Today I'm featuring some of the kitchen gadgets that I have or are on my wish list.
1. My favorite knives. Pure Komachi 2 Series.
From Amazon: A fantastic multi-purpose knife; large, reverse scalloped edge cuts through fruits, vegetables, and bread; spatula tip gets mayo out of jar and back of blade spreads
High-carbon stainless-steel blade retains super-sharp edge over time
Color is made by bonding food-safe FDA-approved resin to the stainless-steel blade
Non-stick resin coating resists corrosion makes cleaning simple and helps blade glide through food with ease.
Handle is lightweight and ergonomically contoured for a comfortable, fatigue-reducing grip
You can collect them one at a time as I do or buy them as a set with or without the holder.
2. On the top of my wish list! The Paderno Spiralizer from Williams-Sonoma for vegetables, including making zucchini pasta! There are a variety of models and price ranges. This is the 4 blade.
From Williams-Sonoma: "This simple-to-use machine produces spiral cuts, shoestrings and vegetable "noodles" for adding a new texture to pasta dishes, stir-fries, and salads. You can make long ribbons of cucumber, carrots, and radishes for salads, or apple spirals for apple slaw. Cut onion rings, potato chips, shoestring potatoes or curly sweet potato fries in seconds."
I recently learned that Ruth Logan Herne uses something called the Zoodle Slicer.
3. OXO Good Grips 3-in-1 Avocado Slicer. Available on Amazon here.
I ordered this product after mangling two avocados making taco salad. I love it and it's dishwasher safe.
4. I'm shopping new spatulas as well. The Best Review Guide recommends these.
But I'm looking for a one piece all purpose spatula. I'm tired of seeing residue between the handle and the spatula itself. Considering these. Any suggestions?
di Oro Living Silicone Spatula Set
5. Not a gadget, but I highly recommend that if you are not following this site, you start now. The Kitchn. Follow on Pinterest, FB, and Instagram. But start by checking out the website and signing up for the newsletter. You can thank me later.
6. Finally I present a gadget that's only four bucks, but once it arrives, you will wonder how you lived without it.
Hutzler 571 Banana Slicer
Has 5,551 reviews and 634 answered questions. You can't go wrong with this baby. A sampling of information customer comments:
Question: Is there a metric version? My mom lives in Europe and I don't want to send her one that won't work in her country.
Answer: Yes, the US version has the slicers spaced at 0.375". The metric version has the slicers spaced at 9.525 mm. I hope that helps.
Question: A friend used my H571 to slice a few bananas, but accidentally sliced too many. Is there any reverse mode to unslice them? The manual is not helpful.
Answer: Yes, I was confused as well, but after some experimentation, I found that instead of pressing down the slicer onto the banana to slice, you can unslice by pushing the unused slices back through the corresponding slots. I will post a video on Youtube when I have a free moment. I... just... can't stop using this amazing product.
That's it!!! Those are my Kitchen Gadgets. Any gadgets you'd like to recommend?
Thanks for all the kitchen gadget tips Tina. I have one of the manual spiralizers that I use to make zucchini noodles. The banana slicer questions on Amazon are hysterical, thanks for the morning laughs, you are so good to me. This is one of my favorites so far,
ReplyDelete"I bought one of these and from the day I set it down in my kitchen, my bananas have stopped talking to me. What now?"
Answer:"Get some pomegranates. They are great conversationalists. They blow bananas out of the water."
Too funny. I'm going to go back and read some more, check out more of those gagets and that Kitchn site too.
Thanks for adding some fun to my morning cup of coffee :)
TRACEY!!! Happy Friday. It's a total crack up, isn't it???
DeleteHave an amazing day!
Bwahahahaha! Gotta love banana humour first thing in the morning.
ReplyDeleteI love contemplating kitchen gadgets but I never buy any. I have my mother's wooden spoons -- and yes, one might have split in two but a half spoon can still stir things, right? And my knives were so bad that my daughter bought me a set for Christmas and then I freaked out because if you give knives as a gift you will severe the friendship unless you cut the curse with a penny only Canada did away with pennies so I couldn't open the box for weeks until she scrounged a few pennies from hoarding type friends. Phew that was a near disaster!
Well I admit, I use an awful lot of wooden spoons. I never heard of that knife old wives tale stuff. My goodness. But I guess I'm safe. I order mine one at a time for myself. Phew is right.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the banana fun!
The Hutzler Banana Slicer review section is so funny some of those reviewers should get book contracts.
ReplyDeleteI slice my bananas the old fashioned way. I don't buy them.
Well that's no fun. Hutzler. Hutzler!!!
DeleteTina, do you really have those colorful knifes? Or are you just ... ahem ... writing fiction?
