging your bananas is pretty cool for making sure they don't smush each other. But a hardware-store hook screwed into the underside of a cabinet works just as well for a LOT less space.

[CanadaGirl]

We actually have one of these -- it actually does a good job stopping the bottom from getting mushy. Our bananas last a couple days longer.

[riverwalk]

ATK tested those and said there is no difference in bananas stored on a tree or sling to just lying them in a basket or on a counter. All they hype about how they keep bananas better is just that, hype. What does help though is getting organic bananas. They can be black on the outside and stay just as fresh as can be on the inside. They last 5x longer than gassed (normal) bananas which are sprayed with gas to ripen them fast.

[NYchowcook]

My husband. Useless in the kitchen.

[SChalfant]

CLASSIC!!!!!!!!

[SLO]

SECOND ... wish I had thought of it - brillant comment

[Cookiefiend]

I agree!

[LaureltQ]

Fourthed

[EWSflash]

Mine's not useless, but very annoying- he does something once and in his mind he's the Expert. He does have some wicked good dinners, though, the best is the old hamburger-pasta casserole. He uses elk sometimes when he has it anchovy, capers, lots of garlic, I guess he somehow developed a Hamburger Casserole Puttanesca- silly name, great eats!
Not only that, but he's got the OCD going on so he makes it pretty much the same way every time- family nirvana at dinnertime

[Shazam]

Nothing. I dumped all the useless stuff I had a few months ago, and now strictly control what I purchase (I'm a gadget sucker).

[deuelpm]

I've done that - reminds me it's time to do it again as the drawers our full o junk and getting stuck closed.

What we do - I call it the kitchen usage survey - I get one of those copier paper boxes from work. When we use something, instead of putting it where it goes, we put it in the box. After two weeks or so, we dump the remaining drawer contents into another receptacle - either another box, or the trash, then put away all the stuff we actually use.

Most useless item we have cluttering up the drawers now are the cake pan insulators, I think. Seems like there'd be something else, too, but not seeing it at the moment...

[Paulustrious]

I do it the other way. I dump everything into a box and after being used and washed it goes back in a drawer. The remaining unused stuff joins the glory-hole in the basement.

[buttertart]

That would be a good way of deciding what gets drawer space in a new abode. Thanks for the idea.

[Mother of four]

Goodwill gets ours! Into the garage into the car dropped off at GW!!

[AnchovyBourdain]

Glory-hole in the basement? That's some happenin' joint you're running there...

[sweetie]

The blue silicon oven mitts. They are so difficult to use I can't hold anything with them on.

[foodie_girl]

I agree..I have a blk silicon oven mitt and it doesn't grip as well as I would like it to.

[Davwud]

I have a set and a regular set. The silicone ones are great when working with stocks and other wet items but for anything dry I use a dish towel.

DT

[ashes]

I often use my silicon mitts when grilling. They won't catch fire and help when turning things over a high heat.

[JennaL]

I actually just leave my silicon mitts tucked under the bbq cover so they are always there and don't take up any kitchen space- until we first used them for bbq'ing (mostly skewer turning) purposes, I was always hoping someone would have a shower or an office christmas gift exchange so I could offload them on some unsuspecting sucker - pretty sure that's how I ended up with them in the first place.

[somervilleoldtimer]

I was just making jelly and used the silicon mitts to put the hot jars into the water bath. It was much easier than using tongs.

[operagirl]

Brilliant! I will try this next time I am canning!

[LaureltQ]

I do this when removing little ramekins of creme brulee from the water bath!

It's literally the ONLY thing I use them for.

[JasFoodie]

Brilliant!!

I finally got a pressure canner that is very tall - and me being 5'2" it's hard to grab the jars with tongs and raise them up high enough over the edge of the canner and then lowered into it without using a stepstool - which is not something I like to do in the kitchen near a big pot of boiling water. I'll have to get myself one of these before the next canning season!

[John E.]

Just be very careful with how deep you dip your silicone covered hand in that pot of boiling water. I've gone a little too deep with hip boots or chest waders while waterfowl hunting, but that's nothing compared to what could happen while canning.

[JasFoodie]

Oh.. I have no intentions of submerging my hand in the water more than finger tip depth. I usually have just enough water in the pot to barely reach over the jars when I place them in, and another pot of boiling water waiting to pour over them to raise the water level 2 inches above the tops of the jars.

As for afterwards, I tend to leave things to cool for atleast half an hour (yes, I know the directions say 5 minutes but so far it's worked out well) before attempting to remove the jars. I think at that point I'd probably still use the tongs but have the glove on the other hand to catch the jar as soon as I lift it up out of the water. I'd feel much safer doing that than trying to raise the jar all the way out of the pot and back down using just the tongs. My short stumpy arms don't have to lift the jar quite as high that way.

[deuelpm]

I use a $4 pair of welding gloves. They're very much like the $30 leather gloves from Williams Sonoma, but I get to spend $26 on grillables.

[riverwalk]

that's exactly what America's Test Kitchen recommends.

[AnchovyBourdain]

+1

[foodie_girl]

A pie crust crimper (I think that's what it's call)--use to make those lovely ridges around the ends. I got it in a kit and took months before someone told me what it was. It's way faster to just use my fingers.

[ChefD]

NYchowcook beat me to it, except my "gadget" is the opposite sex.. My wife..unless we are talking about "other things" to do in the kitchen :o)

[revsharkie]

I have several useless gadgets.

1) Garlic press. It just makes a mess.
2) Mouli-type cheese grater (the kind with the cylindrical grater and the crank you turn). It's just too much work to get enough cheese to do anyone any good.
3) My most useless gadget at the moment is my bench scraper. It's a cheap plastic one my mom found at a dollar store somewhere, and a few years ago I had a mouse in my cabinet briefly, but before I got rid of it, it decided to taste my scraper, and so now it has little bites out of it, and when I use it (after washing it VERY well, of course), it leaves these little stripes across the counter. Why I haven't replaced it is beyond me.

[Mother of four]

Oh gross!!! I HATE MICE!!! I really like that cylindrical grater. When I want a bunch of parmesan cheese it's great, have had it for years! Whoever said they never used the baking mats, I think they might me my all time favorite tools. I make a lot of cookies, and they make cleanup so easy, and the cookies just slide off.

[revsharkie]

What I can't figure out is why I even had a mouse, when I'm married to the Orkin Man and have a house absolutely jam-packed with cats!

[vorpal]

I have one of those cylindrical cheese graters, and while I don't see the point in using it for cheese (I'd rather just use a stand up grater), it works brilliantly for grating those hard pucks of palm sugar you buy in Chinatown (that are utterly delicious), or a soft block of coconut sugar. As I make loads of Thai food, my grater is actually one of the gadgets that sees the most use in my kitchen!

[EWSflash]

Oooh, good idea, Vorpal!

[The Blissful Glutton]

Silicone cupcake cups. They run the darn things every time.

[Zengarden]

How did they ruin your cupcakes?

[2m8ohed]

I agree. Silicone mini-muffin pan. The cupcakes or muffins always stick like crazy.

Also, butter warmer (ramekin on a wire stand with a tea light holder underneath) from my MIL. I've never used it... I like my crabs, lobsters, etc. sans butter. MIL also gave me a Williams-Sonoma shrimp de-veiner which is neat but I've only used it once.

My brother bought one of those Popeil rotisserie chicken machines ("set it and forget it!"). It works pretty well and is fun to watch but it's HUGE and a Costco cooked rotisserie chicken is only five bucks.

[foodie_girl]

I haven't baked in any silicone pans, but I find them useful for molding cold desserts.

[SoCalVal]

I really wanted one of those Ron Popeil rotisserie ovens! However, given the cost of the thing, I couldn't justify the expense when, as you stated, the Costco rotisserie chicken is only $5 (still, I'd take one of those ovens if someone else wanted to buy it for me... :o)

[ashes]

My mom has one of those rotisseries and she LOVES it. She makes chickens, roast beef and so much more. It's esoecially helpful when cooking for a crowd because she has the oven free for other things.

[othervoice]

I had one, worked twice then caught on fire, needless to say I threw it in the dump.

[flourgirl]

We have one of those ovens - only used it once. It gets REALLY hot and ours makes a ton of noise. So now it has an honorary place in the garage. But I want to give it one more try before I decide to unload it.

[SusieQ40]

Surely I'm not the only one with a Salad Shooter?

It was given to us by a relative who visits occasionally so we don't feel right about throwing it out.

[revsharkie]

Throw it away, then tell them you loved it so much you finally just wore it out!

Then again, that might not be a good idea--they might just give you another one!

[Davwud]

Tell them you liked it but it broke almost right away. That way they feel good that they got you something they liked but don't feel they need to replace it since it broke.

DT

[flipkeat]

Ahh been there...myself but I didn't feel bad when I threw my gift out..I said it "had an accident and broke". lol ;)

[jrhsfcm]

Oh, the Salad Shooter! My grandmother bought me one for my 16th birthday - could you imagine my surprise when I got a five-speed Salad Shooter rather than a five-speed car (thankfully that came later!)???? She thought it was a brilliant gift. *scoff*

My mom certainly got a good laugh out of that!

[maestra]

How funny that I read this tonight! A friend of mine mentioned just yesterday that she wishes she had one. I always assumed they were pointless (name alone, I guess), but I must admit some ignorance. What exactly are they supposed to do?

[jujuthomas]

It's kind of like a hand held, motorized mandolin. You put a chunk of cuke (or whatever) in, and it slices it up and shoots it into your bowl. My sister has one that she says she loves, but I never see her use it.

[riverwalk]

I see those in the thrift stores a lot. I am a kitchen gadget junkie and I haunt thrift stores looking for anything I can't afford new, Rosle, Le Creuset, Demeyere, etc. Every so often I find something and it just feeds my addiction to go back hunting again!

[personalcheffie]

I think mine has to be a flour sifter. I use a metal strainer over a bowl. Just shake.

[foodie_girl]

I agree about that one. It's also easier to get the lumps out of the strainer. I end up throwing away my flour sifter b/c I couldn't stand seeing the stuff that got stuck between the blades.

[nutrition]

Egg cups are for eating eggs the most correct way for maximum nutrition. That is a 4 minute egg, so that the white is hard and the yolk, where all the vitamins, minerals, half the protein, and antioxidants are, is soft! Cooking eggs any other way until the yolks are hard destroys the nutrtional value and the vitamins.

I have been looking for my egg cups, since moving 4 times. They just don't turn up in any of the boxes in the garage. Those are eluding me along with the scissor like gadget to cut the top of the egg off to be able to dip in for the soft yolk,
If anyone wants to find a new home for their egg cups, send them to me. I will treat them with tendler loving care, while using them.

[RShea78]

I would chalk up those flimsy divider type of omelet skillets, high up on my list as being useless.

There was also a scrambled egg machine (forgot brand) that was to make a scrambled egg patty that resembled something like a hocky puck. It did work to some degree as long as you used clarified butter. But it was messy as the egg would fluff spewing out the machines crevices. Instructions claimed to fill each slot no more than 2/3rds. That was a no brainer as that is where the machine lid contained the upper 1/3rd.

Another nearly useless "family" kitchen toy, was a hamburger press/cooker. Before stores carried pre-patty, ready to cook, hamburgers- that gadget would take a 1/4 lb.- ball of ground beef, press and cook the ball into a burger. If you was a 90 pound bird eater they probably rocked for their time. However for the 200 pound hungry person it was a tease when it came to having some quick burgers. Later they did come out with a double model, but they were much slower. The single model cooked on both flats. The double cooked on the top, leaving the bottom for drippings. To finish properly in the double the machine needed to be split opened and the burger flipped. Best was to set aside the bottom and turn the top over to finish cooking. Anyway, honorable Mickey Mouse award should go to that device.

[JennaL]

oh my god, we had that - we also had the the cookie ice cream sandwich maker that assists you in neatly squeezing the ball of ice cream between the cookies, except that the cookies often broke and because President Choice Decadent cookies are a tad bit smaller it made a mess anyway.

[BRIANTHEFOODUDE]

A TEA BAG SQUEEZER What an important part of my Kitchen... NOT
Brian the Monkey

[soupkitten]

i have absolutely no idea what a "tea bag squeezer" looks like. describe?

[starlady]

its a little plastic press with holes on both sides. I use mine for all those herb teas that don't have strings. You place it in your nug with the teabag in it and when your tea is steeped you lift it by the handles nad squeeze.

[deuelpm]

Mine looks suspiciously like two spoons...

