Kitchen Gadgets and Junk Drawer Clutter
Kitchen gadgets can make food preparation easier unless they lead to junk drawer clutter.
My wife is in charge of our kitchen and I asked her to pull six random gadgets from the junk drawer, then quiz me to see if I knew what they are used for. If I didn’t know, she would explain their use to me. I managed to get three out of six correct.
How many of these kitchen gadgets do you know?
If you don’t know what a kitchen gadget is used for, is it clutter? The very name “junk drawer” conjures an image of chaos. Since she uses these items throughout the year they are not clutter.
If you have a junk drawer in your kitchen, beware of clutter creep. That is, accumulation of gadgets that never get used. If you have trouble opening your junk drawer, it might be time to start de-cluttering that drawer.
How many gadgets did you get correct?
The item list and purpose of each:
- Egg separator – a tool used to separate the yolk of an egg from the egg white.
- Cake tester probe – a kitchen tool designed specifically for use in baking to test the doneness of cakes, a crucial step in the baking process.
- Biscuit cutter – a kitchen tool used to cut dough for the North American definition of biscuits (similar to English scones but without the higher amounts of sugar.) They are round, with a taller cutting edge than a cookie cutter.
- Citrus zester – a kitchen utensil for obtaining zest from lemons and other citrus fruit.
- Egg piercer – a tool that pierces the air pocket of an eggshell with a small needle to keep the shell from cracking during hard-boiling. If both ends of the shell are pierced, the egg can be blown out while preserving the shell (for crafts).
- Butter slicer – A tool that makes cutting butter easier and cleaner. Made of metal and wire. Also referred to as a “butter cutter”.
Kitchen gadgets can make food preparation easier, just be sure to use them.