Appliances and Kitchen Gadgets

Kitchen tools and gadgets come in all shapes and sizes. While the variety may do wonders for being able to use the right tool for the job, it doesn't necessarily make it any easier to find the right tool for the job.

Hiding in plain sight, the Joseph Joseph Nest Utensils stands out on the counter, in terms of both its at-the-ready design as well as its vibrant color palette. The set of five utensils consists of a slotted spatula, a spaghetti server, a slotted spoon, and a solid spoon--all of which nest inside the business end of a more

It takes a while to learn the ins and outs of cooking. That goes to for gaining familiarity with the equipment. Yet after a while--and trials and errors--one learns to navigate through any given kitchen with ease. And then just add water and everything changes.

The Wolf CSO24 Convection Steam Oven encourages a new level of cooking, combining wet and dry cooking with evenly distributed heat. Exploring this frontier doesn't require a learning curve; the oven includes fully automatic modes for easy and delicious results. In addition to a couple of different cleaning modes (descale and cleanse), as well more

Freshly squeezed orange juice is a refreshing delicious beverage that there almost never seems to be enough of. After all, it takes a lot of oranges to squeeze out enough juice for a glass. And that's where Hammacher Schlemmer steps in.

Normally not known as a restaurant supplier, the specialty retailer brings us The Commercial Juicer. Yes, as in a "restaurant juicer that extracts up to 84 ounces of fresh fruit juice per minute." Given that the 164-year-old company is known for offering "the Best, the Only and the Unexpected," a juicing machine probably shouldn't come as too more

Despite the availability of a plethora of recipes online, many good old-fashioned cookbooks still quite often do the trick; they are easy to thumb through, they are usually well-organized into themes, and they don't stop working when they get wet.

Because of this timeless usefulness, it is not uncommon to find a few cookbooks hanging about on a shelf in practically any kitchen. They make for a good resource when one is not sure what to cook. All one has to do is peruse the spines, pulling one down when they find one of interest. And the scale while more

A sturdy food processor on a kitchen counter makes for an impressive sight.

The large base has a weighty appeal and gives off a sense of efficiency. If the size doesn't impress you, the blades-in-waiting and protruding feeding tube will. And yet, even though these standard kitchen appliances look like they can handle any task, sometimes they are just too big and bulky.

Offering a nimbler approach to the prep work, the Cuisinart CSB-80 Smart Stick PowerTrio High-Torque Hand Blender packs a lot of versatility into one effective unit. The 400-watt stick motor attaches to a variety of accessories, more

There is something magical about ordering a cup of coffee or an espresso drink at a cafe. Face it, if there wasn't some type of extra allure, we would still be living in the dark ages. (Those dark ages being the 80s when it wasn't a given that a half-decent cup of coffee was available within a one-block radius.) Luckily for the afflicted, it is easier than ever to observe the coffee-making ritual--but tea drinkers are still mostly an afterthought.

Seeing no reason to continue leaving tea drinkers in the dark, Cambridge Consultants, a British design and development firm has created the TeaTotal. more

Preparing food creates a lot of waste. It's an unavoidable necessity; meats, fruits and vegetables all have parts that are inedible or undesirable. And that doesn't even bring into consideration the packaging that is necessary to get it all into our kitchens. It's what we do with that waste that we can control. Like make it grow into something beautiful (and delicious).

While it would be nice if all unwanted kitchen items (and cooking experiments) could be planted into the ground, hidden from view until they turned into something useful, sadly, that is not usually the case. more

Evernote Food lets iDevice users take photos and notes of meals not to be forgotten.

My wife and I entertain a lot. We have two young kids, and having friends to our place for dinner is less expensive than paying a babysitter and dining out. Plus, we like to cook. We typically have the same cast of characters over for dinner, and my wife recently expressed a desire to start a food journal, so we could remember what dishes we cooked for whom, in an effort to avoid duplication.

You should also know that our household is somewhat unorganized. Or more

The last time I went to jury duty, the prosecuting attorney spent a good deal of time talking about one of Albuquerque's most famous lawsuits: the McDonald's hot coffee spill that resulted in a $640,000 award to the elderly woman who was burned.

That's an extreme example of a hot-coffee problem. Most of us just fry our tongues or desperately blow steam out of our mouths. The Smart Lid is looking to save us from our own eagerness.

The disposable Smart Lid changes colors when it's sitting on top of a hot cup of joe. If your cup is topped with bright red, you should chill out for a few minutes before you go in for a sip of that sweet caffeinated nectar of life.