[Gary Soup]

My oven. I don't cook and my wife cooks only Chinese. She uses the rangetop exclusively for cooking, and the oven for storing post and pans.

[2m8ohed]

Hilarious! My mom also cooked only Chinese. She used the oven for storing pots and pans, and the dishwasher as a very big dish rack since she never believed it could get the dishes as clean as hand-washing (by me, of course).

[foodie_girl]

That's so funny! It's very common in Chinese homes for ovens and dishwashers to go unused, except for storing things. My mom seems to do the same with the dishwasher, and if it wasn't for me, the oven would be used to store things like pots and pans.

[foodie_girl]

If you want your wife to use the oven, maybe you can get her a baking book. I find you can use the oven for making lovely desserts like the egg tarts.

[veloute]

Useless? As I sit here I am looking a two brightly coloured plastic utensils from Tupperware . . . one is an iceberg lettuce corer, the other an orange peeler (like a crochet hood). A friend, who didn't know how I l live without them, insisted I be given them by the salesperson at a Tupperware party. The other item is a citrus fruit siphon that you twist into the fruit then the juice just runs out. Don't even know its provence. I can relate to the corn on the cob holders, gift from a dear friend. They stabbed me so many times I finally chucked them.

[revsharkie]

I love my corn on the cob handles! I have wimpy little fingers and not enough patience to wait for the corn to cool. My old set of corn handles finally broke, so my husband's grandson got me a new set for my birthday.

[Kelli2006]

I would like to add my ex-MIL and sister to this list.

I doubt that they read this list and both of them are hard pressed to break a egg, or chop a onion properly.

[abowes]

I LOVE that orange peeler! I hate peeling an orange without one, and bought a dozen the last time I bought one for myself - so that I can give it away when people see me using it and say "How cool!"

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I spiral cut the peel on my oranges with my pocketknife. I end up with one long corkscrew peel.
With the oranges off the tree we had in the back yard, all you had to do was dig your nails in, and peel it off. The peels were thick, and held on loosely, so all you needed were your fingers to do the job. .

[Cari_h]

Worse (most useless) kitchen item that I have? An electric tea pot. I do not drink tea, and I find it much quicker to boil water in the microwave. The ETP was a gift from a tea drinker who unfortunately can not fathom the fact that NOT EVERYONE loves tea, and insists that a proper cup of tea can only be made using a teapot. When she found out that I boiled water in the microwave before pouring it over the tea, she nearly had a stroke.

My friend’s kitchen is loaded with useless items. Her DH is a huge fan of info-mercials, and I think he buys into all of that garbage.
The one for the ‘pancake flipper’? Where the family is sitting dejectedly at the table with forks in the air, while the Mom struggles with her hair flying about and pancake batter dripping everywhere? (I’ve actually never seen anyone cook pancakes and create such a mess) They have one of those, and their kids prefer the AJ frozen pancakes.
The device that removes the core from a head of iceberg lettuce? They’ve got that thing too. He’ll get the whole thing out and set up, and in that time, I’ll have cleaned the lettuce and removed the core by hand. (Holding the head firmly by the top, with the core facing down, slam it directly down on a hard firm surface ~ I use the counter top. Then pull out the core.)
A chocolate melter for making candies? Yes that too. A double boiler (or microwave) works too. At least it did for them until they got the chocolate melter.
The Pasta Magic? that cooks pasta by putting the pasta in than the hot water? How entertaining is that?!? Watching your pasta cook? Can’t think of anything else I could be doing.
The funniest thing is, they only use the items for what they are originally advertised for.

All above mentioned items I find to be incredibly useless, and I’m proud to say I don’t own any of these, with the exception of the mentioned ETP, which is gathering dust as I post.

[LaureltQ]

When I was quite young (maybe 7?) I knew that my dad was a gadget junkie, so I bought him a bacon microwaver. It was a plastic thing with these fins that ran the length of it. You'd put the bacon in between the slots and it would stand up and crisp. The inside of the microwave would get coated with grease, but at least you didn't have to clean the stove!

My poor father, who rarely ate bacon at the time made a point to use it to make ME bacon several times before shoving it into the back of a cupboard where it met it's eventual demise at the hands of a cast iron dutch oven.

[EWSflash]

LOL

[jujuthomas]

let's see.. the flat rubber garlic peeler and plastic garlic grater set my MIL gave my DH for christmas, the food chopper, the plastic body mandolin...OOH...and the "magic food defroster" my DH bought me - a ridged metal plate that is supposed to defrost food in record time. worthless

[NovoCuisine]

#3 the mango slicer. What was I thinking? It crushes ripes mangos because the blade dulled almost immediately.

#2 the garlic press. So why can't I bring myself to toss it out?

#1 the gadget that reseals wine bottles. Like I'd ever not finish a bottle of wine.

[Rick]

I actually use my wine sealer thing and it works pretty well I must say!

[somervilleoldtimer]

Throw out the garlic press! Use a grater instead.

[SLO]

Just bought a "Toss and Chop" ... what was I thinking other than this would be a perfect item for this thread!

It's "the new way to chop" aka .. a chopping tool that works in any type of bowl.

Guess I forgot my drawer full of really good Henckel knives?

Impulse and peer pressure = this useless gadget

[jdavies]

I have to second that one...we got the "toss and chop" as a gift and I think it will end up being re-gifted :)

[revsharkie]

I bought one of those nifty little gadgets that you press down on an apple and it cores it for you and cuts it into eight nice wedges. Perfect for fixing apples for Mike's lunch.

First time I used it, it was lovely. Second time, the same. Third time was on an overripe pear and it mangled it, but when a pear is in that condition even a knife can do that. Fourth time the apple must have been a little more firm than the others, because when I tried to press the gadget down into the apple, the doggone thing completely disintegrated. The circle in the middle that's supposed to take out the core bent upward, the handles bent unevenly downward, and the outside rim detached from the rest of it in a couple places. Lame.

[deuelpm]

We always had the same experience with the apple corers until recently, when we got one I think from Williams Sonoma. It is sturdy and you can give it a twist and it goes from cutting eighths to sixteenths and seems to have blades rather than "thin metal and hope" that the ones like you describe seem to have.

[riverwalk]

you must also watch ATK because that, like the welder's gloves, are their top recommendation in that category and I want one. I have the OXO one and it's not too bad, but I covet the WS one or the Rosle, although the WS one has that adjustment feature.

[bengoshi]

For Christmas, I received several of those "collapsible" measuring cups and storage containers that are supposed to save you space. The Tupperware style "accordian" containers never pop out easily and are pretty damn useless.

I saw a bunch of these "collapsible" contraptions in Williams Sonoma today. Does a normal set of measuring cups realy take up so much space? These are all "so 2007." Five years from now we will look back at those and say: "What?"

[Cookiefiend]

I have a collapsible strainer/colander - I do like it and it takes up much less space than the regular types. However it's a little small.

[luniz]

my mom got me a quesadilla maker for christmas one year. i've used it maybe twice. i don't even eat quesadillas anymore...too many carbs.

[kanosis]

Anybody have a juicers with a motor as powerful as a lawn mower? Supposed to give gallons of carrot juice.

[riverwalk]

we do and we do use it alot.

[Haughtywench]

I'm going to give my vote to my stainless steel milkshake maker. Not only does it not make thick milkshakes, my family just got diagnosed as lactose intolerant and milk fat allergic. So, it is sitting the cupboard waiting to be donated.

[jujuthomas]

oh yeah! some well meaning friend gave us a similar gizmo for making smoothies and bar drinks - you know, the one with the spigot at the bottom of the mixing container. Used it 1 time. I am anti uni-taskers, the blender works just as well!

[azhotdish]

I have some exotic wood salad tossers from some obscure country. Perhaps if I served more food family-style I'd use them, but I think I've used them once in three years!

[riverwalk]

you might want to give them a rub a couple of times a year with some food-safe mineral oil or board oil for a cutting board, like Boo's. If they dry out they may split as foreign wood is often known to do because it is not usually kiln-dried. Wood is getting scarce and I predict it will be more valued in the future. Those wooden salad spoons used to be so inexpensive, but now they are up there. Less wood in the world, too many harvested and pan-asian storms/tsunamis took out a lot.

[alkapal]

but wood is a renewable resource.

[LindaWhit]

And bamboo is an even better renewable resource, considering how quickly it grows.

[alkapal]

i recall a friend who had a raging battle with the invasive bamboo. you see it a lot here in northern virginia in older suburbs where people originally planted it as a screening plant.

[LindaWhit]

SEE how renewable it is? ;-)

[alkapal]

oh yeah, she HATED it!

[John E.]

Maybe some exotic woods are gettibg scarce, but your blanket statement that wood is getting scarce is untrue.

[lora]

A lattice pie crust maker. It cuts out a pattern of square holes from a circle of pie dough. That was definitely a gift - I like making lattice crusts the regular way!

[sunshyne02724]

My husband.

[xnyorkr]

I have an electric rotisserie that holds the chicken upright. It is such a nightmare to clean and the chicken tastes no different to me than regular roasted chicken. (why do I still have it?!?)

[phoebek]

A silver colored thing that is supposed to be a shrimp deveiner - not sharp enough to make me give up a knife; a "zester" - little metal implement that presumably, one should run across the fruit and have the zest come through the 5 or six little holes on the top. Used it maybe once, and, yes I probably still have it.

[bolivianita]

My breadmaker is the most useless. I tried to sell it at a community yard sale and I think every other neighbor was trying to sell theirs too!
Someone mentioned the crochet hook orange peeler, I actually like those...my Mom has one and won't let me have it.

[abowes]

They're $0.75 from Tupperware.
:-)

Alison

[chaussonauxpommes]

My husband's grandmother gave me a little white plastic plate with ridges that is supposed to make microwaved bacon for a bridal shower gift. I'll admit I never tried it, but if you're going to splurge and eat bacon, why make it in the microwave? It was taking up space in my cabinet until I finally threw it out this year.

[azhotdish]

Use it, you might be surprised how well it works.

[NovoCuisine]

This is hilarious.. my mother swears by those things. She likes her bacon crispy - microwaved, then blotted of all fat(flavour) - and hers became brown, smelly, and melted at the corners after 10 years of use. It would horrify me every time she made bacon with it.

She couldn't find a new one until a couple months ago, and she bought 5 of them in case she doesn't come across one for another 10 years.

[SgtStens]

I was thinking about how to cook bacon in the microwave without having to buy something like that, or the ASOTV one that hangs the bacon on a little perch-like thing. I just take a large plate, invert a bowl onto it(ensuring the bowl is smaller than the plate), then put the bacon on the bowl. The grease runs down the bowl onto the edge of the plate and you have crispy bacon.

[Mother of four]

I's the only way I make bacon anymore! Try it, you'll like it! Oops, too late,I just read that you threw it out!

[deuelpm]

Not ever been the guest of honor at a bridal shower, I can't be sure, but should you really give the bride-to-be microwaved bacon as a gift? ;)

We used to have one of those things a long long time ago when we had hope microwaves could do anything, but the wife and I wised up.

[Jimmy Buffet]

Salad Shooter

Snack bag clips - I use binder clips or clothespins

Garlic baker

And while I don't own one of these yet, the chocolate fountains. I predict you will soon see them in Big Lots selling for a fraction of their original price.

[flourgirl]

Yep, those chocolate fountains are EVERYWHERE and you just know it's one of those things that people will - maybe - use once or twice at the most and then it will sit on some shelf gathering dust with all the other gimmicky contraptions they got conned into buying. I consider it a hard won sign of wisdom when a person has reached the point in their life when they finally know better. (My apologies in advance to those of you who own a chocolate fountain and actually use it on a regular basis...)

[HungryLetsEat]

My husband's ex insisted on bringing a choc fountain to my stepdaughter's HS graduation party a month ago. I know this is a bit off topic but I think it goes to why the choc fountain is a useless appliance...and allows me to vent a little! LOL

First, she tripped while carrying an open bag of the special liquid chocolate across the floor and spilled half of it. (The party was in a pavillion at a local park and since she spilled it near the side of the pavillion we weren't using she didn't bother to clean very much of it up. Nice!) Then, part-way through the party it stopped flowing evenly and they had to fiddle with it for 15 minutes. Lastly, she obviously doesn't know much about food because she pre-cut all of the bananas and apples...so by the time the party started they were a lovely shade of brown. Very appetizing.

BTW the special chocolate that you need to use in those machines is really nasty stuff. More like chocolate-flavored oil.