ReplyDeleteThey are so pretty. If they work (which you would know if you own them) I want them. Except I already have knifes and don't really need them. :)
Got em. Bought for them for my mom too. Not the holder though.
DeleteLOL,LOL - loved the banana questions and answers! Thank you for sharing this, Tina! I hate to admit it, but I'm not a great cook, so I don't use a lot of gadgets. In fact, I have some gadgets (gifts) that I don't know even what to do with. But they lend me an air of kitchen credibility and they sure look bright and shiny in the drawer :-)
ReplyDeleteKav - loved your knife/penny story :-) And yes, a half spoon can still stir things!
Hmmm. Gadgets you don't know what to do with. Now that's sort of amusing. I even have a pineapple corer that I use all the time.
DeleteHave to agree with others. Great humor for the morning. LOL Although the avocado gadget shows promise. Might look for one of those.
ReplyDeleteI use my avocado tool all the time too. Hey what's the deal? Seekerville showed up here and NO ONE from Yankee Belle Cafe showed up in their own blog? We have a few things to teach these gals about blogging don't we SEEKERS and VILLAGERS. Like SEEKERVILLE ROCKS!!!
DeleteI have a big drawer full of kitchen utensils and gadgets and I probably use ... the top FIVE...and by top I mean, they are on top of that mess.
ReplyDeleteI should throw everything else away.
But what if I NEED a third wire whip, huh? What if I need a fifth spatula?
What is down there, anyway?
Well I have that same issue. A ton of gadgets. But I do use them all at least once a year. And as soon as I toss them, I need them. That is the most difficult drawer to keep tidy. I keep some stuff in plastic bags. It helps...a little.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying this is National Gadget Day, like OFFICIALLY?
ReplyDeleteBecause Julie Lessman says it's National Kissing Day.
It could be both.
It is National Kiss Your Gadget Day.
ReplyDeleteHaha, love that! Since Laura's confessing, I will too. I have a few things in that gadget drawer that I don't know what they are either, or how that got there. My husband pulled one out the other day and said, what does this do? I had no idea, maybe some kind of zester? He's actually the kitchen stuff collector. You know, the guy that watches all the infomercials then buys the stuff I have to keep in the room over the garage because there's not room for them in the kitchen. There's a Ronco Rotisserie oven up there, because he thought it would be fun to have a chicken roasting on Christmas day when then family was here, it squeaks as it turns, drives me nuts, a Nu-wave oven that made a ham taste like...I don't know what, but we haven't used it since and a hot dog cooker bun warmer combo from my BIL who now thinks he has solved all future gift-giving problems with searching for obscure kitchen gadgets, ah no. He also just bought a dutch oven last month, a useful item, because he saw someone cook a chicken in that and he had to know how that would taste, I honestly don't know where he stored that. I blame him for the unknown gadgets in the drawer! Must keep him away from infomercials or else!
DeleteYour husband seems to be bent on cooking a chicken just right.
Deletethrow out the squeaky rotisserie and tell your bil you need a new one.
And i just paid BIG BUCKS for a good zester. Hang on to that
You gotta love that there is an entire room for her gadgets, Mary. We should have kitchen gadget giveaway day in Seekerville and let Tracey sneak them out of her house.
DeleteMary, he's just gullible when it comes to kitchen stuff, like it will turn him into the next great food network star or something. That rotisserie was 150 bucks and the Nu-wave about 125, making those few meals some of the most expensive home-cooked meals we've ever had or restaurant meals either for that matter. The Dutch oven has been used ONCE and cost 60 bucks, do you see a pattern here? My BIL also has this "condition". He bought a pasta maker, took it out once, but when he saw how much work it was going to be he put it back in the pantry and told my sister he was changing his mind about being a pasta chef, hilarious, he only knows how to make chili, and nothing else. We had a good laugh at that one.
DeleteAnd Tina they are HIS gadgets, I'm a fairly traditional cook with normal old school stuff. My favorite knife is a Pampered Chef self-sharpening one I've had for years. I have a couple of their spatulas, pizza cutter and pie server. They last forever.
I like the giveaway idea, only no returns, haha.
Okay, confessing to Pampered Chef stuff. A large amount. However not copious amounts. I love this. You need to write a book and put your husband /BIL in as one character. Maybe I will for you. lol.
DeleteWrite away, there's no shortage of material. Did I mention he also loves pressure cookers?
DeleteI have other P. Chief stuff too, but not copious amounts either. Two stones, Zyliss chopper, silicone spatula, etc, how much would I have to have to equal copious, lol
I may get hubby that banana slicer for a stocking stuffer and print out those 600+ questions and answers, that should keep him entertained for a while (and away from tv shows selling stuff).
