Things that are a total waste of money

[Darienne]

...going back a bit in this thread...I should mention that I now have my very own battery-operated Trudeau pepper mill.

[abooja]

Just thought of something completely useless that I own -- this Cuisipro Stainless Steel Herb Mill. I bought it years ago, thinking it would make herb chopping a cinch, and used it exactly once. It was fine on sturdy herbs, like rosemary, but turned parsley into mush. The only reason I've kept it all this time is because it cost me $15-$20. I wish they'd stop manufacturing it already so that I can unload it on some sap on eBay.

[andiesenji]

Just thought of something completely useless that I own -- this Cuisipro Stainless Steel Herb Mill. I bought it years ago, thinking it would make herb chopping a cinch, and used it exactly once. It was fine on sturdy herbs, like rosemary, but turned parsley into mush. The only reason I've kept it all this time is because it cost me $15-$20. I wish they'd stop manufacturing it already so that I can unload it on some sap on eBay.

Oh goody, someone else who found this was a waste of time. It was a gift and the only time I use it is when this particular friend visits while I am preparing something with fresh herbs.

She also gave me one of the multi-bladed rolling herb mincers (double jeopardy) which I also didn't use. I gave it to my neighbor who found a use for it. She makes little figurines from that colored plastic clay, rolls it very thin and uses this to make long skinny strips that become fur or ? on her creations. Works fine for that.

I'm still using the 100-year-old wood choppin' bowl inherited from my grandma and the "star" chopper that she used for most leafy herbs.

Other herbs get snipped with scissors - chives, for instance.

[jgm]

I didn't think to post about it last summer when there were pictures on the website, but Williams-Sonoma was selling a special grill basket for meatballs.

Yes, meatballs. I'm not articulate enough to accurately describe it.

Until then, it had never occurred to me to brown meatballs outside on the grill. The first time I saw it, I felt the heady rush one gets when realizing one's culinary horizons have just expanded dramatically...followed by the empty, sinking feeling I got when it occurred to me I had no desire whatsoever to make meatballs on the grill, and that was not likely to change anytime in the foreseeable future. I got over all the drama pretty quickly. All that happened while standing in front of the W-S window, gazing at the new display with a friend, who summed it up nicely: "Now that's really obnoxious."

Is it true that Ron Popeil's evil twin has a job working for Williams-Sonoma?

[andiesenji]

I totally agree about the meatball grilling "basket" because I like mine a certain way and wouldn't think of trying any method that might dry them out and I think that would do it.

I did see something this morning that I thought was totally useless for most people, expensive and taking up otherwise useful space. (Unless one has a huge kitchen.)

I was up early and had breakfast with a friend who wanted some help packing up a bunch of foods that she is taking to a food bank. Mostly she wanted company as her husband passed away in December and she is disposing of the stock of "emergency" foods he insisted on stocking and which are good for years. (It took four of us 1 1/2 hours to box and transfer everything to her van.)

In mid-2008 her husband had a built-in pasta cooker installed when they got a new sink, dishwasher and etc., a partial kitchen renovation. It's part of the sink. He saw it at a home show and had to have one.

He liked pasta and cooked it perhaps once a week. She and I agreed that unless one has a large family, who eat pasta almost every day, it is rather a waste and takes up space that could be put to better use.

It was very expensive and she worries that when she tries to sell the house, most people won't want it and will see it as a negative.

Potentially, this is a HUGE waste of money.

[David A. Goldfarb]

But think! No more carrying that heavy pot of water from the sink to the stove and back! Just fill, boil, and drain!

Always wanted to try Keller's "big pot boiling" without having to deal with the big pot? This is it!

Order yours today and we'll include a free spaghetti scoop!

[Darienne]

In mid-2008 her husband had a built-in pasta cooker installed when they got a new sink, dishwasher and etc., a partial kitchen renovation. It's part of the sink. He saw it at a home show and had to have one.

Just when I thought I had heard of every incredible kitchen item...

