Sporks and spurtles, chinoises and canelles are among a variety of interesting items you will find in a well-stocked kitchenware store. I've yet to meet a chef, food writer or home cook who doesn't enjoy browsing endlessly in what can often seem like an Aladdin's Cave of tools for cooks.
Once upon a lifetime ago, I was fortunate enough to be the co-owner of such an establishment. The leading cookware specialty store in my home town, no less. The shelves of which were literally packed to the rafters with good things galore, and there was a cooking school attached! As such, I feel equipped to explain, in depth to those wishing to learn, the difference between a mezzaluna and a microplane, or a tortilla and a turnover. ヅ
Moving on from small business ownership, my curiosity for cookware and love of a bargain led me to discover that great gadgets can also be found by scouring op shops and thrift stores. Frankly, other than cooking and photography, it's one of my favourite pastimes. And I've landed a number of really good finds, including a large Pillivuyt soufflé dish in perfect condition for a mere dollar (AUD). But let's now delve deep into the wide utility drawers in this cook's kitchen and unearth a few of the quirky and clever culinary tools and gadgets collected over the decades. Some are old-school, but innovative and useful nonetheless. A few are new to the cookware scene. Others are simply colourful additions to the culinary hub. 
So, dear readers and fellow cooks. Tell me about your favourite tools for cooks. Which one is the favourite among the ones you have collected, and why is it so good?
If you'd like to know more about any of these gadgets, just please ask. ヅ
33 Comments
I'm a sucker for a kitchen gadget and have far too many, lots of which are mostly useless. I've never seen the point of herb scissors when I have a sharp knife or an egg separator when I have fingers and I find a couple of wickedly sharp microplane graters deal with so many tasks. However I wouldn't be without my ceramic ginger grater or my cherry pitter.
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:37:05 pm
Hi Amanda, aha, a fellow gadget lover! Let you in on a secret... I am not that fond of the herb scissors!
A great collection there Liz, and I’ve got a few of them too :) My favourites are probably my jar opener, and like Amanda, my microplane grater.
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:37:27 pm
Ha, we've probably all done that at some stage! Thank heavens for alcohol wipes! 11/4/2015 02:50:38 am
Love my kitchen gadgets. I have drawers full of them! The challenge is in remembering what they are designed to do. My newest fave is a magnetic bottle top opener which pops a lid easily and effortlessly.
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:37:48 pm
That one sounds great, Christine! Oh to be an inventor! 11/4/2015 08:58:56 am
The Jar Key is a really useful gadget - and I love my microplanes too.
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:38:06 pm
True, Rachel, I find the jar key fabulous! And the microplanes as well. Gadgets are my forte, if you ask Markipedia. (Books [non-cookbooks], as you might have guessed, are his...) Quirky things I have: sauce spoons, a variety of jar openers, a truffle slicer, and a gnocchi board. But the real obsession comes when you look at the things of which I have multiples: measuring spoon sets (8), measuring cups (6), tongs (7), citrus juices (6), mortar & pestles (4). I think you see my problem! :) I need a 12-step program!
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:38:33 pm
Whoa, David... wish you were one of our customers at the cookware store... we would have rolled out the red carpet for you! 11/4/2015 12:36:05 pm
I don't know its proper name, but the wooden citrus juicer (the one you plunge and turn into the half fruit) is a marvel. So much easier to clean than a normal juicer and its sharp edges extract every single bit of juice from the fruit.
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:39:09 pm
Hi Ambra, yep, I know the one know mean... it's known as a reamer. We used to sell wooden, plastic and metal ones!
Eha
11/4/2015 01:52:49 pm
Oh what a wonderful fun post!! I do love 'gadgets' also and have carried some very peculiar ones back from overseas travel. Don't know about that nut opener, but do have any number of egg slicers and stoners and fish tweezers and I do want a pair of herb scissors :) ! Mr Peg? An elderly friend put me wise a couple of decades ago and I have dozens in the pantry, BUT just ordinary cheap clothes pegs do just fine: I even colour code them!!!
