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Useless kitchen tools!

post #1 of 87
1/18/10 at 1:15am
Thread Starter 
What is the most useless piece of kitchen equipment you have, or have had? I moved recently and had to downsize my "stuff" and some of my kitchen bits and bobs just had to go. When I really looked at it, it wasnt a difficult choice, but I am very interested to see what others feel are over rated, expensive or useless tools in their kitchen.
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post #2 of 87
1/18/10 at 2:00am
I'd say the most silly tool is an electric can opener, when hand operated ones work fine, and occupy much less space. Next most silly one that comes to mind is the grapefruit knife (or special jagged-edged grapefruit spoon). When i discovered that using any ordinary teaspoon i could very easily gouge out the segments of a grapefruit, i felt like a fool for having cut around them all those years.
But i don;t own either of them - i discovered the uselessness of these when i was still living with my family many many years ago.

I also have done away with meat thermometers and measuring spoons - i use a thin knife to feel the temperature of meat and i use my ordinary teaspoons and tablespoons and yes they are less accurate but i never noticed a problem in any of even the most delicate cakes.

The flour guard of the kitchenaid mixer. Yeah, it keeps the flour from going all over the floor when you add flour to bread dough, but you can't see what you're doing when it's on and it's such a pain in the neck to use i bought it, used it once, and relegated it to the back of my corner cabinet.
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post #3 of 87
1/18/10 at 5:13am
I actually love the grapefruit knife but not for it's intended use. I like to use it for peeling tomatoes, kiwi...any of the thin skinned fruits. I know you can eat those peels but tomato peel is like plastic in my mouth and that fuzz on the kiwi is just gross to me. lol The slender blade and serrated edge makes it easier to use peeling the thin skin away on those slick fruits.

I have one of those rotary cheese graters. To me, it's annoying to try to use it so it just sits in a the drawer. Another item is the tomato slicer my son bought me. Supposedly, you can put the tomato in there and make perfect slices. NOT! The tomatoes never fit in it and it's just too flimsy to hold anything.

I'm sure I could think of others.
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post #4 of 87
1/18/10 at 6:38am
Avocado slicers, hands down.

I never saw the point of them. And after Friend Wife bought one, I thought even less of them.
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post #5 of 87
1/18/10 at 8:07am
1. Rival cool touch deep fyrer. Never gets even close to 350 let alone 375F. I tested it a tried and true thermometer.

2. A nutmeg slicer with a tube for storing maybe 3-4 whole nutmegs. Trouble is, it isn't airtight, so the nutmegs can't stay fresh, and you can't judge the pressure you're putting on the nutmeg like you can with an old fashioned grater where you hold the nutmeg with your fingers.

3. Rolling parsley slicer. Totally useless.

4. Tropicana individual orange juice containers. The straw doesn't click tight like its supposed to, and since they did away with the aluminum punch hole, I can get the straw to punch through the waxed cardboard container.

5. Pineapple corer. The core is always bigger than the corer hole!

6. Non-stick coated spatulas meant for flipping food on the griddle or grill. Give me plain old heavy duty metal with a sharp edge so I can scrape the grill clean.

doc
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post #6 of 87
1/18/10 at 9:37am
those plastic shrimp deveiners. I have never had one work right and my hands and a pairing knife make short work of cleaning shrimp.

oh yeah and those sectioned pie slicers, they don't cut through the crust they just squish the pie into the bottom of the pan. my eyeball and a sharp knife are way better.
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post #7 of 87
1/18/10 at 10:31am
Goodgrief there's junk out ther I hadn't heard of even yet imagined. I've had to pare down my gear lately for moving....but I couldn't part with any of my kitchen tools. If I had to ditch one item, it would be the electric juicer. Used it once, very nice looking bit of kit, but a horror to clean.

Oh, and my wooden honey drizzler stick thingy. But it looks too cute to throw out :)
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post #8 of 87
1/18/10 at 10:46am
Lifting forks, those big oversized tines for muitlating a roast or a turkey.

They belong in a bad ninja movie or a documentary about hay baling pygmies.
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post #9 of 87
1/18/10 at 11:37am
I was at Ares Kitchen supplies and saw three things that left me puzzled, which I would never buy among alot of other stuff.