[somervilleoldtimer]

Well, I bought one a few years ago as a special treat for my daughter, and we only use it on her birthday, but that's fine. Plus we make a nice ganache -- just cream with chocolate melted in, and it works fine. No "special" nasty-tasting stuff needed.

[Sooeygun]

Yup, I have a chocolate fountain and have used it several times. Obviously it's not something you are going to use every week, but it's nice for parties. We don't use the special chocolate for it, or the recipe that came with it (chocolate plus veggie oil, yuck). I just make a ganache with lots of booze in it.

[misterbrucie]

Salad spinner.

[flourgirl]

I use my salad spinner almost every day. Don't know what i'd do without it.

[misterbrucie]

Haha -- when you wear yours out I can send you mine. I think I've used it twice.

[revsharkie]

Don't think I'd used mine more than two or three times in ten years, until this year when I got a CSA share, and for the first several weeks had an abundance of lettuce to wash. Now I'm pretty much in love with it.

[itsrob]

I use mine almost every day too! It saved me from buying bagged lettuce. I buy lettuce, slice it up, wash it, and keep it in the spinner. It stays good quite a while in there.

[jfood]

Jfood swears by his. Wash the lettuce and spinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. All the water come out. the luttuce stay longer in the fridge after it is dried. Mrs jfood had quite a laugh when he brought it home but after a few months she agreed it was a good idea. Now little jfood uses it for her salads as well.

[greygarious]

Also good for getting the water out of hollow-shape cooked pasta!

[riverwalk]

great idea! didn't think of that.

[minkdreads]

Totally my egg-separator. I always just separate the whites out by hand for meringues and such!

[EWSflash]

Did you ever see the egg separator that's a cup with a face built into the side and you crack the egg into the cup and pour the whites out of the big giant anatomically correct nose on the side? I never bought one, but some day i just might, just for the shock/comedy value.

[diane419]

a strawberry huller

[osho]

Second the strawberry huller from WS I bought a few years ago. Completely useless.

[ChiliDude]

A double-bladed mezzaluna! I had a Williams-Sonoma gift certificate, and didn't need the cutting board that came with the single-bladed one. Celery, onion and carrot gets caught between the 2 blades. The damn thing now just lies in a drawer.

[imabigeater]

I do my best to keep my gadjets simple and neccessary. favorites and used a lot... rubber saptula, wooden spoon, kuhn rikon peeler, assorted grinders, SS mixing bowls, sheet trays, good heavy duty pots and my favorite tool - my hands. I have cupboards full of useless things that I do not get rid of because I may need them some day, hee hee. The most useless? The spatula/spoon combo utensil that came with my sons easy bake oven. Yes, it is in my drawer.

[CilD]

The most useless thing I wasted around $30 on a few years ago was a waffle maker size red electric quesadilla maker I bought at Target. It took too much space and the quesadillas it made weren't very good - a frying pan does a much better job. Maybe it was because the no-stick stuff on the surface made it so you weren't suppose to use oil or butter or at least not much - so the quesadilla came out dry. I gave the stupid thing to my son who also didn't use it and ended up unloading it at a thrift shop. Also, someone once gave me a salad shooter. I tossed that out fast, another space taking piece of plastic junk.

[CilD]

Oh, I forgot to mention the big, heavy and costly pasta maker attachment for my Cuisinart food processor. The pasta clogged up in the machine and it was a huge mess. A really bad purchase. I don't know if they still sell this item, but be forewarned - don't buy!!!

[kanosis]

I can top your quesadilla maker... I have a fajita maker. Never used it. Just sits in my garage.

[mlipps]

What does that even mean??? Fajitas are just stir fried meat in warm tortillas!

[flourgirl]

I'm guessing that's why kanosis's fajita maker is sitting in the garage....

[Jimmy Buffet]

The one-size-measures-all spoon with the sliding divider.

Also, a beer can chicken rack, mainly because I can't understand what the big deal is behind beer can chicken.

[flourgirl]

<can't understand what the big deal is behind beer can chicken.>

Me neither. We tried making it once, and I wasn't impressed.

[Mother of four]

Oh my, I just bought one!! The beer can chicken rack!! But I saw a recipe and they said to use it!! It's that darn Food network. It seems everytime I watch a program there is something else I cannot live without.

[jfood]

Thank you JB. Jfood has been unable to figure out the beer can thing as well. It "infuses" the meat with the flavor of beer. Huh?

Want real flavor in a chicken, place some fresh herbs under the skin overnight.

[wawajb]

My experience is that the real point of the beer can chicken is that it provides a budget version of the 'upright roaster'. So you get crispy chicken skin on all sides with no flipping. And it lets us cook chicken on the grill (mmm...smoky chicken) without having the skin stick to the grate. I love ours...we actually have two so we can do multiple chickens on our big grill for parties.

[jfood]

for the price of a 6-pack you can buy a wire vert-roaster. And there is no concern about the inside of your chicken getting tattoo'd "resiewduB"

[wawajb]

Except that when we're bbqing outside, it's a given that there are cans of beer involved. Drink one, poke extra holes in top, refill with some water for steam and ballast and insert into chicken. Tada! And then you get to just throw away your 'vertical roaster' instead of having to clean it. And we've actually never had any issues with the logo coming off the can...but if you aren't a beer drinker than actually buying the roaster would make perfect sense.

That said...we do actually own the wire vertical roasters...we were doing it so often that it was worth it to have something with handles to pull it back out of the chicken.

[greygarious]

For no money, you can jam your chicken onto the tube of a bundt pan or angel food pan.

[somervilleoldtimer]

Funny!

[chef chicklet]

oh gosh, recovering from back surgery awhile ago, I got hung up on the shopping channels, and bought several goofy things. Just blame it on the drugs.
Anyway, one of them was a knife with a guard rail attached to it so that "every single tomato would be sliced to the same thinness" and the salami and the veggies. Not owning a madoline, I thought that it would be great. Heck no, I almost cut my finger off! I tried to find it to attach a photo, must of tossed it cause unable to locate it. Thank Goodness!

[RGC1982]

A corn creamer. I thought it would remove kernals (kid with braces) and didn't realize all it does is smash kernals while removing some of the kernal pulp -- not very well, I might add. I think I had temporary insanity while shopping at WS. Can't figure out why anyone would want this.

[Sooeygun]

That's what a angel cake pan it for. The cob sits nicely on the tube in the centre and the pan catches the corn when you run your knife down the cob.

[riverwalk]

that's a good idea. ATK recommends doing it on a towel and gathering up the towel afterwards. My germophobe side was wondering a) if I felt secure that the towel wasn't unsanitary and b) if lint would get in the corn.

[applejuice]

I am pretty proud of myself that I worked in a kitchen store for a year and came out relatively unscathed in the kitchen gadget dept. I became a no gadget girl pretty quickly. I could not live without my chefs knife, microplane or pepper grinder. That being said I say that my food mill rarely gets used and I have the most useless stick blender on the planet. Cookie cutters are another thing that rarely get used around here but I keep them around because Mom gave them to me when I moved out and they have good memories attached.

[Rick]

Stick blender works very nicely for making creamy type soups, tomato, butternut squash etc.

[pdxgastro]

Plus I make a latte at home with one. I 'steam' the milk in a tall glass in the microwave and then use my immersion blender to foam it up.

[deuelpm]

Mine's also useless, but great in concept. I was of mixed feelings the other day when cleaning the stick blender, nicking my finger, and not really being injured. Wasn't sure whether to be happy my stupidity didn't leave me disfigured, or that I spent real money on a lousy dull stick.

[lessleyellen]

My mother, bless her heart, is the queen of giving me useless gadgets. The best/worst from last Xmas:
* pancake dispenser (because it's soooo hard to just put it in the pan with a spoon!)
* nut grinder (because the cuisinart is too big???)

[ShyCountryMiss]

Salad Spinner. What was I thinking? lol

[flipkeat]

Thanks Shy, here I thought I was the only one who thought those things were useless??? You made my day...
Here's a useless kitchen gadget way more useless than that. I got it as a gift topper one Xmas LOL LOL a Banana cutter shaped like a banana, yellow in colour Pfttttttttttttt!!!

[ShyCountryMiss]

Shucks, and I was hoping to give you mine-lol. Some have said here they dont like bundt cake pans, but I do. Especially the heavy, thick older ones, but I use mine for monkey bread, and sally lunn. :-)

[revsharkie]

My bundt pan is an old one with Teflon in it that has come of in some of the little crevices, so every time I make anything in it, it sticks and is pretty much ruined. I have a regular tube pan and I use that for monkey bread, and bundt cakes don't really ever come up.

[iyc_nyc]

I have one from WS and it's actually AMAZING for those of us who use lots of sliced bananas, as for smoothies. Hard to explain til you try -- but much faster and neater (on the hands and counter/cutting board) than slicing w/a knife. Cuts are also cleaner. Just takes two cuts to slice one banana perfectly, and does it right into the blender or bowl.

[frankiii]

Several of the items mentioned here get heavy use in my kitchen (immersion blender, spice grinder, micro-plane, salad spinner e.g.). And it may border on heresy to say it but I almost never use my garlic press. It is a pain to clean (sort of anyway) but mainly, I just don’t mind smashing and chopping garlic. In fact, I kind of enjoy it.

[pdxgastro]

Toothbrush.

[frankiii]

I should also say that “useless” is sort of hard to gauge. There are several items on my counter top that don’t get much use and take up a lot of space, but when you need them, you really need them. I am thinking of my Kitchen Aid mixer. I have a small kitchen and it has a big footprint. However, you cant beat it for a number of tasks (used it yesterday to get about 2 cups of lime juice and who wants to do that by hand). By this analysis my toaster might be the most useless in terms of frequency divided by space. I use my Krupp panini press a lot more.

[Rick]

How do you use the Kitchen Aid to get lime juice? please tell!

[ShyCountryMiss]

Now that I think about it, besides my salad spinner,Im going to add my extra wide 4 slot toaster. I never use it, and it takes up too much space. One tiny gadget I wish I still had, was my tupperware egg helper. A tiny half cup shaped thing with a short,sharp,narrow pin sticking up from the bottom. Before you hardboiled egges,you pushed the egg in causing a teeny tiny hole. Nothing leaked out, but after boiling, every egg peeled extremely easy.

[paperdoll]

A coaxial cable end works well for this...just like the part you put into your cable tv.

[LabRat]

Onion "blossom" cutter. For some unknown reason I received THREE of these one Christmas. Re-gifted two of them, but still have one sitting WAY back in the cabinet.

[debbiel]

That's great--it must have been in the center of the aisle at BB&B or something.

I had a gift trend Christmas a couple years ago. It was my first Christmas away from my partner in 15 years. He was with his family, I was with mine. We talked on the phone late in the day and he told me that his sister had gotten us a cookbook holder (or stand, whatever you call the thing you use to keep your cookbook opened to the right page and protected). He promised he was gracious about it, even though we already had one. Then he opened his next present--from his parents--and it was a cookbook holder. I was laughing uncontrollably on the telephone. It took me several minutes to pull myself together enough to tell him that I had just opened a present from my sister and bro-in-law, and that it was indeed a cookbook holder.

We kept the one we had and regifted the others.

[flourgirl]

That's hilarious! I think an onion "blossom" cutter has to at least *qualify* for crowning as THE most useless kitchen gadget.

[lexpatti]

Sooo funny, We play yankee swap each year at christmas but not new gifts old, (something you don't want anymore gifts) and the same onion blossom comes each year wrapped in a disguise so no one will know what it is. It's hilarious to find out who goes home with it.

[fini]

Garlic press. Worthless.

[boyaux]

You must live in a cold environment. Slow cookers are great for all kinds of cookin' down here in Louisiana..staying cool most of all. Sure, you could leave your oven on all day, if you wanted to heat the whole house up and wast a bunch of energy trying to stay cool. I always saute the veggies and brown the meat in my black pot before I throw 'em in the slow pot.

[coney with everything]

I had various garlic presses that I hated--hard to clean and did a bad job. It's not that it's so much work to chop garlic, but I could never get it uniform or fine enough, and my hands would smell for a couple of days.

But Cooks Illustrated swore by the Zyliss so I got one of those. Now I wouldn't live without it!

[riverwalk]

I am devoted to their second choice one, Rosle. The Zyliss was not as good to us because it was not stainless steel and because the Rosle has a swing away grate that is soo easy to clean plus it's balanced, dishwasher safe with sealed handles, and looks freaking cool hanging. The Zyliss also peeled (the surface peeled off) and we returned it. Rosle cost more, but I waited to find a good price on ebay or at an online kitchen store.

