Sometimes, we buy the weirdest kitchen gadgets.
Do you ever look at something on Amazon and question “how did that get made?” Last week we took a look at some of the gadgets and appliances we desperately want to bring into our homes. This week we’re looking some of the kitchen tools we absolutely do not want.
We rated these based on three rankings. Did they do what they said they could? Does this have a purpose? And, last but not least, just how dangerous is it? (If that last one sounds weird, wait till you get to the end of the list.)
Table of Contents
Churros Maker
The idea is one that we can all get behind. Trying to make a tasty, delicious treat that little bit healthier. In theory, you don't have to spray the mold or even use any oil for cooking the churros. In practice though, what you really get is straight tubes of dough that are baked and won't stick to the churro coating. It's the residual oil in the dough from frying that usually makes the sugar and cinnamon stick to the churro. Without that, you don't even get a dusting of it.
Purpose - 3/10
Does it make cooked dough? Yes. Does it make churros? No.
Usefulness- 5/10
Churros are delicious! Being able to make churros at home without needing huge vats of oil is a great idea! But this one isn't /necessary/ in day to day life for most of us.
Danger 2/10
Unless you intentionally go putting your fingers in the press, we think you'll be ok with this one.
Whisk Wiper
We want to like this one. We really do. Having a whisk fall into a bowl of batter/sauce/etc is a pain! Or losing what feels like 1/5 of your batter to the whisk because it's so thick. But.. we can't really justify this. There are other ways to keep a whisk from falling into your bowl, and just as many ways to clean a whisk as this offers. We're sure the other 20+ uses it claims are served as well by other items in your home as this can.
Purpose 8/10 It does do its job of wiping a whisk clean or stick to its provided whisk very well.
Usefulness 1/10 If you don't have anything else in your house. Maybe. And even then we'd say that's pushing it.
Danger 0/10 ... Well. Unless you throw the provided whisk at someone in a fit of frustration. But we hope you won't do that one.
Butter Hub
This one gave us mixed feelings. On one hand, it is meant to keep your butter from getting crumbs in it, butter rings on your table or losing your butter knife on a regular basis. On the other hand, you don't have to use just one knife on the butter, you can just flip the lid over when you use the dish, and if you're not a heathen, you don't get crumbs in the butter. So.. mixed feelings?
Purpose 10/10 It absolutely does accomplish the goals it sets out to.
Usefulness 3/10 There are some people that this is going to work fantastically for, and we can appreciate that. It's just not us.
Danger - 0/10 Again, we advise not throwing things at people and you'll be able to keep this safety rating.
Golden Egg Maker
This one. You've probably seen a dozen and one different items that claim to do the same thing. The idea is to be able to somehow mix the white and yolk inside the egg so that picky eaters will consume all of the egg, rather than one part or the other. The problem? When tested, this one, and most of them, don't work. No matter how many times you spin an egg around, you aren't going to be getting the yolk and white any more combined. Evolution has you trumped.
Purpose 0/10 This doesn't accomplish its purpose in any way, shape or form.
Point 1/10 it works as a toy to amuse kids for a while making things spin around, but other than that, we don't suggest it.
Danger 1/10 Some will have a small needle to prick the shell, but other than that, there isn't much danger involved.
Gourmia Electric Tea Brewing
We wanted to love this one. We really did. And for half of the population, it's a great concept. Being able to set your tea to brew at a specific time is great! Being able to get the best flavor out of your tea is great! But. If you know anything about tea, you'll know this product is not great for tea. You start off by 'refreshing' the leaves, which means that you're throwing away the first flavor of the leaves. While it's true that you can steep loose leaf tea multiple times and extract multiple different flavors out of it, you have to be careful while doing this. Our biggest gripe about this is that there is no way to tell what temperature your water is. Different teas require different temperatures so that you get the best flavor from the leaf. This tool? Doesn't give you that. The best you're going to get is "light, medium or strong" and that can just as easily be achieved by altering the brewing time as anything else.
Purpose - 8/10 It does in fact serve its purpose of making a cup of tea. (Whether it makes a good cup of tea is besides the point.)
Usefulness 5/10 Again, it does make a cup of tea. However, since you don't really have much control over how it makes said cup of tea, we can't properly say it's useful.
Danger 1/10 There are portions of it that are made of glass that are very poorly seated in the design. We wouldn't be surprised if this managed to wiggle its way off a table at some point.