[jgm]

I don't think the pasta cooker will be a negative when selling the house. It's the kind of thing people will see and think "OH! Cool!" and not think about how much the will use it - or not - until they actually move in. I believe they'll see it as a wonderful luxury item.

I've always wanted one, myself, but unfortunately it's in the category of "Things I Wish I Needed."

[rooftop1000]

It happens to best of us ....I want about 50% of the crap in here but will buy nothing

http://www.freshfinds.com/cooking/

tracey

[Darienne]

Wow Tracey...thanks for helping me waste about half and hour. I loved the brownie pan with with the divider especially.

[andiesenji]

It is a strange case of deja-vu. I seem to recall seeing some of those items recently........

Arrrrrrrgh!

[Cronker]

You know those kitchen tools, whereby you just put your veggies, onions etc into the lower bowl, then put the top things on and push the handle at the top and it choppy chop chops all your veggies like magic?

i got an expensive one from an op-shop very cheap.

dont work.

[lindag]

On ‎2‎/‎4‎/‎2010 at 11:58 AM, andiesenji said:

I totally agree about the meatball grilling "basket" because I like mine a certain way and wouldn't think of trying any method that might dry them out and I think that would do it.

I did see something this morning that I thought was totally useless for most people, expensive and taking up otherwise useful space. (Unless one has a huge kitchen.)

I was up early and had breakfast with a friend who wanted some help packing up a bunch of foods that she is taking to a food bank. Mostly she wanted company as her husband passed away in December and she is disposing of the stock of "emergency" foods he insisted on stocking and which are good for years. (It took four of us 1 1/2 hours to box and transfer everything to her van.)

In mid-2008 her husband had a built-in pasta cooker installed when they got a new sink, dishwasher and etc., a partial kitchen renovation. It's part of the sink. He saw it at a home show and had to have one.

He liked pasta and cooked it perhaps once a week. She and I agreed that unless one has a large family, who eat pasta almost every day, it is rather a waste and takes up space that could be put to better use.

It was very expensive and she worries that when she tries to sell the house, most people won't want it and will see it as a negative.

Potentially, this is a HUGE waste of money.

I'm having a hard time imagining what a built-in pasta cooker would look like.  Is there a site where I could see this?  Just really curious.

[Paul Fink]

1 hour ago, lindag said:

I'm having a hard time imagining what a built-in pasta cooker would look like.  Is there a site where I could see this?  Just really curious.

I found a commercial unit: http://www.frifri.com/products/type/category/super-easy-pasta-311

I also found attempt to have a sink that cooks:

https://www.cnet.com/news/kohler-discontinues-its-food-cooking-sink/

[DesertTinker]

2 minutes ago, Paul Fink said:

I found a commercial unit: http://www.frifri.com/products/type/category/super-easy-pasta-311

I also found attempt to have a sink that cooks:

https://www.cnet.com/news/kohler-discontinues-its-food-cooking-sink/

Here's the Miele home version:

Miele Pasta cooker

[lindag]

Yes, I see this as a truly questionable item, If I were looking to buy a home with one of these installed I'd have to know that it could be removed without ruining the whole sink area.  Even if I made pasta every day I really wouldn't want one of these cookers.  I find the whole thing quite ridiculous ( while I can appreciate that someone could fall in love with a completely obscure item, I know I have).

[andiesenji]

It was a Kohler sink and I think it was introduced in 2008, though I can't be certain. They had the three-compartment sink, not the one shown in the link Paul Fink posted.  There was a home show at the Long Beach convention center and it was the ONE TIME that Sandy let Fred go alone.  He only had a year or so to enjoy it before he died suddenly - aortic aneurism.  

Sandra did sell the house a couple of years ago and apparently the people who bought it did not object to the sink, although according to Sandy they were rather weird in that they did not like the COLOR of the very expensive Thermofloors that had been installed in the three bathrooms at the same time as the kitchen remo.  It was a completely neutral gray-beige that I thought was quite pleasant to look at but they kept asking for an "allowance" to have the floors replaced. Sandy said no, she wasn't going to reduce the price for anything like that.  And refused the first three offers they made. Another party made an offer so they upped theirs and it finally sold for more than the original asking price.  I have driven past the place a couple of times since then and can seen no changes to the outside. They have two Teslas and a Range Rover so they don't seem to be hurting for money.  