[Calling All Toasters]

Slow cooker. I know a lot of CHers love them, but... I haven't found it does anything that sticking the old cast iron/enamel pot in a 250-300-350 degree oven doesn't do better. And you can saute what you need to in the pot first!

[willdupre]

Iced Tea/Coffee maker, got it a few years back from a family member, and whats worse I had to tote that large box back with me on a plane when I knew I would never ever use it in my lifetime.

[ashes]

My mom bought me the Black and Decker Gizmo Grater (an electric cheese grater) a few xmases back. It had interchangeable plates but really just moved around on top of the cheese and did little grating. It was awful and with all the attachments it took up more space than necessary. It went to Goodwill during the last move.

[Cheffrank]

A "Perfect Pancake" maker, 2 piece of crap little griddles hinged together so you can flip the pan on the stove rather than the pancake itself. Got it as a gift years ago and it went into a pile of other useless junk that I have managed to collect over the years. Was going to give it to charity but was SURE that even Goodwill wouldn't take it!

[itsrob]

That sounds like it might be good for making hash browns. Hash browns have made my waffle iron relevant again!

[xnyorkr]

One of those manual herb chopper things.

[Mother of four]

Oh yes! That went back to the store the next day. But, it worked so well on the food network!

[riverwalk]

the food network is costing me a fortune. I guess that's what the sponsors intended!

[missfunkysoul]

the slow-cooker. my family never had one growing up, so it has no nostalgic appeal to me. i'd much rather use the oven/stove.

foreman grill - gave it away. it was too hard to clean. if i didn't have access to the grill outside, i'd rather use a grill pan or just broil something as opposed to using the stupid foreman...

something i don't own, but which totally blows my mind in its utter absurdity, is that frozen pizza cooker thingie. where it spins the pizza around under a stationary heat source? it's just so weird!

[TampaAurora]

Publix had a station demonstrating these right by the frozen pizzas. My SO and I just sat there laughing at the people who couldn't look away from this contraption. I just inherited a bread machine and we're trying to make some pizzas, so we did end up getting a pizza stone that they had in the same spot.

[newbatgirl]

Got a GF Grill from my parents, used it once and decided that it steamed food but came nowhere near grilling it. Gave it away.

I do use my slow cooker quite often but not for real cooking. It's a dream for serving on buffets and such. At holidays, I use it to heat and serve spiced cider when all my stove burners are typically occupied with food.

I agree that the sliding measuring spoon is useless.

[swsidejim]

I agree on the slowcooker, I only bring mine up from its basement storage home when I am having a party, and need to keep something warm on a buffet table. Other than that I never consider using it for cooking anything.

[bakerboyz]

My son bought me a bagel slicer about 4 years ago, don't think I have ever used it...I mean, how hard is it to slice a bagel with a knife??

[HungryLetsEat]

I know 2 people who have sliced through their hands cutting bagels. One had to have surgery and go through 4 weeks of physical therapy! The other needed stitches at the emergency room.

Perhaps the bagel slicer isn't such a useless tool for those who aren't accustomed to dealing with sharp knives.

[revsharkie]

My knives are plenty sharp and I still don't see the problem. You stand the bagel on its side on the cutting board, with your hand above it, and slice downward.

[HungryLetsEat]

You and I know that's the safest way to cut a bagel. However, apparently a lot of people hold it in their hand and slice through it and into their palm. That's how the people I know got cut. (Both were teenagers - so I think thats telling.) I also heard somewhere that emergency rooms see this injury a lot.

[im_nomad]

am guilty of this one....still have the scar to prove it. However, my guilt is mitigated by the fact that I had just gotten home after a 12 hour night shift and a 40 minute bus ride....and i was half asleep. Haven't done it since though !!

[jfood]

Standing a bagel on its side almost caused a might nasty cut for jfood since the edge was pretty slippery and phoot, the darn thing slipped.

Now jfood lies the bagel onits side on the board, places his left palm on top with fingers extended upwards and knife horizontal in his right (stronger) hand on the side of the bagel. Hopefully there is a "flat" end on the bagel where it touched its neighbor in the oven. Jfood places the flat part of the edge to his left. Cuts halfway through picks up the bagel-knife combo and places the flat edge on the board, left hand on top of the bagel and one push-pull with a nice long knife and the surgery is complete.

[deuelpm]

no no no no no - don't start with the bagel standing up! put the bagel on its face, put your hand flat on the top face, position the sharp bread knife parallel to the surface and centered on the bagel and draw back to make the first cut.... THEN stand the bagel up and cut as others have described. That bagel injury happens from hand slicing, and other injuries from when the knife (even sharp ones) skip off the crust on the first pass. Good bagels will have a nice tough hide!

...ah yes, as jfood has indicated.

[eamcd]

We have good knives, but have to admit that we use the bagel slicer whenever we have a bunch of bagels for a group. It does make quicker work and even the kids can use it (with supervision of course).

[razkolnikov]

I use mine too, even though a knife could do the job just as well. There's just something satisfyingly medieval in guillotining a bagel with the slicer that you can't get from a knife.

That said, I wish I could think of another use for it to rescue it from its unitasker existence.

[jethro]

My wife! If I only had the receipt to return her!

[Caroline1]

I win! I win! Does anybody else have a larding needle?

....Anybody!

See? I told you I win!

As for egg cups, I use mine for... soft boiled eggs! Brings back childhood breakfasts with my English grandfather who would cut off the top for me, then hand me a crust of well buttered toast to dip in the yolk. Yum! And don't forget the salt and pepper!

[revsharkie]

Okay, yes, you win. Now, tell us, what IS a larding needle?

[LabRat]

A larding needle is used to insert strips of fat in to lean meats before you roast them. They usually have a sharp tip and a hollow body that can be filled with whatever you want to end up in the roast (usually lard, but I have seen them used to insert pimentos, carrots, green peppers, etc..). They then have some sort of mechanism (usually just a push rod that is inserted in to the hollow part) to keep the added materials in the roast as the needle is removed.

[MoxieBoy]

And who needs knives, forks and spoons when you have fingers?

[somervilleoldtimer]

You absolutely win!

[LaureltQ]

I kind of want one of those! I currently just inject melted butter into turkey breasts with a hypodermic needle!

[lexpatti]

I haven't seen it mentioned and I've had a couple, give em away every time. An electric can opener. I have no use for these things when the hand crank that fits nicely in the drawer never fails. These electric ones fail, take up too much space and have we gotten this lazy that we need to push a button rather then turn a crank???

[kanosis]

Yea, let's work for our food! I can say I never bought an electric can opener either.

[lseavey]

My grandmother has arthritis and cannot open cans without an electric can opener.

[debbiel]

Yes, as lseavey points out, electric can openers are essential tools for some people (my sister and niece included).

[zukeeper]

my mother bought me a pickle pincher. No it's not as dirty as it sounds.
It looks like something you'd extract eyeballs from their sockets with.
ewwww.

[im_nomad]

I was given one of those pocket sandwich maker thingies that looks like a waffle maker on the outside, several years ago as a gift. Moved with it three times and didn't use it the whole time. Made little triangle shaped pancakes in it once, and it made it's way into the garage sale box, where it remains, because no one else wanted it either!! I still have this thing upstairs in a box !

Also a well intentioned gift from a friend, an electric chocolate melter candy making thing that came with a bunch of molds etc. Two little pots side by side, i guess you could use it for a chocolate fondue sort of thing. It's never been out of the box...two years since.

Someone also once gave me some kind of a grapefruit sectioner type, domed looking thing. I do not like, nor do i eat grapefruit. I also have one of those orange peelers that i can't imagine using.

I have several silicone items given to me, that i have yet to use...including cake pans, some kind of a round thing that you're supposed to roll out and cut pie crusts etc on (has inner rings with measurements next to them), it's from Pampered Chef i think...and everything stuck to it.

[wawajb]

You know...we had a pocket sandwich maker when I was a kid and I LOVED that thing. I used it pretty much every weekend to make myself breakfast or lunch. I wasn't allowed to use the stove without supervision, but I was allowed to use that thing. I got pretty creative with it...but I always went back to the old favorite: melty oozy peanut butter and jelly. With a big glass of milk. Mmm....

I actually asked my mom last time I was visiting if she still had it so I could steal it, but she had goodwilled it last time she moved. You could ship yours down to Maryland if you want Nomad. I'd take it happily. :)

[jfood]

and hopefully you had some first aid ointment for your lips on the first incinerator bite. Jfood loved that pocket sandwich maker, but you gotta remember to let the thing cooooooool down first.

[wawajb]

so, so, so true. I usually burnt the roof of my mouth with the molten peanut butter.

[Romanmk]

Butter curler.
Threw out the mini-food processor, in favor of a knife, years ago.

[miss_bennet]

I LOVE my Zyliss garlic press!

You have to peel garlic before you chop it anyway, and my knife skills can't keep up with the press. I've tried some others, though, and they were terrible. My mom has had her Zyliss for at least 15 years, it's in two pieces, and sitll works better than the two non-Zyliss ones she got for Christmas.

I got this sushi roller gadget last Christmas. I haven't used it. You basically put the nori on a square base, then rice etc, then you put a square frame around the edges and fold it into a square. It came with a two year warranty... I'm guessing because no one will use it in the first two years. Then again, I don't make much sushi.
http://www.sushiathome.com/sushiframe...

[starlady]

huh, looks intriguing but I have been making my own sushi for years and while I now crave sushi just from looking at it (LOL), I don't think i would ever use it!

My gfs and I used to throw sushi parties, where NONE of us knew how to do it and while lots at the beginning didn't turn out, it all tasted good and we all got pretty good at it eventually.

We even started doing the deep fried ones and inside out ones :)

[kanosis]

A lemon juicer that looks like a birdie. Put the wedge in and with a lever it squeezes the lemon wedge. Totally useless.

[kanosis]

An apple corer is useless. (not the peeler slicer which I love and use every 5 years)

[taos]

I use my apple corer all the time. It's perfect is all I want is the core removed from an apple.

[amacord]

A Williams-Sonoma herb mill I got as a wedding shower gift. It sounded like a good idea but all I get is a mushy shredded mess of parsley or basil. Plus it is a pain to clean. Or maybe I just don't know how to use the darn thing....

[sobriquet]

My zester. 99.9% of the time I reach for a microplane instead. It does a better job.

[Rick]

Here I thought a microplane was a zester!

[c oliver]

I hadn't thought of that. But there is that 0.1% of the time when I want the longer threads.

[tom45424]

P/c bread tube I bought mine at a thrift store(brand new). We have fried mush several times a year. I put the mush in it. Slice and fry. wish it was just round instead of fluted.

[tom45424]

About those apple corers/slicers
I make caramel for my wife and she dips the slices into it.Grandkids think its great
to have caramel apples with grandma.
To make the caramel.
I make 3 cans at a time. Put an UNOPENED can of sweetened condensed milk
in sausepan of water let simmer, when water is 1/2 gone turn can over add water to top of can let simmer until water is low again,can now full of excelent caramel. Eagle brand sweentened condensed is always good. Some store brands are very acceptable.

[Whosyerkitty]

I have a tendency to get pretty creative when carving the Halloween pumpkin and the apple corer has come in handy several times.

[operagirl]

The teddy bear, truck, and something else twee-shaped onigiri molds I bought in addition to the traditional triangular one. I only use the triangular one. Ever.

[clayrr]

Larding needle. Definitely my larding needle.
(Don't ask why I have two...)

[rtms]

tartshell tamper, 7 years old and never used

[tomishungry]

Stupid plastic chef's knife that is supposed to keep chopped lettuce from browning.

[somervilleoldtimer]

I have a plastic knife that I love for cutting bar cookies and other things that I've made in non-stick pans. A metal knife would ruin the finish.

[yakitat jack]

Also for cast iron pots and pans

[Antilope]

I was going to say my dog, but he eats my mistakes. ;-)

[al b. darned]

I have had an immersion blender for about 10 years and don't think I've used it 5 times.

[c oliver]

Glad to see this, al. I've been meaning to search this board about them. So many people rave about them, but I can't see that I would use it.

[somervilleoldtimer]

Well, I don't use mine very often, but it's really the only thing to use for pureeing hot soup. So when I use mine, I'm really happy to have it, twice/three times a year.

