INVENT THIS !

[KitchenQueen]

What have you wished someone would invent for the home cook?

Things you'd buy in a minute if someone would get busy and invent and market it.

A medium sized proofing box with temp control. Enough for 2 loaves or one large artisan loaf.

They invented heating pads and aquarium thermometers, didn't they?

And some doohickey that will push down the dough crawling up your Kitchenaid dough hook.

And I'm tired of water in a pan on the oven bottom, and/or opening the door to spray. There's got to be a better way.

What do you want?

[andiesenji]

I would like someone to invent a "third-hand" grabber to hold pot/pan lids up out of the way so I can use both hands, one to hold the pot or pan while stirring with the other.

When handling large diameter lids, there is not always a handy place close by to set them down and juggling a hot lid can often be tricky.

Before I had my kitchen remodeled, I had a steel bar on the wall behind the stovetop that was set out from the wall far enough so that I could place lids behind it. I'm sorry I didn't retain it but some of the heavier lids, chipped and scarred the tile so I omitted it.

One of the reasons I bought one of the Electrolux mixers was because I was tired of having bread dough crawl up the dough hook and occasionally send what looked like a pseudopod flapping around outside the bowl, if I didn't pay attention.

I also bought a steam injection oven because I did a lot of baking. (Haven't used it much during the past couple of years so it is going to go and I am getting a new, and much smaller, oven.)

For proofing, I often just use a translucent plastic storage tub, turned upside down over a tray holding pans, bannetons, etc., of shaped dough, with a heat lamp suspended about 4 feet above it. I have been using the same GE Infrared heat lamp for more than ten years so the bulbs last a long, long time. I don't recall how much I paid, but new ones now cost $6.99.

GE heat lamp

This is the fixture that holds the bulb: clamp lamp

Edited September 21, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[HVRobinson]

Oh, this one is easy. Several additional dimensions. One to push garbage into. Another for dirty pots, pans, spoons, cookie sheets, steam trays and the thousands of mise en place thingies that need to be cleared out of the way NOW! A dimension JUST for cold things. A warming dimension. A dimension for smoking that doesn't stink up your baking... smoke flavored angel food cake anybody? A dimension JUST for receiving fresh veggies... and keeping the hitch-hiking buggies OUT. A dimension for shooting champagane corks... just for fun. A dimension for sticking your head in and screaming LOUDLY when you find some dummy has filled your salt cellar with sugar. A dimension for holding your 8 & 10 inch kinfes where they won't get "borrowed".... where the cleaver doesn't get used for hacking bones on an elephant, where your steel doesn't suddenly have all the grooves filled with sugar (that the pastry chef denies using)... and similar things. A dimension JUST for those things that become tomorrow's stock. You know that bus boy who is always snagging olives and cherries from the bar station? A dimension to lose him into.... or at least keep his snacking controlled. Oh yes... and a dimension for the pest control guy... who always seems to show up within 30 minutes of the arrival of the city health board, or the most important food critic.... just because.

hvr

[sugarseattle]

a way to dry your hands quickly so you can put a piece of tape on a bucket of stuff and have it stick and be able to write on it with a sharpie without the sharpie stopping working because it's wet.

[jmolinari]

Kitchenqueen: i can help with your proofing box needs.

http://www.thebuzzelectronics.com/thermoko...ooler_and_w.htm

adjustable to any temp, relatively inexpensive, and small.

[phaelon56]

A smokeless home coffee roaster that has programmable roast profiles, does batch sizes ranging from 1/4 lb up to 1 lb and sells for less than $500. Must be smokeless and that is a huge gotcha.

[KitchenQueen]

Kitchenqueen: i can help with your proofing box needs.

http://www.thebuzzelectronics.com/thermoko...ooler_and_w.htm

adjustable to any temp, relatively inexpensive, and small.

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I love it and didn't know it existed, but it wouldn't take a half sheet pan, if I'm reading the dimensions correctly. Too danged small.

[KitchenQueen]

Oh yeah, while we're asking for the impossible.