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:39:40 pm
You are funny, Eha... I use bulldog clips too! Thanks for your kind words. xo 11/4/2015 04:19:30 pm
What a fun gadget post today that I thoroughly enjoyed Lizzy!
Lizzy
11/4/2015 06:39:58 pm
Aha, another gadget lover! Thanks for stopping by! Great post Liz! My quirkiest gadget is a garlic peeler. Its a silicon tube thingee that you pop a whole clove of unpeeled garlic into. Roll it back and forth on the counter top and voila! peeled garlic. I hate the fiddly task of peeling the papery skin off garlic and just love this invention. So much that I bought up about 5 of them to give as gifts from a homeware store's opening special. Reminds me... to give my gadget drawers (yep, drawers) a bit of a tidy up. Cheers! 12/4/2015 01:58:33 am
Oh I've got a few of those including the bake snake. Have you actually used it yet? I'm curious to see how it goes. 12/4/2015 03:11:40 am
Oh my, I have so many of those things I'm embarrassed. I don't have the babushka cups but I'd like to. :) 12/4/2015 12:19:57 pm
whata great shop to own! heaven! I worked in the kitchenware, small electrical and china/glasswares of grace bros in Penrith when I was going thru uni and it's probably why I love that stuff so much. 12/4/2015 09:08:23 pm
I want that MR Tea! Some quirky things here, of which the walnut opener would have no use in my house. I have a few of the items and love my herb scissors :) 12/4/2015 11:10:10 pm
What a fun post! My jar key (thanks for naming it - I had no idea what it was called) has travelled with me to 4 different countries. I also have a foil cutter for wine bottles that I've had since 1994 and I take it on holiday with me too. 12/4/2015 11:26:05 pm
If I owned a cookware shop, I'd be its be best customer!
Tina Deasey
13/4/2015 01:19:48 am
My favourite would have to be my grater two different sized grater sections (a bit like a mircoplane) Love it do cheese on one and grate garlic on the other side. fits over bowls (extends out) 13/4/2015 01:58:19 am
I can remember selling ( and stacking on the shelves) most of these gadgets at Essential Ingredient. Sadly i have a lot of them to....
Brenda
13/4/2015 09:25:22 am
Have about half of these lurking in my cupboards: cherry and olive stoner ( fiddly); jar key (cumbersome); sandwich cutter (from days in retsinas - flattens the bread); Aussie prawn peeler (??why do we have fingers); ceramic i.e. bird (collect these - have some lovely old ones); egg slicer (from the 70s); ceramic ginger grater; "Whiskie" e.g. whisk (because he's cute!) and the hand held citrus press! Some are gimmicky, but always worth trying because you never know when you find just that perfect tool. Kent try the herb scissors - do they bruise the herbs?? 13/4/2015 09:37:10 pm
I have so many of these gadgets in my drawers that it's not even funny Liz! My favourite gadget though is my microplane, I use it for so many things and it's wonderful :) xo 16/4/2015 03:03:48 am
I *do* fight it, I really do, but it's genetic, this kitchen gadget "thing" I have, so I really can't help it! :D But I do try to abide by the New Item In / Old Item Out rule these days. 18/4/2015 01:29:32 pm
Argh.... I just wrote a comment, but it disappeared. Not sure if it posted, if it did, just delete this second comment. :) 21/4/2015 08:31:57 pm
I was dubious of that prawn peeler but my brother convinced me and you know, they are quite good. I'm fine with prawns but when you have 50 or so to peel, this gadget can help you get through them in no time! A fun post. Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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Hi. I'm Liz. I'm a writer, cook and traveller based in Canberra, Australia.
I love the process of writing and the stringing together of words to form a story borne from the wisp of an idea. I also greatly enjoy cooking and travelling. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes, postcards and morsels from my adventures, conversations with cookery writers and chefs, and news on food and cooking.  Search by topicNB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
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