[TampaAurora]

I don't have a processor or a blender, so my immersion blender is in use at least once every other week. I have a wisk attachment as well, so I use it for everything from soups like harira and potato leek soup to foaming egg whites.... I've even used it for "mashing" potatoes.

[revsharkie]

My immersion blender is a very old Braun model from at least 20 years ago. My grandma decided everyone needed one and bought one for anyone who expressed even the vaguest agreement with her sentiment. I didn't use it for years, but now I have it out at least once or twice a week.

I got my husband a very cheap espresso machine for Christmas--it makes acceptable espresso but is worthless for steaming and frothing milk. So if I'm making something that requires froth, I heat the milk and froth it with the immersion blender.

Its other main use here is making Mexican hot chocolate. Mike grates the chocolate, I heat the milk, and we put it together with the immersion blender.

[ratgirlagogo]

For me, it would be the garlic press and the food chopper. I think it's easier to just use a knife and clean the cutting board . But my boyfriend uses both of them all the time.

There's also the cast iron fondue set we got as a gift eight years ago, used once, and haven't used since.

But - far and away the most useless gadget in our kitchen is the Ron Popeil Pasta Maker. My BF actually ordered this in a manic moment off the TV. Jesus! A two year thread and I'm still the only one with this embarrassing thing taking up space under my sink!

[ChickenBrocandZiti]

An advocado pitter/slicer from WS. A total waste of space. I can believe some one paid for the R&D on it. I can't believe it is sold or bought, mine was a gift from Mom so it stays in the drawer.

[duck833]

wife

[JanPrimus]

I second this opinion!

[somervilleoldtimer]

Husband! Except that he does the dishes.

[bigfellow]

Variation on the theme: Fiancee

[cuccubear]

First, thank you everyone for the forewarning about the silicon baking pans.

A friend tried to give me a set, but since I already had plenty of baking pans already, I declined. You’d have thought I had just killed his cat the way he looked at me. Sorry, the simple fact was - I didn’t need them.

Now that I’ve heard all the negatives, I don’t feel so bad. :-)

Anywho – my nominees for most worthless kitchen gadgets are:
spaghetti portion paddle
cookbook holder
electric can opener
pump oil sprayer
egg timer

One of my seldom used, but totally effective utensils is an old fashioned can opener – one with a blade that you rock back and forth and actually cut the lid from the can. I used this for years and years until I finally bought my heavy-duty, manual Swingline.

[kanosis]

I always use my low tech can opener. I tell my kids that when the power goes out, we will have our trusty can opener handy. I have so many electrical appliances but I've never bought an electric can opener. There is something about the handy can opener that I've never given up. Must be something primal!

[cuccubear]

I'm just not a gadget kind of guy. If it plugs in, recharges, or has batteries, I don't want it, unless I _really_ need it.

[somervilleoldtimer]

A cookie press! I have never yet had a cookie that I wanted to eat that was made with a cookie press. They all taste like dog biscuits.

[Sooeygun]

You haven't had the right cookies then. I only use my cookie press once a year to make my shortbread, but I wouldn't do without it. The one year I didn't have one, I piped the cookies by hand, I thought my hand would fall off (and I was working in the pastry kitchen at a hotel at the time, so my piping strength was pretty good).

Believe me, my cookies don't taste like dog biscuits/

[ThreeGigs]

Well, as long as someone else resurrected the thread, I'll add to it :-)

I used my cookie press the other day to stuff canneloni with a rather heavy cheese filling that would have been extremely difficult to push through a piping bag.

[flourgirl]

cookie presses are great for making cheese straws. (The square kind using the ribbon plate.)

[somervilleoldtimer]

I can't find it in this long list, but someone mentioned mandolins. I love my Feemster -- it would take a finger off, so i have to be careful, but it's very basic and very sharp! I got mine 20 years ago, because my mother wouldn't give me hers. http://www.jensco.com/thekitchendrawe...

[revsharkie]

I swear by my Feemster for making pickles and the like, but I very nearly sliced the tip of my finger off the very first time I had it out. The hole in the end of my finger was so deep and scary that I had a splint on it for days, because every time it would touch ANYTHING, I would scream.

[David A. Goldfarb]

A french fry cutter that I bought at a supermarket. Too small for most potatoes, so I have to cut the potatoes to size anyway, at which point, I might as well cut the fries with a knife.

The Kitchen Aid pasta extrusion attachment that's meant to be used with the grinder attachment--I've never gotten any kind of useful pasta out of this, and once the dough even started backing up into the machine and extruding some kind of grey, silvery grease while one of my dinner guests was watching. I tossed that batch and made commercial noodles.

A "universal" pot lid that I think works with one or maybe two of my 20-odd pots and pans. The knob is in the center, so on a smaller pot, the handle usually gets in the way of the cover.

[ScubaSteve]

my girlfriend

[jeffreyem]

Another vote for the wife.

[Cinnamon]

Does a trash compactor count? We use ours to store cans of dog food.

[toomanypots]

We traded out the compactor for a wine chiller, which certainly counts as a gadget, albeit built-in!

[EWSflash]

I had an 'aha' moment when I was reading a consumer reports magazine several years back, and they put forth the question- do you really need a $200 appliance that turns 20 lbs of garbage into 20 lbs of garbage?

[ZenSojourner]

AH HA HA HA HA!

you mean THAT kind of "aha" moment?

LOL!

[EWSflash]

I guess it was a dual AHA moment now that you mention it!

[Mother of four]

Love it, ours went to Goodwill a number of years ago.

[grayum]

This stupid metal lemon juicer thing that looks like a mini funnel that you screw into the bottom of a lemon and then squeeze. Useless, hard to clean, and a pain to get in and out of the lemon. But I think it has a mysterious hold over me -- I've held onto it for YEARS and can't part with it . . . .

[Caroline1]

Reality based answer? The most useless thing in my kitchen, though I don't think it's exactly a "gadget", is my collection of five or six diet cook books. Not ONE of them works! <sigh>

[Alacrity59]

I purchased a Belgian deep waffle maker about 12 years ago. I've used it twice. The unfortunate thing is that I was thinking of the waffles my mother used to make in a Sunbeam grill press that had reversible plates. One side was for waffles and the other flat. You could lay the thing out flat and do pancakes and bacon and eggs like a restaurant grill or you could use it like a grill press for sandwiches. I think it was used at least once a week and would probably be still in use today close to 50 years later if my mother had not passed away.

[whiskysour]

Yogurt maker. Did it once or twice, but couldn't find the starter locally and didn't want to order it online over and over.
Zyliss cheese grater with the hand-crank. Impossible to clean.
Stainless steal thing shaped like soap that supposedly removes onion and garlic odors from your fingers. Rubbing fingers on a clean knife does the same thing.
Mortar and pestle. Keep it around because it's pretty but we never use it.
Also a gorgeous low-tech scale with little weights that look like chess pieces. Aesthetically pleasing, but use it only to hold onions and garlic on the countertop, never for weighing things.
Weird items we use a lot: salad spinner, toaster oven, lemon squeezer, apple corer-slicer, fondue pot, mini-cuisinart (for making baby food).

[Rick]

I LOVE my toaster oven! I have an old one from my grandpap, it's a toaster oven but also has a slit across the top like a regular toaster, that slit is closeable when you use it as an oven. Cooking for just two people there are plenty of times I just use my little toaster oven instead of firing up the real oven.

[flourgirl]

I love my toaster oven too. I'm only cooking for 3 most of the time, and I can often use that one instead of the big oven. There's a lot of things I don't like reheated in microwaves either - the toaster oven is great for reheating a slice of pizza, meat, chicken, etc.

[Scrapironchef]

Wifey and I had fondue tonight, using an electric pot I bought about a month after we started going out more than 10 years ago. We've had a lot of great meals around it.

[Nezrite]

My yogurt maker sat on the shelf for years, and I've suddenly started using it again. Instead of "starter" I just got a small container of Fage and used that. Now I just set aside 1/2 cup of my yogurt to use as starter for the next batch and it works great. I'm loving homemade yogurt flavored with a bit of maple syrup and some GrapeNuts!

And I do use my mortar and pestle occasionally, to crush cumin seeds, caraway seeds, peppercorns, etc.

[vorpal]

My mortar and pestle is probably the kitchen gadget that gets the most use after my blender! It's perfect for pounding garlic and other aromatics (especially lemongrass) to release the flavours, and it's absolutely essential in Thai cooking.

[aldente1]

The rubber garlic peeler. I never take it out of the drawer. I just smash the garlic with the side of my knife and the peel comes off. Why dirty another item?

[LindaWhit]

Per what I said upthread awhile ago, sometimes you want whole, *unsmashed* cloves of garlic for recipes.

[David A. Goldfarb]

You can press gently to crack the peel, and it usually comes off fairly easily without smashing the garlic.

[buttertart]

Or sometimes wisting the tip and the bottom in opposite directions loosend the peel enough to get it off and leavethe cloves whole. You can also blanch very very briefly.

[amokscience]

Worst thing I ever bought was a silicone baking mold. Maybe I used it wrong but the thing is junk in comparison to your standard heavy duty aluminum cake pan.

Second worst was a fondue set. Flimsy, burnt stuff, dangerous. Just buy a small crock pot instead.

Another horrible item was a food chopper. Seemed great in theory but learn some basic knife skills instead. Your wrist will be much happier.

After throwing out several items I've learned to research a lot before investing in a new tool (or buying really cheap in case it turns out to be a dud).

I have a flour sifter that I've used once.

[flourgirl]

I sold my flour sifter at my last garage sale...

[buttertart]

I've never had one, always used a seive as did my mom, but my mother-in-law wouldn't be parted from hers under any circumstances.

[LindaWhit]

And mine is my Grandma's, so I won't be parted from it either.

[buttertart]

I should hope not! That's fodder for another thread, what implements did you inherit and therefore cherish.

[jfood]

jfood uses his all the time when he tries to bake. The price is still on the side from the Sharpie.

[flourgirl]

buttertart, I use a sieve too. It works just as well as a sifter & it means one less thing in my kitchen. :)

[ThreeGigs]

I don't bother sifting or sieving, my flour is in a big glass cannister which I shake to fluff up the flour before scooping. So not just one less thing in the kitchen, but one less thing to wash after cooking or baking.

[buttertart]

I just fluff too for most things but some delicate cakes are of finer crumb if you sift. If a recipe specifies sifting, I usually do it. Plus the sieve is useful for many other types of cooking. (This is the edited text, obviously, edit function is apparently duplicating text again...)

[flourgirl]

Yes, I agree with buttertart. Generally speaking, I just use a long thin whisk to fluff up my flour which I also keep in a large glass jar, but there are some baked goods that really call for sifting, and not doing so has an adverse effect on the final product.

And yes, I use my sieves for lots of things besides sifting flour.

[Caroline1]

From April to August. Not a bad response time!

I have one of those old fashioned sifters with the "beater" inside and you turn the handle and it whips around and pushes the contents through the sifter. I don't know that I've ever used it for flour, but for frosting making, it has refined many a pound of powdered sugar! Can't do without it for baking.

[Mother of four]

My DDIL sent me a battery operated sifter....need I say more!!!

[Paulustrious]

Probably misunderstood its purpose and re-gifted it to you.

[EWSflash]

Battery operated? The mind boggles. it's not the hardest thing you can do

[jen kalb]

I use my sifter (the kind that has a crank and spinning wires) mainly for recipes that require sifted flour, following my mothers old method of sifting directly into the measuring cups. its also useful for confectioners suger and sometimes other ingredients that are clumped up (easier than a sieve)

For other recipes where ingredients are to be sifted together, I have a stiff whisk which I use, much simpler and does not dirty the sifter.

I have a fine sieve I use for lots of things. but notably since weevils WILL appear in flour and other grains it is used for sieving these out - the sifter is too big grained to be reliable for this.

[Mother of four]

Just make sure to freeze your flour when you bring it home. A few days will do it and no more weevils! I promise.

[Paulustrious]

One of those porcelain covered steel pan/trays that come with an oven. For some reason, when I threw the oven away I hung on to the pan.

Twice.

[ZenSojourner]

OK, most useless items ever -

When I was a kid my mother had an expensive copper bowl that hung all the way up at the top of the pegboard in the kitchen (yes, we had our kitchen tools hanging on pegboard, can you tell my dad was a handyman? It was organized just like his workshop in the basement). It was supposed to be for whipping egg whites to make meringue. Since I did all the cooking, and since I am and have always been of the shrimpish persuasion, AND since we lived in a then 150 year old (now 200 year old) farmhouse with 11 foot ceilings, that thing got used exactly - never. It gathered dust like you wouldn't believe hanging all the way up there. I'm fairly certain that coating of dust eventually evolved into a life form.

