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Could be talking about our house
Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 10:39 pm
by Gob
In the bottom drawer of her cupboard, Robin Roberson spies a gizmo that's part kitchen tongs, part spatula.
"It seemed like it would be so handy," Roberson thought when she purchased the two-in-one gadget several years ago. But Roberson has "never even used it".
Welcome to the fickle world of kitchen gadgets. Tools that promise to solve cooking dilemmas are often used just once or twice and then tossed into a culinary black hole - also known as the bottom drawer.
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Once inside, these do-dads rarely get used again.
Besides the "tongula," the bottom drawer at Roberson's house contains other useless items such as decorative shish-ka-bob skewers, a spaetzel maker and a metal pastry cutter.
Then there's a whisk-looking do-hickey purchased while on a trip to Japan.
"I don't even know what it's used for, although I did have it hanging on my wall at one time," Roberson admitted.
Rummaging through the bottom drawer is a bit like an archeological dig, she said, since many items haven't been used for years. In fact, Roberson and her husband have lived in 20 houses and many of their gadgets have moved more times than they've been used.
In many kitchens, the bottom drawer has a sibling - the bottom shelf. That's where larger kitchen appliances that offered so much excitement on Christmas morning now permanently park.
Yogurt makers, pasta rollers and electric martini shakers sit next to bread machines and deep-fryers.
Many of these appliances are just too bulky and heavy to use regularly. Often, it's easier and more efficient to buy the food at a shop.
Other bottom-drawer items are seasonal, and might be used once a year to pit fresh cherries, core apples or baste the christmas turkey.
Other gadgets that are pointless no matter what time of year include avocado slicers, asparagus peelers, mushroom brushes, corn holders, bagel slicers and terra cotta garlic roasters.
Just how and why do these promising gadgets turn into discarded relics?
Gadget failures are those that don't live up to the marketing hype.
Plus, some are difficult to use or simply don't save time. More often than not, cooks go back to using a spoon, fork, tongs or good old paring knife for the task.
Cleaning is another reason that gadgets get abandoned. Just ask anyone who has had to use a toothpick to clean out the holes in a juicer or garlic press.
Oh man, are we suckers for this sort of stuff! Funnily enough though this must be the first Xmas in living memory we haven't added to it.
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 10:02 am
by Reality Bytes
Well theres a couple of things on that list that I have and use regularly, like the deep fat fryer & the bread maker, I also find corn holders very useful (when I can find the little buggers in the drawer) and I've never had to resort to using toothpicks to clean my garlic press because mine comes apart for washing. However my lean green grilling machine has a fine layer of dust on it and lives at the bottom of the cupboard 11 months of the year and comes out once a year and is used daily until I get fed up with the mess it makes and hubby moans about it living on top of the stove (the only place I have room to use it). The toastie maker gets to come out and play a couple of times a year when we go toastie mad for a while then get sick of them and the faffing about and it too returns to the bottom of the cupboard alongside assorted coffee making machines which probably haven't had a trip out into daylight since the day we moved in and they changed locations from the bottom of the cupboard at our previous house
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 3:59 pm
by dgs49
I have lots of this sort of thing. My favorite is a device that peels apples and pears. It is an ingenious thing like a hand-cranked lathe and it does a great job, as long as you put the fruit in properly.
On the other hand, it has never been used other than to demonstrate it, I prefer to eat my fruit with the skin on it, and its irregular shape means it takes up a lot of cupboard space that could be used for other canned goods and junk.
Haven't used the bread maker much in recent years. Not much call for square loaves.
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Tue Dec 28, 2010 8:06 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
This guys been peeking into my wifes kitchen.
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 5:01 am
by loCAtek
Still haven't used the 'Onion Blossom Maker'; dunno why not. Possibly fears of being able to cut off all your fingers at once...
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:56 pm
by Jarlaxle
I won't say it gets a lot of use, but my mother has worn out a bread machine. (For the record, English Muffin bread is great and wheat potato bread makes great sandwich bread.) Her vegetable slicer and dicer also sees plenty of use (most often for chopping onions).
And they're right, some ARE seasonal: I use my oversized turkey roaster twice a year, tops.
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 1:12 am
by Sean
You see, I could make a joke right here about an underused gadget in our house called an 'oven' but it seriously wouldn't be worth it.
Seriously...
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 8:37 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
Sean wrote:You see, I could make a joke right here about an underused gadget in our house called an 'oven' but it seriously wouldn't be worth it.
Seriously...
Shoulda created a "sock puppet" for that post.
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2011 11:30 pm
by Sean
Shhh! I think she's missed it...
Re: Could be talking about our house
Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 1:47 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
You better hope.