A home scanner . I swipe my grocery bar code as I put the groceries away.

When I use something, I swipe the code and it tells me my date of purchase.

Did I really buy that oregano in 2003?

And it can't take up more than 3 cubic inches of counterspace.

And if someone does invent that third hand thingy, I would buy it.

It beats waving around a hot 90 pound LC pot lid. Been there,done that.

[Dianabanana]

Oh yeah, while we're asking for the impossible.

A home scanner .  I swipe my grocery bar code as I put the groceries away.

When I use something, I swipe the code and it tells me my date of purchase.

Did I really buy that oregano in 2003? 

And it can't take up more than 3 cubic inches of counterspace.

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Ooh, good one. I would buy it. Right now my low-tech version is a Sharpie. I keep it in the kitchen drawer and write the date on things as they come in. But a scanner would be way cooler.

[KitchenQueen]

Ooh, good one. I would buy it. Right now my low-tech version is a Sharpie. I keep it in the kitchen drawer and write the date on things as they come in. But a scanner would be way cooler.

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Dianabanana,

You too? It would be even handier if sirens went off and red lights flashed screeching "the oregano's dead" and immediately added it to your automatic shopping list.

I think I've gone crazy. Must be from my Sharpie fumes.

[Chris Amirault]

An oil/candy thermometer that attaches firmly to the side of the pot and can be read from any angle.

A potholder that doesn't suck in some way or another.

A well-designed bottle brush that's at least a foot long.

An anti-griddle and an immersion circulator priced for the Target crowd.

[KitchenQueen]

A well-designed bottle brush that's at least a foot long.

An anti-griddle and an immersion circulator priced for the Target crowd.

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An oil/candy thermometer that attaches firmly to the side of the pot and can be read from any angle.

A potholder that doesn't suck in some way or another.

Dream on.

"A well-designed bottle brush that's at least a foot long."

I have a brush made for cleaning dryer vents. Has a foot or more of coiled flexible stainless like a plumbing snake,with a brush on the end.

The brush could be a bit stiffer, but it works, believe me. I bought one, and it's coiled in my kitchen drawer. I use it a lot. That sucker goes anywhere. Use it with denture cleaning tablets for those inaccessible things.

[andiesenji]

Oh yeah, while we're asking for the impossible.

A home scanner .  I swipe my grocery bar code as I put the groceries away.

When I use something, I swipe the code and it tells me my date of purchase.

Did I really buy that oregano in 2003? 

And it can't take up more than 3 cubic inches of counterspace.

←

Ooh, good one. I would buy it. Right now my low-tech version is a Sharpie. I keep it in the kitchen drawer and write the date on things as they come in. But a scanner would be way cooler.

←

I have been accused of being just a bit obcessed by organization but I simply have one of these

Label Printers

It lives in my pantry - it takes up little room and things can be labeled when they come out of the shopping bags.

Jars that are opened and will be stored in the fridge also get a date label.

Items that are purchased for a particular recipe are also identified for that purpose. Thusly I do not use something which I will be needing later for a particular application.

I learned this years ago when I was preparing a special recipe and discovered I had used the only jar of a necessary ingredient, a few days earlier.

It also makes it unnecessary to open opaque containers to see what they contain - not just for foodstuff, for anything that has to be stored.

[KitchenQueen]

It looks a little clunky, but it beats my current method by a mile.

[KitchenQueen]

An anti-griddle and an immersion circulator priced for the Target crowd.

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OK,

I'll admit my stupidity.

What is an anti-griddle, and what is an immersion circulator?

It can't be as simple as it sounds.

[KLwood]

A home food irradiation system.

Vibrating kitchen floor mats.

A built in steam cleaning gun for the sink

Chef wear made of the same breathable high tech fabric that athletes wear

Cast Iron skillets with a long , hollow, stainless steel handle like professional restaraunt cookware

An apron that has velcro attachments instead of 3 feet of apron string ties on either end that inevitably get wrapped around the washing machine agitator like dental floss

A home version of the hands free paper towel dispensers Ive seen in restrooms , ditto with the kitchen faucet.