As an adult, in my own kitchen, several items.

Firstly, a DeLonghi deep fryer. Came highly recommended, did not get nearly hot enough. I later found out that the temperature gauges in these things are notoriously inaccurate and one gentleman told me he had to return his 3 times before he got one that was accurate AND would heat up high enough. If I have to use an oil thermometer anyway, I'd rather just use a pan and watch it closely. Also the wire basket in that thing was a PAIN IN THE BUTT to clean, it was very lightweight mesh and the only way I could get the congealing oil off it was to soak it in like a gallon of SimpleGreen or that orange degreasing stuff.

Electric Wok. Got used like twice.

Fondue kit. 'nuff said.

Cookie press. Ditto.

Thing that looked like a branding iron (in several shapes) that you were supposed to dip in batter, dip in hot oil, make a branding-iron shaped deep fried thing that you then fished out of the boiling oil and dusted with powder sugar. Some kind of German thing that I can't remember the name for. Got used exactly - never.

Tea pots of any variety. I make my tea a cup at a time from loose leaf tea in small tea balls (well except for masala chai, that's a whole 'nother critter). Tea gets cold fast in a tea pot and they're ridiculously hard to clean. Tea stains are not attractive and turn me off the tea in the pot.

A food warmer. It was a wedding gift.

A coffee cup warmer that was supposed to keep your tea/coffee/hot chocolate/what have you warm. It was a little round thing that you were supposed to plug in and set your cup on it. It took forever for it to warm up, and it never got warm enough to make any difference.

A thing that's supposed to scrape the seeds off the outside of strawberries. Seriously, who among us is actually so delicate that these would be a problem? (And who is merely delusional in thinking they are too delicate to deal with strawberry seeds?)

A spice dispenser. I use LOTS of spices and thought this would be very very useful, but it was instead very very useless. It jammed on EVERYTHING. I finally threw it away. It was electric (ran on batteries), held about 20 or 30 different spices, and was supposed to dispense a measured amount at the touch of a button. Did NOT work.

A tortilla maker. Electric. NEVER used it and the chrome coating "went away" and the thing rusted. I finally threw it out last week.

A Calphalon "non-stick" wok. It was the opposite of non-stick. Total waste of $100, which was a TON of money in the late '80s.

Mango corer/slicer. 'nuff said.

Pasta measurer. Also 'nuff said.

Egg separator. I had one of these in a drawer when I was a kid and it was years before I figured out what the thing was supposed to be for. Don't people know that eggs COME with an egg separator? It's called half of the shell.

Hot air popcorn maker. Made popcorn that tasted and looked like styrofoam. And that butter melter compartment on top was worse than useless - what a mess!

Those pancake presses that make little Mickey Mouse faces and stuff in your pancakes. Allegedly. Even if they worked, the end product would be so cutesy as to make me lose my appetite anyway.

Another item from my childhood, which I'm fairly certain was purchased from an early Ron Popeil ancestor, called a "hamburger press". It was a round plastic cylinder that had round plastic inserts, one of which had a handle attached. You were supposed to drop globs of raw hamburger into the cylinder, press it flat, drop in a separator disk, repeat. The problem was the "hamburgers" thus pressed were always lopsided and it took way longer to use this thing than if you just made the patties by hand. It was also a LOT messier.

A scrub brush especially made for scrubbing the inside of your garbage disposal. What possessed me?????

Two more items from my childhood, the electric carving knife and the electric bread slicer. 'nuff said.

Pineapple slicer. I used it like twice. It invariably ran right into the core and I had to carve bits of pineapple off the core it left behind, and bits of core off the pineapple that was supposed to come out in a perfect spiral (but didn't).

Again, from my childhood - egg rings. For years I thought these things were defective biscuit cutters.

Cheese slicers - you know, the ones that are vaguely spatula shaped, with a "blade" in the middle that's about 3" wide, so it carves (uneven) troughs into your block cheese? Or even worse, the wire cheese guillotine. For god's sake, just use a sharp knife! Or eat it by the chunk, who needs skinny slices of cheese anyway?

From my childhood yet again, an egg slicer. I didn't even know what the thing was until I was well over 30. Who needs sliced eggs?

Vertical paper towel holder. Just set the roll on the counter, fer cryin' out loud! Takes up less space and won't set you back $59.95. (OK, mine was wood and only cost $19.95, but STILL)

Napkin holders for paper napkins. Seriously? Again, from my childhood.

Any specialty blender - "the marguerita maker", "Milkshake maker", etc etc etc. Just buy a REALLY good blender and have done. Not a $35 WalMart special. A GOOD blender, that will actually blend the stuff you put into it instead of leaving a mass of untouched stuff in the bottom and/or whipping stuff in the top to an unrecognizable froth, or, worse yet, burns out at the first sign of resistance. And 20 or 30 speeds? SERIOUSLY? You only need like 6 or 8, 10 max.

A cookbook holder. The one I had had a plastic shield that was supposed to protect your cookbook from splatter. Note the term "supposed to". Also one size did not fit all. Also also it's far easier to jot the recipe down on the back of an old envelope and not worry about taking up all that counter space or splattering tomato sauce on your $65 cookbook. (IF I had a $65 cookbook, which I don't).

A metal thing that's supposed to desmell your hands after chopping onions. No noticeable effect whatsoever. Again, a gift. Not even I am so gullible as to buy such a thing.

A round ceramic disc that was supposed to keep milk from scorching. It didn't.

Silicon liner for cookie sheets. I bought several of these. They promptly gummed up with cookie detritus and I COULD not get them clean, not even in the dishwasher. Had to throw them away.

Silicon "spatula". Was too hard and inflexible to use as an actual spatula, and wrongly shaped for stirring or any other purpose.

THINGS THAT ARE OF LIMITED USEFULNESS FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES:

Electric can opener. I used to make fun of these, but I am rapidly approaching the age at which I am going to need one. A good one, one that does not require strength to use. Fully automatic. Otherwise they are useless even to the disabled or semi-disabled.

Immersion blender. I personally have no use for one of these - except while I was caring for my elderly father. He LOVED several different kinds of condensed soup, and sticking that immersion blender in there and mixing it up made my life so much easier, since I was making soup for him at least once or twice a day. The one I had cleaned very easily or it would have been useless. Other than that, no use for this.

A platter with little egg shapes molded into it. Totally useless, unless you frequently make deviled eggs. I hate deviled eggs. My dad LOVED deviled eggs. The only time I would have had any use for this was while he was living with me.

THINGS I HAVE SEEN WHICH I WOULD NEVER EVER OWN

Any baking container made of silicon. That means muffin "tins", cake "pans", loaf "pans", NOTHING.

Any potholder or trivet-equivalent made of silicone. Just because the plastic doesn't melt doesn't meant it provides any insulation whatsoever against the heat. And they don't.

A thing to break eggs open and "automatically" dispense the egg into whatever you're cooking. SERIOUSLY?

"Pizza Scissors" !!!!!!!!!!!

An egg press. Yes, an egg press. It turns your oblate hard-boiled egg into a square. Well, a cube actually, I guess - 3 dimensional and all. Seriously.

A thing that you set into a pot on the stove and the heat makes it twirl around and stir the pot for you. What, you can't turn your arm in a circle a couple of times while you're cooking????

THINGS I FIND INDISPENSABLE THAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK ARE USELESS

Corn holders. Personally I use these all the time, but I'm a corn-on-the-cob-aholic. I can literally make a meal out of corn on the cob. The corn holders keep my fingers from getting all wrinkledy (from holding corn dripping butter) and burned. Most people probably wouldn't get that much use out of them.

Butter holder. This is a thing that you slide a whole stick of butter into and it has a curved opening which you then use to butter your corn on the cob. I like a little corn on the cob with my butter. 'nuff said. (Seriously, there are junky ones that either don't work well or only hold a tiny pat etc, but I used to have one that held a whole stick and it worked really well. Haven't seen another in years though.)

Garlic press. I never knew there was such hatred of garlic presses until I read this thread. I've had a couple really good ones, including one that you didn't even have to peel the garlic. I have no idea how it worked but it did. It wasn't hard to clean either. I've also had some that were useless, including a plastic cylinder with a screw that you were supposed to fill up with (peeled) cloves and press out freshly squished garlic on demand. I actually had 2 of these, the first one actually was pretty easy to use, really worked, and got lost in a move. The second broke the first time I tried to use it. It's not the tool itself that's useless, it's finding one that works well and is easy to use. Kind of like manual can openers - I've had some that I literally could not use (it would take a gorilla to turn) and some that were actually cheaper that were easy to use. Nothing wrong with the concept, its all in the execution. However these days I use minced garlic in glass jars. Its just as good IMO.

Ginger grater. A small ceramic thing that looks sort of like a washboard only with rows of "spikes" instead of ridges. Makes grated ginger with no muss fuss or bother, and no tiny holes left stuffed full of ginger fiber impossible to clean out. Again, I've switched to pre-smashed garlic (garlic paste in jars) so I don't much use this anymore, but for many years it was absolutely one of my favorite tools.

Wonton press. I use it for making samosas (with wonton or eggroll wrappers).

Dough blender. Great for making shortbread. Might be great for making pie dough, if I ever learn to make it properly. Probably great for making biscuits, but my mother always made me use 2 knives even though we had a dough blender in the drawer (she probably didn't know what it was either). I have also been known to use it to make smashed potatoes.

Those old-style flour sifters with a handle. Much better than a hand-held basket-style sieve, because flour or (worse yet) powdered sugar doesn't go flying every which way when you use it. You can precisely deliver the flour or whatever into your mixing bowl or measuring cup without having it fly out to the sides and every which way.

I'm addicted to kitchen gadgets so I'm sure I've had other gadgets as well - for instance the electric plastic bag sealer that you had to buy special bags for. I actually did use it a lot but eventually couldn't find bags for it anymore (eventually being like a couple of years).

Anyway. Most of the useless one's I've (mercifully) forgotten. Also there were a ton of gadgets in the kitchen drawers when I was a kid that apparently nobody in the house had any idea of what they were. I know I never figured any of them out.

Over the years I've developed a few gadget-calluses so I'm not QUITE so susceptible to the coolth factor (Ooo! That looks really neat! And useful! And shiny!)

There's still that visceral tug that I feel from time to time though.

"My name is Sojourner, and I'm a recovering gadget-a-holic".

LOL!

[Paulustrious]

Superb post.

Been there, not done it for many of them.

I am also a little interested in what you had before you started recovering.

[buttertart]

The winner of the most pointless kitchen gadget in human history must be the garbage disposal cleaning brush. Sheesh! Who thought that one up?

[ZenSojourner]

Apparently even the manufacturer agrees with you. It is no longer to be found on their website!

http://www.thecleanteam.com/

[FoodFuser]

Great and comprehensive post.

But I'm keeping my egg slicer. I love to fan those slices out in radial fashion and drizzle some vinaigrette on them.

The slicer can also buzz through several pounds of de-stemmed mushrooms in a flash.

I'll bet it would do some neat things with a cube of Velveeta for the old-style cheese and cracker crowd, but I've never tried it. But hey, football season and the associated gathering of gourmands is coming up.

[athanasius]

A great list, which I mostly agree with. Just a few things I'd say differently:

"expensive copper bowl.... It was supposed to be for whipping egg whites to make meringue."

These are somewhat useful if you're someone who still beats egg whites by hand; most people don't.

"Fondue kit. 'nuff said."

My wife likes to bring this out once a year. I find them useless too.

"Tea pots of any variety. I make my tea a cup at a time from loose leaf tea in small tea balls (well except for masala chai, that's a whole 'nother critter). Tea gets cold fast in a tea pot and they're ridiculously hard to clean. Tea stains are not attractive and turn me off the tea in the pot."

Personally, I like to let my leaves fan out more, so a tea pot is essential. The stains can be annoying, though if you tend to brew one type of tea, the build-up of oil deposits over time can enhance the flavor. It's the principle behind certain unglazed Chinese clay pots that tend to be devoted to special teas.

As for keeping tea warm, I find my pots keep it much warmer than putting it in something else. If you want to keep it warmer, use a tea cozy -- or, as a friend of mine used to do, just throw a hat over the pot.

"A spice dispenser."