1- egg separator
2- Pot lid rest
3- pancake dispenser

Oh and a jar and bottle vice. First it does not open a jar if my life depended on it and 2nd it takes up too much space for nothing because of the size. Where is a good jar opener besides hot water and a whack with a knife ?
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post #10 of 87
1/18/10 at 4:58pm
A lemon / lime handheld juicer.
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post #11 of 87
1/18/10 at 8:12pm
What the heck is a pancake dispenser? Something like a card dealing machine? heh

Those vices are useless indeed. Give me a heavy knife and a damp cloth anytime.
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post #12 of 87
1/18/10 at 8:23pm
On jars try the pointy end of a cheap can opener under the edge of the lid. Pry out until the vacuum releases. Works well for me and I have arthritis pretty bad.
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post #13 of 87
1/19/10 at 5:04am
I was in the grocery store last week and the woman behind me was buying a plastic banana slicer. She and the clerk were gushing over it, marveling at the idea they could now have even, identical slices of banana. A third woman chimed in and said she couldn't live without it. What's the world come to when people can't slice a simple banana?
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post #14 of 87
1/19/10 at 6:43am
Those silicone spatulas with the spoon shaped edge. How about the little plastic doodad that SCRAMBLES EGGS RIGHT IN THE SHELL!!!! (scuse the caps but that commercial is SO LOUD!)
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post #15 of 87
1/19/10 at 6:53am
I have one of those silicone spatulas with the spoon edge and love it. It really comes in handy when mixing cookie batters.

I also have a pancake dispenser.......kinda like a funnel/bowl with an opening at the bottom and a trigger to release the pancake batter into the pan. I think it's a total waste of time and space but Les loves it when he makes pancakes.
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post #16 of 87
1/19/10 at 8:07am
For me, without a doubt, is the "eggstractor" (I think that's what they call it...but I named it the "eggasperator"). Its this device that (theorhetically) de-shells hard cooked eggs. You thoroughly crack the egg and put it into this thing, and with a single downward thrust, the shell (supposedly) is blown off and you have a perfectly shelled egg. A dear friend bought into one of those TV specials ... "but wait---act NOW, and we'll send you two for the price of one". And I was the recipient of the extra one!
Now, I will say it did provide us an evening's worth of entertainment. First we debated on the proper way to cook eggs. We cooked a dozen. Six her way, six mine. And when they were done and completely cooled, we had a shelling contest. She used her marvelous new machine. I did mine the old fashioned way. Her first egg literally blew apart. The second one took several plunges to give it up. In the meantime, I had shelled all six of my eggs before she had started on the third one.

I still have it stored in the nether-regions back under the kitchen sink. Anyone want it? :rolleyes:
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post #17 of 87
1/19/10 at 9:00am
Hey, you need one of those things that makes hard cooked eggs square to go with it--hehe, couldn't help myself?
Nan
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post #18 of 87
1/19/10 at 9:00am
I recently went through every cupboard in my kitchen and cleaned out unused items. Without a doubt the item I found that was the least (re: NEVER) used was a Salad Shooter. I think I recieved this as a gift about 15-20 years ago and I may have used it one time. It is also possible that it has never been used. Hopefully Goodwill will find it a good home.;)
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post #19 of 87
1/19/10 at 9:26am
Hey, Nan. I love my egg cuber.

Not the sort of thing you use everyday. But the first time you serve square stuffed eggs to a guests the look on their faces is well worth the effort.
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post #20 of 87
1/19/10 at 10:26am
Aha....they are a boy toy then :) (as opposed to a toy boy) Thanks for the clarification.
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post #21 of 87
1/19/10 at 11:05am
My garlic roaster. Foil seems to work just fine...

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post #22 of 87
1/19/10 at 12:13pm
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:
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post #23 of 87
1/19/10 at 12:44pm
the strawberry hull remover.....???
just lame.
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post #24 of 87
1/19/10 at 1:08pm
Last time we visited a kitchen tool store, my dad almost bought me a clip-on spoon rest. When I realized he was about to buy it for me, I implored him to put it back on the shelves, explaining I had enough dishes and utensils and accessories to wash and store as it is!

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post #25 of 87
1/19/10 at 4:26pm
Didn't Rachel Ray make a line of spoons with a handle? Can't stand her.......and she's probably making millions off that stupid idea.
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post #26 of 87
1/20/10 at 12:34am
You kidding me that thing exists - what about a saucer, if you must, on the bench top?
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post #27 of 87
1/20/10 at 12:52am
Thread Starter 
I usually just rest myutensil across the handle, after shaking it off of course. Means I use the same spoon or whatever in the same pot, if I have more than one on the go.
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post #28 of 87
1/20/10 at 9:16am
Take it easy now Siduri, meat thermometers and measuring spoons are very useful to some of us.

I like my clip on spoon rest, but only if I have a lot of pots going at the same time and not enough space to put all the spoons down or I'm too likely to use the wrong spoons.

I have a glass cutting board that is useless.
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post #29 of 87
1/20/10 at 9:27am
In university I had a Foreman Grill. The epitome of uselessness.
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post #30 of 87
1/20/10 at 9:59am
I had one of those. It didn't last long enough to be deemed "useless". Hubbydearest is death on things breakable. That's why our coffeemaker has a stainless caraffe.
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