An electric peppermill that holds more than 1/4 cup, and is RECHARGABLE

( heads up Unicorn !! )

A quick read, battery powered, food safe, salinity meter for those folks who cant seem to salt their stuff the same way twice. If nothing else it would be usefull for getting pasta and veggie water right.

[Dianabanana]

A pneumatic lift in the kitchen floor that, at the touch of a button, would go up just a couple of inches to give me leverage when chopping, kneading, rolling out pie dough, etc., then up a foot or so to let me get stuff from the top of the cabinets (well, from anything higher than the bottom shelf, actually), then go back down to allow my average-size husband to do the dishes at standard height.

[jgm]

I would buy a long, trough-shaped mold that I could line with plastic wrap, for molding logs of cookie dough. I could probably cut some PVC pipe and accomplish that, but then I'd have to figure out how to make it not roll around on the counter. . .

I need a master database. I want it to read the bar code on my cooking magazines and cookbooks, and from that add in the names of all recipes and ingredients, so that I could enter an ingredient in a search field, and it would tell me all of the recipes I could use with that ingredient. The bar codes would make it perpetually update-able, and would customize it to only the references I have, so I wouldn't be pulling up recipes in publications or books I don't own.

[andiesenji]

A home food irradiation system. 

A home version of the hands free paper towel dispensers Ive seen in restrooms , ditto with the kitchen faucet.

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Here ya go!

hands-free paper towel dispenser

automatic kitchen faucet

I have been begging for a home irradiation appliance for years.

Edited September 23, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[pansophia]

Oh yeah, while we're asking for the impossible.

A home scanner .  I swipe my grocery bar code as I put the groceries away.

When I use something, I swipe the code and it tells me my date of purchase.

Did I really buy that oregano in 2003? 

And it can't take up more than 3 cubic inches of counterspace.

And if someone does invent that third  hand  thingy, I would buy it.

It beats waving around a hot 90 pound LC pot lid.  Been there,done that.

←

This might not do it all yet, but it is a handy, small home scanner. I bought one after watching the insurance nightmare my parents dealt with after a house robbery. The software will track everything from groceries to wine to comic collections.

[Kouign Aman]

A quick read, battery powered, food safe, salinity meter for those folks who cant seem to salt their stuff  the same way twice. If nothing else it would be usefull for getting pasta and veggie water right.

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Here ya go.pocket conductivity/salinity meter

There are many more - search conductivity meter, salinity meter or resistivity meter etc.

Or you could browse the Fisher Scientific or VWR catalogs (which is kinda fun).

[Terrasanct]

I always wanted a kitchen that at the push of a button would seal all of its surfaces and wash everything in the room like the interior of a big dishwasher. All the water goes down the drain and everything is clean. Is it too much to ask?

[Terrasanct]

Velcro apron: http://www.maxant.com/products/apparel_det...asp?ProductID=6

[Marlene]

And I'm tired of water in a pan on the oven bottom, and/or  opening the door to spray.  There's got to be a better way.

What do you want?

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Do you mean for baking bread that requires steam? I have one of These and it works like a charm!

I have been accused of being just a bit obcessed by organization but I simply have one of these

Label Printers

I

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I have the same label maker Andie, and it also lives in my kitchen.

[Kayakado]

I've heard of the refrigerator with the bar scanner but alarms and a screen that listed what needed to be used right away with a link to suggested recipes to get you excited about using the old stuff would be great.

I am now wondering if I could use my brisker for bread. If anyone doesn't know a brisker is a large bread box with a small heater to keep crackers and cookies fresh.

I am wondering if I will pull the cabinets down if I mount one of those old wrought iron roll holders like butchers use under my cabinets. I have large rolls of parchment and aluminum foil that are living on my dryer but really need to be on some sort of dispenser roll. They are too big to fit on a paper towel rack and I'd like a nice sharp cutting edge, so just a roller doesn't cut it..

Edited September 25, 2007 by Kayakado (log)