These are stupid. But what I find does work -- a test tube rack with large test tubes. I seem to have been doing this before others caught on to the idea. It's particularly useful if you have loads of spices (as I do) and don't like digging around for them in a cabinet.

"Pasta measurer. Also 'nuff said."

Had a friend who used this almost every day. I suppose if you cook spaghetti a lot and buy the same brand, it might be useful. I don't.

"Egg separator....Don't people know that eggs COME with an egg separator? It's called half of the shell."

Or your fingers. Crack it open and drop the yolk into your palm. Let whites run through your fingers. What's so hard?

"Cheese slicers - you know, the ones that are vaguely spatula shaped, with a "blade" in the middle that's about 3" wide, so it carves (uneven) troughs into your block cheese? Or even worse, the wire cheese guillotine. For god's sake, just use a sharp knife! Or eat it by the chunk, who needs skinny slices of cheese anyway?"

The spatula ones seem silly. The wire one is useful for cutting Velveeta (the "processed cheese product"), if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not.

Actually, I find cheese knives useful when putting out a cheese board at a party. I don't generally trust my guests with my good knives, so they can struggle cutting cheese with them. Also, for those who use cheese boards made of a hard material (usually to keep the cheese a little cool), I wouldn't use my good knives on those either.

"From my childhood yet again, an egg slicer. I didn't even know what the thing was until I was well over 30. Who needs sliced eggs?"

Well, sliced eggs are good for a number of things. I also like diced eggs when making egg salad, tuna salad, and other such things -- many slicers can dice the eggs by rotating and slicing twice. Personally, I find the slicers to be annoying and hard to clean though -- a sharp knife does the trick. It takes slightly longer to cut, but cleanup is faster.

"Vertical paper towel holder. Just set the roll on the counter, fer cryin' out loud!"

Except if you want to grab towels one-handed. If you have a heavy enough base, you can do that.

"Silicon liner for cookie sheets."

These aren't necessary for most cookies, but for other pastries (or rich breads) that tend to stick, they can be.

"Immersion blender."

These are great for making pureed soups -- I wouldn't make them otherwise. (If you've ever had an incident with scalding hot soup and a blender, you'll know why.) This is a great use for all those vegetables that are past their prime in your fridge -- throw in some stock, cook the vegetables in it, then puree for instant soup using stuff that you'd probably end up throwing away otherwise. If you want it richer or creamier (depends on what vegetables), throw in some evaporated milk (or cream, if you want to be decadent). Also good for split pea soups, bean soups, squash/pumpkin soups (which I make a lot in the fall), etc.

Also, immersion blenders can be useful for small batches of blending -- they are so much easier to clean. Homemade mayonnaise is easy with one, for example.

"A platter with little egg shapes molded into it. Totally useless, unless you frequently make deviled eggs."

Actually, they're pretty useless unless you tend to make deviled eggs frequently AND bring them to parties or something. If you make them at home, I just do them on a plate or something. It's only if you don't want them sliding around and falling over during transport that these things really become useful.

"A thing to break eggs open and "automatically" dispense the egg into whatever you're cooking. SERIOUSLY?"

I just have to comment here too -- this is the most preposterous thing I have ever seen advertised.

"THINGS I FIND INDISPENSABLE THAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK ARE USELESS"

The corn-on-the-cob paraphernalia is essential if you do that thing often (like my inlaws do almost every day during the summer). I rarely use my garlic press, but once in a while it's useful, as is the ginger grater. As for the pastry blender, I find it somewhat useful for pie dough, though for biscuits and such, I prefer to rub the butter in by hand, which I think actually gives a better texture to my biscuits.

So I don't find your favorite items useless.... :)

But I do agree about most of the ridiculous gadgets you bring up.

[Mother of four]

"Silicon liner for cookie sheets." I must have five of them in different sizes and couldn't live without them. I don't just use them just for cookies, but for so many other things. Meatloaf,oven fries, basically anything that will stick to the pan.
I do love my fish spatula, use it for many other things too.
What I really hate are the one use tools.

[ZenSojourner]

I'm not talking about silpat sheets. These are what I'm talking about and they got used exactly one time and were then permanently ruined:

http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-Easy-Sil...

Silpat looks different, but I didn't pick any up this past weekend when I was at the kitchen specialty store. I did pick up something called "super parchment" which I hope to be able to use for baking bread. We'll see.

[Mother of four]

Love the whole post...needed a good laugh!!

[Eiron]

The Spaniel.

[urika]

Pineapple corer, not even sure how it ended up with us.

[EWSflash]

LOL!

[jennnej]

Egg slicer.

[BobB]

A betelnut cutter. At least that's what they sold it as when I bought it, back in the 1970s, from one of those Indian import shops that were all the rage in Cambridge, MA back then. Cost me probably a buck or so.

It looks cool but has never been employed for a single functional purpose in the past 35 years.

[ZenSojourner]

Does yours look anything like this?

http://www.antique-arts-asia.com/cata...

If it does, then wow, WAY cool! LOL!

[BobB]

No such luck! But then, it's not a 19th C antique.

It is kind of pretty in its own right though.

[ZenSojourner]

It's funny you have that. Around that time my ex came here from India and betel nuts were something he couldn't find anywhere (Indian stuff back then was hard to find in the Midwest).

And here you show up with a betelnut cutter when he couldn't even find betel nuts, LOL!

[John E.]

Today I purchased what has to be in the top ten of useless kitchen stuff, right up there with banana slivers and banana hangers. I only paid a buck for it at a thrift store as a gag gift for a friend. It's a grapefruit sectioner:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.html/re...

[buttertart]

That is completely silly, but a grapefruit knife is very handy - I couldn't believe my husband's family had never heard of them when I married him, we always had one.

[LindaWhit]

As did my family when I was growing up. I *think* I have one in my kitchen drawers somewhere, but I haven't used it in long time, as I rarely buy grapefruit (and I'm not sure why I don't do so!). But John E's sectioner seems most bizarre!

[buttertart]

I don't either, partly because I really prefer the white ones and they're not easy to find these days. Love them, though.

[John E.]

As I posted above, my father brings home citrus from Arizona. He also brings home pink and white grapefruit. It seems the people down there prefer the pink over the white and the Ruby Red most of all. I claimed there was no taste difference between the pink and the white so we did a blind taste test and it turned out I was right. This was a comparison of fruit from trees grown in the same place so store-bought fruit might produce a different result. 

[buttertart]

That is interesting, Ithink of the whites as being sharper in taste.

[alkapal]

it really depends on the groves the difference in flavor and juice levels for white and pink grapefruit. there are so many varieties. as i was growing up, there were so many white varieties that were much juicier and sweeter than pinks. pinks were a latecomer.

[buttertart]

You know, I bet the ones we got were picked less ripe to ship to Canada better. Therefore sourer. Never thought about that part of it until now.

[alkapal]

i want to say that, typically, the growers do want to ship only ripe fruit. i think the fruit profiles have changed.

remember, i grew up with florida fruit in the 60's and 70's. and i know the range of native lots. it really hurts me to have to buy some of this "Premium Produce." You cannot believe how less flavorful it is than from the backyard groves of my youts....

[EWSflash]

When I visited a friend in central FL on the coast, we stopped at a citrus grove and got some cool juices, the absolute only healthy thing my friend ingested was gtheir grapefruit juice- do you have any idea what the m=name was? they had a bunch of good citrus stuff, I want to say it was a two-syllable name that sounded vaguely German - any idea? The grove was right there- it was a cool place.

[alkapal]

were you on the east or west coast?

[John E.]

They might have been picked and shipped less ripe, but citrus does not ripen or get sweeter after being picked from the tree.

[buttertart]

No, of course, I know that about citrus (non-climacteric fruit). This was the '60's and '70s for me too, I bet some compromises were made in shipping north. It's the sourer ones I actually prefer.

[John E.]

Since you were the first to respond to my post about the citrus sectioning tool that looks like a tree pruning device I'm going to tell you first, I just tried it on a grapefruit and the thing accually works. I couldn't believe it. I am going to give it to my father as I still prefer a knife and sort of enjoy supreming grapefruit., it reminds me of filleting fish. (P.S. I can't believe the Vikings are 10 points ahead of the (Eagles).

The Kyocera CSN-182S-NGR Wide Julienne Slicer, Green is still a piece of junk. Another .99 cent purchase. I shredded the tip of my thumb on the thing and it didn't work on a carrot, so what's the point of keeping it?

http://www.google.com/m/products/deta...

[buttertart]

That's fun that it works. A friend had an Unfortunate Incident involving the tip of her thumb with the Kyocera veg peeler, so I've stayed away from them (their slicer is nice but mine broke after a year or so's intermittent use, so I'm back with my 10-yr-old Benriner (fondly known as the Bumreamer chez nous).

[John E.]

We also have grapefruit knives and spoons. I rarely use them. It seems like an art project getting the sections out as large as possible. (I suppose that's what prompted the gadget).

Many years ago I learned from watching Jacques Pepin how to supreme citrus. Here is a video link of how it's done:
(I couldn't find one of Jacques)

http://mobile.seriouseats.com/2010/06...

I decided to learn how to do this when we started to get bushels of grapefruit and oranges from my father. He goes to Arizona during the winter and has 2 orange trees, 2 lemon trees, and a ruby red grapefruit tree

[buttertart]

Yes and what's nicer to have in your mouth than a completely pith-free section of citrus fruit? You're lucky to have such a source.
Oh boy Temple orange season's coming up, I love those.

[John E.]

I'm a little late with this reply but you reminded me of something. My mother used to say she didn't like my father's orange juice because he got to much pith in it. Then she would have a good laugh.

[buttertart]

That joke would have flown at our house but it would have been my dad saying it.

[alkapal]

oh, this thread isn't too old....huh? i guess it is out of diapers by now, though -- and into training pants!

LOL!

anyhoo, the most useless gadget is the "mayonnaise jar scraper." bar none. i don't know what i was thinking -- other than trying to get every last bit out of my precious duke's mayo jar. a narrow rubber spatula or spoonula is of course the best way to get that mayo!.

happy new year to all!

[clayrr]

My larding needle. I saw Julia Child use one on TV in the 70's and found one, used it once and haven't touched it since. Still, I can't bear to part with it, JUST IN CASE I get the urge to buy a tough piece of round and cook it whole or need something to ward off home intruders. (It's about a foot long and quite intimidating.)

[thatsacrunchy]

meat injector. specifically, a large metal Jurassic era hypodermic looking needle and plunger thing that you would use to give a shot to a T-Rex. the thing is huge. i must have been very angry when I bought it at the thrift store decades ago. it is so old, and it looks like an implement of torture. for a while i had been buying old kitchen gadgets to use as art on the kitchen wall. I realized later that it looked like it might have been on the set of an old Vincent Price horror flik, like, "The Pit and the Pendulum".

[FoodFuser]

Agreed that it can be somewhat enfrightening
when we find ourselves shopping
for kitchen tools
in veterinary stores.

Huge massive needles to inject basted breasts
of chickens and certainly turkeys.

And now your allusion to Vincent Price Pit and Pendulum
has given the image of a free swinging slicer
working in pure calibration
to hiss through either veggies or meat.

But such a device
even homaged to V. Price
would probably qualify
as most useless device.

Pass me the knife.

[kaleokahu]

Aloha, thatsacrunchy:

Are you referring to a Morton Meat Pump? If so, these things are quite useful, at least for larding lean cuts of meat. A syringe-ful (or 10) of bacon grease in a poor roast makes a huge difference in savor and tenderness.

Be not afraid.

Kaleo

[goodhealthgourmet]

saw this on HuffPo today:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-dai...

[kaleokahu]

Hi, goodhealthgourmet:

I read this, and it reads as if the author is somewhat new to cooking. Smug, yet uncertain, yet inviting of even more uninformed spoutings. An indictment of the garlic press? Really?

RIP, HuffPo!

Kaleo

[goodhealthgourmet]

An indictment of the garlic press? Really?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
if you read some of the other threads about useless gadgets and unitaskers, you'll find that many Hounds - including yours truly - think the garlic press is a pointless waste of money. in fact, if you read through *this* thread, you'll find many comments to that effect...

[kaleokahu]

Hi, goodhealthgourmet:

Yes, reasonable people can disagree whether they find a garlic press useful. I find it useful when I want fresh crushed (as opposed to processed or powder), but I don't need enough to justify stinking up and cleaning my M&P. I also use it to extract juice from ginger and to make eggs mimosa.

But does it belong in the pantheon of the 50 worst? I don't think so.