Ember Wave Smart Mug
This is a mug that connects to an app on your phone or tablet to set a very specific temperature for your drink of choice. Want your coffee kept at 98* while you're doing the dishes? It can handle it. Want your cocoa to stay warm while you tuck the kids into bed? It can do that too. Our issue with it is not the functionality of the device so much as what's required in order to get it. First off, the price. As of writing this mug is priced at 129.95 USD. Then you've got to download the app once you get your mug. Which, ok, that makes sense. It needs their proprietary software to work. What doesn't make sense is why you need to hand over your email and create an account. Why do I need to sign in order to heat my coffee?
Purpose 10/10 It will keep your mug at the temperature you set. For that reason, we love it.
Usefulness 1/10 This device is only as good as the app its paired to and for us, having to sign in just to keep our coffee hot is asking too much.
Danger 4/10 Actual possibility of burning yourself on this one if you:
a) forget how to hold a cup
b) set the temperature too high
c) have a moment of weakness and accidentally drop the cup.
(the last one has happened this week to your faithful writer.)
Bossy Betty Veggie Sheet Slicer
We will admit that this one is a lot of fun to say, but not as much fun to use. Although it's relatively easy to use, even with instructions, it's even easier to slice yourself with. The use for this one is to take different firm vegetables like zucchini, cucumbers, and carrots and turn them into sheets that you could use for different foods like lasagna. You fix the vegetable on the spike and then clamp the blade against it so that it begins to peel in very thin layers as the vegetable rotates.
Purpose 9/10 We only took a point off because you have to pick very firm vegetables.
Usefulness 4/10 Here we had to take many more points off, because.. why? Why do you need such thin sheets of vegetables? Other than lasagna, we can't see the home chef finding much use for this particular item.
Danger 8/10 Remember what we said about the blade? Yeah, in tests it was shown to pop repeatedly and suddenly when you're trying to 'set' the vegetable in place and ended up getting several people nicked. With time and practice, we're sure that people would be able to avoid getting injured, but really, we'd rather that you weren't getting injured at all.
Haier Pocket Washing Machine
You're out at dinner with friends and you accidentally splash some wine on your new skirt. Or a waiter passes by and bumps into you, causing you to get sauce on your silk tie. the Haier Pocket Machine can fit in a pocket, or more likely, in your car's glove box. You pop off to the car, remove the spot using a bit of water, detergent and the machine and it's supposed to remove the stain. Everything from mangoes, to coffee to mustard.
Surprise though, it doesn't. It just spreads the stain around and dilutes it some. It's a pity, but if things like this worked, we wouldn't have as much fun repairing your washing machine. ;)
Purpose 2/10 It will dilute the stain some, if you immediately attack it with the detergent, but we really aren't sure if that's the detergent or the machine.
Usefulness - 0/10 It doesn't remove the stain, using it would mean that you have to carry it, water and detergent with you all the time, and who has the time/space for that?
Danger 8/10 Danger to your clothes.
Coconut Meat Scraper
Our final one on the list! Fresh shaved coconut. Useable in all sorts of recipes and no need to wait! That is a dream for many of us that love coconut. This tool though? Is not the way to go about it. We'd rather you use a serrated spoon than to try this thing. It would be less dangerous. In tests the machine spins so fast that it's difficult even with gloves on to keep the coconut on the shaving head. The company is kind enough to provide gloves but we can reliably say that they aren't enough to protect your hands from this. For the sake of your hands, don't purchase this machine, and keep trying other ways to get your fill of delicious coconut.
Purpose 7/10 It's possible to make this work. But it's hard and as stated, we don't advise it.
Usefulness 0/10 Really. Unless you need industrial amounts of coconut, this thing has no use for the average person.
Danger 10/10 It is highly likely in our opinion that you would end up injured attempting to use this tool.
There you have it! Earlier this month we looked at gadgets we wanted and here are ones that we want nothing to do with. Let us know over on our Facebook what gadgets are in your kitchen that you regret buying!
Our everyday gadgets though, like your refrigerator, washer and oven are mandatory and not just because we work hard to keep them working. Every one of the major appliances has been tried and tested over and over to serve the purpose it was designed for. If yours isn't functioning for some reason, say the refrigerator isn't keeping things cold or your oven isn't getting hot enough, we're here for you. Appliance Rescue Service will come to wherever you are in our service area to keep your home running smoothly.
Reach out to us via phone or our contact page to set up your appointment today.
Appliance Rescue Service, we're here for you.