ReplyDeletehahaha!!!! I am laughing so hard d here in my car in Arizona111 degrees. In my car in the drive through Starbucks line. My husband is a techie and dies gadgets too!!!!
ReplyDeleteDoes gadgets. So far they have yet to kill him!
ReplyDeleteI guess it's a harmless hobby for the most part, but still...I can't forget about that ham, how can any oven mess up a ham?
DeleteUgh! I cannot believe you are 30° hotter than Va, that's just Cray-zee!You won't have to worry about your coffee cooling off though. Now I want a Carmel machiatto!
ReplyDeleteI know. Unbeeeeleeevable heat.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tina. I needed t hose laughs.
ReplyDeleteHave you looked at the strawberry slicer that's sold with it? Lots of comments about how it doesn't slice bananas as well as the banana slicer. ;)
https://www.amazon.com/Joie-Simply-Slice-Strawberry-Slicer/dp/B002451AB2/ref=pd_bxgy_79_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=RF85BGAS73QDHQNK4MTW
Will put the strawberry slicer on my list too!!! hehehe
ReplyDeleteI figured out my mystery gadget! It's an OXO-brand good grip corn peeler. Look it up on Amazon and see if you could have figured that out with out the pictures.
ReplyDeleteI love OXO. Good grip corn peeler. LOLOLOLOL. Serious laughing here. Some snorts may be in order too.
ReplyDeleteThe corn stripper and the corn stripper look like weapons of mass destruction.
ReplyDeleteI'll send it to you for your bday, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOL.
DeleteTwo years ago I saw the banana slicer review with questions/answers and laughed so hard I was crying. So when I went on a beach trip with my high school besties, I discovered none of them were familiar with the banana slicer. One night we all gathered around my laptop so they could read some of the comments too - - I laughed even harder listening to their reactions to some of the comments! ;)
ReplyDeleteIsn't it absolutely wonderful, Patti Jo!!!!! ???
DeleteI love those colorful knives! They had a set on sale at Costco and I couldn't resist- and they are better than my more expensive knives! I recently got a little handheld spiralizer to use on all the zucchini we're harvesting from our garden and it really works! It's great for helping me substitute for carb-filled pasta.
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried the Zoodle type devices yet. But this is next on my list. Do you use it with pasta, Heidi??
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh. I think I need to upgrade my kitchen gadgets. These all sound so wonderful Tina. The avocado slicer looks amazing. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI've used it non stop since it arrived this month!
DeleteI'm not a banana eater, but those comments are a riot, Tina. The colorful knives certainly caught my eye.
ReplyDeleteBest knives ever, Jill!
DeleteI've already made a ridiculous amount of comments, so what's one more? My kitchen junkie hubby is now getting a Komachi sandwich knife, 3 in 1 avocado slicer and a Hutzler banana slicer complete with pertinent question and answers printed out. And maybe that spatula set too. I know exactly what he'll say about that banana slicer, "but you know I don't eat but half a banana at a time!" I'll just let him know I'm sure the problem can be solved by reading through ALL the questions, haha. THEN I'll let him know he can just cut the thing in half first :)
ReplyDeleteInstead of counting sheep last night I was counting Pampered Chef items I had and came up with 10 more to add to my list that may be approaching the copious amount you promise you don't have Tina. Which had me looking through there online catalog this morning, did you know they have a kernel cutter too? You may just change your mind about them yet, lol.
Oh, I easily have more than ten Pampered chef. I have lots of stone pans of different sizes (four), paring knifes (2), spatula, bottle topper. That's all without looking.
DeleteSeriously? Your husband is getting all that stuff?
Yes, he !oves the stuff, should give him his fix for a while. Maybe I'll make him a kitchen box for anniversary in Aug. With my extra 10 items i just thought of that puts me up to about 20 pampered chef items, sure!y enough. Just got invited to a party but NOT going but will sneak a peak at the new stuff online, just in case, ha!
DeleteWow, love the post, Tina, and all the comments.....fun, fun. I am a banana a day person so plan to check out the Hutzler! I love to learn about kitchen gadgets!
ReplyDeleteHappy Saturday to all!!!
thanks for stopping by Jackie. Pass the bananas.
DeleteTina, so many groovy kitchen gadgets! I know what I'm adding to my Christmas wish list. (It's only 6 months away, ya know) The purple knife is my fav...because it's purple. Yep, that's pretty much the whole reason I like it. Although the avocado doohicky and the banana slicer were fabulous too.
ReplyDeleteEXACTLY! We are closer to 2017 than people realize. Writing plans need to be reviewed. Bananas need to be sliced!!!
DeleteI LOVE the banana slicer and the avocado slicer! Will be ordering those soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great tips!
Thank you for stopping by, Edwina!
ReplyDelete