Kaleo

[goodhealthgourmet]

But does it belong in the pantheon of the 50 worst? I don't think so.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
well, as you've already pointed out - and i often do in CH discussions - we can agree to disagree...though i'd be interested to hear the 50 other gadgets that you think are more useless than a garlic press ;)

BTW, i did, at one point, attempt to justify mine by using it to crush ginger as you mentioned...but i found that a microplane works even better and i have many more uses for that.

[kaleokahu]

Hi, goodhealthgourmet:

Gee, off the top of my head...

Microwave baconstrip holder
Octodog
Hot Diggety Dogger
Microvave grill pan
Electric egg poacher
Salad Shooter
Jerky Shooter
Eggshell remover
Electric knife
Mango pitter
Jalapena corer
Jalapena roasting rack
Strawberry huller
Bagel guillotine
Bread machines
Fry Baby
Pasta measurer
Adjustable measuring spoon
Wine aerator
Ove-Glove
Electric salt and pepper mills
Cordless pan scrubber (with soap reservoir)
Minuscule whisks
"Utility" knives
Lobster pliers
Pizza scissors
Electric veggie steamer
Salad Hands
Combimix oil/vinegar dresser
Grapefruit double knife for membrane
Can strainer lid
In-fridge cheese grating dispenser
Thermometer fork
Ronco (in-egg) scrambler
Pastry edge crimper
SS onion odor remover
Bloomin' Onion cutter
Onion goggles
Potato gloves
All-Clad's armature gimmick chicken roaster
Teabag holder
Electronic coffee scoop
Talking thermometer
Cucumber string peeler
Tala Traditional Cast Iron Mincer
Electric cocktail shaker
Marargita maker
Magic Bullet
Egg separator
Slinky skewers
Brookstone self-stirring coffee cup
Countertop beer maker
Sunbeam Pie Maker
Collapsible silicone collander
Potato nails
Citrus peel scorer
Daisy-shaped egg fry rings
Zoku popsicle set
Herb snips
Pizza stone scrubber
OXO corn stripper
Peach pitter
Kuhn-Rikon herb chopper
Pasta rake
The LC pot grabber "clam"
Abbelskivver turner
The Ham Dogger
Electric garlic roaster
Milk carton pourer
2L soda pourer
Asparagus peeler
Butter Boy

Is that 50? I'll take the garlic press over any of these.

Microplanes are very useful; can you extract ginger *juice" with one?

Aloha,
Kaleo

[goodhealthgourmet]

i've never even heard of half of those! i was thinking more along the lines of *common* or standard kitchen gadgets that don't have much purpose, not novelty items or late-night informercial impulse buys ;)

but just to address a few:
- collapsible colanders are the only option for people with extremely limited storage space
- the Magic Bullet (or any other similar mini blender) is also sometimes the only option for someone who doesn't have space for a full-size...and it's ideal for travel.
- electric salt & pepper mills are a lifesaver for people with arthritic hands or wrist issues.

oh, and yes, you can (and i do!) extract ginger juice with a microplane...just grate it onto cheesecloth, wrap, and squeeze ;)

[kaleokahu]

Hi, goodhealthgourmet:

What, the Ham Dogger is not a common item? ;)

My collapsible colander committed seppuku 2 nights ago. Never again. My Magic Bullet, with all its associated falderall, takes up more room than my blender; I took it with me back to Hawai'i in November and it was a joke. I'd have been better off buying a $30 blender and donating it. I cede the utility of powered mills for the disabled, but I'd rather squeeze my ginger juice straight into my dish than sponge it up/wring it out of cheesecloth (You must have some juicy ginger, to do that, too).

[goodhealthgourmet]

re: the Magic Bullet, i'm by no means suggesting it's actually a great quality product - i just definitely have more use for it than a garlic press.

and yes, you really stumped me with some of those things you listed. who dreams up this kooky stuff, and what mind-altering substances were they using when they did? because *that* i might not mind trying ;)

[stvls]

Took me a good ten minutes to stop laughing. Ah, the indescretions of newbys. Guess we've all been there! Loved the list, and agreed with about 49.

[EWSflash]

I'm so glad that somebody else here has an Octodog, I will never part with it because when I open the cabinet and see it it's like a private joke.

[liveforfood]

What about the potato ricer? Yes, I supposed pressing potatoes through a ricer makes for a nice fluffy mash, but is it really necessary? Plus, I hate cleaning the thing, and I find that any gadget I dread cleaning I tend to avoid using. I also have a hand powered egg beater that I never use--I feel nostalgic about the thing but I am more likely to use a wire whisk or my kitchenaid mixer for heavier beating. On second thought, maybe I should revisit the hand powered beater and discard the Kitchenaid?

[EWSflash]

Ricing potatoes is a good weight-loss trick- uses a lot less butter and cream to make it mashed.

[EWSflash]

And no, the kitchanaid is the last thing you should get rid of if you cook at all.

[CanadaGirl]

I absolutely adore my potato ricer. I can not stand lumpy mashed potatoes, and am not a great masher, so ricer it is!! "Smashed" potatoes are my idea of a cruel joke - INTENTIONALLY lumpy!? No thanks!

I also use my ricer to squeeze the water form thawed, frozen spinach and use it to make spaetzle (sp?). I only find it difficult to clean if it sits, so I toss it directly in the sink or a bowl of water until after dinner.

[flourgirl]

I never thought to use my ricer to squeeze thawed frozen spinach with - that's a great idea, thx!

[BobB]

For fresh or frozen spinach, I just use a slotted spoon and press it up against the side of the pot. Faster and easier, and less to clean. Plus I use the same spoon to serve it.

[flourgirl]

There are some dishes for which you really need to get as much of the moisture out of the spinach as possible - like, for instance, if it's being used in a tart shell or something like that. I think the ricer would do a much more efficient job in that regard than the slotted spoon.

[BobB]

I can get it pretty dry with the slotted spoon - but if I need to get extreme I'll throw it into a small-mesh strainer and use a wooden spoon to squeeze it out. Not that different from using a ricer for that purpose, I suppose.

[flourgirl]

Yeah, that's what I usually do too. But I think the ricer might do a better and quicker job. I don't know for sure, but I'm definitely going to try it. Especially since my ricer currently spends a lot of time in the drawer ever since I got my vintage Flint potato masher. I'm just about as happy with the result from the Flint as I was with the ricer - and it takes a fraction of the time.

[Antilope]

I just whip my potatoes in the Kitchen Aid mixer. Never had a problem with lumps. The mashed potatoes come out hot, smooth and perfect. I have a nice expensive stainless steel ricer, but it does too little at a time (like 1/2 a potato), the potatoes get cold and it's too fussy to work with. Potatoes squirt out the top edge as well as the ricer holes. The mixer works fine for me. A small hand mixer also works fine. Don't use a food processor or blender, however or you will end up with white glue instead of mashed potatoes.

[Gastro Travels]

my most useless was the oxo goodgrips Rolling Herb Mincer http://amzn.to/mkdxSy - the plastic cover was permanently attached so you couldn't clean behind it - I threw it out.

now I think the most useless is a garlic peeler I have - I just smash my cloves to get the skin off.

[Surfwench]

I can top that, my Mouli Parsley Mincer ... I have one in the original box, it is so old now it has vintage charm. I have a perfectly useless shrimp deveiner in the drawer as well.

[PeeWeesMom]

The slicer attachments that go with my kitchenaid mixer. I purchased them after "killing" a food processor to shred mozzarella. The make a HUGE mess, and the slices are not even pretty. Attempted to slice mushrooms for hot & sour soup, and they looked all mangled. Made too thin slices for zucchini casseroles, too. Now I just use once in a blue moon when I want to grate a big block of cheese. It then chooses to sling cheese all over the floor(although my dog appreciates this very much!)

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

I just picked up a KA food slicer attachment this past weekend at a thrift store. After reading the mixed reviews I looked at the one I got. I can see where some of the cutters are dull, and that I will need to sharpen them to work correctly. Nothing that a file , and a stone won't fix. Agreed, something from KA should be made better.

[Island]

My husband. :>)

[WaylonSmithers]

A microwave. Technically, I don't have one in my kitchen, but I have never seen the need for it.

[Jay F]

I threw mine out a few months back, after letting it take up counter space for years that I finally needed for something I would actually use. The only things I used a microwave for were reheating pizza and melting chocolate, neither of which I do with any frequency. I don't miss it at all.

[John E.]

While I suppose we could get along without a microwave, I would not do so on purpose. We never reheat pizza in the microwave because the crust needs a dry heat. We use the microwave nearly every day from heating water for tea or Milita manual drip coffee to cooking vegetables such as asparagus or green beans. Reheating leftovers is also a major use for the microwave, usually one plate so using the stove is not as effecient for us because then there's a pan to wash while the plates used in the microwave go in the dishwasher.

[LindaWhit]

What John said re: reheating food in the microwave.

[Jay F]

That's something. I drink tea several times a day, and it wouldn't occur to me to heat water in the microwave. I only do that when I'm somewhere other than home, and there's no tea kettle. Boiling water that way does something to it I don't like.

[John E.]

What I don't like is to turn the stove on in the summer to heat water when the temperature in the kitchen is already 85 degrees.

While I'm no purist in the kitchen when it comes to microwaves I do draw the line. We have a piece of property in northern Minnesota. The 'cabin' (it was a tarpaper shack when we bought the place) has not running water or electricity. We do have a generator however and are talking about getting a bigger, propane generator with a remote start switch. After we're done wiring the place it will be almost like being attached to the grid. Even when that is done, I don't want a microwave up there. I think it would clash with the old wood cookstove. (I also don't want leftovers up there but that's mostly because of the lack of a refrigerator.) Frankly, I would much prefer running water than electricity.

[Jay F]

<<What I don't like is to turn the stove on in the summer to heat water when the temperature in the kitchen is already 85 degrees.>>
You are more heat-sensitive than I.

[Sooeygun]

<<What I don't like is to turn the stove on in the summer to heat water when the temperature in the kitchen is already 85 degrees.>>
That's why I use an electric kettle to heat water in the summer.

[John E.]

I'm not big on unitaskers. I'll stick to the microwave.

[jnk]

The "CUBO Fabbrica Spiedini". A couple of years ago I was sitting there watching some sort of restaurant show when the chef came out with this little cube contraption that he bought in Italy to make spiedini (Kabobs). Watching the show, I thought "this is fantastic, think of all the wonderful things I can make with that". I searched high and low for it not knowing what it was called. Finally I came across someones blog who mentioned this "contraption" and what it was called. I looked it up on EBAY and low and behold, for close to $100 I could have one shipped to me from Italy. I've used it once! The wooden skewers you buy in the stores are not quite all the same thickness, so some don't fit through the holes, the kabobs it makes are VERY thin, without the proper grill (which they sell), the skewers end up burning (even if you soak them). The "CUBO" is very well made and I will probably use it again but.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tvsbT...

[John E.]

I have seen plastic gadgets that make fruit kabobs that look similar to those made with the Italian contraption. They only make one fruit kabob at a time but they only cost a buck.

[jnk]

Actually comparing apples to oranges. This is a very well made piece of equipment which when cut through doesn't scratch

[John E.]

I knew they aren't the same but the results are similar, except for comparing fruit to meat. I am however confused by the 'doesn't scratch' comment. What doesn't scratch what?

[jnk]

Most "inexpensive" kitchen gadgets made of plastic will scratch and leech bits of plastic into your food as you cut on them, the CUBO's base is made of what appears to be some sort of glass product so when you cut through the meat and your knofe cuts through to the bottom there's no scratching of whatever the material is. The sides that guide the knife are stainless steel. Again, very well made just wasn't worth what I ended up paying for it.

[John E.]

I understand now, you were referring to the base. I did not follow you the first time. The resulting kabobs look like they would be good for entertaining. I din't know how to solve the skewer dilema except to look online.

[Stephano]

I often find that I am the most useless gadget in my kitchen.

[twinwillow]

My biggest problem is, because I've accumulated so many kitchen gadgets over the years, that I often have to improvise instead because, after clawing through my overflowing "gadget drawer", I can't ever find the gadget I bought to use exactly for what I need.

[John E.]

I recently cleaned out our 'gadget' drawer. I decided if I could not remember the last time anyone used the gadet, out it went. Since many of them were my mother's, I did not actually throw them
away, I put them in a box on a shelf downstairs. If I ever need one of them, I know where they are.
I was tired of having difficulty opening and closing that drawer.