Sandy moved to Scottsdale to be near her son and is happy in a condo half the size of the house and it does not have a weird sink that cooks in it!  

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I just spent a long time reading through this thread because I hadn't tripped across it before. Some of the ideas discussed, I've read elsewhere, but I had not visited this actual thread.

 

There was much discussion of onion (and tomato, lemon, lime) dedicated savers upthread, and I have to agree they are cute. I encountered the onion saver in my one of my grocery stores several years ago when I had much more disposable income. The only thing that stopped me from buying it was that is was way overpriced as a piece of kitchen equipment. As a piece of kitchen art, it would totally be worth it.

 

It did inspire me to stop throwing out partially used onions or buying large onions. When I got into Mexican cooking, I started buying white onions which almost never come in bags of small ones. They are usually sold loose, and they are way too large to use up in one go.

 

Dairy containers for things like cottage cheese, or sour cream and larger yogurt containers are specifically designed to keep odors out of the products they contain, and they work equally well to keep odors, like from cut onions in. I just washed out a cottage cheese container today by shaking hot water in it with the lid on. The seal is quite watertight, no leaks, so no leaks of onion smell. This one will be dried before recycling, because I have a gracious plenty of these washed out dairy containers for food storage already. They are also free, last a long time, and can be recycled when they finally fail in some way.

 

Also, if you get Chinese takeout, some of the dishes are served in clear thick plastic containers that are as good at sealing and keeping out odors or keeping odors in, but, bonus, they are also see-through. These are also free and can be eventually recycled. For people with more money, you can buy these online, and they are stackable.

 

I would love to have granite counters. Someone said they need to be sealed, and another person said they did not. I thought if they were polished, they did not need sealing in any way. I imagine, but can only imagine, that they must be a dream to clean up.

[Cronker]

I volunteer at an op-shop, and am in charge of "bric-a-brac" - basically anything that isn't toys, jewellery or clothing.

some of the cooking toys from the last thirty or so years are great fun.  We often get an "instant pasta cooker"

the box tells me that it's revolutionary. Never has cooking pasta been so easy!

its a plastic, tall jar that you insert your pasta into, fill with boiling water and wait.  I can feel the revolution every time one of these crosses my path.

[lindag]

TFTC,

I had granite counters installed about 7 years ago and they were sealed at that time but I've never done it again.  My counters look just like they did the day the were put down,   Mine is a single person home and I'd describe myself as a 'light' user though I do put my hot pans on them straight off the range or out of the oven (this is actually my favorite thing about granite!)

[andiesenji]

3 hours ago, lindag said:

TFTC,

I had granite counters installed about 7 years ago and they were sealed at that time but I've never done it again.  My counters look just like they did the day the were put down,   Mine is a single person home and I'd describe myself as a 'light' user though I do put my hot pans on them straight off the range or out of the oven (this is actually my favorite thing about granite!)

And that's my favorite thing about butcher block counters.  The occasional scorch marks from an extremely hot cast iron skillet are easy to remove, as are the marks from knives.  And if a glass tips over, it does not shatter.

 

[dscheidt]

18 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I

I would love to have granite counters. Someone said they need to be sealed, and another person said they did not. I thought if they were polished, they did not need sealing in any way. I imagine, but can only imagine, that they must be a dream to clean up.

 

There's lots of variation in granite counters, many of which aren't actually granite.  How permeable they are, and how much they need to be sealed. depends on the particular rock they're made of.  Some slabs get treated with epoxy, which makes them pretty much impervious, and unstainable. 

 

They're all pretty easy to clean, yes.

[Cronker]

You see, an avocado divider is absolutely necessary.

[Paul Fink]

2 hours ago, Cronker said:

You see, an avocado divider is absolutely necessary.

Where did that come from?