Useless kitchen tools

[GB]

If you are like me you love kitchen gadgets and tools. Sometimes I just get that itch and need a new one. Now I am sure we have all done this. We go out and buy something and then realize we have no need for it.

What have you bought only to find that you never use it? The catch here is that it has to be something that other people actually find useful, but because of what you cook or how you cook you just don't have a need for it.

For me it would be my food mill. I have a beautiful one from William Sonoma. It is very large and very well made. I think I used it once though and I actually am not even sure where the thing is right now. I am sure I will use it again at some point, but it is definitely something I could have done without.

 

[htc]

For me these things aren't always useless, but I probably shouldn't have bought them since I don't have a lot of space:
-stick blender
-the little plastic thing that peels garlic (I got suckered while watching a TV show and they used it. I just peel garlic w/ my fingers or smash it)
-cast iron frying pan & dutch oven (these don't have a coating on them, so it's a pain to season them after each use)

 

[PA Baker]

I'm sure if I rummaged through my cupboards I could find several things but there are two that come to mind:

Flour sifter--actually this was a gift. It's the kind where you turn the handle to sift the flour through. I prefer to just use a large sieve. It's easier to handle and clean.

Tart pans--For the number of tarts I've ever made, I probably could do without and just not make tarts. But they're one of those "I want to have them just in case" pieces that I wouldn't give up.

 

[Catseye]

My answer might surprise some people. It was a microwave. Someone gave me a second-hand one several years ago, and all I used it for was to bake potatoes and take the chill off the cats' wet food in the wintertime. What it mostly did was take up space, so I got rid of it, and have never missed it.

As for other tools, I'm on a very limited budget, so I have to crave a tool for a long time before I actually buy it, and so I use every tool I own.


Cats

 

[Paint]

Some funky expensive citrus segmenter, it didn't work and it's much easier to just use a sharp knife.

My expensive calphalon pans that I bought less than a year ago are now sitting in the back of my cupboard too....I'm having a love affair with cast iron at the moment (preseasoned!)

Paint.

 

[Rob Babcock]

The Eggstractor! It actually does sorta work, sometimes very well, but you have to do it just exactly right. And you gotta give it a helluva whack. Otherwise it won't peel the egg. But to much force and it blows the egg apart.

 

[PolishedTopaz]

If you are like me you love kitchen gadgets and tools. Sometimes I just get that itch and need a new one. Now I am sure we have all done this. We go out and buy something and then realize we have no need for it.

What have you bought only to find that you never use it? The catch here is that it has to be something that other people actually find useful, but because of what you cook or how you cook you just don't have a need for it.

For me it would be my food mill. I have a beautiful one from William Sonoma. It is very large and very well made. I think I used it once though and I actually am not even sure where the thing is right now. I am sure I will use it again at some point, but it is definitely something I could have done without.

Don't be too sure there GB they are great for homemade baby food. It may be getting a workout yet

 

[Haggis]

One of the best ones I've seen in a store is a specialised avocado scoop. I mean...seriously.

 

[Ishbel]

Ohhh, Haggis - I was going to say that - I bought it a few months ago because I hate the feeling of avocado flesh on my fingers, yukky.... - and it's USELESS.... either leaves a proportion of the avocado in the skin, or takes too much of the flesh out.... And I have never actually found an avocado that is the exact size of the implement, so the segments are pretty ropey, even when it works!

 

[Haggis]

Hehe suckered!

Also saw a tool in another homeware/kitchenware store, an automatic apple corer, peeler and slicer (non-electric). Seriously, you would have to making ALOT of apple related dishes to ever justify that.

The only sort of tool that falls into this category that I would buy would be an egg seperator. I am hopeless when it comes to this...chickens around the world have united to hate me.

 

[Ishbel]

One of the very best (I know, I know, but if you find one of these annoying implements that ACTUALLY works, I think you should spread the gospel!) is a wooden juice reamer that I've had for about 25 years - nothing gets the juice out of lemons, oranges and limes so well....

 

[subfuscpersona]

a garlic press - its quicker to use a knife - actually, many times I prefer to use roasted garlic

the slicer/shredder attachment for the kitchenaid mixer - the plastic housing cracks like this

After this happened the first time I was stoopid enuf to buy a replacement and it happened again. Mended it with krazy glue and crossed my fingers. Wish I hadn't given away my box grater

 

[mudbug]

a tart pan without a removable bottom

 

[GB]

If you are like me you love kitchen gadgets and tools. Sometimes I just get that itch and need a new one. Now I am sure we have all done this. We go out and buy something and then realize we have no need for it.

What have you bought only to find that you never use it? The catch here is that it has to be something that other people actually find useful, but because of what you cook or how you cook you just don't have a need for it.

For me it would be my food mill. I have a beautiful one from William Sonoma. It is very large and very well made. I think I used it once though and I actually am not even sure where the thing is right now. I am sure I will use it again at some point, but it is definitely something I could have done without.

Don't be too sure there GB they are great for homemade baby food. It may be getting a workout yet

We actually got a special baby food mill for that . It is similar in shape to a pepper grinder. It is just the right size for a baby. I am sure that will be getting a TON on use. I would much rather make my own baby food then buy those expensive little jars. My big food mill would be large enough to make baby food for an entire day care center LOL.

 

[middie]

my bf bought a bread machine from a garage sale for about 5 bucks. i think i used it a whole 3 times in 5 yrs.

 

[kitchenelf]

Anything related to baking is useless to me - mini tart pans, bread tubes in different shapes, gingerbread mold.

But the most useless thing I can think of that I have is a garlic press. I always prefer to chop mine and it's a pain to clean!

 

[buckytom]

a shrimp sheller/de-veiner. it looks like some kind of crochet or needlework hook. it's supposed to split the shrimp, forcing off the shell, exposing the vein. what it actually does is mangle the shrimp.

 

[mjsorkin]

I bought two pie pans a year ago in the hope of making quiche in them. The crust for the quiche was a disaster and I have never used the pie pans once.

 

[choclatechef]

a garlic press - its quicker to use a knife - actually, many times I prefer to use roasted garlic

the slicer/shredder attachment for the kitchenaid mixer - the plastic housing cracks like this

After this happened the first time I was stoopid enuf to buy a replacement and it happened again. Mended it with krazy glue and crossed my fingers. Wish I hadn't given away my box grater

The plastic one is wack, but you would like the cast aluminum one.

 

[subfuscpersona]

The plastic one is wack, but you would like the cast aluminum one.

Hi c-chef,

I'm sure I would - I see them sometimes on eBay. However, I don't use this attachment that much any more - I do wish I still had my box grater tho.

BTW, I finally got that metal rolling pin you recommended just the other day. (The seller took forever to ship it.)

(lovely large size and in very good condition)

Sooo, now I'm thinking pastry...maybe its time to learn how to make puff pastry with my new toy!