Favourite Kitchen Tools

First off, I would like to wish all my American friends and readers a Happy 4th of July!  Hope y’all have fun celebrating your country’s Independence (see? I threw a y’all in there, just to make y’all feel welcome).

On to today’s post….Kitchen tools.  I prefer to use the word ‘tool’ as opposed to the word ‘gadget’.  Tools just sound much more professional and cool, plus they have a purpose and they function well.  ‘Gagdets’ are toys masquerading as ‘tools’.  Like the Slap Chop….which is plainly a ‘gagdet’ being touted as the next best thing since sliced bread.  Have you ever seen the size of the thing?  It would hold maybe a half cup of chopped anything.  I don’t know about you, but when I need chopped up stuff, I need way more than a half cup.  The Slap Chop surely has Food Processor envy.

So what is your absolute must-have tool in the kitchen? (and no, your husband doesn’t count).  I have several must-have’s but without a doubt, my cheese grater tops the list.

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I purchased this sleek beauty from Ikea, yes, Ikea, more than just furniture and storage solutions.  I love Ikea for so many things, least of all is actually their furniture.  Most of the styles are not my fancy, but I do love their ‘Marketplace’ section.  I dare anyone to walk through one and NOT buy anything.  It is impossible, even if you just buy a cheese grater or a 100-pack of tea light candles for 4.99.

I originally bought this grater for up at the cottage as I needed one there.  After giving it several test runs and loving it, I went back the next week and bought one for the house and pitched my old tupperware one.  Which actually just smooshed the cheese more than grating it.  It was a pretty useless ‘gagdet’…yes, I am relegating the old Tupperware one as a ‘gagdet’ as it clearly didn’t do the job it was supposed to.

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What I like best of the Ikea cheese grater is the style of it and the ergonomic handle.  Shaped like a triangle, it is easy to hold and narrow enough that you could grate it over a platter or bowl without it going everywhere.  It has a fine and a larger grate blade and shreds cheese beautifully.   It also cleans up in a snap and is very durable.

Pretty darn good deal for a 4.99 tool…beats the Slap Chop anyday.

So what is your best kitchen tool? Would love to hear about them as I am always looking for a decent tool to replace the lousy gagdets I have compiled over the years…..

3 thoughts on “Favourite Kitchen Tools

  1. I have 2 drawers full of gadgets!! hardly use any!
    My most precious tool is my rice cooker! which saves me time space and offers me perfect rice every time! followed by my garlic press which has this cool bit to pit olives!!!

  2. My favourite tool….oh so many to choose from, but I do love my slap chop 🙂 I love it for nuts, takes a couple slaps and there is just enough nuts for any 9×13 pan of dessert, especially my famous brownies. I keep the nuts frozen and they make a terrible noise in the processor. The tiny black cup would really only chop enough for 1 person cooking, but I toss that and chop directly on my flexible cutting board-which is another must in my kitchen.
    I love my pastry cutter to make pies and pop tarts of course, but also use it for egg salad, salmon salad or breaking up any food with similar soft texture. My MIL uses her food processor for everything, including pie crust, I find it over works the dough.
    T/W holds the award for storage, and they used to have a GREAT potato peeler (the original ones were great for potatoes, carrots, zucs, cucs and fresh pumpkin) , orange peeler, huge white sandwich spreader/knife (which is perfect for cutting many squares and 2 swipes across the bun for things like mayo and cheez whiz) and one piece spatula, but they ventured into too many directions and lost their shine. Seems like they were competing with Pampered Chef. I sold T/W for several years but got discouraged with their ideas.
    P Chef has many gadgets and tools. My favs are their 2 cup measurer for dry or wet, it pushes out pb, and all sticky ingredients with a snap, smaller ice cream scoop for cookie dough and same sized Christmas ball goodies, and their scraper for the stones. I have started using scrapers for counter tops after rolling/kneading dough, cast iron pans, and the groove around my Jenn Aire counter top stove.
    I could not function without my spatulas, a couple wooden spoons for candy making, candy thermometer is important for many recipes, and who can forget the basic spoon, masher, flipper, tongue set that every woman must have. The ove glove (have 2) is a genious invention and have replaced my oven mitts because they CAN catch fire 😀 The ove glove can go from kitchen to deck and is perfect around the BBQ as well. The silicone oven mitt has become part of my canning tools as I can lift all the wet jars out of the canner without scalding my hand then tighten as I still use the old fashioned silver rings, rubber seals and glass lids for most of my canning. I also need the cone shaped colander on a stand for canning. A cheese cloth or jelly bag is hard on the hands and things must be cooled to work with them and squeeze out some of the pulp.
    It seems many types or nationality of foods hold their own tools. My perogi maker is a must have, also the tortilla press saves time, the apple peeler, corer, slicer that screws onto the counter top is also a must have. Great for apples, potato chunks (quickly slice the core part) or young zucs as it partially seeds them as well.
    I also love my Chinese type steamer-similar to the bamboo stackables, this is an older stainless one. It is great to steam many dishes at once. When the garden comes in, I do not boil any veggies, rather steam everything. This will do one pot of potatoes, one of veggies and I can place buns in at the end for a fresh bun taste and texture. When I decide to make Asian dumplings this thing is great, as I make many, steam, then freeze. I can also use the huge pot at the bottom to make soup, while I steam dumplings in the top trays.
    My favourite mandoline was the old fashioned, original orange one-I believe from K Tel with the V shaped slicer. My food processor has replaced that over the years, but that thing rocked. So did the ginsu knife? Brown handle, cut through cans, seregated edge-still have the original from the late 70s in the 5th wheel.
    I have purged my gadget drawer and savour my tools….just do not misplace my slap chop:P

    • LOL! Holy smokes girl! talk about a WHACK of useful tools in your kitchen! I too have the orange mandoline from K-tel, have not used it in ages though since I got my food processor with it’s slicing blades…. and BTW…ingenius idea using your pastry cutter to chop eggs for egg salad – why the heck didn’t I think of that?! Thanks for filling us in on all kinds of tips and tricks!…now…I must find an Ove’ Glove…you have sold me on it 🙂

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